Chapter 1

I stood in the center of the ballroom, watching my husband accept credit for the massacre I had meticulously planned.

To the underworld, Craig Snyder was the King, a strategic genius who had crippled the Russian mafia.

To me, he was the man who had just re-gifted my anniversary present-a Patek Philippe watch-to match the diamond bracelet dangling from his mistress's wrist.

The Senator's daughter, Chanel, laughed at a joke only he could hear, wearing a red dress and a look of naive adoration that used to be mine.

When I confronted him, expecting an apology, Craig didn't just dismiss me.

He slapped me across the face in front of the city's elite, the sound echoing like a gunshot.

He yanked the wedding ring off my finger, drawing blood, and placed it into Chanel's palm, calling me a hysterical, barren relic.

Later, I found the forged documents. He had signed my name to transfer every asset we built together into his sole possession, leaving me with nothing but a hush-money check.

He thought I was just a scorned wife. He forgot that I was the architect of his empire.

So, I drove my car off a bridge.

I let the world believe I was dead. I let him mourn the woman he destroyed while I watched from the shadows, erasing his existence from my accounts.

Six months later, at the Global Crime Summit, Craig stood up with a diamond ring, ready to beg my memory for forgiveness.

But the doors opened, and I didn't walk in alone.

I walked onto the stage holding the hand of his deadliest rival, Felix Tyson.

I wasn't there to take him back. I was there to take his kingdom.

Chapter 1

Dessie POV

I stood anchored in the center of the ballroom, watching my husband accept credit for the massacre I had planned, while his mistress laughed at a joke only he could hear.

The burner phone taped to my inner thigh buzzed against my skin-a lethal secret beneath the emerald silk. I didn't need to look at the screen to know the message.

*"He signed the transfer order an hour ago. You have until midnight to get out, or you become the next tragic accident in the Snyder family history."*

The champagne flute in my hand didn't shatter. I didn't scream.

I just took a sip, the bubbles tasting like battery acid against the bile rising in my throat.

Craig Snyder was the King of the city, a man whose name made grown men check their locks twice. He was handsome in that sharp, predatory way that made women want to be devoured.

Tonight, he was celebrating the success of "Operation Chimera," a strategic masterstroke that had crippled our rival families and consolidated his power.

Everyone raised their glasses to him. They praised his foresight. They lauded his genius.

I stood there in my silk gown, the dutiful wife, the trophy on his arm. They didn't know I was the one who stayed up until four in the morning mapping out supply lines.

They didn't know I was the one who found the weakness in the Russian's defense.

They saw a pretty face. Craig saw a tool he was done using.

He was in the corner now. The shadows of the vaulted ceiling seemed to bend toward him, feeding his ego. He wasn't looking at me.

His eyes were locked on a girl in a red dress. She couldn't have been more than twenty-two.

Her skin was unblemished, her laughter too loud, her eyes full of a naive adoration that used to be mine.

I watched them. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion.

He leaned in close to her. His lips brushed her ear. It was a gesture of intimacy that belonged to us. It belonged to the late nights we spent whispering about the future, about safety, about building a legacy that didn't involve blood on the pavement.

Now, he was whispering to her while the Capos around him nodded in approval.

"Craig has outdone himself," one of the older lieutenants grunted, standing beside me. "Chimera was brilliant. The Russians didn't see it coming."

"He is very talented," I said. My voice was steady. It sounded like someone else's voice.

"He's a visionary," another man added. "And he's finally securing the political connections we need. That girl... her father is the Senator."

The pieces clicked into place with a sickening sound in my head.

The Senator's daughter. Political immunity.

That was the one thing I couldn't give him. I gave him my mind, my soul, my strategies, but I couldn't give him the law.

Craig looked up. His eyes met mine across the crowded room.

For a second, I saw it. The panic. It was a flicker, quick as a heartbeat, but I knew him better than I knew myself. He wasn't just cheating. He was scared.

He looked away instantly, his hand tightening on the girl's waist.

I needed to breathe. The air in the ballroom was thick with expensive perfume and the metallic scent of ambition.

I started to replay the last few months in my head. The late nights at the "office." The changed passwords. The way he stopped asking for my input on the shipments.

It wasn't just an affair. It was a replacement.

Craig stepped away from the girl and walked toward me. The crowd parted for him like the Red Sea. He had that aura of violence wrapped in a tuxedo.

He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. His eyes were cold, dead things.

"Dessie," he said. He wrapped his arm around my waist. His fingers dug into my flesh, possessive and painful. "You look tired, darling."

"It's a long night," I said. I tried not to flinch. His touch used to be my anchor. Now it felt like a brand.

"Smile," he whispered against my temple. "Everyone is watching."

I smiled. It felt like the skin of my face was cracking.

He raised his hand to wave at a business partner. That was when I saw it.

The watch.

It was a Patek Philippe. I had spent six months tracking it down for our fifth anniversary. I had hidden it in my drawer, waiting for the right moment. It was supposed to be a surprise.

He was wearing it.

And on the wrist of the Senator's daughter, a diamond bracelet dangled. The diamonds were set in a unique pattern. A pattern that matched the bezel of the watch perfectly.

He hadn't just bought her jewelry. He had taken my gift, my symbol of love, and paired it with hers.

The nausea hit me hard. It wasn't just betrayal. It was erasure. He was rewriting our history while I was still standing in it.

"I need some air," I said. I pulled away before he could stop me.

"Don't go far," he warned. His voice was low, a threat wrapped in velvet. "We have an announcement to make later."

I walked out of the ballroom. My heels clicked against the marble floor of the hallway. The sound echoed like gunshots.

I didn't go to the terrace. I went to the powder room. I locked the door and leaned against it, my breath coming in short, jagged gasps.

The reflection in the mirror showed a woman who was perfectly put together. Hair sleek. Makeup flawless. But the eyes were haunted.

I had built him. I had polished his rough edges. I had turned a street thug into a King. And now he was going to discard me.

I pulled out my phone. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped it. I dialed a number I hadn't used in years.

"Elek," I whispered when the line connected.

"Dessie?" His voice was rough, surprised. Elek Preston was the family's Consigliere, the only man who knew where the bodies were buried and who actually dug the graves.

He was also the only man who had ever looked at me with respect instead of lust.

"I need to see you," I said. "Tomorrow. The old safe house."

"Is everything okay?"

"No," I said. "Craig is going to kill me."

I hung up and washed my face with cold water. I dried my skin carefully. I couldn't let them see. I couldn't let him win.

I unlocked the door and walked back into the lion's den.

Craig was waiting for me near the entrance. He looked at me with that victorious smirk, the one he wore when he had cornered an enemy.

He thought I was weak. He thought I was just his canary in a gilded cage.

I met his gaze. I didn't look away.

The storm wasn't coming. It was already here. And I was going to be the lightning that burned his kingdom to the ground.