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I toldhim not to touch me. And he didn’t?—

not until I begged for it, craving the hands of a man who still dreams of her.

But I’ve seenhis hands shake when I cry. I’ve heard his breath hitch when I whisper his name.

His body is fire, seeping into my skin, branding me, making me crave more.

And God help me, I do.

But this worlddoesn’t allow happy endings.

And I hold a flash drive hiding the one secret he’d do anything to keep me from.

I need to run…Witheverything I couldn’t say...

Because the night I finally gave him my body…

he gave me something I can never take back.

MATTEO

In another life,I would’ve watched her marry my son.

But in this one, I claimed her at the altar as my bride.

Barely twenty-four.Untouched. Trembling in white. My best friend’s daughter.

She thinks I forced her.Maybe I did.

But it was the only way to keep her alive.

I am a man of control.Of duty. Of chains I locked around myself long ago.

Chased by ghosts and love long buried, I shouldn’t care.

But she ignites something in me no one else could—mercy.

I did something unforgivable.And now I need redemption.

I should stay away. But when she looks at me with those wide, tear-soaked eyes?—

begging for answers, begging for love I was never meant to give?—

I can’t. I won’t.

I know wantingher is dangerous. But God help me... I want her more than my next breath.

She was the one thing I should’ve resisted. In the end, I never even tried.

But if sheknew what I’ve done. She wouldn’t just hate me. She’d run.

Some oaths are writtenin blood. Others… in betrayal.

And I killed the only man she ever loved.

But now

I’d bleed to have her heart.