Chapter 1

When the sickness from the Chronos jump faded, I woke to smoke.

The Romano docks were burning again. The old shipping office had half collapsed, fire crews shouted beyond the ruined gates, and water from the hoses ran black across the ground.

I opened my eyes and saw Luca standing near one of the black SUVs.

For one second, he looked at me.

Then he turned away.

Celeste was trapped on the second-floor balcony of the customs building, her white dress stained with ash. Luca took a fire blanket from one of his men and crossed the burning yard without hesitation.

In the last life, he had saved me first.

This time, he chose her.

I forced myself up and tried to reach the outer gate alone. Smoke burned my throat, and every breath felt like swallowing fire. Before I could get far, Luca had already brought Celeste down from the balcony.

She slipped on the wet steps.

Luca caught her at once. At the same time, a burning storage rack collapsed near me, and an iron-edged case slid from the stack, slamming hard into my side.

Pain cut through me.

I fell to my knees, but Luca did not look back. He wrapped Celeste in his coat and took her to the SUV first.

By the time I dragged myself past the gate, my dress was soaked with hose water and blood. I coughed until my throat tasted of smoke.

Only after Celeste was safe did Luca come to me.

His face was cold.

“You got out by yourself,” he said. “So why did you stay where I could see you? Did you want me to turn back for you again?”

I looked at him quietly.

He did not know I had come back too.

“You can tell the elders whatever you want,” he continued. “Say I left you in the fire. Say Celeste needed me. But if you try to blame her, I won’t protect you from the family.”

My hand pressed against my side. Warm blood spread beneath the torn silk.

I said, “Then divorce me.”

Luca stopped.

Surprise crossed his face, but it lasted only a moment before impatience replaced it.

“I don’t have time for this.”

“I mean it.”

“No, Elena. You want to punish me.” He glanced toward the SUV where Celeste sat wrapped in his coat. “The elders aren’t here. You don’t need to perform.”

He had crossed time to save Celeste first. Now that he had done it, he still thought I was fighting for his attention.

“I want the marriage dissolved,” I said.

Before Luca could answer, Celeste pushed open the car door and stumbled toward him.

“Luca,” she cried, clutching his sleeve. “Bianca is hurt. She was in the office with me when the blast hit. She swallowed smoke, and now she can barely breathe.”

Bianca was the white Persian Luca had given Celeste years ago, back when everyone in the Romano estate still thought she would become its mistress.

One of Luca’s men brought the cat over in a soot-stained towel. Bianca trembled weakly, her white fur gray with smoke.

Luca’s expression changed at once.

Celeste turned to me with tears in her eyes.

“Elena, please. You can still talk. Bianca can’t. Let Luca take her to the family vet first. She’s all I have left.”

Only then did Luca seem to remember I was bleeding.

“I’ll send one of the men to take you to the clinic,” he said. “After Celeste and Bianca are settled, I’ll come.”

I looked at him for a moment and understood the order before he finished speaking.

Celeste first. Everything else later.

I lowered my eyes.

“All right.”

Luca paused, as if he had expected me to argue.

Celeste cried his name again, and that was enough.

He took Bianca himself, helped Celeste into the black SUV, and left through the smoke-hazed drive without looking back.

Only after the taillights disappeared did I look down.

Blood had soaked through my dress, dark and steady beneath my hand.