Darcy found himself once again at St. Helena beach, surfing the big waves. But instead of surfing with his brothers, he was alone, all by himself, surfing but not surfing, and neither was he enjoying himself like he used to. There was something missing. It was as if he were a body without a soul, as if he were breathing but not really breathing, as if his heart kept beating but not really beating.

In the distance, he could see a storm brewing that looked as though it were heading straight toward him. Then he saw the waves—enormous waves—looming over him and then crashing down on him. He fought the current, fought so hard, fought until he was exhausted. Once he managed to reach the surface, he looked around, alone in the vast ocean.

Oh God! The ache within his heart. Why?

Then the scream penetrated his mind—loud, long, and echoing with agony and death. He saw her body falling and falling and falling and then… Splash!

“Sakura!”

He found himself in the angry sea once again, fighting to get to her, fighting to save her. The sea, however, refused him and crashed him off course, smashing him against the edge of a cliff.

* * * * *

 

“Sakura!” he yelled her name, his voice hoarse with agony. Suddenly, he found himself sitting up, sweating and panting, his heart thumping hard and furious within his chest.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Darcy shut his eyes. Please calm down, you tormented beast. Please calm down, he told his heart. It was only a nightmare. Just a nightmare and nothing more.

Oh, how he ached to see that beautiful face again. How he ached to once again see those sparkling dark eyes, that long black hair, the petal-white skin, and those sensuous ruby-red lips. Those lips he’d kissed and sucked and licked.

Darcy threw himself back on the bed, his hand on top of his chest. Still, he could feel his heart thumping furiously beneath his breastbone where his hand rested, as if it were tormented, crying out for its long-lost love.

“Snow,” he whispered under his breath. “My snow, where could you be?”

It had been almost one year since she’d decided to leave them, since she’d disappeared from their lives—from his life—and left him only a note that simply said:

 

I will always be your Snow.

I love you.

Sakura

 

Darcy turned to look at the alarm clock. It said 5:05 a.m. He sighed and turned his attention to the wall across from his bed. He gazed at the full-size poster of Snow White and the Seven Knights he’d designed two years ago. Back then, he hadn’t a clue as to why he’d conjured up that beautiful character of Snow White. He’d always thought the idea of having an interactive game similar to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would be a new and exciting project and had presented it to Hayden with enthusiasm and energy. It hadn’t been until much later, when he’d met Sakura again at Mary and Peter’s wedding, that he realized that was never the case.

Snow White had been ingrained in his mind long ago, since he’d first met seven-year-old Sakura.

Sakura had always been Snow to Darcy.

Since they’d released Snow White and the Seven Knights for the world to enjoy, it had gone viral, and Darcy found himself and Hayden had gone from an amateur to one of the top gaming entrepreneurs in the world. The game alone had brought them fame and success beyond belief. Since this last financial year, they’d made at least three billion each in dividends. Darcy, however, wasn’t interested in the money. It had always been the creation and the energy and the hard work he’d put in that kept him in the business. 

He got up and headed to the adjoining bathroom. Standing over the sink, he took off his shirt, exposing his fitted, toned, lean muscles that were taut with anxiety and tension. He splashed cold water on his face a couple times to clear his head. That felt much better, he thought and lifted his head to look at himself in the mirror.

The man staring back at him wasn’t the same Darcy who had existed one year ago. This Darcy had matured both physically and mentally. His raven-black hair was stylishly cut, the thick locks nestling lovingly about his neck. The handsome face was now marked with the maturity of strong jawline, high cheekbones, aquiline nose, and firm lips that rarely smiled. Those mauve-grey eyes of his were now clearer, sharper, and more determined than ever, showing the world this was a man on top of the game, on top of the world. However, if one were to look closer, one would see those eyes were marked with darkness and torment, loneliness and loss.

Darcy was no longer the pretty boy of the Princetons. He was now the dark knight, utterly dangerous and utterly mysterious. That was why so many women flocked to him, flirted with him, and even dared to ask him out. That was why so many women dreamed of becoming his girlfriend, his wife, and dared to stalk him.

Darcy, however, paid them no heed and went about his days working hard on his creations. By night, he’d feel his heart ache as he stared at the hundreds of photos lining the walls of his room. Photos of him and his beloved Snow kissing in the woods, the photo he’d secretly taken that day when they’d kissed under the cherry blossom tree.

He moved his hand to touch his breastbone beneath the muscular chest, caressing the exotic tattoo of the Sakura flowers that intertwined and wrapped themselves around the word “Snow” that only he could read and understand.

Mindlessly, he gazed at the tattoo he’d gotten nine months ago. It was a symbol of Sakura, of his Snow. He wanted to imprint her within his heart always and forever. Hence, every time he stared at the tattoo, he’d see her within his mind’s eye, and his heart would ache for her, for her love, for her warmth, for her kiss, for them to be together.

