Mag-log inAurora 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
“I’ll be out all day today,” he says after a moment. “Since I’ve been gone for almost two weeks, I need to follow up with my family.”I turn to face him. “You’re… not leaving the city again, right?”“No. I will be staying local.” His head tilts, just a fraction. “Have you missed me that much?”Subc
“Dominic…”He kisses me in response. Then again. And again.No harsh grabbing. No rough snapping of hips like usual whenever he’s trying to claim me. Just the kind of slow, aching intimacy I never thought I’d get to experience with him. His breath grows ragged when we fall over the edge together.My
Dominic POVThings were finally looking up.Dominic hadn’t expected that. Honestly, hadn’t dared to. Not when this whole thing had started as a necessary evil to avenge his mother. An arranged marriage and a blood-soaked business strategy that somehow had turned into something more romantic.Aurora
Aurora POVI’m asleep when the sound of my bedroom door creaking open pulls me halfway to consciousness.At first, I think I’ve imagined it. My room is dimly lit by the faint spill of moonlight sneaking in through the gap in the curtains. I can still feel the heaviness of sleep pulling at my limbs a







