In my past life, I walked away from an invitation to the elite Academy just to take the fall for Luca.

He held my hand, swearing he’d get me out.

Swearing he’d keep me safe for the rest of my life.

Instead, I rotted in a cell until I died.

While I was bleeding out on the cold floor, Luca was marrying the Don’s daughter, living the high life.

When I opened my eyes, I was back.

Luca was sixteen again, face pale as a sheet, shoving a bloody gun into my hands.

"Elena, you're a lifesaver."

I slapped the piece away.

"Dream on. I ain't taking the rap for you this time."

Ten years in a federal pen, and that’s where my life ended.

I slumped onto the cold concrete.

The chill seeped through the shank wound in my gut, settling deep in my bones. Blood pooled around me like rainwater.

Before I faded, I looked at the TV mounted on the wall.

The news anchor was announcing Luca as the new Don.

At the same time, he was holding a grand engagement party downtown with the former Don's only daughter.

Luca stood there in a custom Italian suit, fingers interlocked with his bride-to-be, Sofia. He was smiling like he owned the world.

"For the honor of the Family," he said on the screen.

Everyone was fawning over him. A subordinate rushed up and whispered something in his ear.

He frowned, waved the guy off, and patted the woman's hand.

"Don't worry, babe. Just a nobody. Dead is dead."

Suddenly, screams tore through the broadcast.

A woman covered in scars crashed through the security line.

She was pale, waving a gun, screaming my name like a maniac.

"Elena? Elena! Where is my daughter?"

I looked at her aged, familiar face...

Was that my mom? The one who went missing ten years ago?

Before I could look closer, everything went black.

"Elena!"

The voices overlapped.

I snapped my eyes open. Freezing rain hammered against my face.

No cold prison. No fatal knife wound.

Just sixteen-year-old Luca, standing pale in the shadows of the New York slums.

His hands were shaking as he shoved a still-warm Glock into my hands.

The handle was sticky. Someone else's blood.

"Elena, listen to me," Luca stammered, his eyes darting with calculation.

"If the cops take me, I’m finished. My life is over. Take the rap for me this time, and I swear on my life, I’ll protect you forever."

The same old lines.

In my last life, I gripped this gun, and it bought me ten years of hell and a violent death.

"Protect me?" I whispered.

Luca thought I agreed. A flash of joy crossed his eyes.

"Yes! I’m the chosen one. I can’t have a record. Hurry, the cops are coming!"

I looked at his pretty face and laughed.

Click.

I dropped the mag, tossing it and the gun separately into the filth of the sewer.

"No!" Luca lunged, trying to fish out the evidence. "What are you doing! Are you crazy?"

I took a step back, letting the rain wash the prints off my hands.

"That body is on you, Luca. You dig the hole."

I turned and walked into the downpour, leaving him screaming curses behind me.

When I got back to the moldy apartment I lived in back then, Tony was at the card table counting coins.

The whole place stank of his cheap cigars.

When he saw my empty hands, his face turned purple.

"Where’s Luca? Did you handle it?" He blew a smoke ring. "Where’s the hush money that kid promised me?"

"I didn't help him," I said coldly. "I want to live."

Tony froze for a second, then exploded.

He grabbed the baseball bat leaning against the wall and swung it at my head.

"Ungrateful little bitch!"

I sidestepped. The bat smashed into the rot-wood table, sending splinters flying.

A second later, my dagger was buried in the wood, right in front of his face.

Tony went stiff.

"I'm entering the selection for the Academy," I stared him down. "Stay out of my way."

Tony stared at the vibrating knife handle, then grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. It was disgusting.

"A gutter rat like you thinks she can make the Academy?"

He shoved the cigar back in his mouth, looking at me like I was merchandise.

"Save it. Since you won't help Luca, get ready. The butcher down the street—the forty-five-year-old? He likes you. What he's paying for you covers my gambling debt for the week."

I ignored him and walked out the door.

The underground fight club smelled of sweat, blood, and rotgut vodka.

"Hey doll, hike that skirt up a bit and I'll give you a hundred."

A thug with a meaty, jowly face tried to grab my thigh.

I clamped onto his wrist, digging my thumb into a pressure point.

He screamed and let go.

"Cash only. No touching." I slammed a water bottle on the table.

I needed five grand for that damn Academy ticket.

