Vicious Vines (Calder Brothers Duet #2)

Prologue

A s I stand in what was formerly known as my father's study, I bring the heavy crystal glass to my mouth, feeling the whiskey pass across lips painted as crimson as my nails.

This may have been my father's domain just a few weeks ago, but it looks nothing like it now. I had it ripped back to the studs after the fire, new walls and floor installed. I wanted nothing to do with the man that kept me locked inside my own house like a prisoner for the first twenty-four years of my life.

Now instead of the room suffocating in gold and velvet, it is all sleek lines and dark wood, accented with walls the dark navy of an angry sea. My heels give the most delicious click against the now wooden floor, with nothing softening the fact that I am a woman in a place where historically no woman has stood.

The sound of shuffling has me hiding a smile behind my mask of indifference. The men gathered in this room are impatient for me to speak and get on with it. I know they are like my father. They don't think a woman should lead the O'Neil family. They don't think a woman should lead at all.

Too bad for them, I take pleasure in watching them squirm. I enjoy knowing that they hate every second that they have to wait for me to give them their orders.

After all, I am a woman and to them, taking commands from me is beyond a joke. It goes against the nature of things.

But it is my head currently wearing the crown, and it is my rule they have to abide by.

And my first order of business? Every man in this room is going to die.