Chapter 2

Jax solidified his iron grip on New Orleans.

Clara Boudreaux, once Izzy's closest friend, now stood by Jax's side, his new queen.

Her betrayal was a sharp, fresh wound on top of everything else.

Izzy was cast aside, confined to a crumbling outbuilding on the vast plantation grounds.

It was a prison, stripped of all status, all dignity.

She tried to end it.

Once, twice, three times.

Each attempt was met with a new horror.

Jax didn't let her die.

Instead, he unearthed her family's graves.

Her father's bones, then Beau's.

He desecrated them, displaying pieces, sending her messages written in their dust.

"You don't die unless I say so, Izzy," he'd told her, his voice a low growl after her last attempt. "Your suffering has just begun."

So, Izzy stopped fighting.

She stopped trying to escape the torment.

A different clock was ticking for her anyway.

The secret she carried, the bargain made years ago in the dark heart of Blackwood Bayou to save Jax's life, was claiming its due.

A slow, agonizing decay, a curse Maman Brigitte had warned her about.

It was nearing its final, terrible stage.

She had days left, maybe less.

She would be free of Jax, free of the pain, soon enough.

Her only regret was the curse wouldn't take her before she saw more of his cruelty.