Billing My Ex: The Queen's Glorious Return

mily. I drained my own inheritance to bribe cops, hire under

ith a custom-forged gift, I saw the syndicate announcement. D

ed him, he brus

ou are my fiancée. She i

told me to stop throwing a tantrum. Hi

You manage the househol

extraction funds-money meant to keep his famil

on camera sleeping with Serena. I gave them my youth, my money, and m

even years of fierce loyalty

't shed a

ll for $367,420, dropped my safe hou

would build m

pte

a

's penthouse club, the weight of a velvet box in my hand a cold anchor in the wind. Inside it, a custom-forged dagger for our seventh betrothal ann

red my future a void. The Don I had spent seven years shedding bl

if I were to walk through those doors now, I would be sealing myself

st the nap of the velvet, the box's

He was a man who, to secure the leather-bound chair his father had vacated,

to whom my life was

the bone of my hand. It wa

ating the mole. Go back to the ho

e the rain found its way through the seams of my wool coat,

e latest entry was a picture of a plush red boot

Ruling from a distance is too

e daughter of his most power

the beautiful

ring their congratulations. They were

ing. A low, rhythmic pulse from the top floor throbbed down through

three separate underground doctors on three separate burner phones, all to ensure his parents' frail bodies were shielded from the consequences of the life he led while securing his hold on the 43rd Street container port and the city's gambling dens. For seven years, I

tner. I had believed the futu

glass doors. Two men, their shoulders straining the fab

" I said, the words eme

rled his lip. "The Boss i

that Eva Rossi is at hi

y made man knew the name of the woman who held the keys to

the faint, tinny squawk of a distant voice. The blood drained from his face, leaving behind a waxy pallor. Hi

f oppressive warmth and low light, the air t

owed was broken when I placed a small, leather-bound ledger beside it. It contained the

hoed in the hall as the

steppe

in every shadow. He wore a dark, perfectly tailored suit

th the scent of expensive whiskey and a gardenia per

re that vibrated with impatience. "What are you

istance between us, rea

ack, leaving his fingers to close

u were at a war

his collar. Against the starched white fabric w

his jawline. The quiet of the lobby seemed to d

red. "I am handling business. You do no

said, each word spaced and precise. "Delete the post, Dante. Er

n his pride and my terms. I looked at the velvet box on the marbl

I had commissioned it six months ago, its weight and balance calibrated

g cut throug

o silence the call. He pulled the device halfway out, and in the brief mome

d it. He looked back at me. There was a brief flare of panic in his dar

ded. "We will talk about this tomorro

to the velvet box, my fingers c

ard, their hands dropping to the hols

box and into the sheath strapped to my thigh,

Dante," I said. My voice did not shake. My r

hand through his already disordered hair. "Yo

ply turned on my heel and began th

ply in the cavernous lobby. "If you walk ou

n the air like a

to the lashing rain. And I did not look back-because for the first time in sev

arble counter. The first crack in the Viper's composure. But it was only the beginning. The man inside had spent