Chapter 1

After we'd ordered our wedding rings, Andre opened the car door for me like the perfect gentleman.

"Darling, I've already put a ring on your finger. I won't be going to the wedding."

I turned to look at him as if he were a stranger.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"The girl the Cardona Family sent over is their precious princess. I can't exactly make her the other woman."

"While you were in the hospital, we already went through with the marriage."

"I'm another woman's husband now. Having a wedding with you wouldn't be appropriate."

I stepped back and didn't get in the car.

Six months ago, I'd set out to permanently silence everyone who refused to recognize Andre as the next Don.

I moved as fast as I could, launching a purge.

In the firefight, I took a bullet to the chest, broke six ribs, and fractured my shinbone.

I spent six months in the hospital. I even missed Andre's installation as Don.

My wounds still hadn't fully healed. A dull ache lingered.

I looked at Andre. "What do you take me for?"

He sounded apologetic, almost innocent. "It's just an arranged marriage, Ash. You'll always be the love of my life."

"If you're really upset, I'll give you the three busiest bars in the East District and the smuggling rights along the harbor."

"Go buy yourself some clothes, bags, jewelry, whatever you like."

He tossed me a black credit card. "Buy whatever you want. Don't deny yourself anything."

I didn't reach for it. The card dropped to the ground.

As I turned to leave, I texted Durand: "I've made up my mind. I'm willing to come back. Get me on the next available flight."

Andre was right about one thing. I was done denying myself.

Chapter 1

I was about to hail a cab when Andre caught up and grabbed my wrist.

"Don't be unreasonable. You know the Cardona Family made major concessions for this marriage."

"They gave us a year of duty-free access to the East District docks and shared their South American drug route with us."

I stared at him. "We could've gotten all of that without the marriage. You know I was already working on opening other shipping routes."

"All I needed was a little more time..."

Andre cut me off. "Time is exactly what I don't have. I need these concessions now to shut the elders up."

The old Don had died suddenly. Andre's rise to power had been anything but smooth.

Even after a full purge, the elders still seemed far from satisfied with him.

I remembered how, before my hospitalization, he'd promised to discuss everything once I was discharged.

I couldn't help a bitter smile. "Then what about me?"

Andre faltered. His composed, gentle expression gradually turned cold.

"So what do you want me to do? Send Daisy back and let the entire Family think I'm a spineless man who breaks his word?"

"Ash, it doesn't matter who stands beside me. It won't change what we have."

"You accepted staying hidden for ten years. For the sake of a better future, can't you just be a little more understanding?"

I met Andre when I was nineteen. Back then, he was just one of the old Don's adopted sons.

He didn't even qualify as an heir.

But I loved his fierce ambition and was willing to be the blade he wielded in the shadows.

We clawed our way up from the very bottom together.

Back then, he would have risked his life just to go back for a pendant I'd left behind.

When he fastened the blood-stained necklace around my neck again, I pulled him into a kiss in that dark alley.

At nineteen, Ash was Andre's weakness.

I chose to become his secret lover.

Waiting for the day he'd become Don, secure his footing, and finally propose, making our relationship public.

But I'd forgotten that people change.

I clenched my fists. "I won't be anyone's other woman."

He cupped my face, those beautiful eyes brimming with tenderness. "In my heart, you are the Don's wife."

Andre's gaze deepened.

He leaned in to kiss me. "Isn't having me enough?"

All I felt was revulsion. I pushed him away. "No, Andre. You married someone else. We're done."

He froze for a beat, then let out a soft laugh. "You don't mean that."

"From your very first hit at nineteen until now, you've made enough enemies to fill a book."

"Without me, who's going to protect you?"

I stared at him.

My chest burned as if a brand had been pressed against it.

I still remembered my first hit. A bullet had shattered my shoulder.

Andre didn't have the authority to call the Family doctor back then.

I bit down on my sleeve and used tweezers to dig the bullet out myself.

Andre knelt at the bedside, pressing my wound with hands soaked in my blood.

His eyes were red. He made me a solemn vow. "One day, I'll make everyone who ever hurt you pay."

"I'll give you the dignified, respected life you deserve."

"If I ever betray you, let me die a miserable death."

I believed every word.

