LOGINJULIAN I had arrived on East Sixty-second Street on foot, choosing to walk the distance as though the movement might steady me. I leaned back against the cold stone wall bordering Central Park and lit a cigarette with deliberate calm. Drawing deeply, I fixed my gaze across the street at the Alessandro's mansion. I looked relaxed that anyone passing might have thought so, but inside, there was nothing easy about the way I stood there.Only hours earlier, I had been in West pack, trapped in a relentless meeting with some of the most powerful men in the administration. Representatives from the packs and Defense departments, even men tied to the Pentagon, had been present. They had questioned me for hours about the situation in the boarder, pressing hard, testing every answer. Fortunately, I had been prepared. I had given them everything they asked for. In the end, the assistant secretary of the werewolves central army had asked for my personal opinion.I hadn’t held back.I told them t
EMILYI found myself wondering over and over again, if I was doing the right thing by marrying Alessandro tomorrow. The question wouldn’t leave me alone. It circled endlessly, pressing harder each time, until I had to admit something I didn’t want to face.Part of me wanted to call it off.If I were honest I would have begged off, even at the last minute. Although I had thought through everything, I still wasn't sure if I was making the right decision at this point. The aim was to marry Alessandro and divorce him in the future after gathering all I could to start up my life afresh. I wanted to use him as a leverage to climb to the top and get my revenge on Maltida for everything she did to me, and also make Julian regret ever losing me again. In the middle of dressing for the evening, clad only in my underthings, I sank onto the chaise as though my strength had deserted me. The room felt too large, too quiet, too expectant. I stared ahead without really seeing anything.I didn’t lov
EMILY Miriam had been wrong.The scandal hadn’t stayed buried.We returned to mansion in the first week of August and the timing could not have been more disastrous.The very next morning, the newspapers exploded.“Wife Of The Billionaire Mafia Lord Returns to Society After Abduction!”“Alessandro's wife Survives Kidnapping!”And worst of all, the pack Journal screamed: “Alessandro's Wife Spends Month with Kidnapper In The West!”I was too numb from Julian’s rejection to care. The headlines barely registered. But Alessandro furious. Outraged. Before I could even catch my breath, I was hurried off to Newport for the remainder of the summer, hidden away like something fragile—or something shameful.It didn’t matter where I was.I could have been in Hong Kong and felt exactly the same.I rarely left the estate. Some days, I didn’t even leave my room. Sleep became my refuge, the only place where I could escape the hollow ache inside me. I lost my appetite. Food became irrelevant. Time bl
EMILYTomorrow I was supposed to be married to Alessandro for real this time.I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.I sat at my dressing table, staring hard at my reflection as if it might suddenly rearrange itself into something happier, something softer. But it didn’t. I didn’t look like a bride. There was no glow, no anticipation. If anything, I looked like a widow—hollow-eyed, drained, already mourning something I hadn’t even been allowed to keep.The sight of myself made me restless. I pushed back my chair abruptly and began pacing my room. It was large—too large, suddenly. One half was dominated by the canopied bed, the other arranged with a plush sofa and armchairs no one ever really used. Everything was done in ivory and white, delicate and expensive and suffocating.I crossed to the windows, four tall panes that overlooked Central Park and pushed one open. Winter rushed in to meet me. The park below was buried beneath a thick blanket of snow, glittering beneath a pale sun. T
JULIAN For a long moment, I could hardly believe the turn my luck had taken.All I had to do was keep doing what I’d already been doing. And in return?A presidential pardon.Every crime I had ever been accused of committing will be erased. It sounded too good. It was too good. But it was real.Of course, there were complications. There always were.There was no end date. No guarantee of when this would ever be over. And Emily…My chest tightened at the thought of her.Would she wait?She was my wife. She had to.For the first time since everything had gone to hell, I felt something other than pain. Something other than anger. There was something sharp and alive in my chest, something close to excitement.I could see her again. This time, I could give her something real. A future. A promise that meant something.Where there had been nothing but darkness, there was light.It didn’t last.A few hours later, I was dozing despite the steady throb in my neck when the jail door slammed
JULIAN We never stood a chance. Not once the Alessandro and his hired army closed in around us. One moment I was still fighting to stay upright in the saddle, the next, a dozen agents were on me—hands everywhere, dragging me down, slapping irons on my wrists, hauling me onto a horse like I was nothing more than cargo.I barely stayed conscious on the ride back. The pain in my neck burned and throbbed with every jolt of the horse beneath me, blood loss making the world tilt and blur at the edges. Crossing the border felt like it took forever, and the hard gallop dragged on endlessly. If I didn’t slump off that saddle, it wasn’t strength keeping me there, it was anger. Pride. Sheer stubborn refusal to collapse in front of them.I didn’t see Emily. Not once. I knew she was back there somewhere, surrounded by his men like I was some kind of disease they had to quarantine her from.By the time we reached town, I was half-dead on my feet. They threw me into a cell without ceremony, and a p
EMILY On my way back to the mansion, I felt like I was wearing my shame on my skin.The car windows were slightly tinted, but I still turned my face toward the glass as though the passing trees could judge me. My reflection stared back at me.Shameless.I pressed my palm against my mouth as if I c
ALESSANDRO It was blazing hot.The sun beat down mercilessly upon the parched plain.Trees that looked stunted dotted the landscape. The grass was a harsh yellow. And nestled amongst a cluster of surprisingly lush green cottonwoods that grew by a small creek, was a weathered, doorless shack.In th
EMILYNever had I seen such a welcome sight. We were finally back to the mansion and to my surprise Alessandro's grand parents were there with few of his cousins."Didn't expect this," Julian muttered.We were walking in a straight line, Julian in the lead, I and Ella walking double. The terrain ha
JULIANI paced the room, from the double doors overlooking the wrought-iron balcony to the canopied bed with thick velvetine drapes. Still clenched in my fist was the crumpled bank check."Nonsense!"I couldn't really remember when I had ever been so angry. I was having lovely visions of wringing E







