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 POVShe was waiting for him in the foyer when he stepped out of the meeting room, sitting primly in a carved wooden chair with her hands folded tight in her lap.Aurora looked like she was trying to shrink into the ornate chair beneath her, like if she somehow was small enough, the weight of
“I came to talk to Gianna,” I say, trying to keep my voice calm.It’s only a matter of time before she freaks out. She thought she was going to be getting Dominic all to herself after I left the States. Once she realizes that’s not going to happen, it’s going to be World War three.She scoffs. “Oh,
Aurora POVThere’s the faintest smile tugging at her mouth, but it fades just as quickly as it comes. “I wish I could go too.”The words hang heavy between us. I lean forward on the cushion. “Why can’t you?”Her gaze flicks away, shoulders curling in a little. There’s a vulnerability too her now tha
Dominic POVDominic had the pamphlets in his hands again and he sat behind his desk inside his study, the glossy paper crinkling slightly under his grip as his thumb glided over the top of them.He wasn’t sure which unsettled him more: what was printed on them, or the bright, almost trembling antici







