Prologue
He was my damnation and salvation. My air and my sun, my moon and my stars. His entire being made me want to live and I thrived on that...on him. Everyone told me that he was a monster, that he would shatter my heart into a million tiny pieces that would be too small to re-piece. Like an idiot I ignored them, like a fool I gave up everything I had ever known for another chance at true love, at happiness.
Then, he broke me. He shattered my heart, tainted my soul and left me completely broken beyond repair.
Now I'm coming back though. After three long years, I'm stepping foot into the world I fought so desperately to leave.
The mafia world where blood of family is constantly shed, hearts are broken and death is no stranger.
Amiss the bloodshed, fear and pain though is him. My ex-lover. The man I had defied everything to be with, yet he's changed.
The man I had hopelessly fallen for was no longer alive. I had killed him. I had destroyed any hope of the better man I knew he longed to become, but he was gone now. My love was gone and in his place the monster I had always feared was back.
Aaron Black. Gangster, monster, murderer.
He'd once chased me through the frantic halls of an airport, screaming out my name and begging me to stay, yet he could never say the words. Three words, eight letters and I would have been his.
To this day I wish I could take back my love, steal the embarrassment and pain I had felt when I confessed my deepest feelings for a man who didn't have the strength to say it back.
But did I regret it? Did I regret our love, our laughter, our happiness? Never, because it brought me my baby girl. Anastasia.
My light, soul and hope. The only person who had my heart now because I had cast him out, her father. The man I had worked long and hard to protect her from.
Now though, there was no fighting the inevitable. I was coming home and as always...Aaron was ready for me.
