Tears welled from sheer physical reflex, pooling at the rims of my eyes. I forced every last one of them back.
"Even a toy needs claws if it's going to tear apart prey for its master. Wouldn't you agree?"
I held his stare, a twisted smile curling at the corner of my mouth.
Christian studied me for several long seconds. Then he released his grip and let out a quiet laugh.
"Good. I look forward to the show. Don't disappoint me—or I'll throw you right back into that kennel."
For the next three days, I was confined to the top floor of the estate.
A private medical team stood on call around the clock, pumping expensive drugs into my broken body to piece it back together.
Every night, the old wound in my abdomen flared up, the pain so vicious it sent me writhing across the bed.
Christian sat on the sofa not far away, swirling a glass of red wine, watching with cold detachment.
He never offered an ounce of sympathy. Only when I was on the verge of passing out from the agony did he toss out a single, frigid line.
"Remember this pain. It's the price of your stupidity."
On the morning of the third day, the butler delivered a pure black couture trench coat.
I stood before the floor-length mirror, staring at the woman reflected back at me. Pale face. Vicious eyes.
When I changed and came downstairs, Christian was sitting in the dining room, flipping through the morning paper.
"Ready?"
He didn't bother looking up. His tone was offhand, almost bored.
"Let's go."
I pulled on a pair of black leather gloves, hiding the ugly constellation of cigarette burns across the backs of my hands.
The motorcade headed toward the East District. The territory I'd once bled to claim.
Inside the car, Christian handed me a file.
"Have a look. A little appetizer from your dear lover."
My expression didn't change as I opened the folder. Then my pupils contracted sharply.
Inside was a stack of high-resolution photographs.
In them, Tyler Briggs, my most capable enforcer, was being pinned facedown in the mud by several men and beaten.
His legs had been broken. They bent at sickening, unnatural angles.
And standing off to the side, watching with cool indifference, was Dennis's new woman. Nellie Fox.
"Dennis froze every single one of your old Syndicate accounts. Put the word out, too. Anyone who dares follow you gets the same treatment as that cripple."