Prologue

He's here.

My eyes are not yet adjusted to the surrounding darkness, so I can't discern anything except the general shapes of the furniture in my living room. Nothing moves. No sounds, other than my breathing.

Nothing.

But I know he's here.

It's a sixth sense that seeped into my bones years ago, since the first moment I met him. His presence creates an imperceptible shift in the air, stirring the very atoms around me. I don't have to see him or hear him move to know he's there. My body and mind can feel him. Always could.

I close my eyes and slowly start turning, hearing nothing but my heartbeat. It's faster than normal, but steady. I've nearly completed the turn when my heart flutters. There. When I open my eyes, darkness is still the only thing that greets me, but it doesn't matter. I know he's directly in front of me.

My heart always knows.

"Long time no see, tiger cub." The deep, raspy voice washes over me.

Hearing it is like being swaddled by a thick fluffy blanket. I'm safe and secure, in a place where no one can do me harm. For a few rapid beats, I let it just sink in, absorbing the vibrations of his tone. The sound is different from the last time I saw him, his voice is more raw somehow, but it's him. How many sleepless nights have I spent curled up in my bed, trying to relive the specific timbre of it? Probably hundreds.

The reading lamp on the side table comes to life, its dim glow partially illuminating the huge male frame leaning back in the recliner. For the most part, his face remains in shadows; only two silver eyes seem to glow in the surrounding murk.

It's a punch to the chest, seeing him again after all this time.

"I thought you were dead," I choke out.

He inclines his head to the side, and more of the light falls onto his face, allowing me a glimpse of his tightly pressed lips, and more . . . A scar on his left cheek-an uneven line of raised flesh, beginning at the corner of his mouth and curving up toward his ear. Another mars his skin above the left brow, and two more are visible across his chin, somewhat obscured by the dark stubble covering his jaw. None of those marked his face the last time I saw him.

The urge to run to him overwhelms me, but I snuff it out. My feet stay rooted to the floor, my eyes locked on the man who was once everything to me. Too many nights I've lain in bed imagining what it would feel like to see him again. I knew it would hurt. But I didn't expect that it would hurt this much.

Time is a tricky thing. Hours. Days. Years. The human brain has a limited capacity for storing information, and, as time passes, slowly and without notion, it forgets things. Sounds. Smells. Words. Situations. Memories peel off and are swept away by the winds of time, like dried leaves fluttering on the breeze just before the onset of winter. And when the spring arrives, the only thing left is a vague awareness of their past existence.

Time.

They say that time heals all wounds.

It's all lies and a crock of bullshit.

Time didn't take away my memories of him, even though I wished for that on numerous occasions. I still remember every single thing about this man.

"Did you miss me?" he asks in that husky voice, the tone reminding me of a brewing storm, the instant before the first crack of thunder.

Miss him? No, that word doesn't describe the anguish and despair of the past four years. The desperate hope I felt while scouring every dark corner, praying for a glimpse of him. And then, the inevitable disappointment and agony upon discovering he wasn't there. Because I've always felt his eyes on me, even when I couldn't see him, the sudden certainty that he was truly gone was crushing. Horror gripped me when I finally accepted that he must have died and I'd never see him again.

"It's hard to miss a man whose name I don't even know." A nearly physical pain squeezes my chest. All this time, he let me believe he was dead.

A corner of his lips tilts up, making the new scar on his face more prominent.

"I missed you, too, cub," he whispers, raising a big black gun, fitted with a suppressor. "Do not move."

My breathing stops.

The muffled gunshot wheezes through the air.

(The past)

5 years ago

(Nera 19 years old, Kai 29 years old)

"My dear Nera, you look stunning tonight." The woman in a dark-red silk gown leans in to give me a quick peck on my cheek. Her heavy perfume invades my nostrils, and I struggle to stifle a cough. "Simply glowing."

"Thanks." I manage a smile, one that's just as fake as the woman's sentiments.

I got my period yesterday and spent the entire night tossing and turning, unable to sleep because the cramps were killing me. There are dark circles under my eyes that the foundation couldn't cover, and I'm pretty sure my face is still swollen. We both know I look like a wreck, but no one would ever dare say anything of the kind to Nuncio Veronese's daughter.

"And I love the blouse you're wearing," she continues. "Who's the designer? It must be a super expensive label."

"My sister made it," I mumble and throw a glance over my shoulder, searching for my friend Dania, hoping she would save me.

"Oh. It's adorable." She smiles. "I was just saying to Oreste how the two of you would make a perfect couple. I'll tell him to give you a call next week, Nera, my dear. He just bought a new car, the latest Tesla model, and I'm sure you'd enjoy a ride."

