THE SECRETARY WHO SIGNED MY DEATH WARRANT

a Tuesday morning with bad coffee

he city of New York glittered beneath me like it had secrets of its own. The kin

stile takeovers. Off paper, I was the Don of an empire built on blood, silence, and loyalty. And

n hair pulled into a neat bun that did nothing to hide the curve of her neck. She typed fast, precise, lethal. Every key

yping. "Your ten o'clock is waiting and

e years, Three years since she disappeared without a word, Three years since

on my HR intake list last month. Instead, I hired

aid "Bring me the documen

ion of a sec

were the same stormy gray that haunted my dreams, sharp and u

nger an

?" she asked

ying with controlled tension. The door closed

her used to whisper about the Moretti

mine as she slid it forward. The contact burned, Memories slammed into me without mercy. Her body beneat

mis

e. "Why did you come back?" The words ripped out of

d this

eyes blazing now. "You don't get to

a wound reopening. I stood, towering o

ft me t

k cracked. "I saved you," she whispered. The o

urity said, voice tigh

d, Red alerts flooded in, Account freezes, Asset

ose channels. No one had a

ed to the fol

I just sign?" Her face drained of color. "I told you no

beneath

t wasn't leg

a kil

it was a message from an encrypt

, TARGET CONFIRMED

get

s behind us exploded inward. Glass rained like fro

ehind my desk, shielding her with my

do?" I roared

as clear. "They forced me," she shouted "If I

hing s

nd the next. My enemies weren't ju

ser, Ava looked up at me with a broken sob and whispere

ucien And they're coming

door bu

squad smiled like he'd been