Heads or Tails

Karla Ivette 13 stories

Summary

Five years ago, Zinnia Gomez vanished without a trace. After the attack that claimed Josey's life and the nightmare she endured at the hands of Christopher Vecera, Zinnia disappeared from Down City alongside Vicky, Josey's grieving girlfriend. Leaving behind her family, her identity, and every dream she once had, she dedicated her life to protecting the people Josey loved most—Vicky and his son, Joey. Now living quietly in Italy, Zinnia has built a fragile new life. By day, she works at a restaurant. By night, she tends bar at a luxury hotel while Vicky teaches at a local school and cares for Joey. For the first time in years, they have something that resembles peace. But peace comes at a price. Haunted by nightmares, consumed by guilt over abandoning her mother and younger sister Poppy, and burdened by the secret that Josey's son is alive, Zinnia remains trapped by the fear that drove her into hiding. The men responsible for Josey's death are still out there. Worse, Christopher Vecera's dangerous obsession with her has never faded. When a chance encounter in a crowded Italian plaza puts her in the path of one of Christopher's former bodyguards, the past she fought so hard to escape comes crashing back into her life. Mistaking Zinnia, her landlord Bruno, and young Joey for a family, the bodyguard reports what he saw to Christopher. Consumed by jealousy, rage, and obsession, Christopher travels to Italy. When Zinnia returns home to find Christopher holding Bruno and Joey at gunpoint, she is forced to make an impossible choice. To save the people she loves, she agrees to go back with the man who destroyed her life. But five years have changed Zinnia. She is no longer the frightened girl Christopher once controlled. And if he thinks she will surrender without a fight, he is about to discover that some wounds never heal—and some women refuse to remain victims forever. A dark, emotional tale of obsession, survival, sacrifice, and the devastating consequences of a love that should never have existed.