But now, the dignity that should have been mine had been given to another woman.

I smiled coldly, already imagining what kind of miserable death he deserved.

His phone rang. A distinctive ringtone.

I'd heard it every time Andre came to visit me in the hospital.

He said it was some demanding business contact.

I'd never thought twice about it. Only now did I realize how blind I'd been.

I'd trusted him so completely that his betrayal had been right in front of me and I hadn't seen it.

Andre noticed me staring at the phone and didn't pick up right away.

"Daisy is nothing more than a fling. Stop giving her a hard time."

"After ten years together, you'd really throw it all away over a title?"

"Ash, you're an orphan. You came to this Family with nothing and no one. I was the first person to take you in."

"I love you, and I'll provide for you. So stop testing my patience."

I wrenched free of his grip. "I'd rather die out there."

"Suit yourself." Andre raised a finger, and his men shoved me into the car.

He braced one hand on the door frame. "Think about what I said. I have to go pick up Daisy now."

The door slammed shut like a slap.

Durand texted back: "Good that you've come to your senses. The plane will be there tonight."

I replied: "I changed my mind. I want to bring Andre down."

Durand's reply was instant. "Even better. You'll have my full support, dear sister."

Chapter 2

Halfway through the drive, the driver took a call and suddenly changed course, heading toward the first property Andre and I had ever shared.

When I walked in, Andre had Daisy pinned against the wall, kissing her slender neck.

I caught the flash of triumph in Daisy's eyes, but in the next instant she shoved Andre away, her eyes already red.

Like a startled rabbit, she clutched the hem of her dress and hid behind him.

Watching Andre's satisfied expression, I thought back to the day Daisy was sent over by the Cardona Family.

She'd been crying just like this. I asked Andre how he wanted to handle her.

He didn't even glance at her. "Whatever," he said, and walked away.

I could have disposed of Daisy any way I pleased, just as he'd said.

But we were both women. I wanted her to live with some dignity, so I gave her what she needed to survive here.

Now, recalling all those phone calls while Andre sat by my hospital bed, I let out a bitter laugh.

This was how she repaid me.

Fury churned in my chest. I forced it down and sat.

Before I could even ask Andre why he'd had me brought here, Daisy suddenly burst into tears, as though she'd suffered some terrible injustice.

"Andre, I should go."

"Ash has always been so good to me. Now that our marriage is out in the open, I really can't face her."

"This place is full of memories of you two. I'm just a pawn in an alliance. I have no right to be here."

Andre immediately pulled her into his arms. "That's nonsense. Wherever you go, you're my lawful wife."

Then he turned to me. "Daisy is pregnant. This property is in the safest part of the city, but she can't bring herself to take your house."

"So pack your things and find somewhere else."

The deed to this house had been the old Don's first reward to Andre.

I still remembered the first time we walked through the front door. He'd been so thrilled he picked me up and spun me around.

"If you hadn't dug up the dirt on the West District gang, none of this would've happened."

"So I'm putting the property rights the Don gave me in your name."

He pushed me down onto the couch. We kissed, and left our mark in every room.

He kissed my shoulder. "Ash, once I become Don, I'll sign this property over to you for good."

And yet I'd never become the lady of this house. Now I was being thrown out.

Behind him, Daisy rested a hand on her belly and flashed me a triumphant smile.

I knew exactly what she was angling for. She wanted me to explode at Andre right then and there.

But I only nodded and turned to head upstairs to pack.

Daisy's expression darkened.

Even Andre looked taken aback.

He stared. "This house is the first thing we ever fought for together."

So he did know.

I sneered inwardly, but my face stayed calm. "But the Family's heir is more important, isn't it?"

Andre's eyes flickered. He suddenly stepped forward and caught my arm, his voice softening.

"Go pick out a set of jewelry from the vault. There's a banquet tonight. Come with me."

I was about to say he should take Daisy.

"It's Daisy's first time at something like this. I'd feel better knowing you're there to watch over her."

Absurd.

I swallowed the disgust. "Of course."

All of this was to lower Andre's guard.

I needed to collect as much leverage on him and his inner circle as possible before Durand came for me.

Andre took it as acceptance. He believed I'd agreed to share him with Daisy.

