MasukAurora POVI sit in the lecture hall with my notebook open and my pen resting uselessly between my fingers.The professor’s voice washes over me without meaning. Words drift past but my gaze keeps sliding to the window toward the outside world where everything that matters is happening without me.D
My chest tightens.“There you are,” he says as his gaze instantly finds me.“Here I am,” I smile as I cross the room to him, feeling drab in my school clothes next to him. “Where else would I be?”His hand comes to my waist like it belongs there—because it does. When he looks at me, the weight of ev
Aurora POV The hotel room smells faintly of oud and sandalwood, the most trendy and expensive perfume of the moment. This is the kind of place that knows it’s expensive and doesn’t let you forget it.I sit cross-legged on the edge of the bed in jeans and a sweatshirt, my dress hung carefully so it
Aurora POVThe coffeehouse smells like burnt espresso and pastries, like safety in the form of routine.I sit in my usual corner between classes, my back to the brick wall, the small round table pressed close enough that no one, not even my usual friends, can slide in uninvited. I am too distracted
Then she looks past Dominic and the body to the other older man standing waiting, his face full of resigned dignity so unlike what had been Francesco’s final moments.“Can Gianna’s father live?” she asks hoarsely, her soft voice barely reaching him across the empty space of the warehouse.The words
Aurora POVGianna is finally still.The pill I offered her dissolved beneath her tongue, and within minutes the sharp edges of her panic soften. Her lashes flutter as she slumps against the pillow, breath evening out, the fight draining from her limbs.I brush her hair back from her face with shakin
Dominic POVDominic was still fuming. Even days later, the rage lingered just beneath the surface, coiled and ready to strike.Ever since Alek showed up in the States and tried to snatch Gianna right out from under him, Dominic hadn’t known a single moment of peace. The audacity of it, the sheer ner
We merge with the crowd while heading up to the front desk to collect our tickets that Camilla reserved for us, keeping our eyes down as we make our way through the line.The agent barely glances at our passports before printing the boarding passes and handing them over to us. Camilla’s documents ho
Besides, how would Alek have known Gianna even existed if Dominic never presented her to him as an option in the first place? This is textbook what these types of men do—they trade us around like we’re nothing more than glorified sex dolls, discarding us when we’re no longer useful to them.It makes
Like I still love him.Dominic doesn’t think rules apply to him. He never has. Not with me, not with Gianna, not with anyone.He thinks he can go over everyone’s head and handpick someone’s future. He believes everyone, including the people he claims to care about, are just pieces on a board he gets







