Trouble in Paradise - Prologue

My name is not Mary Downing, but it will do for now.

Five years ago, I would never have imagined I would be where I am today.  But isn’t that the case with most young women out finding their place in the world?  One day, we’re laying out a predictable progression toward our life’s dreams.  Then, without warning, the Fates change their tune and it all burns to the ground.

The woman I was before is dead.  But thankfully, I know who struck the match that ended her life.

Now, I am a woman on a mission.  Two missions, in fact.  First, a mission of revenge - for my home, my family, and my life as I knew it.  I will stop at nothing to accomplish this goal.

But as they say, there’s no revenge like unparalleled success.  Which is my second mission - to become the greatest, and most feared force in in the underworld.  It’s all I ever really wanted anyway - power, wealth, and a glamorous life of what most would call villainy.  To have an empire at my feet with which I can bring the Powers That Be among mankind to heel.

I know if I accomplish this, I will surely have had my revenge as just deserts, so it is on this goal I focus now.

I have a long way to go, but the sky is bright, and I have plans.  If I play my cards just so, the world won’t ever know what hit them.