Chapter 1

When I was seventeen, I added my three-year-old half brother, Luca, to the Moretti family trust.

To give him the Moretti name, an education, and protection, I signed away twelve percent of my own share and shielded him from every bit of my father's resentment.

Three years ago, when I left Grey Harbor, I also handed him control of Black Psalm.

I thought I was only giving my brother time to learn responsibility.

Then I came home to audit the books, and his fiancee Vivian pulled the ring off my finger in front of a full room, pointed at the old ledger I had brought, and said, "Some woman who just flew in from Lisbon thinks she can wave a fake around and pass herself off as a Moretti?"

I didn't argue with her. I only gave her three ways to check.

Call Luca.

Verify the email from the trust lawyers.

Scan the founder's ring on my finger.

She refused all three. Instead, she had me dragged down into the wine cellar and tried to force me to confess to stealing family property.

I called Luca right in front of her.

He heard my voice, and he went quiet for a few seconds.

"Sienna, this is my engagement night. Don't make a scene."

Vivian put him on speaker on purpose. "And what about her?"

Luca answered immediately.

"Keep her locked up for now. I'll deal with her when I'm done."

When the gun butt slammed into my ribs, I knew for certain that Luca had recognized me.

He had recognized me, and he still chose to let them do it.

Using my left hand, the only one I could still move, I sent a single line to Nora, my lawyer: "Bring the wine my father hid."

That was our emergency code.

My brother had forgotten who made him a Moretti. So I would make him see for himself exactly who that name belonged to.

My first stop back in Grey Harbor was Black Psalm.

Three years ago, it was a row of abandoned customs warehouses. I paid for the renovation, secured the license for Luca, and put the operating authority in his name. Now the gold family crest over the door gleamed, while the books were short by $2.4 million.

I booked an independent audit under my full legal name, Sienna Moretti. My driver waited at the corner, and I brought no extra people. At first, all I wanted was to determine whether the money had disappeared through Luca's mismanagement or whether someone had deliberately taken it.

Vivian Cross came to meet me herself.

She wore a white gown with the Black Psalm manager's pin on her chest. At midnight she would get engaged to Luca at the Moretti estate.

"Miss Auditor?" She looked over the black-and-silver ring on my hand, her smile still polite. "Take the center booth. The lighting is better there, which will make it easier to review the documents."

She had a server take my coat and my document case. I glanced up at the ceiling. The red dot beside the camera was still lit. Black Psalm's footage synced to an off-site mirror server. Vivian clearly knew nothing about the safeguard I had left behind three years ago.

The music had barely stopped when a server pulled a black ledger and a handgun out of my document case.

Every guest in the room raised a phone.

Vivian took a step back, as if she had really been frightened. "That's the founder's old ledger. And the gun isn't registered. Who exactly are you?"

"Put Luca on the phone, or have any trust lawyer verify my audit email." I laid my hands flat on the table. "The email is digitally signed. My ring has a serial number too. Scan it, and the system will identify me as a trustee."

"You bring a knockoff in here to prove who you are?" She signaled security to block the scanner. "You came back from Lisbon to fight Luca over the money, didn't you?"

I looked at her. "I gave you three ways to check. You won't take a single one. That means this isn't a misunderstanding."

Vivian pushed a settlement agreement across the table. I was supposed to admit that I had stolen the family ledger and entered her club armed, then pay $500,000 in damages. In front of everyone, she said I had controlled Luca back in Lisbon and had now returned to ruin his engagement.

I called Luca twice.

The first call was cut off. The second brought a message.

"Don't make a scene tonight."

At the same time, the phone Vivian had set down on the table lit up. On the screen was the message she had just sent Luca. "The woman you warned me about is here. I'll handle her for you."

Luca knew I was back in Grey Harbor, and he knew I was at Black Psalm. He never asked why I had come. He simply accepted Vivian's version of who I was.

I sent Nora a message. "Bring the wine my father hid."

That was the emergency code we had agreed on.

Vivian caught sight of my screen and assumed I was still begging someone for help. She waved over Marcus, her head of security, and two men seized my arms, one on each side.

"The Morettis have their own rules," she said. "When you're ready to tell the truth, you can come back out and face people."

They dragged me down into the wine cellar. Before the iron door locked, I saw Vivian hand the settlement to Marcus.

"Get it signed before midnight." She unpinned the manager's badge and moved it to a more prominent spot on her white gown. "Once that engagement ring is on my finger, Black Psalm is mine."