Chapter 1
I woke to Aera staring up at the ceiling. She wasn’t touching me, one of the many red flags I couldn’t help noting and counting. Usually, one of us woke tangled around the other—a leg thrown lazily across a waist, her face tucked against my neck, or my hand resting somewhere inside her shirt, whatever argument we’d had the night before forgotten for the moment.
This morning, the silence weighed down on me.
I rolled onto my side, propping my head on my hand. “What are you thinking about? Or who?”
She didn’t turn to look at me. “How much longer are we going to do this?”
I knew what she meant. But I still asked, “Do what?”
She turned her head on the pillow, her eyes searching mine. “This,” she said, gesturing vaguely between us and then around the sunlit bedroom.
“The penthouse?”
“The hiding.”
I let out a slow sigh and rolled onto my back, staring up at the plaster. “Good morning to you too, my love.”
“I’m serious, June.”
“So am I. I literally just woke up.”
“Exactly.” She sat up, pulling the crisp white sheet around her chest. “I want to wake up with you without immediately calculating how many minutes you have left before you have to leave.”
“I don’t have to leave yet.”
“That’s not the point.”
Nothing I said was ever the point at this point. I lay there quietly, watching her swing her legs over the side of the bed and bend down to pick up her underwear from the floor.
There had been a time when mornings in this place were my favorite part of the week. I had bought the penthouse a year into my marriage to Kimarno. Officially, the property belonged to Aera. Kimarno had no idea it existed, and neither did anyone else in the Roclave organization.
Aera had picked out the minimal, elegant furniture. We kept clothes in the same closet and stocked the kitchen with food we both liked. Our framed photographs were on the dressers, her personal belongings mixed in with mine until it became difficult to distinguish who actually lived here full-time. It was ours. That sanctuary had been enough for a while. But lately, I was beginning to realize that nothing I gave her would ever be enough as long as Kimarno was still in the picture.
Aera pulled on her underwear and reached for her trousers. “We have enough money, June.”
“We’ve had this conversation a hundred times.”
“And we’re going to keep having it until something changes.”
“Aera—”
“No,” she said, turning to glare at me. “You said two years.”
I looked away from her, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows. That had been the original agreement. Nearly five years ago, Aera and I had agreed that I would accept Kimarno’s proposal. I had to save my brother from a gang he’d stolen from, and my family was facing financial ruin. Aera had her own old score to settle with the Roclaves. The plan was to work from the inside as she worked from the outside; we would siphon off enough money from Kimarno’s empires, fake our deaths, and disappear for good. Two years at most.
Two years had stretched into three. Three turned into four. Now five was fast approaching, so close that neither of us could pretend not to notice it approach.
“The family debt is completely gone,” Aera said. “Your brother is safe. We have significantly more money saved than we originally planned for.”
“Things changed,” I said quietly.
“They always change.”
“Kimarno moved major assets. Roclave expanded into new logistics routes. We had to adapt—”
“Roclave expanded into new logistics… and so what, June? We don’t have to do anything anymore. Have you fallen in love with that man? Or is it the life you fell for?”
I remained silent.
Aera pulled her silk shirt over her shoulders. “We could leave tomorrow. Pack a bag and catch a flight. But your silence says a lot…”
I sat up in bed. “I am silent because you know exactly how I feel about us. I want this more than anything. But we can’t just run—”
“Yes, we can. We have the perfect plan. One of us just needs the balls to make it happen.”
“We can’t live in hiding—”
“Yes, we can.”
“Kimarno started watching—”
“June.” Her tone was clipped and exhausted. She buttoned her trousers and looked down at me. “We have everything we need. Everything. You are the one holding us back.”
“It’s not enough,” I insisted.
“For what? What more do we need?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Aera laughed. A short, hollow laugh. “Exactly.”
I loved Aera. I had loved her long before I was wearing designer dresses, riding in armored cars, and watching powerful men hang on my every word simply because of the man whose ring was on my finger, long before Kimarno ever knew my name. She had worked as a private investigator for more than a decade; she made a living exposing the secrets people wanted buried. Lying to her was nearly impossible, but lately, telling her the truth felt even harder.
I knew she was right. There was nothing physically holding me here anymore—nothing except myself. We could easily disappear. Maybe not with the eye-watering, astronomical fortune I had planned for, but certainly enough to start fresh anywhere in the world. Enough for Aera to open the women’s fitness center she’d envisioned, instead of spending her nights tailing unfaithful spouses and corrupt executives. Enough for me to never have to look at Kimarno again. But I wasn’t sure it was the only thing driving me anymore.
Somewhere along the way, I had stopped seeing Roclave as just an obstacle to survive until I could escape. I had learned how the machine functioned. I had learned who actually wielded power and who merely put on a show. I had mastered how the money flowed, who could be bought, who held firm, and how fast a room shifted when people believed you were superior to them. Now I was standing close enough to the throne to taste real power of my own.
I threw off the covers and stepped out of bed. I stepped into her space as she reached for her jacket, wrapped my arms around her waist from behind, and pulled her back against my chest. “Aera.”
“No,” she muttered, though she didn’t immediately pull away.
I leaned down and kissed the soft skin at the side of her neck. Her head tilted back against my shoulder despite her best intentions, and I couldn’t stop a faint smile from forming. “You know how much I love you. You must know this. I want the best for us.”
“I hate that you’re doing this to me,” she murmured.
I kissed her neck again, feeling her breath catch. Her hand slid around my waist and rested over mine. For a brief, fleeting moment, the weight of that morning’s conversation lifted. But only for that fleeting moment.
