LOGINDAMIEN“Damien. What a surprise.”Ignacio Velez—president of the Cilantro Group, Wendy Osborne’s uncle, and a professional nuisance—rises from his seat to greet me. The two women flanking him shift obediently, bowing their heads as they scramble to cover bare skin that was never meant to stay uncovered for long.His private room overlooks the chaos of the club below. Vixen’s Kiss in full bloom—music, bodies, hunger. Exactly how he likes it. Front-row seats to pick which unfortunate woman he’ll drag upstairs next.He offers his hand.I glance at it. Then ignore it.The Cilantro Group is a business my family can’t afford to offend. Convenient for them. Less so for me—considering the Vosses only remember I’m “family” when it benefits them. To Ignacio, though, I’m a problem. To me, he’s a thorn with deep pockets.His jaw tightens. The hand curls into a fist before he lets it fall back to his side, expression smoothing into something polite.“You’re a difficult man to get a hold of,” he sa
DAMIENI light the cigar and watch the flame eat its way down the tip. I hate smoking. The taste, the smell, the way it clings to everything—it’s revolting.Still. It looks good on me.The men around me are screaming, bleeding, begging. A messy bunch. They thought it was a brilliant idea to cut through my territory and intercept my shipments like I wouldn’t notice. Like I wouldn’t care.Adorable.I flick a bit of ash onto the man Bones has forced to his knees. It lands on his cheek.He hisses.I snort. “Relax. If you’d behaved, this would’ve been over by now.”I crouch in front of him, resting my forearms on my thighs, cigar dangling between my fingers. “You know what fascinates me?” I say mildly. “Every idiot who crosses me thinks he’s the exception. That I’ll wake up one day and decide to be generous.”I tap the cigar once more. Ash and a bit of ember falls. He quivers.I grin, but there’s nothing amused about it.“Bad news,” I say calmly. “I’m very consistent. Now where the hell ar
RHEA“Don’t tell me you’re working again!” I startle, and the needle pricks my finger. I barely flinch—just press my bleeding finger to my mouth and check Camryn’s onesie. Thank goodness, no stain.Elara yelps. “God, Aurora, you’re disgusting! You couldn’t just wash your hands?!” She scrunches her nose like she’s physically offended.I smile at her, tilting my head. “Oh, sorry! Reflex. I didn’t even think about it. Are you okay?”“And to answer your question—I wasn’t working,” I add, lifting my creation. Weeks of work went into this. Camryn’s obsessed with abstract paintings, and tomorrow’s her second birthday. I’ve stayed up all night sewing, making this happen. The onesie looks simple, but the stones and sequins are lined perfectly to match the painting she loves. Just thinking about it makes my head ache.“It’s Camryn’s birthday gift! What do you think? Pretty, right? I haven’t finished the stoning yet, and I wanted to hand-sew the stitching…” I trail off when I notice Elara’s expr
RHEAI met Titan a year ago in prison.There were a lot of allegeds attached to her name. Cybercrime. Identity fraud. Even talk that she’d been involved in a jewel heist that disappeared with over fifty million dollars’ worth of diamonds. The kind of rumours that don’t come from nowhere.But the police could never prove any of it.So they settled for what they could—possession of an unregistered firearm.She took the charge without a fuss. Got a year. Never sold out her crew, never gave the cops a single name. Kept her head down, played the part of a model inmate, and earned an early release for good behaviour.Early enough to change my life.Titan built me a new identity from the ground up. Clean records. A believable paper trail. A death certificate convincing enough to fool anyone who went looking.And more importantly—she gave me my first real lead on Camryn.“What’s this?” I ask, pulling a document from the thick brown envelope while Titan crouches nearby, feeding a stray cat can
RHEADamien does have someone take me home.It’s a kind-looking elderly man, and to my surprise, he pulls up in a black Mercedes. Maybe all the motorbikes I’ve been on in the last twenty-four hours have finally scrambled my brain, because the sight genuinely throws me.“Thank you,” I tell him as he opens the back door for me. I slide in, and he waits until I’m settled before smiling, pleased as anything.“Anything for Prez’s old lady.”I don’t even get the chance to correct him before he shuts the door gently and walks around to the driver’s seat. Once inside, he gestures to a small button near the armrest.“You can slide the glass up if you’d like some privacy.”Grateful, I’m just about to do it when I remember something. “I’ll need to give you directions. My place is…” I hesitate, unable to find a polite word for run-down or dumpster-fire. “Very remote.”“Nonsense,” the old man—Ernest, I’ve learnt—waves me off. “Prez already told me everything I need to know. You just sit back and m
RHEA“Marry me, Rhea Ashford. Be my wife.”What?That’s all my brain can manage. I just stare at him, mouth open, frozen.He doesn’t care. He pulls back, like he didn’t just drop a bomb in my chest, and folds his arms.“I answered all three of your questions, Dot,” he says calmly. “You can’t keep pretending you don’t know anything about me now.”I gape at him. Unsure if I believe my ears. He laughs.“Wow,” he says. “Is that all it takes to shut you up? I don’t like it. I much prefer it when you’re pushing every last one of my buttons.”I barely hear him. My ears are still ringing.“You want me to marry you?” I finally manage.“Do I need to get on one knee for it to count?”I bark out a laugh, sharp and disbelieving. “I’m not some innocent maiden from the 1600s. You don’t have to marry me because we slept together.” I gesture wildly between us. “We fucked, Damien. Once. It meant nothing. I don’t know you. You don’t know me—” I cut myself off with another laugh. “Is this a joke?”His ex







