My younger sister sat on my husband’s lap in front of twenty-three members of our family, smiled straight at me, and told everyone it was just a joke. Minutes later, one question about sending the photograph to her husband wiped that smile off her face and exposed that something much bigger had been happening behind my back. And I still had no idea that one look between my sister and my husband was about to change everything.

I stared at the note, my blood turning to absolute ice.

Mark.

He had promised me that if I secured the board votes for the real estate acquisition, we would be entirely clean. The debt would be paid, and he would never contact me again.

But a man like Mark didn't conquer the city's underworld by keeping his promises. He conquered it by recognizing talent and exploiting it.

I had shown him that I was ruthless. I had shown him that I could manipulate a room full of powerful men, orchestrate a hostile takeover from the inside, and walk away without a single shred of remorse. I had proven myself to be a shark in a sea of guppies.

And Mark didn't want to let a shark swim away.

I looked down at the diamond bracelet. It was a trophy. He had taken it from Ashley before he had her killed, and now he was gifting it to me as a morbid, twisted compliment.

He was telling me that he owned my secrets. He knew exactly what I was capable of, and he was implying that my peaceful, quiet life in the suburbs was merely a temporary vacation.

I walked over to the blazing fireplace in the library. I tossed the cardboard box and the bubble wrap into the flames, watching them curl and burn into ash.

But I didn't throw the bracelet. And I didn't burn the note.

I placed the diamond bracelet on my wrist. The cold, heavy stones felt like a shackle, but they also felt like a crown.

I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out into the dark, rainy night.

I had spent my entire life playing the good, forgiving sister. I had played the supportive, blind wife. I had let people walk all over me to keep the peace.

That woman was dead.

If Mark wanted to pull me into the shadows of the syndicate, if he thought he could use me as a pawn in his empire, he was drastically underestimating me. Just like Ashley had. Just like Daniel had.