Chapter 1 - The Little Girl in Central Park Knew the Woman I Had Spent Four Years Trying to ForgetThe name Lily whispered was the name I had buried four years ago.
“Her name is Elena.”
My fingers went numb around Isabella's wrist.
For four years, I had believed Elena Moretti was dead.
Not missing.
Not gone.
Dead.
The night before our wedding, four years ago, Elena had disappeared.
She was my first love.
The only woman I had ever trusted completely.
And the only person who knew the location of every one of my safe houses.
Three days after she vanished, her car was found abandoned near the Hudson River.
A week later, police recovered a woman's body from the water.
The identification was supposedly confirmed.
I never saw the body.
I never attended a funeral.
I couldn't.
My enemies had been threatening me.
My family told me Elena had betrayed me.
They said she had stolen money.
They said she had sold information to my rivals.
They said she ran because she knew I would kill her.
I refused to believe it.
Until Isabella came into my life.
She was gentle.
Patient.
She helped me through the grief.
Then six months ago, my world went dark.
The attack that destroyed my vision changed everything.
And Isabella became my guide.
My protector.
My fiancée.
The woman I intended to marry in twenty-three days.
Now a four-year-old girl was standing in front of me telling me Elena was alive.
“Lily,” I whispered.
“Yes?”
“Where is your mother?”
“Home.”
“Take me to her.”
Isabella's grip tightened.
“No.”
I turned toward her.
“Why?”
“She doesn't know what she's saying.”
Lily suddenly spoke.
“My mama said Isabella would say that.”
Silence.
My heart began pounding.
“How does your mother know Isabella?”
Lily didn't answer immediately.
Then she said,
“Because Isabella was there when my mama disappeared.”
I released Isabella's wrist.
She stepped backward.
“Dominic…”
I raised my hand.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
For the first time since I'd become blind, I felt something stranger than darkness.
Suspicion.
I turned toward Lily.
“Can you take me to your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
She nodded.
Isabella grabbed my arm.
“You can't go anywhere with a stranger.”
I smiled bitterly.
“You've been choosing where I go for six months.”
“Because you're blind.”
“And now I have a reason to believe you lied to me.”
She inhaled sharply.
“I never lied.”
Lily's voice came quietly from beside me.
“She did.”
Isabella snapped,
“Be quiet!”
The child flinched.
I heard it.
That tiny movement.
The fear.
And something inside me hardened.
I stepped between them.
“Don't speak to her like that.”
Isabella whispered,
“Dominic, you don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
She said nothing.
I turned to Lily.
“Take me to your mother.”
The little girl took my hand.
Her fingers were warm.
Tiny.
Trusting.
We walked through the park.
Isabella followed.
I could hear her heels behind us.
I didn't know where Lily lived.
I didn't know who her mother was.
But every step felt like I was walking backward through my own history.
After ten minutes, Lily stopped.
“Here.”
I heard a door open.
A woman's voice called,
“Lily?”
Then silence.
The woman had recognized my footsteps.
I knew her breathing.
I knew the way she inhaled when frightened.
I knew the tiny pause before she spoke.
“Dominic?”
My heart shattered.
“...Elena?”
She began crying.
I stood there in darkness.
Four years.
Four years of grief.
Four years of nightmares.
Four years believing she had abandoned me.
And now she was breathing three feet away.
Alive.
I whispered,
“You're alive.”
She answered,
“I tried to tell you.”
Then Isabella screamed behind us.
“No!”
Elena gasped.
Lily grabbed my hand.
May you like
And I realized this wasn't a reunion.
It was the beginning of a war.
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