Chapter 1
The bullet grazed my left shoulder without hitting the bone.
The gunman lay between two cars, while the other attacker sped away on a motorcycle. I didn't chase him. I kicked the gun he'd dropped out of reach with the toe of my shoe, then called my family's emergency number.
The call connected after a single ring.
"This is Eve. Attack at the East District garage. One man down, one escaped. Lock down the ports and check every vehicle leaving the city tonight."
After hanging up, I cinched my scarf around the wound, picked up the shell casing from the ground, and slipped it into my pocket.
By the time Damian Caro arrived, I'd already handled everything myself.
Leah Collins followed behind him, surrounded by the four bodyguards who were supposed to have been protecting me. There wasn't so much as a speck of dust on the hem of her dress.
Damian saw the blood on my shoulder and stopped short.
"Who told you to shoot?"
With my uninjured right hand, I slapped him hard across the face.
"That was for me nearly dying back there. Go ahead. Ask me that again."
Damian's head snapped to the side from the force of the slap. He stayed that way for a long moment.
He walked over to the gunman, checked that the man was still breathing, and his expression darkened further. "People from all Five Families are upstairs tonight. If you kill someone down here, what do you think they'll say?"
"They'll say your fiancée almost died."
"You weren't going to die," he blurted. "You were already getting perfect scores on moving targets at 16."
'So because I can protect myself, I don't deserve to be protected.'
Leah gently tugged at his sleeve. "Don't blame Eve. This is all my fault. If I hadn't gotten scared..."
"Of course it's your fault," I cut in. "You took my people, used my car, and let the danger follow them straight back to me. You owe me an apology."
She clearly hadn't expected me to agree with her. For a moment, the tears in her eyes seemed to freeze in place.
Damian frowned. "She just got back. She doesn't even know what happened."
"Then she can learn now."
I looked at the four bodyguards. "Who does the Moreau family pay you to protect?"
No one dared answer.
"Good. You're fired. And you won't be paid for tonight."
One of them panicked. "It was Mr. Caro's order..."
"The Moreau family signs your paychecks," I said. "I don't care who gave the order. Get out."
All four men went pale, but they had no choice but to remove their earpieces and place their sidearms on the ground.
Only then did Damian realize I wasn't throwing a tantrum.
"Eve, go to the hospital first. We'll talk about the rest when we get home."
"There's no home to go back to."
I took off my ring and opened the engagement agreement on my phone.
Our engagement agreement was about far more than marriage. The Moreau family controlled three ports on the North Shore, and in the 7 years since Damian took over the Caro family, his shipments of medicine, food supplies, and other legitimate cargo had all moved through my ports. In return, I would join his family council after we married.
My father had worried I might be treated unfairly, so he'd added a clause to the engagement agreement: if either party deliberately put their fiancé or fiancée in danger, the other could immediately terminate all cooperation.
Damian had signed it back then without even reading it.
He'd said he'd rather die himself than ever let me face danger.
I placed the ring in his palm and called my father right in front of him.
"Notify the lawyers. The engagement agreement is terminated. In one hour, lock down the ports and end every partnership with the Caro family."
Damian seized my wrist. "Do you have to make a scene right now?"
I raised my injured left arm and let the blood drip, one drop at a time, onto his sleeve.
"I almost died here. When would be a better time?"
I heard cars approaching in the distance.
My father's men had arrived.
Before getting into the car, I looked back at Damian. "Tell your seven ships to reroute. In one hour, they won't be allowed into the Moreau ports anymore."
He released me, and the impatience in his eyes actually eased.
"Fine. I'll come get you after you've cooled off."
He sounded just as certain as he always had.
For 7 years, no matter how often he'd broken promises or ignored me, whenever he looked back, I was always still there.
This time, I didn't answer.
Seven cargo ships bearing the Caro family emblem were stopped outside the harbor one hour later.
Time was already running out for the refrigerated medicine on board, and Damian finally called me.
I hung up and blocked his number.
