Chapter 1

"Betraying your husband?" Vincenzo’s low voice came through the phone. "That doesn't sound like you."

"I signed the papers. The marriage is over. Send your people to verify the rest of what I’m telling you."

Silence held for several seconds.

"Tell me what you're offering."

I gripped the sheet. "The location of the next shipment and its security details. Take the cargo tomorrow, and the Falcones lose their cash flow."

"Sofia, the entire underworld will spit on you for betraying your family."

"I don't care. I want Rocco in hell, even if I have to follow him there."

"You don't have to follow him anywhere,"Vincenzo cut in.

His certainty made me press the phone closer.

"I'll get you out alive,"he said.

For years, I had known Vincenzo as a ruthless tyrant. Yet his promise carried something dangerously close to protection.

This remained a deal. I had information. He had the force required to destroy Rocco.

I ended the call before the door opened.

Rocco walked inside and lifted my chin, acting as though our baby's death belonged to another family.

"Sofia, I can be generous. I'll send you to Sicily. You can spend the rest of your life at the old Falcone estate."

My stomach cramped under his fingers. I stared at the face I had once loved enough to die for.

"Our baby had a heartbeat,"I said. "You bought a crib. You bought those little onesies. You stood there and watched our child die. Does any part of you hurt?"

Rocco paused. His brows pulled together.

"If you had signed the divorce papers when I told you to, she wouldn’t have pushed you. The baby might still be alive. Your stubbornness killed him."

My hand went numb around the phone. The divorce papers were signed, and the resignation was signed. Rocco had gotten the signatures he wanted. He still thought that meant he had won.

Three bullets sat inside my memories. I had taken each one for the man who now blamed me for losing our child.

"Get out,"I said.

He leaned closer.

"Get out!"I shouted, pointing at the door.

Rocco threw my chin aside. "Any other woman who told me to get out would already be inside a gasoline drum at the bottom of Lake Michigan."

He straightened his tie. "Transfer your operations to the family secretary. After that, you'll go quietly to Sicily. If you keep causing trouble, I'll continue tormenting your precious sister."

Tormenting her?

Did he mean fucking her crazy?

Rocco had no idea I had heard them. My child was gone. Claire had chosen him over me. Every threat he carried into this room had lost its value.

Revenge gave me enough reason to keep breathing.

He slammed the door behind him.

Claire entered a minute later with reddened eyes.

She rushed to my bedside and folded herself into my arms the same way she had whenever life disappointed her.

Her weight landed on my IV hand, sending pain up my wrist.

"Sofia, I’m sorry." She buried her face against me,"If I hadn’t acted so impulsively, none of this would have happened."

She reached for the edge of my blanket and tucked it around my waist.

"Rocco is keeping me in Chicago as a hostage. I'm scared. Still, as long as you can live safely in Sicily, I'll endure whatever he does to me."

I studied the eyes I had trusted since childhood.

Our parents died when I was sixteen and Claire was twelve.

I entered the Falcone world through one of the family’s strip clubs.

Men paid to touch my body, and I used the money to cover Claire’s tuition, clothes, and a decent apartment.

I kept the truth of my work from her as long as I could, even as I sank deeper into the life that paid her bills.

She had repaid me by sleeping with my husband during my pregnancy.

Air moved through the open doorway, carrying the sharp smell of disinfectant. Claire gagged twice and covered her mouth.

My attention dropped to her stomach.

"You're pregnant?"

I grabbed her wrist.

The answer arrived before she spoke. The crib. The onesies. Rocco had bought them for Claire's baby.

"Yes." She pulled her hand free and smoothed her hair. "I’m going to marry the father. You’ll be happy for me, won’t you?"

Claire raised her left hand.

A huge diamond covered her ring finger.

When Rocco married me, the Falcone businesses had been collapsing. I wore a plain gold band because every spare dollar went toward saving his family.

Now my sister wore a diamond purchased with the life I had built.

"Of course,"I said.

Her shoulders relaxed.

In one day, Vincenzo would seize the Falcones' most important shipment of the year. Their income would collapse, and their creditors would close in.

I looked at Claire's diamond again.

Let the brilliant MBA graduate handle that crisis. Let Rocco plan her wedding while his empire burned.