CASSIAN
"In the end, love finds everyone. It finds us all."
I stood out on the terrace alone, cold air brushing strands of hair off my face as I watched the Moretti Villa stretch wide and dark beneath the stars, the galaxies, the darkness.
This was all mine. All of it.
Nothing missing. A whole lot added.
Tonight made my skin tingle.
Not with the quest for blood, or debt, or vengeance, or darkness.
Tonight felt… alive.
For the first time in years, my mind wasn't running ten steps ahead… it was completely still.
My men were sprawled everywhere below, guns fixed in their positions, ready to do what they knew best: kill.
But tonight, I knew that wasn't going to happen.
I felt it like I felt the air in my lungs.
I'd finally gotten this city. I'd made my mark. And now, I was wearing my crown as the Moretti god of Lake Como.
I pushed off the terrace and walked back inside my office.
Ayla wasn't back yet. I sat, one leg flung over the other.
