Prolog
Liam
Out of the night that covers me…
No amount of training could have prepared me for this.
My pulse thundered as rough hands closed around Emma and dragged her backward. I fought the grip on my arms, muscle and panic colliding, but they had leverage and I had fear—raw and vicious, clawing up my throat.
Emma didn’t go quietly. Even as they hauled her away, she twisted and struck and kicked, fighting with everything in her.
Then her eyes found mine.
Tears tracked down her face, but her gaze stayed fierce—steady, solid. A silent message passed between us: Don’t stop. Not now.
When people talk about life flashing before your eyes, they always mean the past.
All I saw was our future.
Her laughter in a quiet kitchen. Her hand in mine. The family we hadn’t built yet. Mornings we hadn’t earned yet. A thousand ordinary moments that suddenly felt holy.
I had never been a man who prayed. I didn’t trust the idea that anyone was listening.
But in that second, I did.
I thank whatever gods may be, for my unconquerable soul.
“No.” The word tore out of me—no plea, no bargain. A promise.
Something animal rose in my chest, half rage, half grief, and it ripped through my ribs as I surged forward, wrenching against the men holding me back.
We were going to survive.
We were going to have the life we’d promised each other.
Emma held my gaze through tears and gave the smallest nod—steady, sure.
I am the master of my fate…
I drew one searing breath—and charged.
SIX MONTHS EARLIER
I didn’t know a man could be this empty and still breathe.
I stood behind the glass of my New York office. The city pulsed with life. Inside me, nothing moved.
TaskFlow Solutions had been my spark once—my obsession, my creation. I’d built it from nothing and watched it reshape how corporations communicated, syncing teams across continents. Now I managed the machine I’d made while other people carried the fire.
Ten years of money had bought me every distraction: women, travel, homes, adrenaline. Exquisite meals, stunning views, the best of everything. And at the end of every day, I was still hungry.
I didn’t understand it then, but that hunger was about to become my undoing—and my rebirth.
Because Emma was coming.