“Snow,” he whispered, his fingers caressing the tattoo. Instantly, his heart ached even more, and he had to take a deep breath to control himself. Then he splashed more cold water on his face to wake himself up. Once he was done, he headed out the door of his bedroom, out the door of the penthouse apartment he shared with his brothers, and into the private garden outside on the rooftop of the building.

Alone, he tilted his head, allowing the morning breeze to caress his skin as he gazed off at the orange glow of the sun just rising over the city of New York. A gentle breeze swirled around him and petals of cherry blossoms touched his cheek, attracting his attention. He brought his fingers to feel it. Something deep within him stirred. He closed his eyes and then he was there again—little Darcy resting his head on Sakura’s lap as he lay there on the grass, his eyes large, watching her as she stroked his hair.

“Snow? Why do cherry blossoms fall?” he asked, gazing off at the millions of tiny pale pink petals raining on them.

“They are tears of spring, Darce,” she replied, smiling as she, too, gazed up at the swirling flowers that surrounded them. “They tell us spring is here. We’re under this cherry blossom tree, Darce, and we are one.”

He chuckled, grabbed her hand that was still stroking his hair, and held it tight against his chest. “And we share the same thoughts.”

“Yes,” she said. “We are one and we share the same thoughts.”

Darcy took a deep, shaky breath that shook him to his core. “Sakura,” he said softly under his breath. “It’s spring again, sweetheart.”

A few minutes later, he was at the indoor pool on the second floor of their private apartment. He stood on the diving platform, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then ran off the board and did a beautiful somersault in midair. He was flying and then falling and falling and then splash!

The moment he was in the water, he took control and swam faster, kicking his powerful legs and propelling his strong arms—racing and racing as if he were being chased.

In the water, he opened his eyes, and in his mind’s eye, he saw the woman he loved drowning. He had to go to her. He had to save her. Sakura, he thought, I will save you.

He flipped, kicked his legs against the wall, and then swam the other way, harder and faster, working his athletic body to the brink of exhaustion.

When finally he was spent, he climbed out of the pool and sat on the edge, staring into space.

“Hey,” a voice said some moments later.

Darcy jolted back to reality and looked up to see his older brother Sebastian standing beside him.

“You’re up early,” Darcy said, flicking back his dark hair.

“You’re even earlier than I am,” Sebastian replied, eyeing the exotic tattoo on Darcy’s chest, right where his heart beat under his breastbone. Did Darcy really love Sakura so much to have a tattoo of something that would remind him of her on his chest?

Sebastian hadn’t been able to believe, still couldn’t believe it in fact, that two brothers were falling in love with the same woman who had happened to run away from them.

The brothers were silent as they stared into space, each in their own thoughts, both thinking about the same woman who had affected them so much. It was a companionable type of silence, and they both were comfortable with it.

A moment later, Sebastian expertly dived into the water.

Darcy watched as his brother swam toward the other side, stroking his powerful arms and kicking his strong legs. He watched Sebastian do a few more laps and decided he had enough and stood. He was heading toward the exit when he met Sosuke Suzuki, their new neighbor, coming in.

“Ohayo,” Sosuke greeted a good morning in Japanese.

“Ohayo,” Darcy replied, nodding his wet hair at the handsome Japanese man.

Sosuke said, “You’re early, Darcy-san. It is a Saturday after all.”

“It doesn’t matter what day it is,” Nicolas said from the door as he came in. “Darcy will always be up at five.”

Darcy glanced at his eldest brother. “Habit,” he said. “See you at breakfast.” Then he left them.

After he had a nice, long shower, Darcy turned on his laptop and started working on his new project. By eight o’clock, he had completed what he planned to get done and headed out the door into the spacious living area of the apartment where all the brothers gathered for meals and entertainment.

Once Darcy was in the dining area, he noted Nicolas, Sebastian, Hayden, and Conrad were already there, drinking their standard coffee, made by Beth, their housekeeper, and eating their breakfast.

Darcy took a chair beside Conrad and poured himself a cup of black coffee.

“I’m starving,” Tristan said a moment later. He slid into a seat and then proceeded to help himself to the perfectly cooked toast sitting in the middle of the table.

“Morning,” Logan murmured as he came in, his hair all sticking out everywhere like he’d just had an electric shock coursing through his body. He took the chair next to Tristan and then poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Ugh!” he made a sound after swallowing a mouthful. “This is disgusting. I wish Sakura was here!”

The moment he said it, he wanted to punch himself in the face, for his brothers had stopped what they had been doing and were now looking at him.

“Shit!” he swore under his breath. He shouldn’t have said her name. He knew it hurt them—all of them—and more so for Sebastian, Darcy, and Conrad, who loved Sakura dearly.

