01

~JADE~

You know if I ever got a second chance at life, I probably wouldn’t do this.

I wouldn’t be in one of the finest clubs in Rotana with my feet in dumbass six aching inches stilettos and rib-cracking corsets. I wouldn’t risk my twenty-three-year-old life by planting a recording chip underneath the table of one of the wealthiest men in the city while I danced to the slow beat of the music in the room.

Most of all, I wouldn’t make the mistake of letting him catch a flirty glimpse at my exposed cleavage as I delivered a closing bow to my three-men audience and retrieved the chip.

Unless this wasn't a second chance at life. This is real, and I’ve just succeeded in attracting the most unwanted attention from my target, a spoilt third-generation heir.

“Hey Jade, It’s clear over here! Tell me you’ve gotten that son of a bitch?!.” Ruby, my best friend and aide for the night screamed through the tiny intercom secured behind my ear.

In a bad way Ruby, I wished to respond. Instead, I straightened my back and flashed a perfect smile to the men. Ignoring Ruby, I turned on my heels and started to strut out of the room.

“Wait!.” A hoarse voice called from behind and I clenched my teeth. Fuck!.

My bracelet beeped to indicate that I had to evacuate just as Ruby’s voice came through one more time.

“Jade!. You have ten goddamn seconds or you are on your own!. Over and out!.”

“Hey, Bimbo! Turnaround!.”

My unresponsive state must have alerted the men behind and I knew I had to think fast.

Exactly one minute ago, the drug I had used on the real girl who was meant to entertain these men tonight had worn off and In exactly eight seconds, those exquisite doors to the private room would burst open with men armed to apprehend me…

“Is she deaf?.” The same hoarse voice spoke up again and this time I heard footsteps shuffle from behind me.

The footsteps from behind and the orders from the men to stop didn't make me stop walking away. I didn't turn away from the door as I counted down with my bracelet.

At the last beep, the doors flung open. A dozen bodyguards rushed in and I broke into a run.

The bodyguards were slightly confused as I narrowly squeezed past them.

“THAT’S THE BITCH!. GET THAT WOMAN!.” A shrill voice shrieked as I escaped the last bodyguard.

“Fuck!.” I used the F-word for the hundredth time that night; it was the very same girl whose identity I had stolen that had torn the mask off my face.

“COME ON!.”

“DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!”

I flung my heels in opposite directions as I ran for dear life. By all means, breaking a leg was a more better fate than getting caught with the recording chip in my purse.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!.”

I ducked as a bullet grazed my right leg, missing it's target by luck. Cheap bastards! The footsteps got clearer from behind as more gunshots followed, and I tried to inhale all the air that I could.

Ahead, my only way out was taken over as another handful of men busted in.

Breathing fast, I explored my remaining options which were only a handful. I could go head-on with the men, but they had weapons and could easily take me down. A door opened on my right and an unsuspecting waiter wheeled a trolley out. I hauled the terrified waiter aside and threw the trolley in the way. Barely escaping a fresh round of gunshots, I shut the door behind me and observed the hotel room that I had invaded.

“Who the hell are you?!.”

“What the fuck are you doing in here?.”

Two shocked, elderly couple said simultaneously as they stared up from their dinner date with widened eyes.

Bang!

The door rattled from behind and all suddenly went quiet again which was suspicious to me. Fuck! The waiter… they could easily gain access to the room.

“Uhm. I’m so… sorry.” I apologized as I ran to the only window in sight and pulled it open.

Second floor, eighteen feet tall.

I’ve done worse but it’s been over a year. I checked for the chip in my purse and swallowed to see that it was still very much in place.

“Are you crazy, young lady?!.”

The door rattled more ferociously this time, and just before the bodyguards found their way in, I bent over and pressed my knees tightly as I let go.

“Aargh!.”

The impact of the fall on my legs had me clenching my teeth from the pain. My whole body hurt and blurry voices surrounded me.

“Jade?!.”

I made out Ruby’s voice as I slipped into darkness.

_____

“You need to wake her up right now or I will!.”

“She’s passed out! Can't you fucking see?.”

My head pounded.

Hell. My entire body was in pain. My eyelids felt too heavy, so I just laid still. I could hear voices around me but they all sounded so distant.

“Jade?!. Jade wake up! There’s trouble...”

Trouble?

My eyes instantly flew open and Ruby’s unsettled face came into view. Next to her were Crystal and Pearl. They all looked so worried as they stared at me awkwardly.

I was on my bed and we were all in my bedroom. Somehow, we had made it back to the apartment where the four of us lived and functioned in one piece.

