Chapter 2

Maya POV

I found the burner phone taped under the bottom drawer of his mahogany vanity in the walk-in closet.

It was a cheap, disposable thing, the kind drug dealers used on street corners. It felt filthy against my manicured skin, a plastic contagion.

I powered it on. There was no passcode. Why would there be? Who would dare snoop through the Don's private sanctuary?

Only his wife. His perfect, blind wife.

The inbox was a sewer.

Photos. Dozens of them. Ava Sinclair in various states of undress. Ava sunbathing on our yacht. Ava in the passenger seat of the Ferrari Liam swore was in the shop for repairs.

And the texts.

*"She's so boring, Liam. When are you going to leave her?"*

*"Soon, baby. You know how the Commission is. Image is everything. But you're the one who holds my heart."*

I read them all. I scrolled until my thumb cramped.

I waited for tears, but they never came. They had evaporated in the heat of a rage so cold it burned, leaving me hollowed out and crystalline.

I put the phone back exactly where I found it.

Then, I walked to the window overlooking the garden. Below, a sprawling patch of white roses shimmered in the moonlight. Liam had planted them for our first anniversary. He had hired a botanist to create a strain that would survive the brutal New York winters, just for me.

I picked up the house phone and dialed the groundskeeper.

"Mrs. Goldstein?" His voice was groggy. It was 3:00 AM.

"Dig them up."

"Ma'am?"

"The roses. All of them. I want them gone by sunrise. I want nothing but dirt there when I wake up."

"But... the Don..."

"Do it," I snapped, my voice slicing through the silence. "Or you're fired."

I hung up.

Next were the furs. The minks, the chinchillas, the sables. Gifts for birthdays, for apologies, for silence. I pulled them off the hangers, piling them onto the floor like carcasses. Then the jewelry. The diamonds, the emeralds. I swept them into a velvet sack.

I wrote a note for the housekeeper: *Donate to the women's shelter. Anonymously.*

I was purging him. Scraping him off my skin.

The front door opened downstairs at 6:00 AM.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in a simple silk robe, staring at the pages of a book I wasn't absorbing.

Liam walked in. He looked weary, his tie loosened, his shirt slightly rumpled. He smelled of *her*. That cloying, floral scent was woven into the very fibers of his bespoke suit.

He saw me and smiled-that practiced, weary smile of a man carrying the weight of the world.

"Hey," he murmured, crossing the room. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around me from behind, burying his face in the crook of my neck. "I missed you."

My body went rigid. My skin crawled where his breath touched me. It took every ounce of my willpower not to retch right there on the Egyptian cotton sheets.

"You're tense," he noted, pulling back slightly.

"I didn't sleep well," I said.

He kissed my cheek. "I'm sorry I was gone so long. The union negotiations were brutal."

"I bet they were," I said, my voice flat.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long, thin velvet box. "I picked this up for you. Just because."

He opened it. A diamond tennis bracelet glittered inside. It was heavy, expensive, and utterly soulless.

"It's beautiful," I said, making no move to take it. "Is this the going rate for loyalty these days?"

Liam's smile faltered for a nanosecond. His eyes, usually so sharp, darted to mine, searching for a crack in the mask. Then he laughed, a low rumble. "Don't be cynical, Maya. It's just a gift. I love spoiling you."

"Right."

His phone rang. He glanced at the screen and sighed. "I have to take this. It's the lawyer."

He walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I stood up and walked to the hamper where he had tossed his shirt. I picked it up and brought the collar to my nose.

Chanel No. 5. Ava's signature.

A wave of nausea hit me so hard I doubled over. The room spun. I rushed to the guest bathroom and emptied my stomach.

It wasn't just disgust.

I sat on the cold tile floor, my hand trembling as it touched my flat stomach. My period was late. Two weeks late. I had attributed it to stress.

I got dressed and drove myself to a private clinic in Queens, far away from the family's usual doctors. I used a fake name.

An hour later, the doctor handed me a black and white photo.

"Congratulations," she said, smiling gently. "You're about six weeks along."

I stared at the grainy image. A tiny, pulsating grain of rice.

A child.

Liam's child.

The heir he had always wanted. The "Prince" of New York.

I walked out of the clinic into the blinding sunlight. The noise of the city was deafening, a chaotic symphony that matched the storm in my head. I sat in my car and stared at the steering wheel.

My phone buzzed. A text from Ava Sinclair. She must have stolen my number from Liam's phone while he slept.

It was a photo of them together on our yacht. Liam was asleep, shirtless. Ava was kissing his cheek, looking at the camera with a triumphant smirk.

*"He sleeps so peacefully with me. Don't worry, I'll take good care of him."*

I looked at the ultrasound photo in my hand. Then at the text.

This child... this innocent life... if it was born into this, it would be a pawn. A bargaining chip. Or worse, it would grow up to be just like him.

I drove home. The house was empty. Liam had gone out again.

I walked to the wall safe in the bedroom. I punched in the code-our wedding date. I opened it and placed the ultrasound photo inside, right next to the diamond bracelet he had given me that morning.

I locked it.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Pale. Hollow. Broken.

No. Not broken.

Sharpened.

I placed a hand on my stomach.

"You won't be a pawn," I whispered to the nothingness. "And I won't be a victim."

A plan began to form in the wreckage of my mind. It was crazy. It was dangerous. It was the only way out.

Maya Goldstein had to die so that *I* could live.