Page 17 of The Rise of an Heiress

“What do you remember about your mother, amore?”

That was another thing. He’s never addressed me as Natalie, not once in almost twenty years.

“She was beautiful. Always laughing. She called me princess. And you two were in love. She was a traitor for marrying you, which is why I can’t go back and had to change my name,” I say.

“Yes, we were in love,” he said, smiling as if he were recalling a memory. “And a princess, you are.” He pauses. “It’s time you learned the truth. The whole story.”

“Whole story?”

“It is no secret that your mother and father’s marriage was arranged and so was mine to Luciana’s.”

Dom and Donna’s mother.

“What does this have to do with me?” I work on keeping my heart rate down.

“When your father died, it is true that your mother and I got married because we were in love, but we also got married for tactical reasons. Otherwise, the Outfit wouldn’t have allowed it. We wanted to give you your best chance.”

“My best chance?”

“Because of who you are.” He pauses. When I don’t respond, he continues. “Your father was Peter Liu.”

My mouth goes dry, and my heart rate jolts. I knew that my birth parents were part of the Triad, but I didn’t realize my parentswerethe Triad. King and Queen. Peter Liu was the dragon head of the U.S. Triad. He was also known as “The Mad Dragon” because of his sick and twisted mind games. He was a patient man. Could play the long game. A true master at psychological warfare. I didn’t know much of that world, but Peter Liu was infamous. Everyone knew who—what Peter Liu was in the underworld.

“You said my father’s name was—”

“I lied,” Papa says.

I’m a Liu?What the hell...This whole time, I thought my real last name was Cheng.

“So, if my father was the head of the Triad, then that would make me... ?”

“The heiress,” Papa replies. “Your mother was not a traitor. That’s not why they want you dead. I lied about who you were to protect you. The less you knew, the better, but before Peter died, he knew he wanted you to be his heir.”

Now that’s a surprise.

“He didn’t care for a boy after you were born. The moment he held you in his arms, he knew you were special,” Papa says, smiling fondly. “Your mother agreed, so after he died, she intended to honor his wish. But you both needed protection—not everyone in the Triad was supportive of a woman becoming the boss. We got married, and the Triad and Outfit formed an alliance. Our main concern was that you were protected at all times so that you could, one day, take your father’s place. But then she got sick.”

Grief falls over his face before he snaps out of it.

“And things changed,” I say, void of emotion.

“Yes. When she died, her brother, your uncle Andrew Li, took it as his chance to take over since Peter had no siblings and no other living relatives. Andrew put out an order for your assassination. He hired the Bratva to do it, so it wouldn’t get back to us, who was responsible. One of our moles, of course, informed me, so I came up with a plan to let Andrew believe he succeeded.”

He hired the Russian mafia?

All the pieces were falling into place, all the answers to the questions I’ve been too afraid to ask. He always said growing up in the Outfit would have been too dangerous for me, but this made more sense. It’s why he sent me away, why I had to change my name, and why I wasn’t allowed back in Chicago. But everything I knew was a lie to cover up an even bigger lie.

“That’s why you sent me to live in New York?”

“Yes.” He nods.

“So, why are you telling me all of this now?”

“We believe the Cosa Nostra has connected the dots on your identity since Dominic has arrived in town.”

“But he’s been here hundreds of times?” I asked.

“I have word that they believe the attack on their docks a few weeks ago was us.”

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