The water in the rooftop pool was a perfect, crystalline blue.

It was deceptive, mimicking the very depths that had claimed my life once before.

I stood near the edge, a glass of untouched champagne sweating in my hand, watching the sun bleed below the New York skyline.

The air was heavy, thick with humidity and the sharp, chemical sting of chlorine.

Alexander had cornered me here.

He wasn't happy about the message I had sent to the Goldens.

News traveled fast in the underworld.

Faster than bullets.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Azalea," Alexander said, invading my personal space.

He smelled of expensive cologne masking something foul—the scent of moral rot.

He wore his arrogance like a suit of armor, confident that I was still just a confused girl throwing a tantrum.

"Darrian Golden will peel your skin off just to send me a message. You think he wants a wife? He wants a hostage."

"I think I prefer a wolf to a snake," I replied, refusing to meet his gaze.

Isolde Booker laughed.

It was a light, tinkling sound, brittle as glass.

She lounged on a deck chair nearby, wearing a white bikini that left nothing to the imagination.

In my past life, I had bought her that bikini.

I had brought her into this penthouse, treated her like a sister because she was an orphan with a sad story.

I didn't know she was warming Alexander’s bed while I was busy planning our wedding.

"Oh, Azalea," Isolde cooed, rising and sauntering toward us. "You're just stressed. The pressure of the legacy is getting to you. Alexander is only trying to protect you."

She reached for my arm, her nails painted a blood red.

I stepped back instantly. "Don't touch me."

Isolde smirked.

She glanced at Alexander, a silent, conspiratorial signal passing between them.

Then, she threw herself backward.

It was a clumsy, theatrical stumble, calculated for an audience of one.

She shrieked, her arms flailing, and her hand snagged the strap of my dress.

She yanked hard.

My center of gravity vanished.

The world tilted sideways, and then the water rushed up to meet me.

*Splash.*

The cold was a shockwave.

It paralyzed me for a heartbeat.

My dress, heavy with beads and silk, drank up the water instantly, dragging me down like a lead anchor.

Panic, sharp and familiar, clawed at my throat.

*Not again. Not again.*

I kicked, fighting the crushing weight.

Through the distorted, shimmering surface, I saw them.

Alaric and Darrius, the guards assigned to "protect" me, were rushing toward the pool.

But they didn't reach for me.

"Isolde!" Alexander shouted, diving in.

He swam right past me.

He kicked a spray of water into my face as he reached for his mistress, who was flailing in the shallow end, perfectly safe.

The guards knelt by the edge, reaching out to help Alexander lift Isolde out.

I was sinking.

My lungs burned.

The chlorine stung my eyes, blurring the betrayal into a wash of color.

I watched them fuss over her on the pool deck.

"She pushed me!" Isolde was sobbing, choking on air. "She tried to kill me, Alexander!"

"It's okay, baby, I've got you," he soothed her, wrapping a towel around her shaking shoulders.

Nobody looked at the water.

Nobody looked for the heiress of the Kidd family.

A cold, hard rage ignited in my chest.

It burned hotter than the fear.

I wasn't going to die here.

Not this time.

I kicked harder, my muscles screaming in protest.

I clawed at the water, dragging the dead weight of my dress upward.

My hand breached the surface, grasping the cold metal of the ladder.

I hauled myself up, gasping, coughing water onto the expensive tile.

I lay there for a moment, shivering violently.

My hair was plastered to my skull.

My mascara ran in dark rivulets down my cheeks.

I looked like a ruin.

Alexander turned to look at me, his eyes cold and annoyed. "Look what you did, Azalea. You're hysterical. Go to your room before you embarrass the family further."

Alaric smirked, offering me a hand. "Need a lift, Princess?"

I looked at his hand.

The hand of a traitor.

I slapped it away.

I pushed myself up, my legs trembling but holding my weight.

Water dripped from my dress, pooling around my feet.

"I don't need your help," I said, my voice raspy but cuttingly clear.

I stared at Alexander, then at Isolde, who was hiding a smile behind her towel.

"Enjoy the water," I whispered.

"It's the last time you'll see me drown."

The Charity Gala was a shark tank draped in velvet and dripping in diamonds.

Every major crime family in the city had descended upon the ballroom. The air didn't just buzz; it hummed with the static of illicit deals being struck and human lives being bartered over crystal flutes of champagne.

I stood in the shadows of the corner, clad in a dress the color of midnight. My mother had begged me to stay home, citing my "instability" after the pool incident, but I had refused.

Tonight was the auction.

Tonight, the "Ocean Heart" sapphire was on the block.

It was a massive, abyssal blue stone set in platinum. My father had gifted it to my mother on their tenth anniversary. It was more than jewelry; it symbolized the legitimacy of the Kidd leadership.

Alexander had stolen it from my mother’s safe under the guise of "safekeeping," only to put it up for auction to liquidate assets for his new drug routes.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the auctioneer’s voice boomed through the speakers. "Lot 45. The Ocean Heart."

The bidding began.

I raised my paddle, my hand trembling slightly. "Fifty thousand."

Alexander, standing across the room with Isolde clinging to his arm like a decorative parasite, let out a low, mocking laugh.

He lazily raised his paddle. "One hundred thousand."

He was bidding on his own stolen property just to humiliate me. To demonstrate to the Commission that he possessed both the capital and the power, while I held nothing.

"One hundred and fifty," I countered, my voice tight.

"Two hundred," Alexander drawled, sounding bored.

The room fell into a heavy silence.

Everyone was watching.

They knew the history. They knew he was stripping me of my inheritance, piece by agonizing piece.

"Five hundred thousand," I choked out.

It was every cent of liquid cash I could access without his signature.

Alexander smiled.

It was a cruel, predatory expression that didn't reach his eyes.

