Chapter 1

My husband's mistress complained that our daughter snubbed her by refusing to touch her food. That night, he ripped out Lily's tongue — and served it to her as dinner.

I snapped. I severed Amber's tendons , hands and feet,then ripped her womb out and fed it to the dogs. I wanted her to feel exactly what I felt.

Everyone thought Ethan Cole would kill me for it.

Instead, he locked me in a psychiatric facility for two years — then shoved our daughter's ashes in my face and made me sign the papers.

"The Cole family doesn't keep dogs that bite. Die in here, or crawl out and disappear."

After that, I was gone. Completely.

Until three years later — when I inherited my father's empire, every piece of it, legit and underground — and came back to find Amber still breathing.

She slapped me the second she saw me.

"Oh my God, Zoe. You're alive? Could've sworn you'd be rotting in a gutter somewhere by now."

I smiled. Grabbed her forearm. And snapped it.

"Funny — you forgot what I'm capable of. Let me jog your memory."

Amber screams like something dying.

Her little entourage loses their minds — pointing, shoving, screeching all at once.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!"

"Do you have any idea who she belongs to?!"

Some guy rushes forward to pull Amber away from me. I plant my foot in his chest and send him flying.

Amber's ghost-white, drenched in cold sweat, but she still manages to point at me with her good hand. Shaking.

"Zoe! You crazy bitch! You actually—"

"What? Surprised I would?"

I cut her off. Drop her arm. Watch her stumble backward, clutching the twisted mess of it.

"Three years, and the only thing Ethan taught you is how to talk shit? That's it?"

Dead silence.

Ethan Cole's name hits the room like a kill switch. The noise cuts out almost entirely.

Amber's voice cracks. Pitches high. Desperate. "Ethan's going to make you pay for this! You hear me?! You're DEAD!"

I pull an antibacterial wipe from my bag. Clean each finger. Slow. Deliberate. Like I just touched something diseased.

"Then tell him to come. I've been dying to ask how he raised you to be this useless. All bark. No bite. Just a yappy little thing that can't do anything but make noise."

Gasps ripple through the crowd.

Everyone in this room knows. Amber is Ethan Cole's. His untouchable. Even back when she was just a dirty little secret on the side, nobody dared cross her.

Three years under his wing turned her into one of the most dangerous women in this city.

And I just shattered her arm and spat in both their faces.

She's shaking. Rage. Tears and sweat running together. Pathetic.

"You're NOTHING! A thrown-out ex-wife! A goddamn mental patient! Who the fuck do you think you are, putting your hands on me?!"

I step forward. She scrambles back. Terror flooding her eyes.

"Amber. Want me to remind you what it felt like? When the dogs got into you? Because I remember every second. And I can do it again."

Every drop of color drains from her face. Like she's seen a ghost. Screaming, stumbling backward. "Someone grab her! Get this psycho away from me!"

People shift. Nobody steps forward.

Then the crowd parts on its own.

Tall. Familiar. Flanked by bodyguards.

Ethan Cole.

Amber spots him and collapses into full hysterics. Throwing herself at him.

"Ethan! She broke my arm! Oh God it hurts—"

His eyes land on my face. Hold for one second. Brow tightening.

Then he looks down at Amber — sobbing, shaking against his chest — and reaches for her. But not to comfort her. He grips her dislocated forearm.

She gasps.

Crack.

She shrieks. Goes limp. He catches her. Pulls her close.

"Shh. You're fine."

His voice — dead flat. But the look he gives me is pure murder.

"Zoe."

My name. Even. Measured. The pressure behind it could crack stone.

"Three years gone, and you come back swinging like this? Hell of a homecoming gift."

I look at him. I think about the windowless days in that facility. I think about him forcing Lily's ashes into my hands and making me sign away everything.

I let my lips curl. No warmth behind it.

"That was just the appetizer. You want the main course? I can serve it right now."