Conrad groaned depressingly and turned his attention to his black coffee, wishing there was the art of a swan, or better yet, an attempted ugly dragon that looked more like a teddy bear gone seriously wrong on it. He’d preferred that than this mug of mud-like coffee Beth had made for them, even if with love.

“It’s been a year,” he said softly. “I can’t believe we still haven’t found her.”

“She might have changed her name,” Nicolas put in logically, his finger furiously typing away on the tablet.

“She probably doesn’t want us to find her,” Hayden said. “Considering what happened last spring.”

“I wouldn’t blame her,” Logan said. “She knew it was Alaina and Tara who were behind the whole thing, making Kate go all mental and attack her.”

The brothers had known all along it had been Tara and Alaina. And Sakura herself could have died if the brothers hadn’t happened to be there surfing and seen her falling off the cliff into the raging sea below.

“On a brighter note, there’s the fashion show today,” Tristan said cheerfully. “There will be models.”

“To flirt with,” Hayden put in sourly.

“Just as long as you don’t bring them into this house, I’m fine with it,” Nicolas said, staring at Tristan meaningfully.

Though Nicolas had said that, he knew for a fact neither Tristan nor Logan had been sleeping around like before. In fact, they’d been rather cautious with the women they picked to bed nowadays. Perhaps they were beginning to settle down in their Casanova ways after all.

“This is a no-female zone,” Conrad said. “The only females who can enter are Mom, Grandmother, and Sakura, if we ever find her.”

“Cheer up, young pup,” Tristan said, smiling. “We’ll find her.” He turned to Nicolas then. “Are you sure that bloody private detective you hired is actually working to find Sakura and not just taking your check and running off for a good holiday?”

Nicolas put down his tablet and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’m sure. Detective Osborn is very good at what he does, or so I’ve heard.”

“Or so you’ve heard,” Logan said. “God, this is beginning to annoy me. Where the hell is she?”

“Be patient,” Nicolas said. “Finding missing people isn’t easy.”

“Especially missing people who want to stay missing,” Tristan said. “She must really hate our guts.”

Darcy glanced at Tristan and scowled darkly. If she really hated their guts, then why had she left them notes? Why had she left him a note telling him she loved him? No, Darcy would never believe that. He was sure she’d been confused, perhaps was still confused even now, about her feelings.

Then there was also the fact about Alaina and Tara, who had always wanted to hurt her despite them being adopted siblings. And Sakura, being the nice one, hadn’t wanted the family to take sides and cause any more conflicts and had decided to leave. Yes, that had been the reason. He knew it in his gut.

Now, if only they could find her, then everything would be right again. But then, he thought, would everything really be right again? Especially when both he and Sebastian were so in love with her? Darcy knew for certain Sebastian would never, ever give her up. But what about Darcy himself? Would he give Sakura up for Sebastian? Would he rather suffer losing the woman he loved to his brother?

He didn’t know.

He stood and said to his brothers, “I’m going to my loft. See you guys at the hotel this afternoon.”

He was just at the door when Sebastian stopped him. “I need a favor.”

“What?”

“Since you’re going to Soho, could you pick up a painting from Tanaka’s Gallery? Luke will be too busy this morning to pick it up,” Sebastian said.

“Yeah, no problem. What’s the address?” Darcy asked.

“Actually, I’ve never been there myself,” Sebastian said, sliding off his chair. “I’ll get the invoice. It has the address on it.”

“Sure,” Darcy said, following after his brother.

Some twenty-five minutes later, Darcy was in Soho, driving along a secluded street in his sleek black Ferrari. It was quite busy, and to Darcy’s annoyance, he found he had to stop many times in traffic. He was running late and just about had enough when he noticed he was on the street where Tanaka Gallery was located. He rolled down his side window and had a quick scan of the buildings. He found the gallery to his left-hand side, not too far. He noted the gallery itself was rather interesting, though it wasn’t yet opened for the day.

Something bright flickered past his eyes. He blinked and then looked up. He found it was from some crystal chandelier by the window on the top floor. The morning sunlight flashed onto the crystals, causing sparks of light to reflect off them and onto him.

“Beautiful,” he murmured under his breath. That was when he saw somebody walking past the window. He could see long hair and a slender figure. It was odd he couldn’t take his eyes off the silhouette of the woman, because since Sakura had left them, and until this very moment, he’d never really paid any attention to women in general. Why did he find her so interesting? Even though he couldn’t see her in full view? Even though he couldn’t see her face?

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Darcy jumped. He hastily turned his attention from the woman to look around him and realized the light had changed to green. He closed the tinted window as he muttered, “Shit!” under his breath. Then he stepped his foot on the accelerator and sped away.

* * * * *