On the day everything began, Bella had been running errands in the city—just small things: a few groceries, a new dress, flowers for the kitchen table. It had been raining, the streets slick and shining with neon reflections. She had taken a shortcut through an alley to avoid the crowds. That was where she saw it. A deal. A man with a gun. A face she shouldn’t have recognized. She froze—just long enough to be noticed. The moment Xavier’s eyes found her, the rain felt colder. He didn’t smile. He didn’t speak. But in that instant, Bella Knight ceased to be just another woman in the city. She became an obsession. --- From that moment, their lives began to unravel. Xavier sent men to follow her. His secretary dug into every detail of her life. When he learned she was married, his reaction was not disappointment, but determination. The ring on her finger was nothing but a challenge to him. For weeks, Bella felt the shadows grow thicker around her—unmarked cars parked too long near her home, footsteps behind her in the dark. Steven noticed too, his protective instincts sharpening, but neither of them could have guessed the scale of the danger. Until the night Xavier took her.