Raven's POV
Raven wakes to sunlight streaming through massive windows.
For a moment, she forgets where she is. Then everything crashes back—the gala, the escape, the news declaring her a serial killer. She sits up in the guest bedroom of Dante's estate, her heart pounding.
Someone knocks. "You decent?" Adrian's gruff voice.
"Yes."
He enters carrying clothes—black pants, a fitted shirt, boots. Professional but tactical. "Boss wants you downstairs in ten minutes. Breakfast meeting."
"About what?"
"Your new life." Adrian's expression is unreadable. "Don't keep him waiting."
Ten minutes later, Raven enters a dining room where Dante sits with a laptop and coffee. He looks different in daylight—less predatory, more human. Almost.
"Sit," he says without looking up.
She does. Coffee is already poured for her—exactly how she likes it. Black, two sugars. How does he know that?
"I've been monitoring the news," Dante says, turning the laptop. "Voss is playing this perfectly. Every station is running your photo with 'REAPER SUSPECT' underneath. They found evidence in Morrison's warehouse—planted, obviously—that suggests you were working with him to kill Voss's enemies."
"That's insane."
"That's effective. By tomorrow, every cop in Chicago will shoot you on sight." He closes the laptop. "Which is why Raven Blackwell needs to die. Today."
Her stomach drops. "You keep saying that."
"Because it's the only way you survive. Voss won't stop hunting until you're dead or arrested. So we give him what he wants—a body." Dante sips his coffee. "There's a morgue technician who owes me favors. He'll create a death certificate. Dental records matching yours. A closed-casket funeral. Within forty-eight hours, Raven Blackwell will be officially deceased."
"And then what?"
"Then you become someone new. New name, new identity, new life." His steel-blue eyes pin her. "New purpose."
"What purpose?"
Dante stands, walks to the window. "I'm going to teach you everything I know. Surveillance. Investigation. Combat. How to move through the shadows. How to destroy people without leaving evidence. You'll become a ghost—invisible, lethal, free."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I need a partner. Someone who understands what I'm building." He turns back. "I'm not just killing Voss's criminals, Raven. I'm dismantling his entire network. Every dirty cop, every bought judge, every politician on his payroll. It's too big for one person. I need someone I can trust."
"You don't know me."
"I know you better than you think. I've studied your case files for months. You're brilliant at reading people, connecting patterns, seeing what others miss. You were wasted as a detective—following rules made by corrupt people to protect themselves." His voice intensifies. "With me, you can be what you were meant to be. Unrestrained. Powerful. Feared."
The words should repel her. Instead, they ignite something dark and hungry in her chest.
"What about Marcus and Scarlett?" she asks.
Dante's smile is vicious. "They're on my list. But we do this smart. We gather evidence first—proof of Marcus's bribes, Scarlett's involvement in trafficking, everything. Then we expose them publicly, destroy their lives the way they destroyed yours. Death is too quick. I want them to suffer."
"Trafficking?" Raven's blood runs cold. "Scarlett is trafficking people?"
"Children, specifically. She works with Voss's network, identifying vulnerable kids in the foster system. They disappear into Voss's pipeline—sold to rich predators who pay millions." Dante pulls up files on his laptop. "Your sister isn't just a backstabbing sibling, Raven. She's a monster who hurts children for money."
Photos fill the screen. Missing kids. Financial transactions. Emails between Scarlett and known traffickers. Raven's stomach revolts.
"No," she whispers. "She wouldn't—"
"She would. She has. Forty-three children in the last two years." Dante's voice is hard. "This is who you protected by believing in the system. This is who walks free while you're hunted like an animal."
Rage explodes through Raven—white-hot and consuming. "I want her dead."
"Not yet. First, we use her to get to Voss. She's his asset—she knows his operation inside and out. We turn her, make her give us everything, then we destroy her." Dante closes the laptop. "But you need training first. You can't fight these people as you are now—broken, emotional, reactive. I need you cold. Calculated. Deadly."
"How long will that take?"
"As long as it takes. Could be weeks. Could be months." He studies her. "Think you can handle it?"
Raven meets his eyes. "Teach me."
Something flashes in Dante's expression—approval, maybe pride. "Good. We start today. Adrian will work with you on combat and weapons. I'll teach you surveillance and strategy. By the time we're done, you'll be someone Voss never sees coming."
"When do we—"
The doorbell rings.
Both of them freeze. Adrian appears instantly, gun drawn. "We're not expecting anyone."
Dante's expression hardens. "Check the cameras."
Adrian pulls up his phone, and his face goes pale. "Boss. It's police. Six cars. SWAT team. They're surrounding the property."
"Impossible," Dante snaps. "This location is completely off-grid. No one knows about it."
"They know now." Adrian shows them the phone. Armed officers everywhere, moving into position. One of them holds a megaphone.
A voice booms across the property: "Dante Ashford! We have a warrant for your arrest and a search warrant for this property! Send out Raven Blackwell and come out with your hands up! You have five minutes to comply!"
Raven's heart stops. "How did they find us?"
