My mother forced me into a blind date with a Navy Commander, insisting I should be grateful a "decorated officer" even looked my way. But the second we sat down, his arrogance came out. He grabbed my arm and smirked, "You'll follow my rules, sweetheart." I didn't argue. I just reached into my bag and set my Admiral's medal on the table with a sharp clink. "Actually, Commander... you're way out of line." The blood instantly drained from his face.

The camera flash near the restaurant bar faded into the dim amber lighting.

Adrian tightened his grip on my arm, his thumb digging into my skin with arrogant certainty.

"You will follow my rules, sweetheart," he murmured.

I did not flinch.

I certainly did not break eye contact.

I reached into my evening bag with my free hand.

My fingers brushed past my lipstick and closed around a heavy, solid gold medallion.

I pulled it out and slammed it onto the white tablecloth with a sharp, ringing clink.

It was a four-star Admiral challenge coin, etched with my name and the seal of the Department of Defense Inspector General.

"Actually, Commander, you are way out of line," I said softly.

The blood instantly drained from his handsome, rigid face.

His hand recoiled from my arm as if he had been burned.

He stared at the gold coin, his mind clearly racing to comprehend how his helpless blind date was actually his ultimate superior.

"You are Serena Vance," he choked out, finally recognizing the name that had been terrorizing corrupt naval officers for the past year.

"I am the lead investigator of the task force currently looking into your offshore accounts," I corrected him.

I picked up my glass of water, took a slow sip, and set it back down.

"Your promotion board is not reviewing you for captaincy, Adrian."

"They are reviewing you for federal prison."

He looked frantically around the restaurant, suddenly realizing this was an ambush.

"You ask a lot of questions for a clerk," I quoted back to him, smiling coldly.

I stood up, leaving my expensive coat on the back of the chair.

"Do not leave town," I ordered, turning my back on him.

I walked toward the exit, my eyes scanning the room for the mysterious woman in the navy coat who had taken our photograph.

I pushed open the heavy wooden doors and stepped out into the freezing harbor wind.

I expected to find the woman waiting near the valet stand.

“Which daughter is yours?” should have been a harmless question

The first wineglass shattered at 8:07 p.m

The moment the mafia boss’s wife called me “an illiterate servant,”

Instead, I found her digital camera smashed into a hundred pieces on the concrete.

A thick, fresh pool of blood was slowly spreading across the pavement right next to it.

Chapter 1 - The Admiral of the Shadows