The Queen of Ruin

RUBY

I found a fifty-million-dollar hole in a client's books on a Monday night.

By Thursday, the man it belonged to had blown my office apart, executed my boss in front of me, and carried me out into the snow.

Moscow thinks I died in that fire. My grandmother buried an empty coffin.

Now I live in his house, behind his locks, and the only thing keeping me breathing is what's in my head. He needs the trail I found before the most dangerous men in the city sit down to judge him. So I give it to him one piece at a time, and every piece costs me.

He's cruel. He's patient. He never touches me without asking.

And I've started saying yes.

MIKHAIL

Someone stole from the men who trusted me. In twenty-two days they'll ask for their money back, or my blood.

The woman who can find it is a witness I should have buried.

Instead, I took her home.

She counts everything. My guards. My patrols. My lies. She spat in my face on the first day and dared me to look on the second.

I've kept everything I own by force. I can't keep her that way.

Someone inside my walls wants her dead. They'll have to come through me.

I don't lose what's mine.

This is the first book in The Queen of Ruin Series. Reading order:

Crush Me.

Crown Me.