Chapter 1

Bam!

My face slammed hard against the tile edge of the pool, courtesy of two bodyguards. The rough concrete scraped raw my cheekbone, and the thick, coppery taste of blood flooded my nose.

"Let go of me! Don't touch my daughter!" I thrashed like a wild animal, a guttural, beast-like roar tearing from my throat. But the bodyguards' hands were iron vises, pinning my shoulders to the ground so hard I couldn't move an inch.

Less than ten feet away, my five-year-old daughter Winnie was being roughly held down by two other goons.

They'd yanked her pants up past her knees, exposing her tiny, delicate calves.

Just minutes earlier, someone had shoved her into the pool on purpose. The water had washed away the special concealer she wore on her legs, and now those fish-scale birthmarks—usually hidden beneath her skin—were laid bare for everyone to see, glinting with that iridescent mother-of-pearl sheen that belonged only to merfolk royalty.

Zoe, decked out in a couture gown, slowly squatted down in front of Winnie like she was staring at something repulsive, something she'd scraped off the bottom of her shoe.

A silver folding knife snapped open in her hand—her nails painted blood-red. The sharp blade caught the harsh sunlight, glinting with a cold, menacing light.

"What is this nasty shit? It's fucking disgusting." Zoe wrinkled her nose in revulsion and pressed the cold tip of the blade directly against Winnie's calf.

The next second, the blade raked hard across those delicate scales.

"AHHH—!" Winnie's whole body jolted. She screamed at the top of her lungs, raw and agonized. "Mommy! It hurts! Mommy, help me!"

That cut might as well have been carved straight into my fucking heart.

My chest convulsed, a searing pain that felt like it was splitting me open. I threw myself forward with everything I had, my nails scraping against the hard tile with a shrill screech until they tore and bleed. But I couldn't break free.

"Stop it! Zoe, you crazy bitch! Stop it right now! My husband will fucking destroy you!" I watched, helpless, as blood trickled down Winnie's pale calf and dripped into the puddle by the pool, blooming into a vivid, sickening red.

Zoe paused, the blade still stained with my daughter's blood. She lazily lifted her eyes and glanced at me—still pinned to the ground—with a look of utter contempt. A cruel smirk tugged at her lips. "Husband? Please. Who the hell are you trying to fool?"

The party guests had already crowded around to gawk. At Zoe's words, the crowd erupted into whispers and outright, unashamed laughter.

"Who even is this woman? Dressed like a fucking maid, and she dares crash a high-end private dinner like this?"

"Did I just hear her say 'husband'? Fucking hilarious. Which rich guy would ever go for trash like her?"

"Right? Some gutter rat who crawled out of the slums, probably. Desperate to trap a rich guy with a kid. Doesn't she know her place?"

"Like mother, like daughter. Did you see that gross shit on the kid's leg? Total freak show. Makes me wanna puke."

Every word was a poison-tipped needle, driving straight into my spine.

Winnie lay crumpled on the ground, her calf still oozing blood. She trembled all over from the pain, tears streaking her deathly pale little face. But when she saw me being stomped into the ground, she bit down hard on her lower lip.

She forced her tear-filled eyes open in my direction and whimpered, her voice tiny and wobbly, "Mommy... don't cry... Winnie... doesn't hurt..."

My heart felt like it had been ripped open, raw and bleeding. I couldn't breathe.

My daughter—my baby girl, who I'd sheltered and cherished every single day of her life, who I'd fussed over over the tiniest bump or bruise—was being treated like garbage, like something you scrape off your shoe.

The blood in my veins began to roar backward. That bloodthirsty power from the deep ocean—the one I'd crushed down and caged for five years—was this close to breaking loose, slamming against the walls of my self-control.

I wanted to kill.

I wanted to drag every single one of these motherfuckers into the deep sea and tear them to shreds.

But I couldn't.

If I exposed my mermaid powers, my father would find me. And then he'd kill Silas—the man who'd taken me away.

I ground my teeth so hard my jaw ached, forcing that raging power back down my throat. I lifted my head like a cornered she-wolf, my eyes burning with insane fury, and snarled at Zoe, "Don't you fucking touch her! Silas is my husband! He'll ruin you for this!"

My voice cracked from the sheer rage and desperation.

Silas Young—the man I'd pulled from the deep ocean five years ago, the man who'd sworn on his life to protect me and our daughter forever—was the only card I had left to play. The only thing that might scare her.

The air went dead quiet for half a second.

Then Zoe burst out laughing like I'd just told the most ridiculous joke in the world, cackling so hard she could barely breathe.

She stood up and sauntered over to me in those fancy heels.

The silver knife twirled casually in her hand, the blade still smeared with my daughter's blood.

She pressed the flat of the cold blade down, pointing it right between my eyes, and spoke each word slow and clear—words that dropped me straight into the fucking abyss.

"Silas is my fiancé. And you? You don't even deserve to breathe the same air as him."