I could still feel the touch of her fingers on my hair, the warmth of her body pressed against mine, the taste of her on my lips. My heart, a muscle I had long ago taught to beat with the cold precision of a metronome, was still thrumming with a wild, desperate rhythm. Just a moment ago, I was on my knees, a posture I had not assumed for anyone, not even my mother, since I was a child. I had knelt for her. For Isa. For the only woman who had ever looked at me with anything other than fear, desire for my power, or a cold calculation of profit. The sudden knock on the door and Viktor’s voice had been a harsh, brutal shove back into the reality of my world, the world of blood, power, and betrayal. The Don was back. The man who had been worshipping his woman was now a monster. I closed the d

