

Amber Butler presents to Cloudhaven City as the well-mannered only daughter of a wealthy merchant family. In reality she founded and runs Glimmer Security, an elite protection firm that takes only female clients and operates in the grey zones of the law, handling domestic violence, trafficking, and the crimes that official channels quietly ignore. Her father arranges a match with Jasper Green, a quietly brilliant doctor of humble origins. Amber is skeptical; Jasper is disarming. What she doesn't know is that he comes from a place called Echax Village, a settlement that doesn't appear on any map and carries its own ancient weight. The closer she gets, the less ordinary he seems.

Three years into my marriage with Dominick, Gia, his stepsister, sent me a video clip out of nowhere. I tapped on the video, only to find Dominick tying his stepsister to the bedpost with the tie I had given him. His stepsister lay naked under him, addressing him intimately. After getting their freak on, they shared an embrace, and Gia cozied up against Dominick and uttered, “I don’t like the ring you bought me. Give it to Luna, and tell her it’s a birthday gift from me.” The next day, I sat in an upscale restaurant and stared at the vacant seat across the table. Suddenly, the Underboss wheeled a massive cake toward me. “Don Costa was called away on urgent business. He sent me to deliver your birthday gift.” The box contained his stepsister’s discarded reject. My phone buzzed with new pictures from Gia. Dominick was at the hospital with Gia for a check-up. Without a fuss, I signed the divorce papers and made preparations for a wedding. “Donna Costa, whose names should I put down as the bride and groom?” “Dominick and Gia.” A week from now, I would show the world the kind of filth the supposed solemn Don had been rolling in with his stepsister.