Prologue
They say your first heartbreak changes you.
Mine wore a suit, smelled like danger, and kissed me like I was the only thing that had ever mattered.
Then he vanished.
No calls. No texts. No reason.
Just gone.
One day, he was whispering my name like a promise. The next, he was a ghost.
I tried to forget him. God knows I tried.
But I couldn't forget the way his hands trembled when they held me, like I was fragile. I couldn't forget the way he looked at me, like he saw the broken parts I tried to hide and loved me anyway.
I couldn't forget the kiss.
The kiss that broke me.
And now, after months of silence, after I've pieced myself together with trembling fingers, he's back.
In the rain. Outside my door. Eyes darker than I remembered.
Saying things that make my chest ache.
Telling me I'm still his.
But this time, it's not just my heart at stake.
Because he's not just the man who left.
He's the man who's being hunted.
And whether I want to or not, I'm already in too deep.
CHAPTER ONE
The rain fell gently as I stood in front of my apartment, my clothes soaked and my thoughts a mess. I didn't care. I was too tired to move. Too tired to pretend I was okay.
Losing my mother broke me. After that, I stopped expecting anything good to last. I learned how to survive on my own—go to work, pay my bills, get through each day without falling apart.
And then he came back.
I heard the soft hum of a car engine before I saw him. It stopped nearby, and somehow, I just knew.
"Janica."
I froze.
That voice. I hadn't heard it in months, but I could never forget it.
Slowly, I turned around—and there he was.
Jason.
He stood under the rain, dressed in a dark suit, looking exactly like the man I remembered and somehow even more dangerous now. Calm. Cold. Beautiful in the kind of way that could ruin you.
I didn't speak. I couldn't.
He stepped closer. "I'm sorry."
I laughed softly, but there was no humor in it. "Sorry? After all this time? You left, Jason. You kissed me... and then disappeared."
"I had my reasons."
"I don't want to hear them." My voice shook, not from the cold, but from everything I still felt.
But he didn't move away.
"I couldn't stay away anymore," he said. "I thought leaving would keep you safe."
"From what?"
He paused. "Things I can't explain. Not yet."
I shook my head. "You think you can just come back and everything will be fine?"
"No," he said. "But I'll do whatever it takes to make it right."
I looked into his eyes and saw something I didn't want to see—regret, pain, longing. And something else… something dangerous.
He was trouble. And I knew it.
But I was tired of pretending I didn't miss him.
"What do you want, Jason?"
"To protect you," he said quietly. "Even if you hate me for it."
I swallowed hard. "And if I say I don't need your protection?"
"Then I'll still make sure no one touches you."