FAZER LOGINAurora 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
And before I can stop it, the picture sends.Oh, shit.No no no no no—I slap my palm against my forehead like I can somehow take it back with sheer force of will.Goddamn it.I know it’s just a picture. But there’s a silly little part of me that wanted to keep what I bought a secret. I’m not supers
He’s done this before, plenty of times in fact, that I know better than to let it slide.“Dominic. Where are you?”Reluctantly, he answers: “Russia.”That has me blinking.Why in the world would he be all the way in—?But then it clicks. The Bratva. The one who helped him kill his father. He must be
Dominic POVDominic stood near the tall windows of the penthouse suite, watching the snowfall drift over Moscow and collect along the tops of the buildings surrounding him.He rolled his shoulders once, then again, still replaying the conversation he had with Alek earlier in his mind. Across the roo
Aurora POVFlip-flopping back and forth about whether I should run has officially scrambled my brain.I’ve run through every scenario a thousand times. What it would look like if Gianna and I disappeared tonight, if we waited until the wedding day, if I just stayed and hoped Dominic wouldn’t destroy







