The phone rang right at 6 AM, yanking me out of the first good sleep I'd had in weeks. Maya sounded like she was trying really hard not to freak out when she told me news that made my stomach drop.
"Bella, you need to turn on the news now. Thomas Romano had a press thing at sunrise."
I was already grabbing the remote, my hands shaking as I switched on the TV. Mikel woke up next to me, and he knew something was wrong right away.
"What kind of press thing?" I asked, but I already knew I wasn't going to like it.
Thomas was on the screen, standing at a podium. It looked like it was at the downtown Marriott. Even at 78, he had that Romano presence, the thing that built a whole empire. But his eyes looked really scary—like he was coolly planning something, but also super mad.
"Folks," Thoma
