Chapter 2

Grabbing my bag, I slipped out of Nikolai’s safehouse and drove through the rain to our family’s private club residence.

When I pushed open the door to the office suite, Steffy was leaning against the bar, staring down at her encrypted satellite phone. Text notifications were flashing on her screen every few seconds. An eager flush colored her cheeks, and a small, secretive smile played on her lips.

A dull, hollow ache pierced my heart like a needle. I didn't need to check the frequency to know who was messaging her.

"Maria? You're back early," Steffy said, startled as she locked her screen. "I thought you were overseeing the dock shipments down at the harbor tonight."

"The inspection finished early," I lied softly.

My family owned the docks, but for the past three years, Nikolai had used my harbor access as a convenient alibi whenever I stayed overnight at his estate.

Steffy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking slightly flustered. "You know... the underboss who came to sign off on the harbor permits earlier? He told me I shouldn't be wasting my talents managing a night club. He offered to make me his personal chief of operations."

My fingers froze mid-air as I unbuttoned my coat.

Chief of Operations.

The phrase stung like a slap to the face.

The harbor front was my territory. I had spent years meticulously managing the syndicate's financial channels and logistics to secure Nikolai’s rise to power. We had been operating as secret partners behind the families' backs for five years, keeping our romance hidden from the council elders.

Nikolai always swore we had to keep our relationship in the shadows. He claimed that if the council found out about our union before he consolidated total authority, rival families would target me as his sole vulnerability. I believed him. I protected his secret, managed his books, and let him take the glory.

Now, he was casually offering up the very operational authority I built—just to draw my manager at the club into his inner circle.

This wasn't the first time he had crossed lines under the guise of 'business strategy.' I had caught him making promises to several beauties before. Every time I confronted him, he would pull me close, pour a glass of bourbon, and laugh it off as a necessary political move to keep our rivals pacified.

“You’re my real partner, Maria,” he used to whisper against my neck. “The rest are just pawns.”

Swallows of poison, swallowed over and over again. But standing here now, the illusion didn't just break—it shattered into dust.

"Maria?" Steffy's voice pulled me back. She looked at me innocently, completely unaware of the knife in my chest.

"I'm fine," I said, forcing my voice to remain perfectly level. "Just tired from the books."

Laced with excitement, she held up her phone to show me an invitation code. "He asked me to accompany him to the High Council Vault tomorrow night. He said he needs someone charming by his side to help smooth over the syndicate leaders."

My breath caught.

The High Council Vault was where the supreme leaders met once a year to negotiate territory.

In five years, Nikolai had never once let me set foot inside that vault with him, claiming it was too dangerous and that he couldn't bear the thought of me in the line of fire.

Yet he was handing out that exclusive access to Steffy like a cheap trick.

Looking into her expectant, ambitious eyes, the heavy weight that had been suffocating me for five years suddenly evaporated. The blind devotion I had held for him was gone, replaced by a cold, sharp clarity.

If Nikolai wanted to play games with power, he was about to learn who actually held the keys to his empire.

"If you're going to the Council Vault," I said calmly, walking over to her wardrobe and pulling out a backless, emerald-green silk gown, "wear this. It commands attention.”