So what if she’d once been his precious little darling?


    Back then, he still let her do whatever she pleased–let her trample him. underfoot.


    She remembered that brat vividly.


    The entire orphanage was filled with kids at rock bottom, but that one girl–when she first arrived–stood out in her frilly dress, clinging timidly to the director’s hand.


    Her parents had just died, her eyes swollen like ripe plums.


    She looked heartbreakingly delicate.


    Marcia stood in the shadows, waiting for the director to leave before rushing over and yanking the hairclip off the girl’s head.


    You could tell at a nce she came from a life offort–she didn’t even register Marcia’s malice. Instead, she obediently reached up and took off her other hairclip, offering it over.


    “Here, you can have this one too.”


    Marcia pped it out of her hand.


    That was the first time Marcia realized, in the presence of a child so gently raised, how much she resembled a rat scurrying in the gutter.


    Frank’s rage spiked like wildfire. His eyes went bloodshot, and his hand. tightened mercilessly around Marcia’s throat.


    She’d bullied little Nine.


    He wanted to kill her.


    Marcia felt her breath slipping away, but the mocking smile never left her lips. Gasping, she forced out, “If you choke me to death, you’ll never find.


    out where she is.’


    “What did you say?<b>” </b>


    For a moment, Frank’s self–control snapped back. He loosened his grip just enough, eyes boring into her. “You know where she is?”


    Marcia didn’t bother ying coy. “I know where the family who adopted her lives.”


    Frank’s excitement was impossible to hide. “Where?”


    “Let go of me first.”


    “Fine.”


    Frank studied her, slowly releasing his grip, his hawk–like gaze fixed on her. “Don’t y games with me. You know how easy it would be for me to kill you.”


    Marcia knew that all too well.


    In this world of sharp social divides, no one was more aware than she was that, in the eyes of the rich and powerful, her life was worth nothing.


    If they wanted her gone, they wouldn’t even have to try.


    Still, she refused to bow.


    Once you’ve tasted luxury, it’s hell to go back to scrambling for scraps. She wouldn’t do it.


    Besides, she couldn’t trust Frank not to dispose of her the moment he got


    what he wanted.


    Meeting Frank’s icy stare, Marcia dug her nails so hard into her palm that. one snapped off. Only then did she find the courage to speak: “I’ll tell you where they are, but you have to agree to one condition.”


    “What condition?”


    “Divorce Elissa. Marry me.”


    Frank looked at her like she’d just told the world’s darkest joke. He ran his tongue along his teeth, voice icy. “Marcia, do you really think you’re in any position to bargain with me?”


    “Suit yourself. You can keep me locked up here until you feel like talking. Maybe one day I’ll tell you.”


    “Fine.”


    Marcia’s heart plummeted, but she forced herself to stay calm. This was herst chance. “Then you’ll never see her again. She’s a cop’s daughter, right?”


    Frank, halfway to the door, jerked around to stare at her.


    She knew she’d hit the mark.


    Clenching her fists, Marcia pressed on. “When that family came to take her, I overheard the olddy talking to herpanion. She said they’d make sure everything her parents did woulde back on her a thousandfold.”


    “When that drug lord gets out of prison, he’ll settle the score with the cop’s daughter himself.”


    Frank’s breathing tightened, suspicion warring with dread. “Are you sure?” He’d looked into the timeline of little Nine’s parents‘ deaths.


    It lined up exactly: the biggest drug bust Cresthaven PD had pulled off that decade. The whole ring got twenty years, no chance of parole due to the severity of the case.