Chapter 2

Rain pounded against the earth as Amara ran, her wedding gown dragging behind her like a ghost of the life she was leaving behind. Her pulse thundered in her ears, every breath ragged as she stumbled down the winding path away from the cliffs.

She didn’t know where she was going all she knew was that she could not stop.

Behind her, Damien’s voice still echoed through the storm, sharp and commanding. “Amara! Stop!”

She didn’t.

Her bare feet burned as they hit the gravel road leading away from the estate. The sprawling Blackwood manor loomed in the distance, its golden lights flickering like distant stars, but she saw it now for what it truly was a cage.

And Damien?

He was its warden.

No more.

Her lungs screamed for air, her body trembling from exhaustion and adrenaline, but she forced herself forward. Through the heavy downpour, her eyes locked onto a black sedan parked at the bend in the road. The engine was still running. Her only escape.

She pushed forward, ignoring the way her wet dress clung to her skin, tangling around her legs like chains.

The driver’s door swung open before she could reach it.

“Amara!”

Relief flooded her chest as she saw the man standing by the car Luca, her father’s former right-hand man. The only one she had left to trust.

His sharp, dark eyes widened at the sight of her soaking wet, breathless, her wedding dress torn and ruined. He took one look over her shoulder, where Damien’s figure was approaching fast, and made a quick decision.

“Get in,” he ordered.

Amara didn’t hesitate. She threw herself into the back seat just as Luca slammed the door shut and slid into the driver’s seat.

Tires screeched against the wet pavement as he floored the gas, the car lurching forward.

Amara pressed herself against the seat, her entire body shaking, her fingers gripping the damp fabric of her gown. She forced herself to look back, her heart hammering as she saw Damien standing in the road, watching her go.

Even from a distance, she could see the fury in his stance. The tension in his body.

And the way his storm gray eyes locked onto hers like a promise.

This wasn’t over.

Not by a long shot.

Three Years Later

The ocean stretched endlessly before her, waves lapping gently at the shore as the morning sun bathed the beach in golden hues. The small coastal town of Santa Azul was a world away from the life she had left behind.

A world where Amara Devereaux no longer existed.

She glanced at the name on her new ID "Elena Marquez." A name that had saved her. A name that had given her a fresh start.

Her hand absently rested on her stomach, though there was no longer a child inside her. Instead, Leo, her son, was a sleeping bundle in the small apartment behind her. Her and Damien’s child.

A secret she had protected with everything she had.

She had built a life here quiet, unassuming. No one asked questions. No one knew the past she had escaped from.

But deep down, she knew this peace was temporary.

Because men like Damien Blackwood never stopped hunting what belonged to them.

And when he found her…

There would be hell to pay.