Chapter 1

The lights of the Zenith Club were blinding, but not as blinding as the rage Ava Kingman felt.

Her sister, Chloe, stood on a makeshift stage, pregnant and trembling.

Chad Vance, Chloe's fiancé, stood beside her, his arm around a woman Ava didn't recognize, Krystal Bellweather.

Marcus Thorne, owner of this exclusive Las Vegas hellhole, was nowhere in sight yet, but this had his slime all over it.

"Welcome, everyone, to a little game!" Chad's voice boomed, slick and smug.

He gestured to Chloe, whose face was pale with shock and humiliation.

"We're taking bets! Who's the daddy of Chloe's little bundle of... uncertainty?"

Krystal giggled, a shrill, ugly sound.

"Highest bidder gets a special prize!"

A large screen behind them lit up, not with a celebratory image, but with a collage of unflattering, private photos of Chloe, some clearly taken without her knowledge.

Whispers and then outright laughter erupted from the crowd, the so-called elite of new money.

Chloe flinched with each laugh, each flash of a camera phone from the audience.

She looked small, exposed, her hand instinctively going to her swollen belly.

Ava watched from the shadowed alcove, her assistant, Mr. Smith, a silent, imposing figure beside her.

Her blood ran cold, then hot.

This was not just an insult, it was a declaration of war.

And these fools had no idea who they had just provoked.