This was my fourteenth night putting up with this harassment.

3 AM. The club finally closed.

I changed and walked out the back door, only to find two familiar figures blocking the alley.

Luca, and his foster mother, Martha.

Martha looked at the envelope in my hand like I was a thief.

"Elena, how can you be so selfish?" Martha charged at me, finger in my face.

"Luca hasn't slept in days because of that incident! He needs that money to grease some palms and clear his name."

"At least you know your place, working to pay your debts. Hand it over!"

The woman was screeching.

I looked at Luca.

He stood silent in the shadows behind her, wearing a jacket that didn't fit, looking gloomy and greedy.

I laughed and shook my head.

"No. This is my pay."

I tucked the envelope into my inside pocket.

"He is the only hope for this district!" Martha shrieked.

"It should be your honor to sacrifice for his future!"

"Honor?" I looked at Luca. "Letting a woman take the fall for you—is that how a future Don acts?"

Luca’s face went white. A few local thugs passing by started laughing.

"Shut up!" Martha, humiliated and angry, raised her hand to slap me.

I caught her wrist in mid-air. Hard. She yelped in pain.

I shoved her back, and she stumbled into Luca.

"Don't touch me," I stared at Luca. "If you're that broke, go beg on the corner like the rest of the bums. Stop looking at me."

I turned and walked away.

Three months passed. I never saw Luca again.

I finally scraped together the tuition. I didn't want to wait another second, so I went to the boss to cash out.

"Five thousand dollars total," I said. "Give it to me, and I'm gone."

In the office, the boss had his boots on the desk, toying with a silver revolver.

He looked up like he’d heard a joke.

"What money?" He sneered. "Tony was here yesterday. He said that cash covers the interest on his loan here."

My blood ran cold.

"That is my money! Why did you let someone else take it?"

I clenched my fists, ready to fight for it.

I took one step forward.

The boss was faster.

He jumped up and kicked me hard in the stomach.

Pain dropped me to my knees. My stomach churned.

A cold gun barrel pressed against my forehead.

"Wages?" He looked down at me, eyes full of cruel amusement.

"Trash like you exists because the Family allows it. You think you have the right to discuss wages? Say one more word, and tonight you go in a shipping container straight to the Mexican border."

I choked on a mixture of mud and rain.

Two bouncers tossed me into the back alley like a bag of trash.

My broken rib on the right side was screaming. Every breath tasted like copper.

"Cough..." I struggled to get up but collapsed back into a puddle.

That's when a pair of worn-out boots stepped into my vision.

I lifted my head with effort.

It was the crazy old woman from the edge of the slums, Maria.

She had one eye and always smelled of cheap booze.

Usually, she wouldn't even look at me.

But tonight, she crouched down, her rough fingers pressing on my rib.

"Not dead yet," she rasped, her voice like sandpaper on concrete.

Without another word, she hauled me up and dragged me into her shack filled with scrap metal.

The sting of alcohol poured on my cuts almost made me pass out.

Maria skillfully wrapped my chest with strips of cloth. Rough, but surprisingly professional.

When she was done, she went to the corner and pried up a loose floorboard.

She pulled out a rusty metal box and tossed it into my lap.

"Take it."

I opened the box. No money. Just a heavy coin.

Solid gold, with a bleeding eagle carved on the front.

The highest token of the "Blood Oath"—a Gold Medallion for the Elite Academy.

Holders get direct entry, no fees.

I looked up at her in shock.

"Where did you get this?"

Tears welled up in Maria's single eye. She took a swig of liquor.

When she looked at me again, she was calm.

"Your mother left it."

My heart skipped a beat.

"My mother? Tony said she ran off with another man."

"Tony's full of sh*t." Maria stared at the coin. "Your mother was the Family's most lethal weapon. She didn't run. She drew the enemies away to save you."

She grabbed my shoulder, nails digging into my flesh.

"Go to the Academy. They have the deepest intel network in the Family. Climb the ranks. It's the only way you'll find her."

I gripped the coin. The cold metal felt like it was burning a hole in my palm.

It wasn't just a ticket; it was proof my mother was alive.

I stood up, fighting the pain, and tucked the coin into my breast pocket.

"I will find her."

Maria reached out and wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. Her eyes turned sharp.

"Listen to me, girl."

She lowered her voice to a growl.

"Don't let anyone see that thing."