Chapter 1

When I reached the family council hall, it was in chaos.

Beth was at the center of it, arguing, her face twisted with anger. A crowd of new recruits stood behind her.

"Why should we have to move out? Monica's the one who did this! Why should we pay for her mess?!

"Where are we supposed to live now?!

"Get Monica out here! She ordered us around all this time, and now she thinks she can just hide! No way!"

"Exactly! Once we're out of there, where are we supposed to go?!"

"Make her come out! We're all with Beth!"

Voices filled the hall. Bodyguards lined both sides of the room to keep order. At the front, Frank, the office manager, kept repeating, "She altered the old casino, and we've fined her for it."

I stood outside the door, my grip tightening on the folder in my hand.

Inside was the family's ruling on my conversion of the old casino. I practically knew it by heart.

Converting family property without permission. Winning new recruits over to her side. Making members work for her...

My parents had died in a shootout protecting the Don.

Out of respect for what my parents had done, Victor, the underboss, agreed not to throw me out of the family. All I had to do was restore the old casino, and the matter would be dropped.

When my parents first joined the family, we lived under a bridge. I was only five, huddled beneath an old quilt with them through the winter.

They worked their way up, moving us from under the bridge into a rental, then into a house at the family's headquarters.

The Don came to value them, and our lives kept getting better.

When my parents recruited new members and found them living under bridges, they used whatever money they could spare to help them find places to stay. They did what they could.

After my parents died, I kept doing what they'd done.

I knew exactly who my parents had really been trying to help: their younger selves.

I rented an entire apartment building for the new recruits who joined the family each year. They wouldn't have to go hungry or freeze, and they could focus on working for the family.

Then the building was torn down.

I managed the family's abandoned properties, so I thought of the old casino. It had stood empty for ten years and wasn't included in the family's current renovation plans.

I paid for the conversion myself, carved the space into 50 private rooms, hooked up the water and electricity, and moved last year's recruits in.

A dozen or so new recruits had joined the family this year. When they heard they could live there for free, they begged me to take them in too.

The one leading them was Beth, a young woman in her early 20s.

She had blond hair, blue eyes, and a sweet face. She cried and told me she'd be in danger if she had to sleep under a bridge.

I felt sorry for her and let her move in.

On her very first night, she texted me demanding that I add a window to her room and replace her bed with a bigger one.

The next day, she even came to my house and borrowed my expensive custom rug and several wool sweaters.

I let it go, but she only got worse.

Every day, she texted me to complain about the place. Then she started hinting that she wanted to live at my house.

I turned her down flat.

The next day, a post went up on the family message board. It read, "A family member has converted the old casino without permission and is making new recruits work for her."

The photo beneath it had been taken during the last big storm, when water leaked into the casino and I led everyone out in the rain to make repairs.

I stayed out there all night. By morning, my feet were pale and wrinkled from the water.

I ran a high fever for three days.

I never imagined that photo could be used as proof that I was exploiting the recruits.

The comments blew up. Some people said I was plotting something.

Others called me heartless for using the new recruits.

A few went so far as to claim I was building my own crew to turn against the family.

My phone lit up with calls and messages. Every one of them cursed me. Some even went after my dead parents.

They said my father had taken a bullet for the Don just to put on a show.

That he deserved to die.

I gripped my phone, furious. Whatever affection I still had for these people vanished.

I called a work crew right then and had them start restoring the old casino.

Today, I'd come to the affairs office to hand in my resignation. I hadn't expected the very recruits I'd taken in to be here, with Beth leading them.

They were accusing me all over again, right there in the office.

Hearing them curse me inside, I let out a cold laugh and kicked the door open.

The room went silent at once.

"I'm here. Go ahead. What do you want?"

My eyes landed on Beth's face.