Chapter 1

Chloe Sterling was crying again.

Not loud, just quiet sniffles into a lace handkerchief, the kind of thing rich girls probably learned in finishing school.

I watched her from across the Sterling library, a room so big my entire childhood apartment could fit in one corner.

Above her head, the Live Feed scrolled.

`User_ChloeS_Status: Heartbroken_And_Clueless`

`Commenter_GossipGirl77: OMG, she STILL doesn't know?`

`Commenter_TruthSeeker_01: "Luke" is playing her HARD.`

My jaw tightened. Chloe, my ticket into this world of old money and power, was about to become a liability.

A massive, nine-month-shaped liability if I didn't act fast.

She looked up, her blue eyes puffy. "Ava, he said he loved me. Luke wouldn't just… disappear."

Luke.

The Feed had been screaming "Senator_Rexford_Thorne_Alias_DETECTED" for weeks.

I kept my face smooth, a mask of concern I' d perfected. "Of course not, Chloe. There must be an explanation."

`LiveFeed_System: Main_Quest_Threat_Level_INCREASING.`

`Commenter_PlotTwist_Lover: Protagonist about to go full dark? Yesss.`

Chloe was the Sterling heiress, sweet, naive, and currently my personal assistant. My confidante.

My project.

Her father had practically handed her to me, "Keep an eye on Chloe, Ava. You' re so sensible."

Sensible enough to see Senator Thorne, a man twice her age with a wife and a career to protect, wouldn't stick around for a scandal baby with a girl who thought "Luke" was a struggling artist.

"He promised we'd go away together," Chloe whispered, clutching her stomach.

A small, almost imperceptible bump.

But I saw it. And the Feed saw it.

`LiveFeed_System: Biological_Complication_Timer_Activated.`

`Commenter_BadSeed_Fan: Ava's gonna fix this. Brutally. Hope so.`

I needed the Sterling connection. I needed their resources, their name.

Poverty in the Rust Belt teaches you one thing: cling to any lifeline, and cut away anything, or anyone, that threatens to drag you back under.

Chloe, bless her innocent heart, was now a five-alarm fire threatening to burn down everything I' d built.

"We'll find him, Chloe," I said, my voice soft.

But the Feed knew better.

`LiveFeed_System: Objective_Update_Neutralize_Threat_Rexford_Thorne.`

My eyes narrowed. Objective accepted.