Chapter 3 - The Tyrant's Game
Sloane viewed her engagement to the notorious mafia boss purely as a strategic acquisition of absolute, unchecked power. She didn't love Cole; she loved the terrifying authority his last name provided her in the city's highest social circles.
Determined to assert her dominance over the vast Mercer estate, Sloane specifically targeted the youngest, most vulnerable member of the household staff: Lily. Sloane despised Lily's quiet, natural beauty and the dignified, resilient way she carried herself despite her lowly station.
Earlier that evening, just hours before the grand engagement gala was set to begin, Sloane had cornered Lily near the sweeping grand staircase. Wanting to humiliate the girl before the elite guests arrived, Sloane intentionally knocked over a heavy, decorative crystal vase, sending it crashing down the marble stairs.
She coldly ordered Lily to clean up the sharp, jagged shards of glass on her hands and knees.
As Lily was desperately picking up the broken crystal, Sloane purposefully and maliciously stepped forward. The toxic fiancée drove the sharp, needle-like point of her expensive silver stiletto heel directly into the back of Lily's hand, pinning it brutally against the hard marble floor.
Lily had cried out in agonizing pain, her flesh tearing as bright red blood immediately soaked into the frilly white trim of her maid uniform. When Lily instinctively tried to pull her bleeding hand away, Sloane had viciously slapped her across the face, leaving a dark, swelling purple bruise on the young maid's cheek.
To cover up her sociopathic violence, Sloane had loudly and hysterically claimed that she had caught the maid trying to steal a pair of diamond earrings from the master suite. She dragged the weeping, bleeding girl into the center of the grand ballroom, pulling an antique riding crop from a display case, fully intending to make a bloody, public spectacle of her authority just as the wealthy guests began to arrive.
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She assumed Cole was still miles away at a private syndicate meeting. She assumed she had absolute, unchecked power.
👉 Read Part 4 to see the terrifying arrival of the syndicate king.
