LOGIN"The most exhausting thing about living two lives is remembering which one is real."VIVIANA message comes in on my burner phone at eleven forty at night.My phone screen lights up.It was not the Alchemist's channel, like i expectedDifferent.Xander.I look at the message for a few seconds.The stage is ready.Four words.I read them again.Then I lock the phone and set it face down on the bed beside me and I sit in the dark of the guest room in Sofia's home and I breathe.The stage is ready.I know what that means.I have known it was coming for weeks — have been moving pieces toward it, have been making the right appearances and building the right trust and positioning myself exactly where I need to be when the moment arrives.This is what I do.This is what I was sent here to do.I lie down on top of the covers and I stare at the ceiling in the dark and I think about a lot of things that I should not be thinking about.Sofia's happy face at her wedding and how surprised she saw
"The most dangerous power is the kind that never shows its face."NICO"Who the hell is that," I say.He does not answer immediately.This is a thing Salvatore does — he holds information for just long enough to make you aware that he is the one choosing when to release it. A power move so habitual that he probably does not notice he is doing it anymore.I wait.I am good at waiting."You think Dante sits at the top of the food chain," he says finally.I look at him."He is Pakhan," I say."Yes." Salvatore tilts his head slightly. "Pakhan. Supreme authority over the families. The highest position in a network that spans four countries and touches every major criminal organisation in the western hemisphere." He pauses. "And you believe that makes him the most powerful man in his world.""I believe it makes him one of them," I say carefully."That is smarter than most," Salvatore says. Not a compliment. Just an observation. "Most people who work at Dante's level think Pakhan is the ceil
"The answers you chase are never as simple as the questions that started them."NICOShe ran.Not literally. Vivian does not do anything as undignified as running.But she was out of that basement with considerable speed the moment I gave her the opening and I stood in the shooting range alone for a moment looking at six perfect bullseyes and listening to her footsteps on the stairs and I smiled.Just once.To myself.In an empty room where nobody could make anything of it.I do not smile often. Luca would say I do not smile enough and Luca would be right and I would not tell him that. But standing in a basement with gunpowder in the air and the evidence of what Vivian just did still printed on those targets — I smiled.She is extraordinary.That is the simple fact of it. I have worked alongside extraordinary people my entire adult life. I know what skill looks like and I know the difference between trained and gifted and Vivian is both in a combination that does not happen often. The
VIVIAN. I hated how right he was. My body betrayed me instantly, hips rolling toward his hand despite every warning screaming in my head. Nico watched me with dark satisfaction, like he’d been waiting for this exact moment to crack through my carefully built walls. His fingers pressed firmer through the fabric, stroking with deliberate precision until I was biting my lip to keep from moaning.Then he slipped his hand beneath my waistband.The first direct touch of his fingers against my slick heat pulled a gasp from my throat. He was infuriatingly good at this—teasing my entrance, circling my clit with just enough pressure to make my thighs tremble, but never quite enough. Heat coiled tight in my belly, building fast.“Nico…” I breathed, half warning, half plea.He leaned down, lips brushing the shell of my ear. “Say please, princess. Use your words.”Stubbornness flared hot and immediate. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. “Fuck you,” I hissed, even as my hips chased his r
VIVIAN“You still have one more test to complete.”The words slid over my skin like a challenge wrapped in velvet. Nico’s hand remained locked around my wrist, firm and unyielding, sending a jolt of awareness straight through me. The shooting range suddenly felt impossibly smaller, the air heavy with the sharp tang of gunpowder and the warm, woody notes of his cologne—the one that always seemed to slip past my defenses and short-circuit rational thought. My pulse thrummed in my ears.I tilted my head back just enough to meet his gaze. Our faces were dangerously close; I could feel the warmth of his breath brushing my lips. “What other test?”His grey eyes darkened, a predatory glint cutting through the usual impenetrable control. I tried to shift backward, craving even an inch of breathing room, but his grip tightened—not painful, but deliberate. A silent reminder that he wasn’t letting go. My back pressed harder into the cool concrete wall behind me.“A physical one,” he said, his vo
"The most dangerous thing about underestimating someone is that they usually let you."VIVIANThe shooting range was in the basement of the compound.I did not know this room existed until Luca led me down two flights of stairs and through a reinforced door and flicked on the lights to reveal a full length range with targets at varying distances and enough weaponry on the side wall to make most people take a step back.I did not take a step back.I looked at it the way I look at most things that are supposed to be intimidating — which is to say I looked at it, assessed it, and decided what I needed from it."This is your test," Luca said. Watching my face for a reaction."Okay," I said.He handed me a gun.Not the one I would have chosen — heavier than my preference, a different distribution of weight than I am used to — but functional and clean and well maintained which tells me about the people who keep this space before it tells me anything else.I checked the magazine the way you
"SOMETIMES THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN YOU AND FALLING APART COMPLETELY IS ONE PERSON WHO REFUSES TO LET YOU."SOFIAThe waiting room chair is the most uncomfortable thing I have ever sat in.I have been in it for forty minutes now and I feel every one of those minutes in my back, my shoulders,
“IT IS TIMES LIKE THESE I CHERISH THE MOST.”SOFIA.I am still in my clothes — a light cotton dress, no shoes — which in retrospect was my first mistake because I should have known the moment I got within three feet of the water what was going to happen.I crouch at the edge, intending to sit and d
“I WANT HIM TO KNOW THAT I AM HERE FOR HIM WITH OPEN HEART, OPEN MOUTH AND OPEN LEGS.”SOFIADante didn’t waste a second.He dragged me across the seat and into his lap, one big hand cupping the back of my neck as his mouth crashed down on mine. The kiss was deep, hungry, seven years of pent-up nee
"She walked in and the whole world forgot to breathe. So did I."DANTEI'm standing at the bottom of the staircase checking my cufflinks when I hear her.Not footsteps exactly. More like the air in the house changes. The way a room shifts when something significant enters it.I look up.And I forge







