DEKLAN MARIO
“Can I kiss you?” Cedar asked, her eyes fixed on my mouth.
I don’t need women. They’re serpents, sweet-faced, silver-tongued, and dangerously capable of turning great men into grave men. If my own mother could betray and deny me… if my sister could turn her back on me, what then could a lover do? Far worse.
That belief has guided me for years. I avoid women at all costs. To me, they don’t even exist—especially now, when I trust no one. Not even men. My uncle committed a crime, framed me for it and locked me away for years, then no one deserves trust.
I don’t trust my shadow. I don’t believe in fate. Everything is in my hands, and I alone decide how to use them and what I do.
That night, when I heard Cedar's screams, I was tailing Dominus. I didn’t know what business he h
