Chapter 1 - “Make your choice.”Barrett’s voice echoed through the eighty-eighth-floor ballroom.
Fifteen women stood beneath the chandeliers, each the daughter of a powerful Manhattan family.
Kendrick Ashford, the feared ruler of the East Coast syndicate, barely looked at them.
He had no interest in choosing a wife.
Then Titan stood.
The 150-pound Neapolitan Mastiff crossed the marble floor, ignoring every woman in the room.
He stopped at the darkest corner.
A poor waitress named Willa stood there, clutching an empty silver tray.
Titan stared at her.
Then he slowly lay at her feet.
His tail began to wag.
The entire ballroom froze.
No one had ever seen Titan trust a stranger.
Willa cautiously touched his head.
“Titan... what’s gotten into you?”
Then Penny, Kendrick’s five-year-old daughter, stepped forward.
The little girl had barely spoken to anyone in three years.
She pointed at Willa.
“I want her, Daddy.”
A champagne glass slipped from someone’s hand and shattered.
Barrett immediately exploded.
“She manipulated the child!”
“Get that waitress out!”
Two guards moved toward Willa.
Titan growled.
Penny grabbed Willa’s uniform.
Then Kendrick spoke.
“If anyone touches her...”
He looked at the guards.
“...they won’t leave this building the way they entered.”
Everyone stopped.
Kendrick walked straight toward Willa.
The powerful mafia boss stood inches from the trembling waitress.
“Who are you?”
“I’m nobody, sir.”
But she didn't look away.
That caught his attention.
Everyone feared Kendrick Ashford.
This woman didn't.
He glanced at Penny.
Then Titan.
Then Willa.
“She stays.”
Two words.
The entire ceremony was over.
Hours later, Willa was taken to a private suite.
Alone, she finally let her mask slip.
For six years, she had hidden her real identity.
She had changed her name, her appearance, and her entire life.
Because the man who now controlled her fate belonged to the very syndicate that had destroyed everything she loved.
And Kendrick had just brought her straight into its heart.
Willa locked the suite door.
Her hands were shaking.
Not from fear.
From the photograph she had just pulled out of her shoe.
It showed a burning mansion.
Six years earlier.
The Ashford estate.
Her childhood home.
Her father had been the head of security for the Ashford family.
Her mother had run the household accounts.
And Willa had been the sixteen-year-old daughter everyone believed died that night.
But she had survived.
Barely.
She had watched from a hiding place as men in black coats entered the mansion.
She had heard gunshots.
She had heard her mother scream.
And before the fire swallowed the house, she had seen one face clearly.
A face she had never forgotten.
Barrett.
Willa stared at the photograph.
“He’s still here.”
A knock came at the door.
She shoved the photograph beneath the mattress.
“Who is it?”
“Kendrick.”
Her heart stopped.
She opened the door a few inches.
Kendrick stood outside alone.
No guards.
No Barrett.
No witnesses.
His eyes moved over her face.
“Penny hasn't spoken to anyone in almost three years.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Willa immediately realized her mistake.
“I... heard the staff talking.”
Kendrick watched her.
“You've been here less than one day.”
Willa said nothing.
Titan suddenly appeared behind Kendrick.
The enormous dog walked into the room and sat beside Willa.
Kendrick noticed.
“You're hiding something.”
“So are you.”
Silence.
Most people who spoke to Kendrick that way never got another chance.
But he didn't move.
Instead, he asked quietly.
“Why did Titan choose you?”
Willa looked down.
“I don't know.”
Kendrick stepped closer.
“Then why does my daughter trust you?”
“I don't know.”
“And why do you look at my men like you've seen them before?”
Willa's pulse jumped.
She had to leave.
Tonight.
Before he discovered who she was.
But Kendrick's next words froze her.
“Because six years ago, someone survived the Ashford massacre.”
Willa stared at him.
Kendrick's voice dropped.
“I've spent six years trying to find her.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“You never found her?” Willa whispered.
“No.”
“Why?”
His expression hardened.
“Because whoever started that fire wanted everyone to believe she was dead.”
Willa swallowed.
Kendrick looked directly into her eyes.
“And the strange thing is...”
He paused.
“The survivor had the exact same eyes you do.”
Willa's blood ran cold.
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
Three gunshots exploded somewhere downstairs.
Titan jumped to his feet.
Kendrick immediately pulled a gun.
Then Penny screamed.
Willa ran toward the door.
Kendrick grabbed her wrist.
“Stay here.”
Another gunshot.
Then silence.
A small shadow appeared in the hallway.
Penny.
She was standing there barefoot.
For the first time in three years, she was crying.
And she was saying one sentence over and over.
“Mommy said she's coming.”
May you like
Kendrick froze.
Because his wife had been dead for three years.
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