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PROLOGUE

ROSE

I could feel my lungs constrict as I watched the situation play itself out to me.

Feeling like the walls were closing in on me.

Feeling like I was suffocating…

And I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t fucking breathe.

My eyes fogged with tears, as my whole life flashed before my eyes.

Watching the assassin pull the fucking trigger, and my husband fall backwards onto the floor.

So much blood…

So much fucking blood.

I let out a terrified, blood-curdling scream as I leapt towards my husband and took him into my arms, trembling the entire time, hardly able to keep myself upright, as my surroundings continued to spin around me.

“You had it fucking coming to you, you bastard,” the assassin gritted.

He turned to his other men.

“Let’s go boys. Deja que este hijo de puta sangre.”

Let this motherfucker bleed.

I wept as I cradled Alejandro against my chest, just wishing that he wouldn’t give up on me.

Wishing that he wouldn’t stop fighting.

That he’d do his best to stay alive…

For me…

For us.

This couldn’t be the end…

Not by a long shot.

We’d been through too much together for our love story to just end now.

“Please, Alejandro…” I wept against him, my tears mangling with his blood.

I screamed bloody murder as I kissed his mouth, and then began pumping his chest desperately.

Desperately trying to keep the oxygen flowing inside of him.

But it was no use…

He grew weaker and weaker against my grip, his cries getting quieter with every passing second.

Tick tock, tick tock…

Tick tock, tick tock.

“Alejandro, you can’t leave me,” I wept, clasping his face in my hands, wishing that his eyes would stay open.

“It’s okay R – Rose…” he quivered shakily. “It’s time for me to g – go…”

“NO!” I screamed, convulsing. “No, Alejandro, please don’t speak like this!”

“I’ve been a dead man walking for a l – long time, Rose,” he breathed. “This is the price I have to pay… For the fucked-up life I lived.”

“Don’t you dare speak like this is your fault!” I bawled. “None of this is your fault, Alejandro! You couldn’t have known that they were coming! You couldn’t have known that any of this was going to happen!”

“L – let me die, R – Rose…” he trembled. “Please forgive me. For not putting you first, for n – not treating you as good as I should have treated you. There’s so much I w – want to say…”

“Don’t you dare speak like this, Alejandro,” I wept. “This isn’t the end. You’re not leaving me. You’re not leaving me…”

“I love you R – Rose. No matter what anybody says… Just know that I always l – loved you…”

And then his head lulled backwards as a blood-curdling scream leapt out of my mouth.

Wishing that it was me in his place.

Wishing that it didn’t have to be like this.

Not knowing what I was going to do without him.

My love…

My life.

He took the last piece of my soul with him as he died.

1

ROSE

I let out a blood-curdling scream, as I jolted upwards from my sleep.

Sweating profusely, my vision hazy, as I spun back into consciousness.

And I realized that I wasn’t back in that dark place I’d been in so many years ago…

Because I saw curtains on the wall, a window, my warm bed.

I was at home.

I was safe.

I rubbed my eyes groggily, my heart thumping erratically against my chest, as I did my best to soothe my nerves.

I had yet another nightmare about the night my husband was murdered in cold blood.

The night my life was ripped apart.

The night my heart was battered into shreds.

Broken beyond repair.

It had been a long time since my husband was murdered.

For years, I would scream.

Scream and cry until I was blue in the face.

Until my throat went dry.

Until my voice box went hoarse.

Screaming until I couldn’t scream anymore.

I did my best to avenge Alejandro’s death.

To seek justice.

But the cops never found out who was behind it…

And no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I dug, how much I tried to scorch the area, CCTV, possible witnesses…

It all lead to a dead trail.

A dead trail to nowhere.

And still, the nightmares wouldn’t stop.

They wouldn’t fucking stop…

No matter how hard I tried to move on.

No matter how hard I tried to forget about what happened.

No matter how hard I tried to bury my skeletons in the closet.

To shut off all the bad memories.

It was no use…

Because they would keep replaying themselves.

Over and over to me in my head, like a form of motherfucking torture.

As if it was punishment.

My punishment for what had happened.

For not finding out who was behind it.

I couldn’t help but to feel like I’d failed Alejandro.

Failed our love…

Failed our relationship.

I’d tried my hardest, and I knew that no matter how much harder I tried…

I would get nowhere.

I needed to move forward.

I needed to bury this in the past for good…

To shut off the nightmares permanently.

And to do that…

I needed closure.