Chapter 3

I went home and spent the night staring at my ceiling.

I opened my phone and scrolled to my last texts with Lily.

"Sera, I'm scared. They said I have to disappear for a while."

"Don't look for me. Promise me."

"I love you. Tell Mom I'm sorry."

That was eleven months ago.

I'd read those messages so many times the words had lost all meaning—and then suddenly regained it, sharper than ever.

My mother had a breakdown two months after Lily vanished. She stopped eating. Stopped speaking. The doctors called it acute stress disorder. I called it a broken heart.

I'd sold my car, drained my savings, maxed out every credit card to keep her in the care facility.

When the money ran out, I took the most dangerous assignment at the paper.

Investigate the Moretti family.

The deeper I dug, the more I found. Shell companies. Bribes. Bodies.

And now Lily, alive, standing next to the devil himself.

The next morning, Dante's men showed up at my apartment.

Marco handed me a garment bag.

"Boss wants you at dinner tonight. Eight o'clock."

"I'm not his date."

Marco shrugged. "He said you'd say that. He also said to remind you—he's the only thing standing between your sister and a shallow grave."

I unzipped the bag.

Inside was a black silk dress that probably cost more than three months of my rent.

At eight o'clock sharp, I walked into the same restaurant.

Dante was already seated, looking like sin wrapped in a three-piece suit.

When he saw me in the dress, his gaze traveled slowly from my heels to my face.

He pulled out my chair himself.

"You clean up well, Ms. Parker."

"You summoned me like a dog, Mr. Moretti. Let's skip the compliments."

His lips twitched.

Over dinner, he laid out his terms.

Lily had stolen something from a rival family—the Castellanos—before fleeing to Dante for protection. A ledger containing every illegal transaction the Castellanos had made in the last decade.

The Castellanos wanted Lily dead. The FBI wanted the ledger. And Dante was using both as leverage to keep his empire intact.

"Where do I fit into this?" I asked.

"You're a journalist. The Castellanos know your face now. If they find out Lily is your sister, they'll use you to get to her."

"So you're, what, protecting me?"

"I'm containing you."

"Same thing in your world, isn't it?"

He leaned forward, candlelight dancing in his dark eyes.

"I'm going to make you an offer, Sera. Work for me. Use your skills, your connections at the paper. Help me feed the Castellanos false information."

"And in return?"

"You get to see Lily. You get money for your mother's care. And you get to live."

I stared at him.

The rational part of my brain screamed run.

But the part of me that had cried alone every night for eleven months, the part that watched my mother waste away, the part that would do anything—anything—to bring my family back—

That part said yes.

"One condition," I said. "I see Lily first. Tonight."

Dante studied me. Then nodded.

Marco drove us to a safe house on the outskirts of the city.

When Lily opened the door, she looked healthy. Safe. Even... happy.

Then she saw me, and her face crumbled.

"Sera? Oh God, Sera—"

We collapsed into each other, sobbing.

She pulled back and held my face in her hands.

"I told you not to look for me."

"Since when do I listen to you?"

She laughed through her tears.

Then her eyes moved to Dante, standing in the doorway, watching us.

Something passed between them—a look so intimate it made my chest tight.

"Lily," I whispered. "Are you with him?"

She didn't answer.

She didn't have to.

On the drive back, I sat in silence.

Dante glanced at me. "You're quiet."

"My sister is sleeping with a mafia boss. Forgive me if I need a minute."

"She's not just sleeping with me."

"Oh, that makes it so much better."

He almost smiled.

"She's important to me, Sera. I won't let anyone hurt her."

I turned to face him.

"Then why do I feel like you're the most dangerous thing in her life?"

His expression hardened.

But he didn't deny it.