My father used to say that there are only ever two moves on the board — you can give them what they want, or you can become something they want more — and that the whole art of staying alive in this city was knowing which game you were in before you opened your mouth. I had eleven days, two families who wanted a dead man's ledger, and a husband I'd decided to keep alive, and so I did the thing my father had trained me for since before I understood I was being trained.

Empire of Ashes is a serialized dark mafia romance audiobook, written by Mia. New episodes daily.