로그인JULIAN The moment Asher sent me the location of the hospital where Liam had been admitted, I didn't waste a single second. My hands tightened around the steering wheel as I sped through traffic, ignoring every speed limit and every red light that stood between me and my son. My heart had been restless ever since I got out of prison. Every hour that passed without knowing where Liam was felt like torture, and now that I finally had a lead, nothing in this world was going to stop me from getting to him.The drive felt longer than it actually was. My mind kept replaying every mistake I had made over the past few years. Emily's face kept appearing in my head no matter how hard I tried to focus on the road. The guilt sat heavily in my chest because while I had been fighting my own battles, she had been carrying the weight of everything alone. She had lost her son. She had been hunted. She had been betrayed over and over again, and somehow she was still standing. The thought alone made me
Maltida's POVThe moment I stepped into my apartment in Los Angeles, I slammed the door so hard that the glass decorations hanging beside it rattled violently against the wall.My entire body was shaking with rage.For years, Julian had never spoken to me that way. Never.Even when he disagreed with me. Even when he was angry. Even when he looked at me with disappointment in his eyes, he still showed restraint. He still watched his tone. He still remembered who I was.But today?Today he had looked at me as though I was nothing. As though I was some filthy criminal standing in front of him. As though he hated me.I threw my handbag across the living room and watched it crash into an expensive vase. The vase shattered instantly, scattering pieces of crystal across the marble floor."Ungrateful bastard!" I screamed.The words echoed through the penthouse. After everything I had done. After everything I had sacrificed.This was how he repaid me?My chest rose and fell violently as I pace
JULIAN The moment I stepped out of the West, the air felt different.For months I had been trapped there, fighting a war that seemed like it would never end while my entire life crumbled somewhere far away from me. Every day had been another battle. I should have been with my family. I should have been protecting my son.Instead, I had been locked away while my enemies moved freely.The thought alone made my jaw tighten.I climbed into my car and slammed the door harder than necessary before pulling out my phone. There was only one person I needed to contact first, and it was Carmen.The phone rang twice before she answered."Julian?"I closed my eyes briefly at the sound of her voice."Carmen."There was a pause."When did they release you?""An hour ago.""Oh my goodness."I could hear relief in her voice. "Carmen," I said quietly. "Take Gabby and leave town.""What?""Today."Her breathing hitched."Julian, what's happening?""I don't have time to explain."Then she whispered."
Emily’s POVI still couldn't believe I was hiding in the same place as Alessandro. Days had passed since we escaped that hospital and yet I hadn't seen my son even once.The first day, Alessandro told me Liam was safe.The second day, he told me Liam needed to remain hidden.The third day, he said there were people looking for the baby.By the fourth day, I was already losing my mind.Every answer he gave only created ten more questions.Every explanation sounded like a lie. And the more he refused to tell me where Liam was, the more paranoid I became.I was sitting in the kitchen one evening when he walked inside carrying a cup of coffee.Immediately my chest tightened, and immediately my anger returned.I slammed my hands on the table."Where is my son?"Alessandro stopped walking.Almost like he had been expecting it."Emily—""No."I stood up."Don't start that again."His jaw tightened."He's safe.""Stop saying that!"My voice echoed through the room."That's all you ever say."
EMILY The world kept fading in and out around me. One second I was awake, and the next I was sinking again.Everything felt heavy. My arms, my legs and even my eyelids.It was as though someone had tied weights to every part of my body and expected me to keep moving anyway.The only thing that remained constant was the movement beneath me, the wheelchair.I could feel the slight vibration every time the wheels rolled over the seams in the floor. I could hear the faint squeaking sound coming from somewhere near the back wheel.I forced my eyes open.The ceiling lights above me blurred together before slowly coming into focus.I was still in the hospital.The memory of the nurse's whisper came rushing back immediately and my heart clenched painfully.The thought of my son instantly shoved away some of the fog clouding my mind.I tried lifting my head, and the effort alone made my vision swim.The doctor pushing my wheelchair didn't look at me once, his face remained completely expressi
Emily's POVThe first thing I became aware of was the sound.A steady beeping.It cut through the darkness long before I could feel my own body.For a while, I simply floated there, trapped somewhere between consciousness and sleep. I couldn't tell how much time had passed. Minutes. Hours. Days. Everything felt distant, like I was underwater and the world existed somewhere far above me.Then the pain arrived.Just a dull crushing ache spreading through every part of me.Even breathing felt like work.I frowned and tried to move my fingers. The effort alone exhausted me.A soft groan escaped my throat. The sound startled me, it sounded weak.Slowly, painfully, I forced my eyes open.For several seconds everything remained blurry.My vision swam before finally beginning to focus and I could clearly see that I was in a hospital room. The realization hit me slowly as my heart skipped.I immediately tried sitting up and instantly pain exploded through my abdomen.A cry escaped my lips as
EMILYDinner that evening was painfully awkward.Gabby sat between Julian and me, happily chattering and unaware of the tension thickening the air around him, but I could feel it with every breath I took. A current of awareness pulsed between Julian and me, sharp and undeniable, making even the sma
EMILY South Valley.The name alone had sounded ominous when Julian first spoke it. Now that we were here, I understood why.It was dry and suffocatingly hot deep in the bowels of the constricted valley. For two relentless days we had crossed an arid desert mountain range, following narrow, treache
ALESSANDRO The ground shook beneath the pounding of hundreds of hooves, the thunder of them rolling across the hot desert toward the south . Dust rose in thick clouds, stinging my eyes and coating my tongue. Almost as one, the cavalcade curved and slowed, then came to a rolling halt.“The Rio.”I
EMILYHe had lied after all.I clung to the hot anger that swept through me. Anger was better and safer than the hurt and disappointment that had filled me after our night of sheer pleasure. My fingers dug into his shoulders as we cantered between two towering buttes, leaving the town farther and f







