LISA’S POV
The morning after tasted like copper and war.
Liam was still asleep when I slipped out of bed, the sheets tangled around his waist like battle scars. His arm had been wrapped around me all night, but I couldn’t let myself rest—not when my empire was under siege from the inside.
Not when Alice’s voice still echoed in my skull like a curse.
"She has no idea."
I brewed espresso strong enough to raise the dead, then opened the burner phone I’d hidden inside the lining of my Prada handbag.
One contact. One message.
ME: “Light it up.”
The response came seconds later.
UNKNOWN: “Fire begins in one hour.”
I slipped the phone back into the lining.
It was time.
Phase one: ruin the foundation Celeste had built in secret.
She thought I was still licking my wounds. Still reeling
