I ASKED MY UNCLE to impersonate my father.

Uncle Silvio is long-estranged, having left the mob years ago to become a simple mechanic. However, I tracked him down with the help of my busybody aunt, and now he's taking the place of my dead father. He looks strikingly similar to him, though the streak of grey in his hair is less prominent than my father's is--was.

In the span of twenty-four hours, I've killed my father, broken the vow of omerta, and proposed to the love of my life, only to be rejected. Not to mention I took up arms with a man whom I loathe, Lucas Black.

It's been a rather insane day. But if my plan goes well, it should all be for a good cause.

I glance at the two guards behind me, Hortensio and Lorenzo, and nod as they shove the bag over Lucas Black's head. He doesn't resist, his wrists bound behind his back with rope. Then I give a nod, the doors are opened, and I step out into the top room of the Cavalli-owned skyscraper.

"Apologies for my tardiness," I say, facing an array of characters who are all too familiar to my eyes. Abigail Steele, her older brother, and her boyfriend, the prince. She's clad in navy, which looks awful with her sallow skin and red hair, and looks worried out of her mind for her sister-in-law.

Behind me, Lucas Black is putting on a dramatic show, fighting as if for his life. The bag is perfectly breathable, being a mesh hood similar to the ones that cops might use, but I doubt anyone present besides Lucas and I know that.

Not that it matters what is real and what looks real. I have a bargain to make, an offer to be fulfilled, and I refuse to be turned down.

I have nothing left to lose. I've given up my family, my father, and my whole life. For one girl, who might never love me.

Who do I have left? What do I still possess that cannot be taken from me?

Allie is the last bargaining chip I have, which is why she's waiting in the back room with Katerina Steele and her newborn baby. Mrs. Steele went into labour last night, and from what Allie said, she was crying and praying and even cursing through it, to be delivered of an infant boy.

Glancing at Alexander Steele's worried expression: the tense set of his jaw, the hollow look in his eyes, maybe I should feel a bit more remorseful for my actions, how I took away one of the most important moments of his life. But I can't bring myself to feel anything at all.

"Lucas!" Alexander says, as his eyes cast over to the FBI agent and he dashes to his side. How can he care about this one man--this broken, battered man--when his wife and son are missing? "Why would you do this to him?"

I school my expression into one of uncaring insouciance. It's not difficult. Not when I've lost all that I could care for. I snap my fingers for the guards to put Lucas on a chair. "His own actions got him into this position, Mr. Steele. I would watch my mouth if I were you, to keep it from being... permanently closed."

Emotions flicker across Alexander Steele's face: anger, indignation, and a deep sense of compassion and pity that confuses me. Who is it directed to? Lucas Black? His wife? Or me, and this life I've trapped myself in? I throw away the last ludicrous thought before it can take root. "Do not threaten me, Mr. Cavalli. I have the law on my side."

The law means as little to me now as it did a week ago when I was the king of the underworld. What more can this man try to take from me? No, all the things I've tried to hold onto have slipped as easily from my grasp as a handful of sand in the salt-tinged ocean breeze. "Yes, well... That makes no difference, considering you've decided to take me up on my offer."

Who is he to lecture me on morality and legality when he's consorting with a known criminal like myself? I can only hope that Uncle Silvio doesn't have his reputation tarnished by association with me. Family is all I have left.

And maybe I am not alone in my values as I watch Abigail Steele run up to Lucas Black, a fierce determination in her blue eyes. She wants to save her sister-in-law, to spare her brother from making the difficult choices. But I've made plenty of those in my life, and look where I am now.

Rock bottom.

"Stop! Don't hurt him." Abigail stands in front of Lucas. The guards have brought him over to me and though the bag was ripped off of his head, he still has a gag in his mouth.

How quickly they fall for these dark games. How easily I play them.

No wonder she left, Antonio.

I laugh at her request, more out of humour than any real delight in Lucas's plight. Well, he did do a number on Christina, but I can't think of her right now. It hurts too much. Yet she comes back time and time again, a persistent message in a bottle that won't stop washing up on the shore.

"Why should I, Miss Steele? What do you have for me, that I can trade for him? Because Mr. Black here, as irritating as he may be, seems awfully valuable to many people I know. He seems awfully valuable to your brother, to Christina Martell, to such a great deal of people. What do you have to offer me, Abigail?"

She stutters. Her brother warns her away from her course of action, which is the wisest thing. The most selfless thing.

Which means I'll never understand it.

"Your money is no good here, Miss Steele. What will you give me for his life, and for your sister-in-law... or your sister?" I nudge Lucas Black and watch him almost stagger, his hands still bound.

"You want to make a deal, Mr. Cavalli? I'll make a deal with you." Abigail stares up at me, naive defiance in her eyes. "A sister, for a sister. And you bring back Katerina."

She's right in the back room, ensconced in the lap of luxury, and hardly as far away as the Steeles might think, but the illusion of power is easier to maintain than power itself.

It's an illusion I keep perpetuating. A useful one. "What a sweet bargain. What a loving sacrifice. I have no use for you, however. What am I to do with another Steele girl and one who remembers that she had a life outside of the Cavalli's? No, this simply will not do."

"I... I don't know what you want, then," Abigail says, desperation in her blue eyes. "This is all I can give you."

Contrary to popular belief, I am not a heartless man.

At least, not until Christina Martell tore the beating heart from my chest and took off.

"This is all you have? Then I'll take it."

I'm beginning to think this was a mistake.

I am drawn between legality and crime, a world of darkness and a world of blinding, painful light. The pain on my body and face, the bruises, the bloodied nose, and my split lip... all of it is nothing compared to the conflict brewing within me.

As I watch the Steele family become reunited with their long-lost sister, with Katerina, my heart sinks in my chest. Have I joined the wrong side?

Antonio gave me his word--swore on Christina's life--that he wouldn't harm any of them. But what good is a mobster's word, especially when he could easily have gotten rid of Christina already? I've called her five times since the last text message and she hasn't picked up. Where is she?

But as I watch Abigail Steele enter Antonio Cavalli's car, I have the sinking feeliing that I might find out.

And it may not be pleasant.

Slipping away, I go to hail a cab and make my way back to my apartment. But just as I reach the door, a hand rests on my shoulder. I swivel around. It's Allie Steele and she slips a note into my hand, not sayinig a word before she goes back to the Steeles.

I tuck the note into my pocket and walk briskly to the elevator. The Steeles have all filed out, and I stand alone in the Art Deco elevator, golden doors and mirrored walls. My reflection stares back at me in an endless loop, and I wince as I touch the bruisies on my face.

My phone dings. Destiny. Where have you been? Marco says you and Antonio broke out of jail or something?

Kind of... well, something like that. I'll tell you when I get home.

Making it out of the luxurioius lobby and into the parking garage, I reach my car. My jaw drops, muscles tensing. Graffiti is spray-painted across the windshield in red letters, and the handwriting is vaguely familiar to me, not to mention the C logo.

WHERE IS SHE?

I look up, direclty toward the security cameras, and say, "Well, damn, Antonio. If I knew, I'd be there."