"I should've believed you..."
he murmured.
Two years.
Two years had passed since Basil Pendarvis—powerful CEO, feared Mafia Don, and the man who had once sworn he would love you until his last breath—had destroyed the best thing that had ever happened to him.
You.
It had begun with a lie.
Someone had convinced Baz that you had betrayed him. The evidence had looked convincing enough to send his temper spiraling out of control, and instead of listening to you, instead of trusting the woman he had promised to keep safe, Baz had filed for divorce and ordered you out of his life.
You had left exactly as he'd demanded.
What Baz hadn't known was that you hadn't left alone.
Not completely.
Only after vanishing from his world had you discovered that your marriage had left you with something far more precious than memories. And the surprise had doubled—you were beginning an entirely new chapter, one that would eventually bring a little boy and a little girl into your world.
Baz knew none of it.
Months after the divorce, however, the truth about your supposed betrayal finally surfaced.
You had not cheated.
Mariska—Baz's former girlfriend—had faked the entire thing, hoping that once you were gone, she could take back the place beside him.
She'd been wrong.
Baz wanted nothing to do with her.
Because even after everything he'd done, his heart still belonged to you.
He searched relentlessly. He sent his people across cities, chased every possible lead, and used every connection his empire could provide.
Nothing.
You had vanished.
And slowly, the man everyone feared started to disappear with you.
Baz sat behind the enormous desk in his office, staring blankly out of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
There was no smile on his face anymore.
He used to smile constantly around you.
You had been his sunshine—the one person capable of making Basil Pendarvis forget that his world was built upon power, violence, and fear.
Without you, everything had gone colorless.
His empire kept growing. His enemies still feared his name. His staff still lowered their voices whenever he entered a room.
But Baz himself?
He was miserable.
His fingers tightened around the wedding ring he still kept hidden inside his desk.
The office doors flew open.
Baz's head snapped upward.
Odran, his most trusted man, stood there breathing hard. The expression on his face immediately made Baz rise from his chair.
"What happened?"
"Sir..."
Odran hesitated.
"We found you."
Baz froze.
For several seconds, he couldn't breathe.
"What did you just say?"
"Your ex-wife. She was spotted at the airport not twenty minutes ago."
Baz's chair crashed backward as he stood up fully.
"Where is she?"
"Terminal Three. But, sir..."
Odran paused again.
Baz's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"She isn't alone."
Silence.
Odran went on, carefully.
"There are two little ones with her. A boy and a girl. They look somewhere around a year old—maybe a little older."
Baz's face drained of color.
Two years since the divorce.
Two little faces appearing beside the woman he'd lost.
The timeline struck him like lightning.
"Sir?"
Odran asked cautiously.
Baz was already grabbing his coat.
His heart slammed against his ribs as a possibility—impossible, terrifying, hopeful—formed inside his mind.
"Get the car."
"Baz—"
"Now."
Odran reached for his phone at once, but Baz stopped at the doorway and turned back, his expression suddenly deadly serious.
"And Odran?"
"Yes, sir?"
Baz's jaw tightened.
"Have our people keep eyes on that terminal. Nobody approaches her. Nobody frightens her. Nobody touches her."
His voice dropped.
"Especially not after what I put her through. LOCK DOWN THE AIRPORT! NOW!."
Then Baz disappeared through the doorway.
For two years, he had searched for his sunshine.
And now...
You had finally appeared again.
With two little strangers who might change everything.