Reborn to Tame the Syndicate King

Chapter 1

The cold, metallic press of the gun barrel against Sienna Sterling’s chest felt less like a weapon and more like an ice pick carving out her soul.

She stared up from the blood-soaked Persian rug of her own living room, her vision swimming, lungs burning as she gasped for air. Above her stood Julian Cross, the man she had loved, the man she was supposed to marry in three weeks. His handsome face, usually softened by a boyish, charming smile, was twisted into a sneer of absolute disgust.

"You really are pathetic, Sienna," Julian spat, adjusting his grip on the silenced pistol. "I thought you’d put up more of a fight. But you just handed over the security codes, didn't you? Blind, stupid trust."

"Julian... why?" Sienna choked out, the taste of copper flooding her mouth. "I gave you everything. The company, the accounts... my heart."

A booming, cruel laugh echoed from the doorway. Her Uncle Marcus stepped into the dim light of the study, swirling a glass of her father’s most expensive scotch.

"Oh, listen to her, Julian. Still clinging to sentimentality," Marcus chuckled, taking a slow sip. "She’s exactly like her father. Soft. Weak. Believing that family and love actually mean something in the real world."

Sienna’s trembling fingers clutched at the widening red stain on her silk blouse. The first bullet had pierced her abdomen. She was bleeding out, her strength draining into the fibers of the rug. "Uncle Marcus... you're... you're with him?"

"Who do you think introduced him to you, my dear?" Marcus walked forward, looking down at her as if she were a piece of trash tracked in on his expensive loafers. "You were an obstacle. A naïve, twenty-three-year-old girl sitting on a billion-dollar empire that rightfully belonged to me."

Julian crouched down, grabbing a fistful of Sienna’s hair and yanking her head back. She whimpered, unable to fight his grip.

"It’s over, Sienna," Julian whispered, his breath hot against her ear. "The Sterling fortune is ours. Tomorrow, the world will weep for the tragic heiress who took her own life out of grief for her late parents."

"My... parents..." Sienna forced the words out, her eyes widening in horror as a sickening realization washed over her.

Marcus smiled, a chilling, dead-eyed expression. "Did she really think her parents drove off that cliff in Monaco by accident, Julian? Tell me she wasn't that stupid."

"She was," Julian laughed softly. "The brakes were cut, Sienna. Just like your life is being cut short right now. It was never an accident. It was just business."

A primal scream of agony and rage tore through Sienna's throat, but it came out as a wet, gurgling gasp. Her parents. The people who had loved her, who had protected her—murdered by her own flesh and blood. She had spent the last year weeping on Julian’s shoulder, seeking comfort in the arms of the man who had helped slaughter her family.

"You monsters," Sienna hissed, her voice suddenly