LOGINDante POV The envelope was waiting in the middle of my desk when I walked into the office. No note, no return address, just my name printed neatly on a plain white label. Luca stood by the window with his arms folded across his chest. One look at his face told me he'd already opened it. "What is it?" I asked, setting my keys on the desk. He didn't answer immediately. "Open it." I slid a finger beneath the flap and pulled out the contents. A single photograph slipped onto the desk. Glossy. Sharp. Taken through the window of a café from across the street. Elena sat at a small table, leaning slightly toward a man I didn't recognize. Her hands were wrapped around a coffee cup. His rested on the table near hers—not touching, but close enough that whoever had taken the picture had clearly been waiting for exactly that moment. A slow, familiar kind of cold settled low in my chest. "When?" "This afternoon." Luca watched me carefully. "While you were with the councilman." My eyes s
Elena POVI told Dante I was meeting an old friend for coffee. It wasn't exactly a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth either, and I'd become good enough at that particular kind of honesty that it barely registered as guilt anymore.The café was small, tucked between a dry cleaner and a bookstore a few blocks from campus. I'd spent hours there during finals week years ago, surviving on caffeine and panic, surrounded by anatomy textbooks covered in fluorescent highlighter.Dean was already waiting when I walked in.Two coffees sat on the table.Mine was made exactly the way I'd always ordered it.Oat milk. One pump of vanilla. Extra hot.He remembered. For some reason, that nearly undid me before I'd even sat down."You remembered," I said with a small smile as I slipped into the chair across from him.Dean nudged the cup toward me. "Some things stick."His smile softened as he studied me for a second."How are you?" he asked quietly. "Really."A humorless laugh escaped me. "I don't a
Elena POVI told Dante I was meeting an old friend for coffee. It wasn't exactly a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth either, and I'd become good enough at that particular kind of honesty that it barely registered as guilt anymore.The café was small, tucked between a dry cleaner and a bookstore a few blocks from campus. I'd spent hours there during finals week years ago, surviving on caffeine and panic, surrounded by anatomy textbooks covered in fluorescent highlighter.Dean was already waiting when I walked in.Two coffees sat on the table.Mine was made exactly the way I'd always ordered it.Oat milk. One pump of vanilla. Extra hot.He remembered. For some reason, that nearly undid me before I'd even sat down."You remembered," I said with a small smile as I slipped into the chair across from him.Dean nudged the cup toward me. "Some things stick."His smile softened as he studied me for a second."How are you?" he asked quietly. "Really."A humorless laugh escaped me. "I don't a
Elena POVI told Dante I was meeting an old friend for coffee. It wasn't exactly a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth either, and I'd become good enough at that particular kind of honesty that it barely registered as guilt anymore.The café was small, tucked between a dry cleaner and a bookstore a few blocks from campus. I'd spent hours there during finals week years ago, surviving on caffeine and panic, surrounded by anatomy textbooks covered in fluorescent highlighter.Dean was already waiting when I walked in.Two coffees sat on the table.Mine was made exactly the way I'd always ordered it.Oat milk. One pump of vanilla. Extra hot.He remembered. For some reason, that nearly undid me before I'd even sat down."You remembered," I said with a small smile as I slipped into the chair across from him.Dean nudged the cup toward me. "Some things stick."His smile softened as he studied me for a second."How are you?" he asked quietly. "Really."A humorless laugh escaped me. "I don't a
Elena POV The charity gala had been Dante's idea. After the warehouse fire, the city needed to see the Morettis smiling instead of bleeding. Cameras. Handshakes. Donations. A room full of expensive people pretending nothing ugly ever happened behind closed doors. For once, I wore green instead of black. The dress was softer than anything I usually reached for, and for a few hours I almost let myself enjoy the evening. A string quartet played near the ballroom entrance while waiters drifted through the crowd with champagne. Auction paddles went up every few minutes, followed by polite applause and conversations that sounded effortless. Most of the people here had no idea what any of us actually did once the lights went out. Dante got pulled into a conversation with a city councilman near the bar. I slipped away before anyone else could stop me, weaving through the crowd until I reached the terrace. The cool night air met me the moment I stepped outside. I rested my hands light
Dante POV Elena told me everything Isabella had said at the banquet. I spent the night turning her words over instead of sleeping, replaying every conversation, every look, every move I'd dismissed for the wrong reason. By morning, I knew where I'd gone wrong. I had spent weeks hunting a woman I thought wanted me back. She didn't. Maybe she never had. The woman who'd walked into that banquet wasn't fighting for a marriage or a man. She was campaigning for an empire she'd already decided belonged to her. "She's not trying to hurt me," I said, planting both hands on the map spread across the war room table. My untouched coffee had long since gone cold beside it. "She's trying to replace me. There's a difference, and I've been fighting the wrong war." Luca studied the routes marked in red before lifting his eyes to mine. "So what changes?" "Everything." I tapped the first circle on the map, then another. "These routes. These warehouses. Every man she's convinced the future belon
I made my way toward the study where Luca usually worked. I needed answers, or at least a thread I could follow. I had confronted Dante, and while he’d admitted to knowing about the woman in the photo, he hadn’t given me anything concrete. Not a name. Not a reason. Just… hints, shadows of memories
The echo of the gunshot still rang in my ears. For a moment I stood frozen in the hallway, my fingers gripping the edge of the door. "What… was that?" I whispered. Luca didn't answer immediately. His jaw tightened slightly as his eyes flicked down the corridor. "Probably nothing you need
"No! I won't go!" I shouted, my voice cracking. My hands flailed as I tried to push the men back, but their grips were iron. Fear surged through me like fire, every instinct screaming to run, to fight, to disappear. "Elena… please! Listen to me!" my father's voice broke through the storm in my che
Elena POV The rain slammed against the thin roof of our little house, a steady drumbeat that matched the panic coiling in my chest. I pressed my palms against the cold window, trying to convince myself it was just the storm outside. But deep down, I already knew this was bigger than the weather. Th







