Chapter 1

Damon Pierce saved my life when I was eighteen. Then he kissed me bloody and told me he'd marry me.Then he asked me to do a hundred favors first — "just to be sure."Seven years. Thirty-eight bullets. Ninety-eight favors.But tomorrow he's marrying her.

I was eighteen the night Damon dragged me out of a back-alley fight ring with my baby sister bleeding behind me.

He looked me over. Saw me drop a guy twice my size. Grinned.

"You can fight, kid. Come work for me."

After that, I was his. I climbed The Cage from prelims to main event. Seven years undefeated. The boys called me The Wraith because nobody saw the punches coming.

I made him millions. I bled for every dollar.

The night they crowned me his number one, his champion, his right hand, he walked into the gym with another woman on his arm.

"Jesus, Selene. The hell do you look like."

His eyes flicked over the blood drying on my jaw.

"Go wash up. You're scaring her."

That was the night I lost everything.

The boys started calling her Mrs. Pierce. I never got that name. Seven years and I never got that name.

He cut my hand wraps off himself. Threw them in the trash. Tied an apron around my waist.

The Wraith was dead. I was the help.

She didn't want to eat? I knelt by her chair and fed her.

She got a paper cut? He cracked one of my ribs for "not watching her."

I took it. All of it.

Because seven years ago, in the back of his car with my hands still shaking, he said:

"Wanna pay me back, sweetheart? Do a hundred things for me. Just a hundred. Then you walk."

I look down at the leather notebook in my lap.

Three left.

Three more, and I'm done with this man.

I'm carrying her dinner tray down the hall when his voice stops me.

"Selene. Get your sister's necklace. Chloe wants it."

My stomach drops.

Mom's silver cross. The one she was wearing the night she died. Nina sleeps with it under her pillow.

My eyes go red before I can stop them. His face flattens.

"Selene Quinn."

He uses my full name when somebody's about to bleed. Usually me.

Three days ago I wouldn't hand Chloe my water bottle at the gym. He threw me in the sparring ring and let two middleweights take turns on me until I couldn't stand up.

So I turn around. I walk into Nina's room. I unclasp the cross from her neck while she sleeps and put it around Chloe's.

"Looks good on you."

His mouth curls. He pulls Chloe against his chest.

"See, baby? Best-trained dog on my whole roster."

"Selene. You keep her happy, maybe I'll think about that ring I owe you."

Chloe rips the cross off and slams it on the marble. The chain snaps.

"Damon! You promised it was just gonna be me!"

The tears come on cue. He breaks.

"Baby. Baby, come here."

He shoves past me, scoops her up, and carries her down the hall.

I drop to my knees. The broken chain slices my palm open while I'm grabbing at the pieces. Blood everywhere.

The boys in the hallway watch me bleed and laugh.

Honestly? It's funny.

Last month I went five rounds in a death match for him. Came back with a fractured eye socket and internal bleeding.

He walked into the recovery room, looked me over, and said:

"Christ, Wraith. You're slipping."

He shrugged. "Whatever. Chloe's been needing somebody to do her hair."

I close my fist around the silver. My eyes go redder than my hand.

That night Nina sees the broken cross. She sobs until she throws up.

I rock her in my lap and lie to her again.

"Hold on, baby. We're almost out. I swear."

The door slams open.

Damon. His face is dark.

"What the hell is all the screaming? Chloe's trying to sleep!"

"Pack a bag. Both of you. East House. Now."

His boys are already grabbing Nina off the bed.

She turns and screams at him.

"Damon, you used to be nice to me!"

He freezes. Everyone freezes.

I clamp my hand over Nina's mouth. My tears soak into her hair.

I learned a long time ago what talking costs in this house.

I asked him to come home more. That night he stripped my title in front of the whole roster. Seven years gone in one sentence.

I told Chloe to stay out of the training cage. Before I finished the sentence his pistol was between my eyes.

He came home with a busted lip last week. I brought him ice. He threw the bag in my face.

"Don't pretend, Selene. Chloe's gonna think something's going on."

He's the one who said I love you first.

He's the one who said he was going to marry me.

I let go of Nina. She's still crying, quieter now.

The East House sits on the edge of rival territory. Half the people who sleep there don't wake up.

I make a call.

I kick the SUV door open and run for the main house.

The second I knock, the noise inside cuts off.

A glass shatters against my forehead. I bite the inside of my cheek and bow my head.

"Miss Vance. I came to apologize for my sister. She won't bother you again. I swear."

Damon's chest is heaving. His eyes catch on the blood running down my face.

"Cut it out, Selene. You look like she's the one beating you up."

I don't look at him.

I drop to my knees. Press my forehead to the floor. Once. Twice. Three times. She finally lifts a soft little hand.

"Damon, I'm tired. Just say yes already."

He kisses the top of her head.

"Baby, you're too sweet. People are gonna chew you up."

Then his eyes slide to me.

"Since you love your sister so much, walk her there yourself. No driver."

That night the temperature drops to fifteen. Nina spikes a fever of 104. I carry her on my back through a blizzard for six hours.

In the ER waiting room, with snow melting off my coat, I open the notebook.

I write two words.

The cross.

Two left.