Chapter 1

My husband and I adopted a girl out of the Liberty City slums.

I taught her how to shoot, how to fight, and molded her into a mafia elite.

Dominic said she looked exactly like me when I was younger.

So, he spoiled her. He enabled her until she believed there was nothing in this world she couldn't touch.

At our celebration banquet, Sienna knew damn well I was allergic to seafood. Yet she deliberately dropped a piece of shrimp onto my plate.

"Come on, Victoria. Eat it a few times and you'll build an immunity," she said, smiling down at the massive dog by her feet. "Besides, my Titan loves to copy people. If you don't eat it, he'll copy you and refuse his food, too. He's such a copycat, and I hate it when he's a picky eater."

The whole table laughed.

Dominic just reached over and tapped her nose, his tone dripping with indulgence.

"You're exactly like Victoria was at your age. Absolutely untamable." He turned to me. "Honey, just eat the shrimp. Set a good example for Titan."

I let out a cold laugh.

I had been playing nice for far too long. Now, even the help thought they could bite.

This wasn't the first time Sienna had tested my boundaries.

I picked up my teacup and took a slow sip.

"Bring the princess's dog up here."

My men immediately dragged out the massive Mastiff. It took five of them just to hold the beast back. It snarled at me, lips peeling back to bare its fangs, claws gouging the floorboards.

A few months ago at an auction, Sienna had merely glanced at this dog. Dominic dropped thirty million dollars on the spot, just to make his precious girl smile.

Titan lunged at me, snapping its jaws.

One of my men met it with a brutal kick to the face. A bloody tooth flew across the room.

Dominic crushed his cigarette out with two fingers. He stepped up and pinched my cheek.

"Victoria, are you mad? We were just messing with you."

I slapped his hand away. I pointed at the dog and looked at my men.

"Beat it. If it dies, it's on me."

I turned my head and met Sienna's flushed, panicked face.

"Someone filed a complaint yesterday," I said slowly. "They said your dog snatched meat from another dog's bowl, then climbed into its bed to sleep with its mate."

I let the silence stretch.

"Sienna, your dog really does love to copy people. I just wonder if it's copying its master?"

Sienna's face drained of color. She dropped to her knees.

"Victoria, I'm sorry. I swear I'll keep Titan in line." She grabbed my skirt. "They're going to kill him. Please, just let him go this once!"

Dominic's eyes darkened.

"Victoria, tell your men to stop."

"And if I don't?"

His gaze turned icy. "Don't force me to make this ugly."

If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was being threatened.

I drew my gun, aimed it straight at the dog, and pulled the trigger.

Bang.

Sienna screamed and lunged forward. "No!"

The bullet grazed her cheek. A split second later, a bloody hole appeared in Titan's skull. The massive beast slumped to the floor, dead.

That dog had bitten me more times than I could count. Whenever I got too close to Dominic, Titan would lunge, tearing at my clothes, snapping at my throat. Every single time, Sienna would shrink into Dominic's arms, giggle, and feed the beast expensive jerky as a reward.

The dog learned quickly: see Victoria, go for the jugular.

Sienna treated it like a game. Dominic never put a stop to it.

Since he wouldn't discipline the mutt, I ended the problem myself.

Sienna cradled Titan's lifeless body, sobbing violently.

Dominic grabbed my wrist. His grip was so vicious I thought my bones would snap.

"Sienna is our daughter. Did you really have to take it this far over a damn dog?"

"She's young. It's normal for her to make mistakes. Why the hell are you holding a grudge against your own daughter?"

I looked down at his fingers digging into my skin.

"Let go."

He didn't move.

I raised my eyes. My voice was dangerously soft.

"Whether she needs help or not isn't your call to make. And training that beast to attack me isn't a youthful mistake."

Dominic's jaw clenched. "She's still young."

"She's only two years younger than me."

He froze.

When we first pulled Sienna out of Liberty City, she was so malnourished we thought she was a kid. We pitied her. It was only later we found out she was barely two years my junior. She hadn't been a clueless child in a very long time.

I slowly wrenched my wrist out of his grasp.

"You know exactly how old she is."

"People who know the truth think you're raising a daughter. People who don't think you're keeping a mistress on the side. What do you think, Dominic?"

His brows snapped together. His eyes went pitch-black.

"Victoria, if it weren't for me, you'd still be rotting in the worst part of the strip."

The words drove straight into my chest like a blade.

But I just smiled.

"Dominic, if it weren't for me, you'd still be an incontinent vegetable shitting your own pants."