Chapter 1 - The Iron Gates

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The wrought-iron gates of the Gallow estate stood exactly as I remembered them: imposing, cold, and heavily guarded. Beyond the black metal bars, the sprawling mansion was illuminated by hundreds of golden string lights. Valets in crisp black uniforms hurried to park a continuous stream of luxury vehicles. Tonight, Chicago’s most dangerous and powerful family was celebrating a wedding. Dominic Gallow, the man who had erased me from his life six years ago, was taking a new bride.

I had not come to ruin his celebration. I had come because of a magazine article crumpled inside my coat pocket. The society page had run a massive feature on the Gallow wedding, and buried in the third paragraph was the lie that had destroyed my twenties: Dominic Gallow’s first marriage dissolved amicably after the former Mrs. Gallow tragically proved unable to provide an heir to the syndicate’s bloodline.

For six long, grueling years, I had lived quietly with that sentence hanging over my head. I had rebuilt my life in a quiet suburb two towns away, entirely off the grid of the Gallow family’s extensive reach.

I had planned to do this alone. I intended to hand Dominic the leather folder, force him to look at the truth, and walk away forever. But my sister, Maya, had panicked when she found a blue school folder on my kitchen counter. Knowing how protective I was, she packed my four children into her SUV and followed my GPS location, terrified I was walking into a mafia stronghold without backup.

Now, I was standing outside the heavily fortified gates, gripping the cold iron, while my sister’s SUV idled on the curb.

A small, warm hand tugged at the hem of my wool coat.

“Mom?” my five-year-old daughter, Clare, whispered, her breath turning into white vapor in the freezing night air.

I looked down. Clare, Noah, Elise, and Henry were lined up beside me, bundled in heavy winter coats, staring in absolute awe at the palatial estate.

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Noah, the oldest by three minutes, pointed a small, mitten-clad finger through the iron bars at the groom standing on the grand portico.

“Mom,” Noah asked, his dark eyes wide. “Is this where Dad lives?”