Dante's jaw clenches. "Someone talked. Someone knew about this place and told Voss." He looks at Adrian. "Who else knows this location exists?"
"No one. Just us three and—" Adrian's face drains of color. "Your lawyer. Benjamin Cross. He helped you buy this property under shell companies."
"Benjamin?" Dante's voice is deadly quiet. "My cousin Benjamin?"
"Your cousin?" Raven breathes.
"My mother's sister's son. I trusted him with everything—my businesses, my properties, my secrets." Dante's hands curl into fists. "He sold me out."
The megaphone booms again: "Four minutes, Mr. Ashford! We will breach if you don't comply!"
Adrian moves to the window. "We can fight. I've got weapons stored—"
"No." Dante's voice is ice-cold. "We run. There's a tunnel under the house. Emergency exit. Leads to the forest two miles away. Car waiting there."
"They'll have the perimeter surrounded," Adrian argues.
"Not the tunnel exit. Only Benjamin knew about it, and he doesn't know I changed the location three months ago." Dante grabs Raven's arm. "Move. Now."
They run through the house to a hidden panel in the wine cellar. Dante presses something and the wall slides open, revealing a dark tunnel lit by emergency lights.
"Go!" he shouts.
Adrian goes first, gun ready. Raven follows, and Dante comes last, sealing the panel behind them. They run through the narrow tunnel, water dripping, their footsteps echoing.
Behind them, muffled explosions—SWAT breaching the house.
"Faster!" Dante urges.
They burst out of the tunnel exit into dense forest. A black SUV waits exactly where Dante said. Adrian jumps into the driver's seat, Dante shoves Raven into the back and climbs in after her.
The car roars to life and they tear through the forest on a hidden path.
"Where are we going?" Raven gasps.
"Somewhere Voss will never think to look." Dante pulls out his phone, making a call. "It's me. I need the Chicago location. Yes, the one I swore I'd never use. No choice now. Twenty minutes."
He hangs up and looks at Raven with grim determination. "I'm taking you to the one place in this city where Voss has no power. Where his cops can't reach us. Where we'll have everything we need to fight back."
"Where?"
Dante's smile is sharp and dangerous. "My family's old territory. The place where this all started. Where my parents were murdered. The one location Voss avoids because even he fears what lives there."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm taking you into the heart of Chicago's underworld, Raven. To meet the people who taught me everything I know about survival, revenge, and killing." His steel-blue eyes burn into hers. "I'm taking you to meet the Moretti crime family. And if you want to destroy Voss, you're going to have to convince the most dangerous people in Chicago that you're worth keeping alive."
Raven's blood turns to ice. "The Moretti family? The ones who killed your parents?"
"No. The ones who inherited after Vincent Moretti died. My mother's brother—my Uncle Luca Moretti—runs the family now. And he's been waiting twenty years for me to come home."
"You said the Morettis murdered your family!"
"Vincent Moretti did. The rest of the family? They've been looking for him ever since—to kill him themselves for unauthorized violence that brought police attention." Dante's voice is hollow. "Vincent went rogue. Killed without permission. The family exiled him, but by then my parents were dead and I was in foster care."
The SUV speeds through back roads, sirens wailing in the distance.
"Uncle Luca sent me letters for years," Dante continues. "Apologizing. Explaining. Begging me to come home. I never answered. Couldn't forgive. But now—" He looks at her. "Now I need his resources. His protection. His army."
"And if he says no?"
Dante's smile is terrifying. "Then we'll both be dead by morning. Because Voss just declared war, and we're out of options."
They pull into an abandoned warehouse district. The SUV stops in front of a building with no windows, no signs, nothing but a single steel door.
Men in suits emerge from shadows—at least twenty of them, all armed, all watching Dante with expressions ranging from shock to anger to something that might be relief.
One man steps forward—fifties, grey-streaked hair, eyes exactly like Dante's mother in the photos Raven saw.
"Dante," the man says, voice thick with emotion. "Twenty years. You finally came home."
"Hello, Uncle Luca." Dante's voice is cold. "I need your help. And I brought you something in return—a detective who knows everything about Commissioner Voss's operation. She's worth more than gold."
Luca's eyes slide to Raven. "The girl Voss is hunting? The one they're calling the Reaper?"
"She's innocent. Framed. And she's with me." Dante's voice hardens. "Anyone touches her, I burn this family to ash. Understood?"
Silence. Then Luca laughs—a sound like breaking glass.
"You sound like your mother. She was always protecting strays too." His smile fades. "Come inside, nephew. We have much to discuss. And Miss Blackwell—" He looks at her with predatory interest. "Welcome to the family. Pray you survive the night."
The steel door opens, revealing darkness beyond.
Dante takes Raven's hand. "Stay close to me. Don't speak unless spoken to. Show no fear."
"I'm terrified," she whispers.
"Good. That means you're smart." He squeezes her hand. "But you're mine now. And in this world, that means you're untouchable. Trust me."
They walk into the darkness together.
The door slams shut behind them.
And Raven realizes she just entered hell itself—and the only person who can protect her is the man everyone thinks is the devil.