She pressed her hands firmly against my hips and pushed me back. “You’re not going to distract me from this conversation this time. It’s not going to work.”
I let out a resigned sigh, picked up my robe from the floor, and pulled it around myself.
Aera watched me tie the sash. “I agreed to this entire nightmare because there was a clear end line, June.”
“There still is.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“You said that same word last year.”
“This time is different.”
“You said that last year, too.”
I turned and walked toward the wall of glass overlooking the city. Kimarno was obsessed with elevation. His office was on the top floor of a skyscraper, his restaurants occupied exclusive rooftops, his favorite private clubs had secluded upper floors that overlooked half the sprawling skyline. When I first moved into his world, I thought the obsessive focus on height was absurd. Now, standing here, I barely even noticed the drop.
Behind me, Aera’s voice came again, softer this time. “I’m tired of being your secret.”
I turned around to face her. The frustration had drained from her face, leaving only a deep, quiet weariness that scared me more than her words.
“I’m tired of sneaking around with you,” she said. “I’m tired of acting like just a friend in public. I am tired of wondering when someone will blast through that door with bullets flying and kill me for loving you. And I am thoroughly tired of watching you go home to him.”
“Aera...”
“And I am definitely tired of you telling me we’re almost done. I don’t even know why I’m doing this anymore.”
I walked across the room and stopped in front of her. “We are almost done. I promise. I need you to trust me this one last time.”
She looked up at me with heavy eyes. I hated that look. But I didn’t have more assurances to offer because she had a counter for all of them.
She stepped past me toward the bed. “Get dressed.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t come here just to have another round of the same argument with you.”
“That’s disappointing.”
Ignoring my remark, she picked up her tote bag from beside the armchair and unzipped it. She inverted the bag over the mattress, dumping a pile of thick folders, glossy photographs, and printed shipping manifests across the sheets.
The mood instantly changed. “What is all this?”
“Your husband,” she replied curtly.
I leaned over and picked up the top photograph. It showed a dimly lit port container yard at night. The second photo showed a heavy transport truck, and the third captured several men standing near a row of three massive steel shipping containers. I recognized two of the faces immediately.
“What am I looking at?” I asked.
“The three containers that disappeared from the port last night.”
I looked up at her. She sat on the edge of the mattress, watching me carefully. “What makes these containers so special? Roclave loses containers every month.”
“Tito,” she said.
That got my full attention. She flipped back to the first photograph and zoomed in on the background shadows. Tito was standing a few paces away from the containers, slightly detached from the crew.
Tito didn’t personally supervise routine shipments; he had dozens of mid-level logistics managers for that. In fact, Tito had subordinates for virtually every aspect of the business. Kimarno was the public face everyone saw and feared, but Tito was the engine that kept the Roclave empire running while everyone else was making appearances, fighting, or getting arrested. If he took the time to personally oversee a shipment at the docks, it meant the cargo was critical.
“Now I’m curious,” I murmured.
“Exactly,” Aera said.
Aera handed me another photograph from the pile. It was a long-distance shot of Patrick standing near the open doors of one of the containers. His face was partially shadowed, but the posture and oversized suit were unmistakable.
“Patrick?” I muttered.
“We can use him.”
Patrick ran three of Kimarno’s nightlife venues, but he wasn’t high enough in the hierarchy to be standing alongside Tito during an off-the-books delivery. Which meant he had either elevated his standing within the inner circle without anyone noticing, or he was playing a very dangerous game of his own.
Aera leaned back on her hands, watching my reaction. “I think this is it, June.”
“This is what?”
“You want more money. This is it.”
I laughed. “You don’t even know what’s inside those boxes.”
“No, but somebody has spent a staggering amount of money and effort to ensure nobody finds out,” she said. “Which usually means the payout is massive.”
“Which usually means it’s far too dangerous to touch.”
“Since when has danger ever stopped you?” she pointed out.
I couldn’t argue with that logic. She stood up and stepped closer to me. “Find out what Patrick knows. We figure out what’s inside those three containers, calculate what it’s worth, and figure out why Tito is personally babysitting the delivery.”
“And then?”
“We will plan the next step.”
She closed the remaining distance between us and took my hands in hers. “One last job, June. And then we leave,” she said, her eyes fixed on mine.
Leave.
“And if it leads to nothing?”
“We leave anyway,” she said, looking down at our joined hands. “Promise me.”
I should have answered instantly without a second’s hesitation, but silence hung between us instead. I saw the subtle shift crossed her face, the realization that I wasn’t as resolute as I claimed.
Before she could speak, I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. This time she didn’t push me away. I pulled her body flush against mine, kissing her deeply until I felt some of the rigid tension drain from her shoulders. When I finally pulled back, she rested her forehead against mine, her breathing uneven.
“You’re an asshole,” she whispered.
“I love you too.”
“I mean it, June.”
“So do I.”
She studied my eyes for a long moment, then stepped out of my arms and picked up her jacket. “Patrick will be at the Bellmont Hotel tonight.” She zipped her jacket and checked her watch. “Room 614.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “You set up a meeting for me?”
“I gave you a location.”
“You know how Patrick gets when he’s around me.”
“I know how you are when you want information,” she countered, an edge in her voice.
I smiled. “Are you jealous?”
“I’m exhausted, June.”
I wiped the smile from my face. I didn’t like this new Aera.
She pulled her bag over her shoulder. “Talk to him. Find out what he knows about those containers,” she said and walked out of the room without so much as a goodbye kiss.
