Chapter 3
Evelyn looked up and forgot how to breathe.
Not Marcus.
But one of his men.
Older now, with silver at his temples, but unmistakable.
Nico Savaro.
Marcus’s right hand. His shadow. The man who had once driven Evelyn to charity galas and waited outside with a gun beneath his coat. The man who had taught her how to hold a knife after she’d laughed and said Marcus worried too much.
Nico stood just inside the door, rain clinging to his shoulders.
His eyes found Evelyn.
Recognition moved across his face like a blade sliding free.
“Mrs. Vale,” he said.
The name struck the room like a gunshot.
Evelyn moved before thought could form.
“Leo. Lily. Coats. Now.”
Leo looked up, annoyed. “But the castle—”
“Now.”
Something in her voice made both children obey.
Nico raised one hand. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“No,” Evelyn said, grabbing her bag from under the counter. “You’re here to find me. That’s worse.”
“Marcus has been looking for you for three years.”
“Then he’s been wasting his time.”
Nico’s gaze flicked toward the children.
It was brief. Almost nothing.
But Evelyn saw the exact moment understanding entered him.
Leo turned, struggling with his zipper.
Nico stared.
The boy’s face was not a copy of Marcus Vale’s, but it was close enough to stop a loyal man’s heart.
Then Lily stepped from behind the shelf, dark eyes fixed on Nico.
Those were Marcus’s eyes.
Nico whispered something in Italian under his breath.
Evelyn put herself between him and the twins. “Don’t.”
His jaw tightened. “Does he know?”
“No.”
Nico looked shaken for the first time in all the years she had known him. “Evelyn—”
“My name is Eve.”
“Not to him.”
The bell over the door rang again.
Another man entered.
Younger. Broad-shouldered. Not one of Marcus’s.
Evelyn saw Nico’s hand shift beneath his coat.
She saw the younger man notice.
She saw too much, too fast.
Then the front window exploded.
Glass burst inward in a glittering wave.
Books flew. Lily screamed. Leo dropped to the floor.
Nico moved with the brutal grace Evelyn remembered. His gun appeared in his hand as if it had grown there. He fired twice through the shattered window.
Outside, tires screeched.
“Back room!” Nico barked.
Evelyn hated him.
She obeyed.
She grabbed Lily with one arm and Leo with the other, dragging them through the narrow hall behind the counter. A second shot cracked. Wood splintered near her head.
The back door opened into an alley.
Nico shoved them through first.
“Run to the black SUV at the corner.”
“No!”
“Evelyn, they were not mine.”
That stopped her.
Rain stung her face. Leo was crying silently, his small hand locked in hers. Lily clung to her coat.
Nico looked at the children, then at Evelyn.
“Someone else found you too.”
The alley filled with footsteps.
No time.
Evelyn ran.
The SUV was exactly where Nico said it would be. The driver already had the door open. Evelyn hesitated only long enough to see the tattoo on his wrist.
A black crown split by a silver knife.
Marcus’s mark.
Behind them, Nico fired again.
Lily screamed, “Mama!”
Evelyn shoved the children into the car and climbed after them.
The SUV lunged forward before the door fully closed.
The bookstore vanished behind rain and smoke.
For ten minutes, no one spoke.
Leo trembled against Evelyn’s side. Lily sat stiffly on her lap, eyes dry, face white.
Evelyn kept one arm around each child and stared at the driver’s reflection in the mirror.
May you like
“Where are you taking us?”
The driver did not answer.
