Chapter 1

Rumor had it that the only people who ever left the Blackgate Pit were dead ones.

The prison had been converted from an underground bunker.Damp air mingled with the sickening stench of sweat.

The prisoners pounded on the octagonal cage,cheering and screaming,"Reaper!Reaper!Reaper!"

This was the prison's only entertainment:a fight to the death in the cage.

Prisoners placed bets,and whoever survived took the whole pot.

Shane Mercer stood bare-chested,every muscle taut,the Reaper tattoo on his back slick and gleaming with sweat.

For five years,he had been known as Reaper,the underground fighter.No one cared about his real name.

His opponent lunged at him with a toothbrush sharpened to a point,aiming to kill.

Shane caught the man's wrist and wrenched it outward.

A crisp crack of bone was instantly drowned out by a scream.

The toothbrush slipped from the man's grip.Shane caught it and pressed it against the prisoner's stomach.

"Who sent you?"

For five years,every opponent he had faced had been an assassin.

Without exception.

Pain brought cold sweat to the prisoner's face,but he gritted his teeth and held out."I'm here for the money!"

"The pot,or the price on my head?"

The prisoner clenched his jaw and still said nothing.

The toothbrush sank into the man's abdomen.Blood gushed out,soaking his prison uniform and dripping down the front.

"Talk!"

Shane pushed the toothbrush in another inch.

The prisoner's gaze slid past Shane to the monitoring room on the second floor.

Again.

Every assassin had looked that way as he lay dying.For five years,it had never changed.

At that very moment,Captain Vance was sitting in that monitoring room.

Was he watching Shane kill,or keeping an eye on the assassins?

"Was it really Julian Sterling who sent you to kill me?"Shane lowered his voice."Or is someone using Julian's name to turn me against him for good?"

The prisoner coughed up blood and sneered."Of course it was Mr.Sterling..."

Five years ago,before the ship exploded on the Mississippi River,Shane had put Richard Sterling and Julian onto separate lifeboats.

Before he lost consciousness,father and son had both been safe.

Yet Richard was dead,and Julian was paralyzed.

What the hell had happened?

The prisoner's hoarse shout cut through his thoughts."You bit the hand that fed you!Mr.Sterling wishes he could skin you alive with his own hands!"

Shane let out a cold laugh and rammed the toothbrush home.Blood sprayed across his face.

He didn't even blink,letting the prisoner convulse and collapse into a pool of blood.

He turned to the guard."Split the pot!"

The next second,the transparent sphere hanging above the cage split open.

Cash rained down into the blood pooling on the floor.

The prisoners swarmed in,clawing and punching at one another over the money.

Shane walked away over the bloodstained bills,and a guard led him into the monitoring room.

The moment the door shut,he was slammed against the wall,his back hitting the concrete with a dull thud.

Shane saw his own reflection in Patrick Vance's eyes.

Battered,desperate,vicious...a cornered beast in chains.

"The five-year deal is up.I'm free to go!"

Heat rose from Shane's body.A bead of sweat slid down his jaw,over his Adam's apple,and pooled in the hollow of his collarbone.

Patrick caught it on his fingertip and lifted it to his nose,breathing in salt and sandalwood.

Shane clenched his jaw and turned his face away.

His resistance provoked Patrick into raising his voice."Five years ago,I saved you!"

"For five years,I kept you alive,and now you think you can just walk away?What do you take me for?What do you think this place is?"

Shane seized his collar and pulled him close."You're going back on your word?"

Patrick looked at him,his breathing slightly uneven."Walk out of here with that face,and you won't live past tonight."

Shane's voice was cold."That's my business."

"If you listen to me,I'll have someone give you a new face and a new voice.Even if Julian were standing right in front of you,he wouldn't recognize you."

"What's in this for you?"

"I want you to go undercover at Julian's side and gather evidence of the Sterling family's crimes."

"You saved my life,but I'm not your puppet!"

With that,Shane let go.

Thinking Shane was about to leave,Patrick pressed a hand to his chest."Someone in the Sterling family has ordered a shipment of weapons from overseas.Three months from now,on the anniversary of Richard's death,they plan to send Julian to join his dead father.Can you bear to let someone else kill him?"

Shane instinctively gripped the saint medallion on his chest.

When Julian was eighteen,he spent a whole night kneeling in prayer at St.Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.He came away with two blessed medallions,but his legs were too numb for him to stand.

Shane carried him out of the cathedral.Julian kept one medallion and hung the other around Shane's neck.

He rose on his toes and kissed the corner of Shane's mouth,his fingertips brushing Shane's cheek,cool to the touch.

Julian's ears burned red,but his tone was fierce."Don't take it off unless I say so."

Shane still remembered that soft,warm touch.

He still didn't know what had happened after the explosion,or who had been sending assassins after him all these years.

Until he found out the truth,Julian couldn't die!

After a moment,Shane looked up at Patrick."I'll help you.But I have one condition..."

Before he could finish,he caught a glint of metal near his neck.

Numbness spread through him,and his body began to buckle.

"What did you do to me?"

Patrick caught him and pulled him into his arms."Be good and get some sleep.When you wake up,Shane,the Sterling family's adopted son,will be'dead.'"