SHE SLAPPED CHICAGO’S MOST FEARED MAFIA BOSS FOR HURTING HER BROTHER—THEN HE CLEARED THE ROOM, ERASED THE DEBT, AND ANNOUNCED SHE WOULD STAND BESIDE HIM AS HIS FUTURE WIFE
The slap sounded like a gunshot.
Harper Quinn’s palm struck Dominic Gallagher hard enough to turn the most feared mafia boss in Chicago beneath the fractured gold light of the chandelier.
For one impossible second, no one moved.
Then six men reached beneath their jackets.
Safeties clicked.
Red laser points appeared across Harper’s chest, throat, and forehead.
Her younger brother lay bruised and bleeding on the marble behind Dominic.
“Harper, no!”
But she could not look away from the man she had just struck.
Dominic wore a charcoal suit cut with ruthless precision. A pale red mark spread across his cheek while every armed man in the lounge waited for permission to kill her.
His underboss stepped forward.
“Give me the word.”
Harper’s hand burned. Her heart slammed against her ribs.
Three nights earlier, Leo had vanished after leaving her one terrified voicemail.
I messed up. I’m at the Obsidian. Don’t call the police. Please—I don’t want to die.
The police had dismissed him as another gambler who had finally lost too much.
Harper had emptied her savings, bought a stolen access card, and entered Dominic Gallagher’s private club alone.
She found Leo on his knees.
His lip was split. His face was bruised. Blood stained his sleeve.
Dominic told her Leo had stolen something worth three million dollars.
Harper called him a coward.
Then she slapped him.
Now dozens of people watched Dominic touch the mark on his cheek.
Harper waited for rage.
Instead, he studied her as though she had just answered a question no one else knew he was asking.
Then, slowly, Dominic smiled.
“Everyone,” he said, “leave.”
His underboss stared at him.
“She struck you in front of the entire room.”
Dominic’s eyes turned cold.
“I noticed.”
He ordered Leo taken to a doctor, cleared every guest from the lounge, and locked the doors behind them.
Then Harper found herself alone with him.
Dominic poured a glass of water and placed it between them.
“Drink.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
He slid a thick folder across the table.
Her full name was printed across the front.
May you like
“The contents of this folder,” he said, “are the reason your brother is still alive.”
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