POV: Ryan
Five years.
The word tasted bitter every time it crossed my mind. Five years since I walked away from the only woman who ever made me feel whole. Five years since I lost her no, since she pushed me away, her eyes as cold and final as a slammed door.
But the truth? I never stopped searching.
When I woke up after the surgery the surgeons pulling the clot out of my skull, stitching me back into myself the first thought in my mind hadn’t been my family, my empire, or even the fact that I could remember every detail of my past life again. No.
The first word on my lips had been hers.
“Violet.”
The nurses said I whispered it in my sleep. That I reached out into the air as though she might be standing at the edge of my hospital bed.
But when I was strong enough to move, strong e
