Chapter 1

My husband sat at the head of the table, cutting into his medium-rare steak like a king. To the world, Brendan Wiggins was a legitimate businessman. To me, he was the Mafia Don whose empire I had built brick by digital brick.

Then my burner phone vibrated against my thigh. It wasn't a threat from a rival gang. It was a photo of a positive pregnancy test sent by his mistress.

I watched a video of him in her apartment-a place he visited while I thought he was working. I heard him tell her, "Ellery is functional. She handles the books. But you're giving me the legacy. She's just the furniture I keep to impress guests."

He had taken the trauma of the car crash that left me infertile-the crash he caused-and used it to mock me with another woman. He thought I was his broken doll. He thought I was safe because I was dependent on him.

He forgot that I was the Architect. I designed the encrypted channels that kept him out of prison. I controlled the offshore accounts.

I didn't cry. I simply applied a coat of blood-red lipstick and tapped a dormant script on my smartwatch.

While he poured me a glass of wine and called me his "sanctuary," I drained fifty million dollars from his shell companies.

I wasn't just leaving. I had an appointment with a black-market neuroscientist to chemically erase my memories.

By tomorrow, Brendan wouldn't just be bankrupt; to me, he wouldn't even exist.

Chapter 1

A photo of a plastic stick shouldn't have the power to dismantle a billion-dollar empire, but the phone vibrating against my palm was about to burn mine to the ground.

The screen of my burner device lit up beneath the heavy linen tablecloth. It was a positive pregnancy test.

The caption was short, brutal, and crafted with surgical precision.

He needs an heir, Ellery. You're just the furniture he keeps to impress the guests.

I didn't gasp. I didn't flinch. I just stared at the pixelated image of my replacement while the man who swore to protect me sliced into his medium-rare steak less than three feet away.

Brendan Wiggins sat at the head of the table like a king presiding over a court of casualties. He was the Don of the New York Syndicate, a man whose name made prosecutors stutter and rivals simply cease to exist.

To the world, he was a legitimate businessman, a philanthropist with a jawline cut from granite and eyes like frozen Atlantic water. To me, he was the man who pulled me from a burning car ten years ago. The man who groomed me, molded me, and claimed me.

"The steak is excellent," Brendan said, his voice a low rumble that used to make my stomach flip. Now, it just sounded like static.

"You should eat, El. You look pale."

"I'm fine," I said. My voice was steady. It had to be. In this house, weakness was a death sentence.

He smiled-that charming, predatory smile that disarmed senators and hitmen alike. "Business is good. The port deal is closing tomorrow. We're untouchable."

He was lying.

I knew he was lying because I was the one who made him untouchable. I was the Architect.

While he played the role of the violent warlord, I was the ghost in the machine. I built the encrypted laundering channels. I designed the cybersecurity fortress that kept the FBI blind. I was the reason his offshore accounts in the Caymans were mathematically invisible.

But tonight, the Architect saw a crack in the foundation.

I glanced at the GPS tracker running silently on my smartwatch. It showed his location history clearly: He hadn't been at the port. He had been at an apartment in the Upper East Side.

Kiya's apartment.

I looked at him-really looked at him. He was wearing the cufflinks I gave him for our fifth anniversary. He looked perfect. He looked like a devoted husband.

My phone buzzed again. A video file this time.

"Excuse me," I said, standing up. "I need to powder my nose."

Brendan didn't look up from his steak. "Don't be long. I want to discuss the gala guest list."

I walked to the bathroom, my heels clicking on the marble floor like a countdown. I locked the door and leaned against the cold sink. My hands were trembling, not from fear, but from a rage so cold it felt like hypothermia.

I pressed play.

The video was shaky, taken from a hidden angle. It showed Brendan pacing in a living room I didn't recognize. Kiya was on the sofa, rubbing her stomach.

"She's functional, Kiya," Brendan's voice came through the speaker, dismissive and cruel. "Ellery is the face. She handles the books. She keeps the heat off. But you... you're giving me the legacy. A man doesn't leave his castle just because he bought a summer home."

Functional.

The word echoed off the tiled walls, louder than a gunshot.

I wasn't his wife. I wasn't his partner. I was a high-value asset with a fatal defect.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The woman staring back was beautiful, poised, and dead inside. She was the Mafia Queen, a construct of silk and silence.

Ten years ago, the car crash took my parents and my ability to carry a child. Brendan had used that trauma to bind me to him. He told me I was broken, and only he could hold the pieces together.

He didn't save me. He acquired me.

And now, he had violated the only law that mattered between us. Loyalty. He didn't just cheat. He shared my private medical shame with his mistress to keep her compliant.

I didn't cry. Tears were for people who had hope.

I opened my clutch and took out a tube of blood-red lipstick. I applied it carefully, tracing the curve of my lips like I was painting war paint.

I wasn't going to divorce him. A divorce leaves a paper trail. A divorce leaves you vulnerable. In this life, you don't walk away. You vanish.

I tapped the screen of my phone, initiating a dormant background script I had written three months ago. It was a simple command, but it would start draining the liquidity from the shell companies I controlled within seconds.

I put the phone away and unlocked the door.

When I returned to the dining room, Brendan was pouring a glass of wine. He looked up, his eyes sweeping over me with possessive pride.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

I sat down and picked up my fork. "Everything is perfect, Brendan."

I sliced into my meat.

Ellery Rich died in that bathroom. The woman sitting here was just a ghost waiting to burn the haunting down.