Riona Voss has a simple rule: finish the job, don't ask questions, get out clean. The job on Celeste Mara breaks all three. Celeste runs the Mara Syndicate the way she does everything else — quietly, precisely, without a single crack showing. She's not supposed to be interesting. She's supposed to be a target. Riona knows the difference. She's made a career out of knowing the difference. And yet. The first attempt goes wrong because of a dog. The second because of the same dog, a charity gala, and a series of events Riona would prefer never to describe out loud. The third ends with her falling off a roof and landing, somehow, in Celeste's arms. After that, killing her feels like the less complicated option. Celeste offers Riona a place on her security detail instead. It's a trap, obviously. Riona takes it anyway — because the contract still has a name attached, and someone is still paying, and nothing about this job has made any sense since the beginning. Living inside the Mara estate gives her time to watch. What she sees doesn't add up. The family is fractured in ways that look deliberate. The original contract starts to feel less like a hit and more like a setup. And the woman she was sent to kill keeps looking at her like she already knows exactly what Riona is trying to figure out. Kill Me Once, Darling is Book 1 in the Dangerous Women series. It doesn't end with a kiss. It ends with something harder to walk away from.