ien

the sheep in the pen and the w

th the kind of terror that usually precedes a scream. She looked at me not as a savior, bu

asn't

I pulled my phone from my suit pocket and dialed Irvin Pope, my Underboss.

f inflection. "Silas Thorne. Terminate

hed at the sou

ery partner in Chicago. Let them know that Maddox money no longer backs him. If he has a loan, call it in. If he has a

t me, realizing for the first time the magnitude of the monster she had sign

" I or

ides eating up the distance to the main floor. I could feel her scramb

ed. Except for Colette Spears. She stood by her desk, a smug, poisonous

aunt Charlene's interests by throwing a lamb to a wolf. S

r desk. The office temperature se

red, smoothing her skirt.

ion would be intimate before it became public. "I was under the impression that Prosperity

faltered

said, my eyes boring into hers. "Either you are dangerously stupid, or yo

d Rat carried a weight in my world

d, her gaze darting nervously to Isabell

es. You will report to the archives in the basement. Re-file the last five years of trans

e threat hang in the air like

kage of her career. I didn't look back at Isabel

fice. Cortez Riggs, my Enforcer, materialized in the doorway. He moved like a shadow

e sheet of paper

ntact," Cortez said

had called her cousin, Jovani Langley. The man who had pawed at her at the t

z reported, his face impassive. "He was..

d up. "

ghost. He told Mrs. Maddox that she deserves a

ped. Ink bled onto my f

wa

p of respect in a family that wanted him dead. Jovani Langley didn't just insult a fake ident

. The rage in my chest was a cold, har

de sins and the wine expensive enough to wash them down. I walked in, the

a table. I n

ly. Jovani Langley sat in a semi-private

's head. Long, dark curls cascaded down her back, identical to

an cold, t

something that made her shoulders shake-laughter? Crying?-and then he leaned

clouded m

station. After I saved her today. She was mocking me, playing the innocen

as going to kill him. I was going to drag him out of this booth and beat him until

Mad

came from

hesitant, and laced with conf

ence still coiling in my

r purse like a shield. She looked from me to the maître d', her eyes wid

at her boss, completely unaware that she was