Chapter 1

The night Damian Knight bought me out of the underground market, I gave him my life and my love.

Seven years later, he proved it was worth less than nothing.

I was promoted to underboss of the Knight family. The youngest in Knight history. The only woman.

I thought that meant something.

Then he brought a girl home.

I remember because I'd just walked in from a job. Blood on my collar, still tacky against my throat.

He walked in with a girl on his arm.

"Jesus, Selene—" He looked at me like I was something stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

"Go clean yourself up. You're scaring her."

That girl became his obsession. His soldiers started calling her Mrs. Knight behind my back.

Damian took the guns out of my hands. Replaced them with an apron. Tied it around my waist himself — tightened the bow at the small of my back like he was gift-wrapping me for her.

His hands didn't even tremble.

From then on, I was her personal servant.

When she didn't feel like eating, Damian made me kneel at her feet and feed her bite by bite. Every scar she got, he carved ten more into my skin — for failing to protect her.

I never cried. I never fought back.

Because years ago, he had asked me: "You want to repay me? Do a hundred things for me."

I pulled out the worn notebook. Looked at the last two lines.

Soon, I would owe him nothing.

I was carrying a tray to Iris Vale's room when Damian stopped me in the hall.

"Selene. Go get your sister's bracelet. Iris wants it."

That bracelet was the only thing my parents left Luna. She slept with it under her pillow every night.

He saw my eyes go red. His face went dark.

"Selene."

When Damian used my full name like that, it meant he was done talking. Everyone in the family knew what came next.

Two days ago, I'd refused to hand over my sunglasses to Iris at the riding ground. Damian had me tied behind her horse and dragged across the field.

An entire afternoon. Gravel against bare skin.

I turned around. Went to Luna's room. Took my sister's bracelet and slid it onto Iris's wrist.

"It suits you."

Damian smiled. Pulled Iris against his chest. "I've got hundreds of men. Not a single one as broken-in as her."

He looked at me over Iris's shoulder. "Keep her happy, Selene. Maybe we can still talk about that wedding."

Before I could respond, Iris slammed the bracelet onto the floor.

"Damian — you swore you'd only marry me!"

Tears streaming. Damian's whole face crumbled. He scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom without a word.

I dropped to my knees and gathered the shattered pieces. Porcelain bit into my fingers. Blood mixed with the broken edges.

The people around me watched like it was a show.

Even I knew how pathetic I looked.

Last month, I'd nearly died on a mission. Damian stood over my hospital bed — tubes coming out of everywhere — and looked at me like I was a waste of resources.

"You've gotten weak, Selene. A handful of men did this to you?" He paused. "Then again — Iris needs a new maid."

I squeezed the broken pieces tighter. My eyes burned worse than my hands.

That night, Luna saw her mother's bracelet in pieces. She cried until she could barely breathe.

I held her. "Just a little longer. We'll be free soon."

The door slammed open. Damian filled the frame, jaw clenched.

"Stop crying. You just woke Iris up."

He jerked his chin toward the hallway. "Take your sister to the house on the west side. Now."

Before I could say a word, his men shoved us into a car. Luna screamed at him through the window — "Damian! You weren't like this before — please —"

He froze. Just for a second.

The corridor went dead silent.

I clamped my hand over Luna's mouth. Her tears ran hot between my fingers.

I had learned to keep quiet after Iris came.

When I begged Damian to let me stay at the compound, he stripped my title in front of everyone. Years of work — gone in one sentence.

When I asked Iris to stay away from the shooting range, he pressed a gun to my forehead and told me to remember my place.

When he got wounded and I brought him soup, he hurled the bowl at the door. "Quit hovering. Iris is gonna think something's going on."

But he had been the one to say he loved me first.

He had been the one to say he wanted to marry me.

I pulled my hand away from Luna's mouth. She was still crying softly.

The house on the west side sat on the border between warring families.

A death trap.

I jumped out of the car and ran back to the villa. Knocked on the bedroom door.

The sounds inside stopped.

A glass bottle shattered against my forehead. I bit down on the pain and bowed.

"Miss Vale, I apologize for my sister. I promise she won't disturb you again."

Damian stared at the blood running down my face. His chest was heaving.

"Who the hell are you trying to fool with that shit? People are gonna think Iris did that to you."

I ignored him. Kept my head down. Kept apologizing.

Finally, I knelt and pressed my forehead to the floor.

Once. Twice. Three times.

Iris yawned. "I'm tired, Damian. Just let her go."

He kissed her forehead. Shook his head like she'd said something precious.

"You're too damn soft, baby. People are gonna walk all over you."

Then he turned to me. "You care about your sister so much? Walk her there yourself."

That night, Luna's fever hit a fourty four.

I carried her on my back through a blizzard. For hours.

In the hospital waiting room, I pulled out the notebook and wrote two words under the list.

Bracelet.

Two more things.

Then I would be free.