Downtown Queens

"So we're what? Going to join the Mafia?" I joke, hoping she's lying to me.

Kayla grabs her handgun from the counter and straps it to her thigh, under her dress. "You're getting closer."

"Not reassuring." I frown and fold my arms, as a cool breeze sends chills up the skin of my back left exposed thanks to my short sheath dress.

"You want your boyfriend back or not?" She snaps impatiently, handing me a handgun of my own. I hold it at a distance. I've never used a gun before, and I don't plan to.

"He's not my boyfriend." I say quickly. But then it clicks. "Are we actually going to hunt him down? In the gang?"

Kayla smirks. "Oh, Haddie." She shakes her head. "We're going to tear them apart from the inside out. But first..." She slips on a pair of black, 6-inch heels. "We're going to set a trap."

***
Hadassah Lobel has always been the talk of the town, in more ways than one. With a politician as a mother, she's been expected to act the part, embrace the part, be the part. A part that has turned the "beloved Haddie" into a submissive, perfectionistic mannequin. Perfection has its perks, of course. But also its drawbacks: shallow socializing and a set of well-developed masks.

Kayla Greenfield, the only daughter of the NYCPD's top investigator, is in a similar situation. Since her mother's death, she's drifted away from the people she loves and become an unrecognizable beast-- a beast trapped in a self-made cage. She could care less about people and all of their petty, narrow-minded crises. The last thing she needs is someone like Haddie in her life.

But in a sudden turn of events, Haddie and Kayla are forced to work together to protect the reputations of the people they love, the very people who have turned them into what they hate the most.

But maybe, just maybe, together is better. And this together is stronger.