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PROLOGUE

Iknew my fate my entire life.

I knew what was laid out in the cards.

I knew my role since the day I was born.

But that all changed after a chance meeting in a bar.

Fate had other plans.

The cards changed.

My role was forfeit.

But I didn’t know it ten years ago. I only realized it now.

Funny how fate works. Showing its hand at the most inopportune time.

And now I am left deciding what choice to make.

A decision that will change everyone’s lives.

But even as I have the gun in my hand, the only thing I can focus on are those dark, midnight eyes. The faintest hint of gold hitting them like the embers of flames. Because those eyes burn. Not just for her own worth and Aria’s but for her fury, her passion, her strength.

They burn for me too. That’s one thing I have always seen. I’ve always known. Ten years never changed that fire burning in either of us.

And now as I aim my gun at the people threatening to destroy us both. I only have one choice to make.

Her or me?

Only one of us was meant to survive this game we were both born into.

It now comes down to who will pull the trigger first.

1

KILIAN

“It’s simple. My people receive shipments. The money goes through one of your shell companies. You get a fifteen percent cut.”

“Fifteen percent!” the man across from me shouts. “That is not enough. I could be caught by the government. By Interpol. I need fifty percent.”

I chuckle as I watch the man in front of me. A sorry excuse for a businessman. “You need an out, Mr. Riley. You’ve been caught up in insider trading. You need us to save your company. You know I can make all those accusations go away.”

He glances to his business partner next to him. “It’s risky.”

“You’re in investments. I think you understand risk perfectly well. And this isn’t one of them. Besides, we all know what will happen to you if you don’t join us. Prison isn’t a friendly place.”

“How long will this go on for?” he asks me.

“That’s entirely up to you, Mr. Riley. But from my experience, the money is too good that no one wants to leave.”

“Who else is—”

I tsk at him, the corners of my mouth curling up into a smirk. “Don’t ask those kinds of questions.”

“But I—”