PROLOGUE
567 Words
The first thing Emilio Hayes heard was his wife’s scream.
It was sharp. Terrified.
Then—silence.
Emilio jerked against the ropes binding him to the chair. The coarse material dug into his wrists, burning his skin as he struggled. His breathing came faster, his chest tightening beneath the weight of panic.
A strip of opaque black cloth covered his eyes, swallowing the room in darkness.
All he had left was Claudia’s voice.
And right now, even that was trembling.
“Please,” she whispered.
Emilio’s entire body went still.
“Please don’t. I beg you.”
A man’s voice answered her.
Cold.
Calm.
And somehow familiar.
“I’m sorry, Claudia. But I have to put myself first.”
Emilio froze.
He knew that voice.
He just couldn’t place it.
Something about it sent a warning through every inch of his body. His instincts screamed at him to remember—to understand who was standing in the room with them.
“Please,” Claudia begged again. “I swear on my life, I didn’t tell anyone.”
A quiet chuckle followed.
“And what value does your life have in this moment, Claudia?”
Emilio’s heart slammed against his ribs.
“What are you talking about?” he demanded. “Who are you?”
Silence.
Then Claudia gasped.
“Em—”
The sound that followed made Emilio’s blood run cold.
“Claudia?”
Nothing.
“Claudia!”
Still nothing.
He pulled desperately against the ropes.
“Claudia!”
No answer.
Then came the footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Deliberate.
They moved closer until they stopped directly in front of him.
Emilio could hear the stranger breathing.
“You’re going to live,” the man said quietly. “And one day, you’ll understand.”
Emilio’s jaw clenched.
“I’ll find you,” he spat. “Whoever you are. Wherever you go, I won’t stop. That’s a promise.”
Tears escaped beneath the black cloth covering his eyes.
The stranger was silent for a moment.
Then he spoke.
“I know you’re a man of your word, Emilio.”
A pause.
“But I have to warn you.”
His voice dropped.
“When you find out who did this…”
Another pause.
“…you’ll wish you never had.”
The footsteps retreated.
One.
Two.
Three.
Until they disappeared completely.
Emilio was left alone.
Still bound to the chair.
Still blind.
And beside him was the body of the woman he loved most.
⸻
Emilio was eventually found and rushed to a hospital.
His wounds healed.
His company did not.
Neither did his family.
But none of that compared to losing Claudia.
For a long time, Emilio convinced himself that if she had survived, they would have found a way through it. Somehow. Together.
But Claudia was gone.
And the damage had already been done.
His family was destroyed.
Yet Emilio kept his promise.
He found the stranger.
And when he did, he made sure his children knew exactly who was responsible for the worst night of their lives.
He raised them on anger.
On grief.
On revenge.
Darius and Denali grew up knowing one thing:
They were meant to hate him.
And hate him they did.
All their lives, they carried the weight of a revenge that had begun long before either of them understood why.
A revenge they would eventually risk everything to complete.
Even their own lives.
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