Flashback:
The fire cracked like a living beast, devouring everything it touched with no remorse.
I stood at the edge of the villa’s courtyard, my hands curled into fists, eyes burning just as much as the building before me. The flames had already spread to the second floor, licking at the wooden beams, dancing along the stone like it had always been waiting for this moment. My men stood back, wary. Silent. They knew better than to speak to me when I was like this.
And yet none of them dared move.
Not with her standing there.
Tatiana.
Or the name she gave herself to hide from me… Marissa.
She stood at the front gates of the burning villa, her dress torn, her face streaked with soot and ash, eyes wild with defiance and something far worse…
Conviction.
“Step back,” I ordered, my voi
