Chapter 5

A blood-stained file was thrown at my feet.

Leo spoke. His voice was cold.

“See for yourself, Scarlett. You come back, and the Judge is dead.”

I replied automatically, “My condolences?”

“Condolences?” Leo exploded. “Are you insane? The Judge is dead! That means the Don’s enforcers will be tearing this base apart by morning!”

I paused, my mind slowly catching up. The “Judge.”

The Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court.

He was a public official, but everyone in the underworld knew he was Marcello’s most important pawn in the legal world.

Our organization, The Syndicate, always operated in the gray. We did dirty work for cash.

The last Don had almost wiped us out. It was only after Marcello took over and created the underworld’s “non-aggression treaty” that we got a chance to breathe.

And the first rule of that treaty was: you don’t touch the Don’s people.

Now, he was dead.

I thought for a second. “So… no condolences, then?”

Leo got even angrier. He shoved the barrel of his rifle right under my nose.

“Scarlett, stop playing dumb! The Judge was assassinated. The entire New York underworld is shaking. Once Marcello finds out we did it, he’ll wipe us off the map!”

Why does everyone want to wipe me out?

It finally clicked.

“You don’t think I killed him, do you?”

Seriously? Why would I kill him? Besides, I haven’t taken a private job in ages. I’d discovered that getting the Don to kill people was way more efficient than doing it myself.

“Who else could it be?” Mia, the hacker, spoke coldly. She tossed a clear evidence bag at me. “Only one shell casing was left at the scene. Custom caliber. Cross-hatched matte finish. Your signature toy.”

I was silent for a few seconds. “It wasn’t me. At the time of the Judge's death, I was… busy. I was in the Don’s bathroom, trying to kill him with a dagger.”

No one believed me.

Mia scoffed. “You assassinated the Don? If you really did, why is Marcello still alive and well?”

Ugh. There’s no explaining it to you people who’ve never seen the Don naked.

I sighed and looked around. “So, you all think I killed the Judge?”

“Yes,” Leo said flatly.

The other assassins muttered among themselves. But no one lowered their guns.

Finally, I looked at the man I respected most, my handler, Julian. I asked, my voice small, “Julian, you don’t believe me either?”

Julian put a hand on my shoulder. His voice was warm. “Scarlett, I believe you didn’t do it. Don’t worry. I will get to the bottom of this.”

But he looked exhausted. His suit was wrinkled. He’d clearly been racking his brain to handle this crisis.

The lives of hundreds of people in the organization rested on his shoulders. He was in a tough spot.

For the sake of the base, someone had to take the fall for pissing off the Don.

I was silent for a long moment. I grit my teeth and confessed. “Fine. I killed the Judge.”

The tension in the room vanished instantly. The assault rifles were lowered.

Suddenly, everyone was laughing and joking.

“I knew it! It had to be Scarlett! She’s our best hitter!”

“Infiltrating the Supreme Court, a perfect kill, and a clean getaway? Only she could pull that off!”

“You’re too kind, really,” I said humbly.

But inside, I was furious.

Who the hell killed the Judge and framed me?

If I ever find them, I’ll skin them alive.

Julian sighed. His voice was gentle but resigned. “Scarlett, to calm everyone down, we’ll have to put you away for a bit. I’m sorry.”

He waved his hand. They disarmed me and locked me in the highest-level safe room.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll go negotiate with Marcello myself. You just stay here for a few days. Not even C4 can blast this door open. No one can hurt you in here.”

That night, I sat in the safe room, getting angrier by the second.

Why me? If I’d actually killed the guy, fine. But I didn’t!

No. I’m not taking the fall for this. I’m going to find the bastard who framed me.

I jumped to my feet.

The blast door was tough, but there wasn't a lock in the world I couldn't pick.

I pulled a hidden steel wire from my ballistic vest, dismantled the keypad, and short-circuited the lock.

After all that hard work, I slipped out of the safe room. I was about to escape through the ventilation ducts when I saw him. Julian, standing outside the main control room, holding a glass of whiskey. He was watching the monitors with a cold expression.

I froze.

Seriously, Julian? Not even the Don guarded me this closely.

Just as I was about to go back and pretend to be asleep, a piercing siren blared through the base.

The highest-level red alert.

I stared at the monitor, and my blood ran cold.

On the big screen, dozens of black, armored SUVs had surrounded the base.

And there he was. That powerful, dangerous man. Don Marcello. Dressed in a black trench coat, playing with a lighter in his hand, standing coolly in the flickering firelight.

The Don was here. And he'd brought his army.