Roman’s POV

The night air was cold as I stepped through the trees, holding Gilly captive. My steps were silent, careful as always, but my mind ran through memories that never left me. I couldn’t stop them, even now—especially now.

I had always been an observer, even as a boy. I watched my parents, two forces of nature who couldn’t have been more different yet were somehow drawn together like moths to a flame. My father was a man with no sense of mercy. His ambitions were as grand as they were brutal. “Take what you want. Rule without apology.” Those were his words to me as soon as I...