Chapter 1

When I was thirteen, I shot my father Don Vittorio Valenti’s favorite mistress.

After that, everyone in the East Coast underworld started calling me the Viper.

For my mother's dying wish, I spent ten years playing the perfect lady—and never fired another shot.

Then, at my engagement party, some little girl dumped red wine all over my chest and called me an old woman.

My fiancé just smiled and told me not to pick on a kid.

Fine.

I'd show them exactly why they used to call me the Viper.

...

A glass of red wine splashed across my chest.

A dark red stain spread over my pale engagement dress, wine still dripping from the fabric.

“Oops. My hand slipped.”

I looked up.

A girl of about seventeen stood in front of me with an empty glass in her hand, grinning without the slightest hint of apology.

Tonight was my engagement party.

Black SUVs lined the Valenti estate, armed guards manned the gates, and everyone who mattered in the East Coast underworld was inside.

My fiancé, Adrian Bellini, sat beside me.

A graduate of a prestigious university and heir to the Bellini family.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Lily Hayes.”

She set the empty glass on the table, planted her hands on her hips, and lifted her chin.

“I grew up with the Bellinis. Adrian's always treated me like a little sister.”

“Aren't you twenty-five already? You're an old woman. Why should you get to marry Adrian?”

She made sure everyone heard the words “old woman.”

The entire room went silent.

One of my father's old capos froze with his wineglass halfway to his mouth.

The consigliere at a nearby table quietly set down his knife and fork.

Several older men in the corner went pale.

They all remembered what I'd done.

When I was thirteen, my father's favorite mistress slipped crushed peanuts into my mother's food.

My mother had a severe peanut allergy. It nearly killed her.

My father wanted to handle it inside the family.

So I picked up a gun, walked into her son's room, and put a bullet through my half brother's leg in front of everyone.

Two years later, that woman tried the same trick again.

I spent three months investigating.

Then I carried her favorite dessert into her room.

After that day, there was no longer a place for her in the Valenti family.

And the name “the Viper” spread across the East Coast.

My father, Don Vittorio Valenti, stood outside the door all night.

From then on, whenever he looked at me, there was love in his eyes.

And fear.

Years later, as my mother lay dying, she held my hand and said,

“Alessandra, you're a young woman. Put down the gun. Learn to be a proper lady. Maybe one day, someone will truly love you.”

So I honored her dying wish.

For ten years, I never fired another shot.

I learned flower arranging. Ran a charitable foundation. Did good deeds.

The younger generation on the East Coast had long since forgotten who the Viper was.

Clearly, so had the little girl who'd just poured wine all over me.

Adrian set down his glass.

“Alessandra, Lily's been spoiled by the family since she was little. She doesn't know any better.”

“You're the Valenti heiress. Don't stoop to arguing with a kid.”

Don't argue with a kid.

I turned those words over in my mind.

Behind me, Nora clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white.

She'd been with me since we were children.

She remembered the thirteen-year-old girl who'd been afraid of nothing.

I placed a hand over hers.

My mother's words still echoed in my ears.

I picked up my wine and took a sip.

“Fine. I'll let it go.”

When the party ended, the guests left so quickly they might as well have been fleeing.

Only Lily took her time.

As she passed me, she stopped on purpose and tilted her head.

“That dress is ruined. You should replace it.”

Then she added with a bright smile,

“Maybe you would also need a younger body.”

Adrian was standing right beside her.

He didn't say a word. There was still a smile on his lips.

After they left, the ballroom was empty.

Nora finally broke.

Her voice shook. “Alessandra!”

I stayed where I was, staring down at the wine stain across my chest.

It had already gone cold.

“Nora.”

“I'm here.”

“Go get Luca Ferraro.”

Nora froze.

That name hadn't been spoken inside the Valenti estate for ten years.

Her eyes instantly reddened.

She nodded hard. “I'll get him.”