Chapter 1

The night before the Family gala, my husband's so-called sister, Ravenna Volkov, put my eighteen-year-old niece's first night up on the Labyrinth, and a circle of old made men crowdfunded the bid.

By morning, Lily was dead. A whole bottle of pills.

The body under the sheet doesn't look like a person anymore.

Lucas catches me before I drop. In front of every man in the room, he swears it.

"On my father's name, Vivian. I find who did this, I bury him myself."

I let him hold me. I let the tears fall. I let my knees go weak against his chest.

Say it louder, Lucas. The earring picks up everything past forty decibels.

Then Ravenna walks in. Heels clicking. Whiskey in her hand. She drops onto the couch and throws her legs over the armrest.

"Babe. That was me."

Lucas's face changes. Just like that.

"Ren runs her mouth. She's joking."

She shrugs.

"What. No guy gives a shit about some virgin. That's a chick thing."

I pull out my phone. My thumb hovers over a contact saved as a single letter—A.

Lucas grabs my wrist. Snaps the phone in half.

"You wanna take this outside the Family? You out of your mind?"

He thinks I'm calling the cops.

Five years married, and he still thinks I'm the kind of girl who calls the cops.

He pulls a check from his jacket. Slides it across the coffee table.

"One niece. A mil. We square?"

"Ren's one of us. The crew backs her. You're just a wife. Stay in your lane."

Ravenna's lip curls.

"A million? For that broke little bitch? Trash always thinks they're worth more than they are."

I tear the check in half. Then in quarters. I drop the pieces on Lucas's shoes.

A million dollars.

For the only blood niece of the Mercer Dynasty.

The oldest crime family in Europe.

The ones who hold his father by the throat in three different markets.

You stupid boy. You have no idea what you just bought.

The whiskey glass hits the floor. Crystal everywhere.

"Lucas. Lucas. Is this bitch trying to put me down?"

Sal Romano steps up first. Sicilian. Runs the laundering through the Boston galleries. He looks at me the way you look at a dog about to get put down.

"Vivian. She didn't mean it. Let it go."

The rest of the crew falls in behind him.

Ravenna's chin lifts.

"You know what? Throw me on the Labyrinth too. Let the old guys have a turn. That what you want, sweetheart?"

Lucas's eyes go black.

"Shut the fuck up."

Then he turns to me. Stone face.

"That's just how Ren is. She doesn't think before she talks. She'll say sorry. End of story."

I drop to my knees next to Lily.

Her cheek is ice under my hand.

She used to slip Hershey's Kisses into my coat pocket and pretend she didn't.

She was eighteen.

I told Adrian she was ready.

I told him.

My tears land on her bruised throat. These ones aren't for the recording.

I shake my head.

"She killed her. Sorry doesn't cover it. She pays. In blood."

Lucas laughs. Tired.

"She typed a few words on a website. The buyers killed your niece. Quit aiming at the wrong person."

My nails go through my skin.

"Wrong person? She posted her. She's got five million in her account. She is the killer."

Crack.

His slap whips my head sideways. Copper floods my mouth.

I run my tongue along my back molar.

Still there.

"I said shut your mouth. Nobody talks about Ren like that. Nobody."

Ravenna laughs. Loops her arm through his.

"Aw, babe. She just wants a bigger cut. Right, Vivian? Daddy here's loaded. We can toss extra on the dead kid too."

She crouches. Lifts my chin with one finger.

"Honestly? Bet your niece was a climber. The men who had her last night? Way out of her league."

Lucas sighs like I'm exhausting him. Crouches in front of me.

"Vivian. Stop. Two million. We done?"

I look at his face.

The face I crossed an ocean for.

The face I buried the Mercer name to marry.

Five years ago I walked into this house with a fake last name and one job: figure out if the Langston Syndicate had rotted enough to take.

The answer came in a long time ago.

But Lily.

Lily was never on the board.

I pull off my wedding ring. Throw it. It bounces off his lapel.

"We're done, Lucas. You'll be hearing from my family."