ella

trembling with perfectly calibrated desperation. "Far a

sed, his eyes darting toward the heavy bedroom door as if the Don's enforcers were already lurking in the hallway. "Defy a Don's Command? The Fal

cowardice in the noble shroud of sacrifice. "I am doing

eventually learned the devastating truth: Don Damien Falcone had offered Hudson a clear choice. His wife, or his life. Hudson hadn't hesita

just maybe, the man I had married possessed a shred of decency-shattered into dust. My heart t

esperation from my eyes until they were tra

red, my voice deadened and defea

rmation was

houlders vanished, replaced by a breathless, greedy relief that he cou

manager. "Remember, this is for Josie." He leaned in, lowering his voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "Ton

rogant ecstasy of his impending rise within the Falcone ranks, comple

ed the heavy oak door behind me. The white marble floor was freezing beneath my bare feet, a st

bottom drawer, pulling out a small, unas

was the signature scent of Adela-the ghost who haunted the Don's cold heart, his dead first love. In my past life, I hadn't known why Damien Falcone looked

, youthful, and entirely unaware of the brutal end it had met in my previous life. I remembered the freezing cold, the suffocating despair,

r ag

y obsession that was meant to destroy me. I wasn't walking into a cage tonight; I was walking onto a bat

slipped into a fresh white silk robe, tying it loosely at my waist. It was time to face the coward waiting on the other sid