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
My father narrows his eyes. “You’re awfully eager to marry my daughter. I’m surprised considering the last wedding we all attended, quite a few people perished.”He merely shrugs in response. “Unfortunately that is the nature of the business we are in, is it not?”My father looks like he’s about to
Aurora POV“Okay,” I tell her with a firm nod. “Whatever you can get me, I’ll take it.”“Good.” She says, smiling for the first time. “This is excellent. Once you’re out of the picture, Dominic won’t be blinded anymore. He’ll finally see me just like he should’ve been this entire time. But you’re to
Dominic POVEarlier that day, the atmosphere in the conference room at the Caruso family estate had been strained enough to snap steel in two. A familiar place Dominic was finding himself frequenting as of late.The long, polished table was surrounded by what was left of Leonardo’s trusted men and t
Dominic POVIt was only a matter of time before someone started sniffing around.Dominic had known that from the beginning, or rather, from the second Leonardo’s body hit the floor of the reception hall and from the moment Theo’s blood spilled across the wood floors of the penthouse, that those loos