I shudder. Oreste is a well-known manwhore who uses way too much hair gel and practically bathes in cologne, even worse than his mother.

"I'm busy next week. Maybe some other time."

"Perfect. I'm sure that Don Veronese would approve of the two of you seeing each other." She grins and leans in to whisper into my ear. "Your father is very fond of my son, and I'm sure he is considering making Oreste a capo."

And there it is. The real reason she's trying to set me up with her spawn. Not because she likes me, or because she believes we actually would make a good match, but because her son would have an easier climb up the hierarchy ladder with the don's daughter as his girlfriend. It doesn't even surprise me anymore.

"I'm sure he is. Oh, there's Dania. I need to go say hi." I grab a glass of iced lemonade from the nearby table and dash toward my friend on the other side of the garden. She's frantically trying to beckon a waiter and is completely oblivious to my slow suffocation by social politeness. I keep my focus on my best friend as I squeeze my way between the party guests, hoping I won't get snagged by unwanted eye contact with another person.

"Nera, sweetheart!" Someone from a group to my left brushes my arm as I pass them. "Your hair looks amazing."

"Thanks." The ponytail at the top of my head is hardly impressive, but it was the most effort I could manage after I washed my hair this morning.

"Oh, Nera, I didn't know you were here." A guy who looks vaguely familiar materializes right in front of me, bringing me to a sudden stop. I think he's one of the underboss's nephews. "It's rather boring here. How about we sneak out and go grab a drink somewhere?"

"Um, no. Thanks." I step around him, only to come face-to-face with Jaya, Dania's cousin.

"We missed you on Saturday." She offers me a huge, fake smile. "Melinda was disappointed when you didn't turn up."

Yeah, I'm sure her sister was devastated I didn't come to her baby shower. Not because she wanted me there to share in her happiness, but because now she can't say that the don's daughter attended her party.

"I've only met your sister once, Jaya," I say. "You invited me to her birthday, but when I arrived, she just took the present and didn't even bother introducing herself to me."

"She didn't know who you were! If she did, I'm sure she would have treated you differently."

"My point exactly. Please pass along my best wishes."

I leave Jaya staring at my back and rush toward Dania. She's trying to convince the poor waiter to bring her an alcoholic drink, by the looks of things.

"I need to get out of here," I whisper as I tug on her arm. "Now."

"Sure." She snatches a glass of white wine off the waiter's tray and lets me drag her across the lawn toward the stone fountain at the back of the garden.

"This should work." I gesture to the iron bench next to the water feature and take a seat. The shadow of a big oak tree hides us in this spot, despite the nearby lampposts.

Dania throws a look over her shoulder toward the crowd enjoying the night outside the colonial-style mansion on the other side of the property. "Do you think someone will notice us gone?"

"Some big shot will be giving a speech soon. Everyone will be too busy listening to his rambling and clapping like mindless fools." I take a sip of my lemonade. "Dad said they were able to persuade this guy to push a Bill through the State Legislature that'll help the Family."

"Something about casinos?"

"Could be. I'm not up to speed on all the business ventures since I left home."

"I still can't believe the don let you move out." She takes a seat next to me.

"Me neither." I shrug. "When I told him I bought a place with the money Mom left me, he threw a fit. I got a long lecture on how outrageous it is for Nuncio Veronese's daughter to live alone, in some 'small shitty shed' of an apartment. 'What would people say?'"

"So, you managed to sway him?"

"I tried. He threatened to drag me back home if I dared to leave, then threw me out of his office. But the following week, he told me he'd thought about it and decided to let me have my space."

"I wish my dad was more like yours." Dania takes a big sip from the glass and coughs. "I'm turning twenty next month. My dad has already started playing matchmaker. This time next year, I'm going to be married."

I cringe. "Sorry."

"What about you?"

"No matchmaking is going on at the moment, thank God. I told Dad I'm sick of doing nothing every day and want to go to college, or at least take some online courses, before I let him trap me in an arranged marriage. When he disagreed, I told him I'd strip naked and go dancing through the City Hall Plaza, ruining my reputation and, possibly, all future marriage prospects-for good."

"I think you'll still be a catch, even after flashing your naked butt." Dania laughs.

"Maybe. But can you imagine the scandal that would create? My rear end would be the main subject of Cosa Nostra's gossip for years."

"I still don't understand why on earth you want to go to college. You guys are so loaded, you'll never need to work a day in your life. And I'm pretty sure that when you get married, your husband won't allow you to have a job anyway."

"I know. Still, I got my acceptance to the online vet tech program. I'm starting classes this fall."