His gaze instantly softened, and he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear the way he always had.

"I knew you'd come around. Once the heir is safely born, I'll make it up to you."

Pray you live that long.

I looked at him and kept the thought to myself.

Chapter 3

Before the banquet, Daisy claimed she had nothing suitable to wear.

She went through my closet and picked out the exact dress Andre had given me for my twentieth birthday.

But she still wasn't satisfied. She gazed longingly at the glass pendant on my table, her eyes wide and pitiful.

"I don't have a single piece of jewelry."

Andre said nothing. Daisy reached for it.

That necklace meant everything to me. It had been tucked inside my blanket when I was found at the orphanage.

It was my anchor. Through every brush with death over the years, I'd kept it close.

Andre knew how much it meant. Yet now he pretended not to see.

My heart seized. I slammed my hand down on the table, blocking Daisy's reach.

Only then did Andre lazily look up and meet my red-rimmed gaze.

He sighed. "That necklace is far too cheap. Go pick something from the vault."

Daisy bit her lip. "But the only pink diamond that goes with this dress was already taken by Ash."

Andre didn't hesitate. He gestured at me. "Give it to her."

There wasn't much time before the banquet.

If I gave her my necklace, I'd have to show up with nothing around my neck.

I wanted to ask Andre what I was supposed to do.

But there was no point asking a question I already knew the answer to.

Daisy got what she wanted. She walked in on Andre's arm, with me at her side, and became the center of attention.

She ordered me around without pause, sending me to fetch drinks and pastries.

Andre assured me in private that he'd make it up to me.

In front of everyone, though, he didn't lift a finger.

The Family members exchanged disbelieving glances. Whispers spread.

"My God. Ash, of all people, is running errands for her?"

"Haven't people always said she was sleeping with the Don?"

"Looks like the Don's heart belongs to his wife after all."

Daisy was triumphant. She turned to me. "Now those nasty rumors will die on their own."

I kept my composure.

"Congratulations."

"Keep at it. Maybe next time you'll even get a dress of your own."

Ignoring her livid face, I turned and headed for the lounge.

Hurried footsteps followed.

I turned. Daisy stormed toward me and swung her hand.

I dodged on reflex. Quick as I was, her ring caught my cheek and tore the skin.

It didn't hurt much, but my face swelled immediately.

Daisy clenched her teeth. "Shameless. You know Andre married me, and you're still clinging to him?"

"You love being the other woman? Maybe I should have Andre pass you around to his men."

"Then again, an orphan like you was probably getting by on her back before she latched onto Andre."

"Does Andre know that's what you are? A whore."

The woman in front of me was vicious, and every word out of her mouth was crude.

I laughed, too furious for anything else. But before I could retaliate, she slapped herself hard across the face, then shrieked, ripped the front of her dress open, and collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

"Ash!"

The lounge door burst open. Andre rushed out and swept Daisy into his arms.

She clutched his sleeve, trembling all over. "Andre, Ash is right. I'm the other woman."

"This is all my fault."

Andre fixed a dark look on me. Daisy pressed the torn fabric to her chest.

"Ash, I'll give you the dress back."

"If I'd known you'd been in love with Andre this whole time, I never would have said yes."

"You can kill me if it makes you feel better, but please, don't hurt my family."

The underboss immediately sent people to pull the surveillance footage.

But by sheer "coincidence," the cameras in that area had just been taken offline for an "upgrade." Nothing had been recorded.

With no evidence, Andre looked at me. "You threatened her?"

I pointed at the wound on my cheek. "Do you believe me, or her?"

Chapter 4

"Andre!" Daisy threw her arms around him, tears streaming. "I hit her! It was all me! Please don't go after Ash. I'm begging you, I don't want my family to get hurt!"

She was trembling violently.

"Enough. Stop. No one will dare hurt you." Andre quickly buried her face against his chest, then turned a look of disappointment on me. "Ash, you went too far."

So ten years of fighting side by side, of trust built on risking our lives together, meant nothing against a woman who'd been around for six months.

The betrayal cut deeper than any bullet ever lodged in my flesh. I couldn't hold it in. Tears filled my eyes.

I looked at him, letting them fall. "So you're going to punish me for your wife?"

