Chapter 2

Seraphina Caruso POV

I finished the steak.

It was a mechanical act-mere fuel. I needed the calories for what came next.

Without hesitation, I poured the remaining two thousand dollars' worth of vintage Barolo down the sink. The red liquid swirled into the drain, vanishing just like the wasted years of my youth.

I pulled my phone from my pocket-not the burner, but my encrypted personal device-and dialed a number that didn't exist in any public directory.

"Midnight Movers," a gravelly voice answered.

"Code Black," I said. "Extraction. One hour. Penthouse at the Millennium Tower."

The line went quiet for a beat. "That's a Gallo residence," the voice said, sounding hesitant.

"Triple the hazard pay. Cash. And I need a clean sweep. No traces."

"We'll be there in twenty."

I hung up and walked into the bedroom.

This place was a museum of my stupidity. The velvet headboard, the silk sheets, the walk-in closet filled with gowns bought for events I was never allowed to attend.

I went to the back of the closet and pulled out three duffel bags. I always kept them packed. It was a habit from growing up in a world where police raids were more common than pizza deliveries.

I moved through the room with the efficiency of a surgeon.

First, I took the laptop with the black casing-my personal server access.

Next, I took the hard drives hidden in the false bottom of the jewelry box.

Finally, I took the passport that had my face but a different name.

I opened the jewelry drawer. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires. Gifts from Dante. Apology tokens for missed birthdays, for late nights, for the secrets he kept.

I looked at them and felt nothing. They were cold stones paid for with blood money.

I left them all.

I only took the simple gold chain my grandmother gave me before she died.

The elevator chimed. Four men in gray jumpsuits entered. They didn't speak. They didn't ask why the Don's mistress was fleeing in the middle of the night.

"Box the clothes that I bought," I commanded, pointing to the left side of the closet. "Leave everything he paid for. If the receipt has his name, it stays."

They worked fast. In forty minutes, my life was reduced to ten cardboard boxes and three duffel bags.

I stood by the door. The penthouse looked exactly as it had when I moved in. Cold. Impersonal. Empty.

I walked over to the console table where a framed photo of us in Tuscany sat. We were smiling. I remembered that trip. He had spent the whole week on the phone with his father, and I had spent the whole week building the encryption software that saved his family from a RICO case.

I flipped the photo face down.

"Let's go," I said to the lead mover.

We took the service elevator. The lobby was too risky.

A black SUV waited in the alley. Not a town car. An armored transport.

I climbed into the back seat. As the car pulled away, merging into the city traffic, my phone buzzed.

It was Dante.

Stop the drama. I'm at the club. Go back to the apartment. If you're not there when I get back, I'll send Rocco to drag you home.

I stared at the screen.

He still thought this was a tantrum. He thought he could threaten me with his Capo, his best friend, the man whose engagement ring Isabella had returned to sleep with Dante.

He didn't realize that the cage door was open, and the bird had already flown.

"Where to, Miss?" the driver asked.

"The Navy Yard," I said. "Building 4."

I had bought a loft there six months ago under a shell company owned by a trust in the Cayman Islands. A concrete fortress in an industrial zone. Far from the luxury penthouses. Far from the Gallo territory.

I leaned my head against the cool glass of the window. The city lights blurred into streaks of neon.

I wasn't crying. I wasn't screaming.

I was calculating.

Dante thought he was the player. He thought he was the King on the chessboard.

But he forgot that the Queen can move in any direction she wants.