Chapter 5

Ember POV

I woke up to the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. The air smelled sharp-a sterile blend of antiseptic and lilies.

My throat felt like it had been scrubbed with steel wool.

I opened my eyes, blinking against the harsh light. I was in a private hospital suite.

Karyn was sitting in the armchair by the window, scrolling on her phone. She looked impeccable, as if she hadn't just watched me nearly die on a club floor less than twelve hours ago.

Chace was standing by the bed. He was holding a plastic cup of porridge.

"You're awake." His voice broke the silence. He sounded relieved, but it was the cold relief of someone who had just avoided a lawsuit, not a tragedy. "You scared us."

I tried to speak, but only a painful croak came out.

"Don't talk," he said, holding up a spoon like I was a toddler. "Doctor said your throat is swollen. Anaphylaxis. Stupid, Ember. Why did you drink that?"

I stared at him. *Because you let them hunt me.*

"Here," he said, offering the porridge. "Eat. You need your strength."

I turned my head away, refusing the gesture.

"Come on," he coaxed, his voice taking on that fake-sweet tone that made my skin crawl. "I'm taking care of you. See? I'm here."

"She's fine, Chace," Karyn said, not even looking up from her phone. "She did it for attention. Who forgets their own allergy?"

"She's stressed," Chace said, defending her cruelty with a dismissive shrug. "The merger is hard on everyone."

Karyn's phone rang, cutting through the tension. She answered it on speaker, because privacy is for poor people.

"Mother?"

"Karyn!" The voice was shrill and vibrating with rage. "That little rat's mother is causing problems again. The lawyers found a discrepancy in the archives. Liana Ford's name is popping up in the sealed indictments."

My blood ran cold in my veins. My mother.

"She's dead, Mother," Karyn sighed, picking at a nonexistent piece of lint on her dress.

"Her ghost isn't!" Karyn's mother shrieked. "She was a rat, Karyn. A snitch. And her daughter is probably one too. We need to bury that family's reputation before the wedding. If the Commission thinks we associated with rats, the alliance is void."

I closed my eyes. It was the same lie they had used to kill her. My mother wasn't a rat. She was just an artist who had seen something she shouldn't have-Karyn's mother leaving a hotel room with a rival Boss. They framed her to cover their own treason.

Chace looked at me. His expression hardened, all traces of the concerned fiancé vanishing instantly.

"Is that true?" he asked me. "Did your mother leave files?"

I shook my head frantically.

"If she did," Chace said, his voice dropping to a low growl, "I will burn everything she ever touched. I won't let a dead snitch ruin my empire."

He wasn't just asking. He was threatening.

"We need to get ahead of this," Karyn said, standing up and smoothing her skirt. "The Charity Auction is tonight. We need to show unity. And we need to make a statement about where our loyalties lie."

She looked at me with cold calculation.

"She comes with us," Karyn said.

"She's sick," Chace said, but his protest was weak, a token gesture.

"She looks fine," Karyn countered. "She needs to be seen supporting us. Supporting the family that *graciously* keeps her alive despite her bloodline."

Chace looked at me. He looked at the porridge in his hand, then set it down on the tray with a finality that chilled me.

"Get dressed, Ember," he said. "We have an event."

"I... can't..." I rasped.

"You can," he said. "And you will. The Mosley family will be there. The Don himself. I need to show him my house is in order. That means my fiancée and my... ward... are on the same page."

*Mosley.*

The name sparked a fire in my chest. Keith would be there.

This wasn't a punishment. It was an exit strategy.

I looked at Chace. I looked at the man I had once thought I loved, the man who was now threatening to desecrate my mother's memory to save his own skin.

I forced myself to sit up. Pain shot through my chest, but I ignored it.

I nodded.

Chace smiled. "Good girl."

He left the room to get the discharge papers. Karyn followed him, already typing a press release on her phone.

As soon as the door clicked shut, adrenaline surged, masking the pain. I snatched my phone from the bedside table.

My fingers flew across the screen.

*To: Mr. Mosley*

*I'll be at the Auction. I'm ready.*

The reply came instantly.

*Wear red.*