A phone started to ring in the distance and Pearl tore her gaze away from me to get it. As she left, I tried to get off the bed but Ruby was against it.

“Stay still!. You shouldn’t make any stupid movements, not after that fall..!.”

I frowned and sat up stubbornly, then dragged my body off the bed as I turned to Ruby. “What’s the matter? You mentioned trouble.”

The girls exchanged meaningful glances and I knew that whatever this trouble was. It was serious.

“The record chip is missing, Jade,” Ruby announced. Her eyes clouded with weariness and disappointment.

I frowned. Lazarus had placed me in charge of this operation. Probably because I had never lost a task and always got the job done.

The four of us only had one instruction for the night. Get in. Secure the chip. Get out and deliver it to the base. Lazarus would be livid if he found out about this!

“Where’s the purse?.” I asked. I was confident that the Chip was in it.

“There’s nothing in the purse!.” Crystal snapped at me. Her brown dreaded hair flew as she did. “What? Did you swallow the chip? Would we have to put you under the knife to get it out to the Don?” She continued sarcastically.

Ruby was quick to intervene. “That’s enough!.”

“It’s impossible.” I pointed out and picked up the black purse which had been tossed aside by the girls. I flipped the purse over. No black chip.

“I made sure that it was secure in here before making that jump.”

Crystal scoffed. “There’s no time for excuses Jade. Lazarus is mad and I bet the men are storming down here right now as we speak. You are going to fucking get us killed!.”

“Uhm, girls?.” A voice said and we all turned at once.

It was Pearl and her phone dangled in the air.

“That was Stone. They want us over at the base right now.”

~

As the familiar high walls that surrounded the Russo’s Estate came into view, my hands got clammy.

I was not the only nervous one. All of us were. Ruby wouldn't stop tapping her boots on the car’s floorboard. While Crystal and Pearl had their eyes glued to the windows instead.

Fear. I could sense it. It clouded over us and thickened as we drove through the gate. They had a good reason to be scared.

Lazarus Russo was a formidable man and he was our lord and master. He was not the mayor of Rotana, nor the commissioner of police, but he had the entire city under his control.

After the death of my parents and the mysterious disappearance of my brother when I was only six, Lazarus had taken me in and brought me up under his care.

Just like Ruby, Crystal, Pearl, and a thousand others whom I may never discover, we were recruited for various reasons. Recruited to be assembled and woven deep into the roots of the city, in the lowest and highest places of society, all for Lazarus Russo’s cause.

For Lazarus, we trained until our gums bled. For Lazarus, we took on identities like chameleons.

I stared at the girls in the back seat one more time. The four of us had always been lucky to be placed on short-term assignments. At least, we weren't forced into an early marriage like most of the other girls. Married off to be Lazarus' eyes and ears in powerful homes.

The car halted and I inhaled deeply before stepping down. Ruby’s eyes searched mine for some strength and I gave her a gentle nod to calm her down.

We walked past a long row of bodyguards and soon, we arrived at the Don’s large receiving hall.

Lazarus was waiting by a window frame when we walked in.

Although his back was turned to us, his walking cane tapped on the floor as we approached him; a habit I had noticed from the old man whenever he was pissed off like he was at that moment.

“Jade.” He called without bothering to face us.

“Don,” I responded carefully, trying to gauge his mood and know how to position my plea.

“Do you know why I had handpicked you amongst a thousand willing others and made you the leader of

my most important Shadows?.”

I swallowed. Lazarus Russo was a ruthless, crafty, old man. It was difficult to know the reasons why he did the things that he did.

“Because I had never lost a task?.”

“Wrong.” The old man snickered and finally turned to stare at me directly. His eyes were barely visible under the weight of his wrinkled skin, but his gaze still had its hold on me.

“I chose you because I made you. You may be the youngest, but you have stayed under my care for the longest. I chose you because I trusted that you were wise enough and could easily discern who to trust and not to trust…”

My heartbeat quickened and the hair on my arms rose. It was pure instinct and it did not feel good.

Those words… What does he mean?

Bang!.

“Ahh!.”

The girls screamed and a body dropped behind me. I turned over in shock at the sound of the gunshot to find Crystal slip to the floor. Dead.

I reached for the gun tucked into my holster but paused when I saw the indifferent look on Lazarus’s face.

Shock. Confusion. Anger.

The bullet that had killed Crystal came from behind us. An unfamiliar young man. He was clad in a custom-made wide shirt and black pants and he stood by the door with a cold expression on his face as he handed the gun over to a second man behind him and stepped forward.

My hands trembled slightly as I turned to Lazarus.

“What have you done?!.”