Chapter 1 - The Man in the ShadowsThe first drop of acid never touched Claire Whitmore’s face.
It splashed onto the velvet couch beside her hand.
Hiss.
Smoke curled upward as the fabric burned through.
Claire froze.
Across from her, Mason Cole tightened his grip on the vial, his drunken face twisted with rage.
“If I can’t have you,” he said, “I’ll make sure nobody ever wants you.”
Then someone caught his wrist.
Mason jerked around.
A man in a charcoal suit stood beside him, calm enough to be terrifying.
He had been sitting alone in the corner of the VIP lounge all night, an untouched glass of bourbon in front of him, watching everything.
Now he looked at the ruined couch.
Then at Claire.
Then Mason.
“You brought acid into a crowded room,” he said softly. “And aimed it at a woman who already said no.”
Mason tried to pull free.
He couldn’t.
Three men in dark suits appeared behind the stranger.
Mason’s friends went silent.
Recognition spread across his face.
“You’re…”
“Yes.”
The stranger’s voice remained quiet.
“And you just made the worst decision of your life.”
Claire could barely breathe.
She knew this man.
Not personally.
But everyone in Charleston knew his name.
Adrian Voss.
A billionaire who owned shipping companies, private security firms, luxury hotels, and half the docks on the eastern coast.
The newspapers called him an entrepreneur.
People who worked around the harbor called him something else.
The Black Wolf.
A man who supposedly never lost a deal, never forgave a betrayal, and never raised his voice because he never needed to.
Mason swallowed.
“This has nothing to do with you.”
Adrian looked at him.
“It became my business when you tried to hurt her.”
Mason laughed nervously.
“You don’t know her.”
Adrian’s gaze shifted toward Claire.
Something unreadable passed through his eyes.
“I know more than you think.”
Claire’s heart stumbled.
Mason noticed.
His expression darkened.
“Claire. Come here.”
She didn’t move.
For the first time in years, she didn’t obey him automatically.
Mason reached for her.
One of Adrian’s men stepped forward.
Mason stopped.
Then the club doors exploded open.
Police.
Claire’s stomach dropped.
Mason smiled.
“You think you won?”
A detective stormed into the lounge with several officers behind him.
“Claire Whitmore?”
“Yes?”
“You need to come with us.”
Mason’s smile widened.
“Exactly.”
Claire stared at the detective.
“What?”
“You’re being investigated for financial fraud, money laundering, and illegal transfers through the Whitmore Foundation.”
The room spun.
“That’s impossible.”
The detective held up a folder.
“We have transaction records bearing your authorization.”
Claire looked at Mason.
He was smiling.
Not drunkenly.
Not nervously.
Triumphantly.
She understood.
The acid wasn’t the real attack.
It was the distraction.
Mason had spent months preparing something much worse.
He wanted her ruined.
Her fortune.
Her foundation.
Her name.
Everything.
Claire looked toward Adrian.
For the first time, his calm expression cracked.
Not fear.
Fury.
He stepped closer.
“Don’t say another word,” he told Claire.
She stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because someone inside your house is feeding Mason information.”
Claire’s blood went cold.
Adrian leaned closer, his voice low enough that only she could hear.
“And if I’m right…”
He looked toward the police.
“…tonight was never supposed to end with you alive.”
Claire’s breath caught.
Before she could ask what he meant, the lights in the club suddenly went out.
A gunshot tore through the darkness.
People screamed.
Glass shattered.
And Claire felt Adrian’s arm wrap around her waist as he dragged her to the floor.
Another shot rang out.
Then another.
When the emergency lights flickered back on, Mason was gone.
But the detective who had come to arrest Claire was lying motionless on the floor.
And on his chest was a single black playing card.
A wolf.
Claire stared at it.
May you like
Adrian whispered beside her ear.
“Now you know why I was watching.”