He strolled toward the stage, whispered something to the auctioneer, and produced a checkbook.

"One million," he announced, turning to face the crowd. "Sold."

The gavel banged down like a gunshot.

Alexander took the necklace from the velvet cushion.

He held it up to the light. The sapphire caught the chandelier's glow, radiating light like a captured star.

Then, he dropped it.

He lifted his heavy, Italian leather oxford and brought it down hard.

The platinum setting crunched.

The stone didn't shatter—corundum is tough—but the setting was annihilated, the metal twisted and ruined beyond repair.

He kicked the debris across the parquet floor toward me.

"It was old-fashioned anyway," he declared, his voice carrying to every corner of the room. "Time for new leadership. New symbols."

Something inside me snapped.

It wasn't a bone; it was the chain of my restraint.

I crossed the distance between us in three long strides.

Before his guards could react, before he could even raise a hand, I swung.

*Crack.*

My palm connected with his cheek with the force of a whip.

The sound echoed through the ballroom, sharper than breaking glass.

His head snapped to the side.

A red handprint instantly bloomed on his pale skin.

Silence.

Absolute, terrified silence.

No one struck a Capo in public.

It was a death sentence.

Alexander turned back to me, his eyes black with murder.

He raised his hand to strike me back.

Suddenly, a scream pierced the air.

"No! I can't take it anymore!"

Isolde.

She stood on the balcony overlooking the ballroom, a dramatic spotlight seemingly finding her by design.

She held a small fruit knife from the buffet table to her wrist.

"If you hurt him, I'll die! I'll kill myself!"

She slashed.

A shallow cut, barely a scratch, but blood welled up against her skin.

She swooned, collapsing theatrically into the arms of a waiting waiter.

"Isolde!" Alexander roared, forgetting me instantly. "Get the car! Get the doctor!"

He whipped around to his men. "Grab Azalea. She's coming with us. Isolde has a rare blood type. O-negative. Azalea matches her."

"What?" I stepped back, horror dawning. "I'm not giving her my blood."

"You don't have a choice," Alexander snarled. "Grab her."

Alaric and Darrius seized my arms.

I fought.

I kicked and screamed.

But they were soldiers, and I was just a girl in a gown.

They dragged me out the back exit, my heels scraping uselessly against the marble floor.

An hour later, I was strapped to a hospital bed in a private clinic owned by the family.

A thick needle was jammed into my arm.

I watched my dark red blood flow through the tube, filling a plastic bag.

Across the room, Isolde lay in a bed, playing on her phone, looking perfectly fine.

She winked at me.

I felt the room spin.

They were draining me.

Literally draining the life out of me to feed his whore.

My vision blurred.

Darkness crept in at the edges of my consciousness.

"Darrian..." I whispered into the sterile air.

It was a desperate prayer to a monster.

"Burn them all."

I woke to the sharp sting of antiseptic and the low rumble of hushed voices.

My arm throbbed violently where the needle had been shoved in.

I felt hollowed out, lightheaded, as if my bones had been replaced with fragile glass.

"She's awake," Alaric's voice cut through the haze.

He was standing at the foot of my bed, methodically peeling an orange. The citrus scent clashed nauseatingly with the sterile air.

Darrius was leaning against the door, checking the slide of his gun.

"How is the patient?" Darrius asked, his tone dripping with mockery. "Did we save the precious mistress?"

"Azalea is fine. She needed a transfusion for 'shock'," Alaric laughed, tossing a piece of peel onto the floor. "Boss just wanted to teach the Princess a lesson. Remind her who owns the blood in her veins."

"It's a waste," Darrius muttered, holstering his weapon. "We should just marry her off to Alexander and be done with it. Once he secures the territory, we can stage an overdose. She's worth more as a tragedy than a wife."

I lay perfectly still, my eyes closed to slits.

They thought I was asleep.

They thought I was broken.

*Investment.*

*Tragedy.*

*Overdose.*

The words floated in the air, toxic and heavy, settling into my lungs like smoke.

They weren't just bad men; they were vultures waiting for me to stop twitching.

I waited until Alaric turned to throw the rest of the orange peel in the trash.

Then, I sat up.

The world tilted, grey spots dancing wildly in my vision, but I forced myself to focus.

I yanked the IV line out of my hand.

Blood welled up instantly, dripping hot and red onto the white sheets.

"Whoa, easy there," Alaric said, spinning around. "You're not discharged, Princess. Alexander said you stay until you learn some manners."

I swung my legs over the side of the bed.

My bare feet hit the cold floor, sending a shock up my spine.

I stood up.

I swayed, grabbing the IV pole white-knuckled for support.

"Get out of my way," I rasped.

"Or what?" Darrius chuckled, stepping forward to block the door. "You gonna slap me too?"

"I'm leaving," I said, my voice gaining steel. "And if you touch me, I will scream loud enough to bring the nurses, the police, and the press down here. Alexander doesn't want a scene right now. He wants the transition to be smooth."

I was bluffing about the police—Alexander owned them—but the press was a wildcard even he couldn't control yet.

Darrius hesitated.

I used that fraction of a second.

I pushed past him, my shoulder colliding with his chest.

It hurt me more than him—like hitting a brick wall—but I didn't stop.

I walked into the hallway, my hospital gown fluttering like a broken wing.

"You're making a mistake, Azalea!" Alaric called after me, his voice echoing down the corridor. "There's nowhere to go. The Kidd family is *us*. You leave, you're nothing."

I didn't turn around.

I walked to the elevator, pressing the button with a bloody finger.

The doors slid open.

I stepped inside and watched their faces disappear as the doors sealed me in.

"I am not the Kidd family anymore," I whispered to my pale reflection in the metal doors. "I am the reckoning."