Page 62 of All's Fair In Love & War

Riley laughed, sliding her arm through mine. “Girl, how? I’m the one driving today. You rode with me.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” I rolled my eyes.

It took us ten minutes to get to our next destination, and the valet had barely shut the car door before Riley was tugging at her hem and fixing her gloss in the side mirror.

“Can you not act like we’re walking into the Met Gala?” I asked, smoothing the front of my jacket.

She glanced at me. “First of all, this is Sip Symphony, not Waffle House. Fuck Met Gala. You know this is me every day. I put that shit on, and turn heads.”

“Girl, whatever.” I giggled, knowing my best friend meant business.

When she finally stepped out of the car, she treated the sidewalk like a red carpet. Her caramel skin glowed under the afternoon sun, and her twenty-eight-inch bone-straight bust-down moved in the wind. She wore a fitted red Balmain blazer dress, cinched at the waist with gold buttons that caught the light.

The hem hit high enough to turn heads but not so high as to undermine her authority. Her black patent YSL heels clicked like punctuation marks as she walked, and the oversized Tom Ford shades on her face conveyed the same energy as a middle finger. Riley was a bad bitch through and through.

“I know you see them staring,” she said, glancing back at me with a smirk.

“As they should.” I blew her a kiss as I stepped out behind her, letting the wind catch the hem of my black Rick Owens trench coat.

Underneath, I wore an ivory Mugler corset top with a structured bustline and tailored black trousers that hugged my hips. My long, honey-blonde waves were tucked behind my ear on one side, cascading over the other shoulder with not a strand out of place. Cartier bangles lined one wrist, and my black Louboutin boots added an extra three inches of disrespect.

When we pushed open the doors, the scent of citrus, champagne, and bougie ambition greeted us like an old friend. Sophia was already here, posted up at a corner table with a clear view of the exit, like always. One leg crossed over the other, black nails tapping against her glass. Dressed in all white, hair slicked back into a low ponytail, she looked like she was here to assassinate a man or seduce, possibly both.

She lifted her glass in greeting. “Took y’all long enough.”

“We ran into traffic,” Riley said, sliding into the booth beside her.

“She’s lying. You know it takes her an hour to apply her lipstick and straighten her clothes,” I added, nodding at Riley.

Sophia smirked. “Of course.”

Once we were all seated, I waved off the server and leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. “I’ve been thinking about expansion.”

Sophia arched a brow. “For territory?”

“No, legacy,” I corrected. “The three of us? We’re the blueprint. Muscle, heart, and mind, and I want more women like us sitting at our table.”

“You’re talking about building a new generation,” Riley said, eyes gleaming. “A women-led syndicate.”

“Exactly. We’re not just pretty faces who stand next to powerful men; we women whoarethe power.”

Sophia gave a slow nod. “I’m in.”

“You’ve been in,” I reminded her. “You brought this to me, remember?”

She smiled, and for a second, I saw that flicker in her eyes, the one that said she hadn’t forgotten what she’d traded for a seat at my table.

Back when Sophia first approached me, it was late, and I’d just finished handling business. She walked into my office with blood on her collar and calm in her voice. She told me she wanted in, explained what she could do, and then backed it up with a file full of bodies and clean hits I didn’t even know were connected—and neither did her brother.

It meant something that she trusted me with a secret she hadn’t told anyone else. She didn’t offer it to me out of fear or pressure. Shechoseme, and that choice carried weight. In this world, loyalty wasn’t just about who would kill for you. It was about who would bleed beside you, and who would hand over the most guarded parts of themselves without hesitation.

Sophia wasn’t just my sister-in-law anymore. Somewhere along the line, she’d become one of the few people I could count on with my life. Her loyalty wasn’t loud or performative. It was steady, and that made her more than family. She wasmine. A friend. A soldier. A woman who didn’t need protecting, but still made me feel like I had someone worth protecting, too.

Riley was the only other person she trusted to know her secret, and together, we made the decision that night. Sophia would be the blade, Riley the soul, and I’d keep the empire running from the top.

Before I could speak again, a voice interrupted us.

“Ladies.”

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