登入EMILIA POV
My first day as Donna.I woke before the alarms, my heart hammering a frantic, erratic rhythm against my ribs. The morning light was a muted grey, filtering softly through the heavy velvet curtains. Beside me, Axel was already awake. He was staring unblinkingly at the ceiling, his jaw clamped so tight a muscle ticked violently in his cheek."You okay?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly in the quiet room."No," he said, his tone flat, entirely stripped of its uEMILIA POVThree days before we were supposed to surrender our lives to the federal relocation extraction team. Three days before the Moretti name was scheduled to be systematically erased from every database on earth.David came back.He didn't dare approach the heavily fortified safe house. Instead, he intercepted me at a small, dimly lit coffee shop in a quiet cobblestone alleyway in downtown Prague—a neutral, public square where he knew Axel’s perimeter scouts wouldn't instantly deploy a tactical response."I need to tell you something, Emilia," David said, sliding into the leather booth across from me without asking for permission."You need to turn around and walk out," I replied, my voice dripping with cold vitriol as I gripped my porcelain mug. "You made your play, David. You accepted Leonardo Reyes's blood money, and you tried to use my father's grave as psychological leverage to force me into your car.""I know," he said, his face
AXEL POVI found Marcus down in the safe house garage.He was exactly where he always was, illuminated by the harsh, unfiltered beam of a singular overhead fluorescent light. He was systematically cleaning a high-caliber tactical rifle, his long fingers working the solvent cloth with rhythmic, agonizing precision. Keeping his hands busy. Keeping his brilliant, lethal mind occupied so he didn’t have to sit in the quiet and confront the horrific ghost he had just dropped into my marriage."Emilia came back," I said, my boots heavy against the concrete floor.Marcus didn't stop his movements, but his shoulders tightened beneath his black tactical sweater. "She did?""Yes. And the parameters of this family are officially dead," I stated, walking
EMILIA POVAxel was slumped in the heavy leather armchair right beside Marco’s crib.The morning sun filtered through the sheer curtains, casting sharp, unforgiving lines across his face. He looked entirely exhausted, his jaw shadowed with dark stubble, his brow furrowed even in sleep. He looked completely broken.I had done that to him. My tearing out of the house in the middle of the night had stripped away the last layer of his legendary composure.I stood perfectly still in the nursery doorway for a long time, my fingers digging into the strap of my duffel bag. I just watched him breathe, trying to forcefully memorize the rise and fall of his chest. I knew with absolute certainty that I was standing at the edge of a definitive crossroads. Either I turned around right now, walked down the stairs, and never looked back—or I stepped into this room and committed to the fight. There was no comfortable middle ground left for us.A soft, frantic foo
EMILIA POVWe had been driving for six hours, the tires humming a monotonous, numbing rhythm against the dark asphalt.Costa Rica was still a massive, logistical journey away—flights out of a neutral European hub, hidden layovers, and a completely new existence waiting on the other side of the Atlantic. David was asleep in the passenger seat, his head leaned back against the headrest, his breathing deep and even.The European highway layout before me was empty, dark, and seemingly infinite. And in the oppressive silence of the cabin, the doubts began to creep in. Real, terrifying, serious doubts.They weren't doubts about David's files or the horror Marcus had admitted to. They were doubts about myself. About whether I was actually running toward a sunlit paradise, or if I was just sprinting blindly away from the wreckage of my own heart.The console buzzed, the harsh vibration shattering the quiet. I flicked my eyes down. It was a text from Isabella.
AXEL POVI knew.I woke at 3:00 AM, my chest tight, and I just knew. In our world, you develop a sixth sense for when the air changes, for when a perimeter has been breached, or when the floorboards beneath your feet are about to give way. But this wasn't an external threat. This was the quiet, agonizing sound of my marriage fracturing into dust.I threw on a jacket and crossed the freezing courtyard to the detached guest suite. I didn't knock. I turned the handle, the heavy wood swinging open to reveal a room that felt entirely hollow.She was gone.The bed sheets were unruffled, pristine and cold. On the small wooden table, next to an empty coffee mug, sat an opened leather folder containing blurred photographs of a sunlit beach. But it was the small, folded piece of paper beside it that made my chest cave in. I picked it up, my hands shaking as I recognized Em’s elegant handwriting, addressed to our son.Mommy loves you, Marco. I will come back for you. I promise.My world stopped
EMILIA POVDavid came to the detached guest house at midnight.I was wide awake, pacing the length of the hardwood floors. I hadn't slept a single wink since I stormed out of the main house and left Axel standing in the doorway. When the soft knock came against the glass, I didn't even hesitate. I unlocked it.He brought coffee. Real coffee, rich and aromatic, not the bitter, stale safe house blend Axel’s security detail brewed by the gallon."You couldn't sleep either," David said quietly, stepping into the warm room and shutting out the freezing mountain air."No," I replied, my voice raspy.He set the steaming mugs down on the small wooden table in the center of the room. "I brought something with me. I want to show you. No pressure, Emilia. Just... I want you to look at what’s actually possible."He reached into his heavy overcoat and pulled out a thick leather folder, laying it flat on the table. He flipped it open. Inside were pas