Andre's breath hitched. The last time he'd seen me cry was years ago, when he'd fallen ill.

He hesitated. But Daisy was the Don's wife. There had to be consequences.

I was locked in the lounge. I lost track of how long I waited before the door finally opened.

The man who entered wasn't Andre.

Eric Russo, the underboss, regarded me without expression and delivered the Family's verdict. "Ash, you assaulted the Don's wife. Forty-eight hours in the isolation cell."

His men seized me and dragged me out. Outside, Andre stood nearby, wiping Daisy's tears.

Our eyes met for a single instant. I was the one who looked away first.

Andre watched me go. A prickle of guilt rose in his chest.

He started to call it off. But Daisy chose that moment to press a kiss to his lips.

"Thank you. If you hadn't gotten there in time, Ash would have torn me apart."

He came back to himself and tilted her chin up with one finger. "To make up for it, I'll send you to Hawaii."

Daisy bit her lip shyly. "I don't want that. I just want to be with you."

Andre wrapped an arm around her waist, completely won over. "Then I'll take you shopping at the designer boutiques."

Only then did she reluctantly nod.

I was handcuffed, blindfolded, and taken away.

But the car didn't go to the isolation cell. After a series of detours, it pulled up to one of Eric's properties.

He removed the blindfold and unlocked the cuffs.

He studied the marks on my wrists and asked cautiously, "Does it still hurt?"

I had always believed I was an orphan.

Until five years ago, when Durand Dente, the newly appointed young Don of the Dente Family, a centuries-old Italian dynasty, tracked me down using a pendant that matched mine.

That was how I learned my real name was Ashley Dente, and that I was his long-lost sister.

As a child, I had been stolen by a rival family seeking revenge on the Dentes.

I was supposed to have been drowned, but the man sent to do it showed mercy and left me at an orphanage.

After being moved from place to place, I ended up in Boston.

Durand had once invited me to rejoin the Dente Family, but at the time, Andre was at a critical moment in his rise.

So I'd turned my brother down. But we stayed in touch.

Over the years, Durand had helped me in countless ways. One of those was placing Eric, his most trusted man, at my side.

I still clearly remembered the first time Eric and I met. He'd been nothing but a green kid.

Looking at the tall man he'd become, I couldn't help it. "You've grown up."

Eric knelt on one knee and cleaned my wound gently. "That's thanks to you. Without you, I'd have died three years ago."

It had been a carefully planned assassination. The target was Andre.

Eric, serving as a decoy, had been critically wounded. I risked my life pulling him out and paid a fortune for his treatment.

When he woke, he swore to serve me and the Dente Family for the rest of his life.

I hadn't taken it seriously at the time. But that small act of kindness had now come back to me.

After he finished with the wound, he said, "Durand's people have reached the West District. They're waiting on your move."

He meant Durand.

The lingering pain kept my mind clear.

A major arms shipment was about to move through the West District. The order was too large to tolerate the slightest mistake.

I'd designed the entire transport route myself. I handed Eric the personnel deployment files I'd prepared in advance.

He would deliver them to Durand on my behalf.

I opened a laptop. "Who proposed putting me in confinement?"

Chapter 5

Eric rattled off names from among the elders. Some of them, he told me, had even wanted to cut off my fingers.

I smiled coldly. "Good. It's time to clean house."

Six months ago, anticipating that resistance might persist even after the purge and block Andre's rise, I'd bought off the Family's accountant and obtained the original ledgers.

And years of recordings had given me a trove of evidence tying Andre and his inner circle to tax evasion.

I'd already had informants feed leads to the authorities. All I had to do now was hand over the evidence, and arrest warrants could be issued at any time.

Everything had originally been put in place to protect Andre.

Now I would make Andre understand the price of making the wrong choice.

Two days later, Andre came to the isolation cell to collect me.

On the ride back, we sat in silence until he tossed a prenatal exam report onto my lap.

"Daisy's pregnancy isn't stable," he said.

I let out a mocking laugh. "What's your point?"

"I need you to behave. She may be a Cardona daughter, but she was never raised as a core member of their family. She's never even seen blood."

Andre's expression was dead serious. He placed a pink diamond necklace in my hand. "She doesn't have your skills. And you know I'll always love you."

I'd learned a few interesting things from Eric. I couldn't resist.

"You're that sure she has no skills?"

I pushed the pink diamond necklace back. "You know there's nothing more dangerous than a coincidence in our line of work."

Andre knew exactly what I was getting at.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I know you're trying to say she stole your things and framed you."

"But the fact is, I picked Family doctors at random to examine her, and every report said the same thing. She's pregnant."

"She's carrying the Family's next heir. That alone means nothing else needs to be investigated. Understood?"

A decade of fighting side by side flashed through my mind.

My fists tightened. "So even if I'm the one being wronged, it doesn't need to be investigated?"

This was his last chance.

Andre slammed the brakes. He looked at me. The car filled with silence.

He didn't say a word. He caught my chin and kissed me deeply.

Whenever we fought, this was how he'd calm me down. Smother the anger with a kiss.

This time was different.

The last thread tying me to him snapped. I would never look back.

We pulled up to the house. Andre stayed in the car to take a call while I went inside first.

The moment I stepped through the door, I saw that Daisy had erased every trace of us from the villa.

My luggage had been tossed by the entrance like garbage.

Daisy stood at the top of the staircase, every inch the victor.

She looked down at me. "Andre wants you out. Now."

I didn't even glance at her. I dug through my bags and realized my glass pendant was missing.

Daisy could do whatever she pleased. But she should never have touched that necklace.

My face hardened. "Give it back."

Daisy feigned surprise. "What? You mean this?"

She dangled the glass pendant in the air.

I charged up the stairs, but I was a step too late.

Daisy opened her hand. The pendant hit the floor and shattered.

Chapter 6

Fury overwhelmed reason. I slapped her.

She'd been standing well away from the staircase, yet she shrieked and stumbled backward toward it.

I tried to grab her, but she dodged. Her whole body tumbled down the stairs.

Blood pooled beneath her instantly. At that same moment, Andre walked through the door.

Daisy let out a wail. "Andre, the baby! My baby!"

Andre scooped her up. He looked at me, and the accusation in his eyes was clear: Why couldn't I just behave?

But he said nothing to me. Instead, he turned to Eric.

"Restrain Ash. Send her to the water cell in the East District."

That was where the Family punished its worst offenders.

Before I could say a word in my defense, Daisy clutched Andre's arm and whispered weakly, "Don't blame Ash. I accidentally broke her pendant. That's why she..."

Andre turned back. His gaze was pure ice. "Is that so? Then you really are vicious, Ash."

Rage churned inside me.

I fought to keep control. My voice came out hoarse. "You know that pendant was from my mother..."

I couldn't even finish the word keepsake before he bellowed, "You're just an orphan!"

"With or without that pendant, your mother is never coming back!"

A shudder went through me at his words.

Andre roared at Eric. "Now! Take her! No one lets her out without my say-so!"

Then he was gone.

A downpour swept over Boston that night.

After rushing Daisy to the hospital, Andre went to the water cell. From beyond the iron cage, he glanced at me from a distance as I struggled, my wrists chained and a wet cloth covering my face.

He wanted to talk. In the end, he only reached out and traced his fingers over my name in the intake log.

"I've spoiled her too long. She needs to suffer a little before she learns how to behave."

He muttered it, though he didn't seem to know who he was justifying himself to.

All he had to do was take one more step, and he would have seen that the woman in the water cell was not me.

She was just some unlucky soul from that list of elders who'd called for my confinement, a woman who happened to match my build.

Eric had arranged everything. He put me in a car headed for the airport.

"Your brother is already waiting at the airport."

"Once you're safely out, the operation begins."

I held out my hand to him. "Aren't you coming with me?"

Eric shook his head. He pressed a light kiss to the back of my hand. "I'll be the sharpest blade of your vengeance. I'll wait here for your triumphant return."

I said nothing more.

Meanwhile, the doctor informed Andre, who'd just arrived at the hospital, that Daisy had miscarried.

His face went dark. He was about to storm the ward

when a phone call stopped him. It was from the West District. Gunfire crackled in the background. "Boss! Most of the arms shipment we were escorting has been destroyed! We've taken heavy losses!"