MY MIND WAS STILL LIKE mush when I picked up my phone to call Vix to tell her I wouldn’t be coming to work at her underground fight club tonight. It took me a few tries to explain what exactly was going on.

“What?” Vix’s loud voice sounded from the other end of the line, making me cringe. “Theo’s here? Oh, my God. Are you okay? Did he do something? Are the Cobras going after him? How did he even get to you? We have to...”

“Vix, stop. It’s okay. I’m fine. He didn’t do anything, and I don’t know where he is now. I think he’s here for a job, not for me.” I glanced up and down a dark alley as my guards patrolled the area. Maybe it was stupid to stick around here, but the Cobras were everywhere, and I was doing my best to stay out of sight. “Just keep an eye out for him in case he decides to come for you and Seth.” I didn’t know if Theo held a grudge against Vix and her boyfriend too for betraying Ingrid, but they should be safe at the club where they had a bunch of security measures and guards.

“Yeah, Seth and I will up our security, but you... You should come here. The Cobras too. It’s not safe for you to be out there while he’s in the city. I’ll tell Tobias to send...”

“I don’t think that’s necessary. The Cobras will be with me all the time.” I definitely didn’t want Vix to be in danger too because of me. If we were together, then it would be easier for Theo to get us both. “I’ll just go home and the Cobras will make sure no one gets to me.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Yeah.”

Vix sighed. “Okay, but please be careful. I’ll tell Tobias to double your guards and to check if his guys can track Theo down. I can’t believe he got into that club in the middle of the Cobras’ area without anyone noticing. If you want to reconsider your decision...”

“No. My decision’s final. Tell Tobias to up the protection for my family. I don’t want anything to happen to them because of me.” I was sure that Tobias, the leader of the Cobras, was going to be pissed that Theo had gotten in here without anyone noticing, even though a lot of people were watching out for him all over the city, since they were afraid he would take over the Rosa Nera, which was something no one in this city wanted.

But Theo hadn’t taken over so far, and he’d found a way to sneak into the city without being seen. Now everyone would know, though, and they’d be on the lookout for him, so I wasn’t sure why he’d even shown up at the club. Someone could get him and... I stopped that thought in the middle. I wasn’t going to be worried about Theo. I wasn’t.

“Alright. I’ll call you if I find out anything. I know you still have feelings for that guy, but don’t count on him feeling the same way,” Vix said.

“I won’t.” Well, I’d try, at least. “I’ll text you when I get home.”

“You do that.” Vix ended the call, and I slipped my phone into the pocket of my jacket. “Let’s go,” I said to my guards and started down the alley. If we went by car, it would’ve been too easy to tail us and harder to escape if anyone attacked, especially if we got stuck in traffic, so I always opted for going on foot.

“We should go to more crowded and busier streets. It’ll be harder for him to reach you,” one of the guards said. “And if there’s any trouble, you’ll be able to run into one of the bars or buildings until we deal with the situation.”

I only nodded, unwilling to think about something like that happening. Why had Theo decided to come here now? Was it really just the job? He could’ve refused or avoided the club. Ever since that night I’d killed Ingrid, I’d wondered where he was and I’d taken comfort in knowing that he was out there somewhere, alive and well, even if he wasn’t with me.

Sometimes I even tried to imagine what our lives would be like if things hadn’t gone the way they had, and it seemed to me as if our relationship that had barely had the chance to begin was always doomed in every fantasy I could come up with. Theo had been a gang member and now he was a hitman. Killing was in his blood. How could I love and find a happy ending with someone like that?

Except, I’d gotten involved in gang stuff too, and I’d killed too. I was far from innocent. Even as a teen, I’d found a way to get myself in trouble and had gotten mixed up with bad people until I’d decided to turn my life around. And yet, I’d been dragged back into it, or more likely, I’d let myself get dragged back into it. And as far as I knew, Theo went only after criminals and gang members. Yeah, okay, maybe that wasn’t such a comforting thought.

“Chiara, watch out!” someone yelled, and I blinked, barely having time to avoid a lamppost that was in my way and that I hadn’t seen because I’d been thinking too hard about Theo. Geez. That man was going to be the end of me one way or another. We were getting closer to my apartment, so I took a good look around, but I didn’t see anything suspicious. Ugh, I really wished I knew why Theo was really here.

Just as we rounded the corner, a loud thud made us all jump. Something crashed to the ground, and my guards immediately pulled me close to the wall of the nearest building as they surveyed our surroundings. The sound seemed to have come from the end of the alley, near the trash containers, and two of my guards headed there to check, their weapons drawn.

My pulse sped up as I half expected someone to lunge at them from the shadows, but nothing happened and they headed back, waving at me and the rest of the guards to indicate that it was safe for us to keep moving. It might’ve been a cat chasing a rat or something. The city was noisy, and just because someone shouted or something thudded, it didn’t mean it was Theo.

His eyes flashed in my mind again. The way he’d been looking at me at the club... It hadn’t been the look of a man out to kill, but maybe I was fooling myself about that and hoping for something that was never going to happen. Still, I didn’t regret what I’d done to save my friend’s life. If Theo was going to hold that against me, then so be it. Ingrid would’ve killed me without a second thought if she’d had the chance. She’d never liked me being by her daughter’s side.

I pushed myself off the wall and kept walking. When my building came into view, I quickened my steps, and my guards followed suit. My neighbors probably hated that I’d brought danger to their doorstep, and they seemed to disappear whenever I arrived, and I bet they’d seen the Cobras’ tattoos and decided it was better not to get involved with me.

I’d moved here a few months ago so I wouldn’t put my family at risk. My parents, my brothers, and my cousins lived at the other end of the city in an area that didn’t belong to any gangs, and even though the Cobras were watching over them too in case Theo decided to use my family to get to me, I still preferred to be farther away from them to make sure they wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire.

Would Theo go after innocent people if he couldn’t get to me? I believed he wouldn’t. Maybe only as a last resort. That was in part why I wasn’t really hiding and hadn’t moved somewhere remote where Theo would be less likely to find me. If I was going to go down, I wasn’t going to drag anyone with me.

My guards rushed into the building in front of me to make sure it was safe, and I had to wait in front of the entrance for a few minutes that seemed like an eternity. But if Theo thought I was going to go down easily, he was wrong.

“All clear,” I heard someone say, and I finally went inside. The Cobras followed me to the stairway and we climbed up to the fourth floor. My guards were the only ones in the hallway as I hurried toward the door. I hadn’t given the Cobras a copy of the key to my apartment because that seemed a bit too much, and I didn’t want them to snoop around when I wasn’t there.

Sure, they probably wouldn’t do that, and I trusted their leader, but I couldn’t trust all of them. If there was ever trouble, I could trigger a special kind of an alarm inside that would open the door for them. Vix had wanted me to install a fingerprint scanner, but this building wasn’t that fancy and I couldn’t quite afford such a thing. I didn’t want Vix to pay for it either.

As I slid my key in the lock, I made sure to step away from the door and stand next to the wall in case someone was waiting for me inside. Quickly turning the key, I moved aside, and one of the guards pushed the door open with his weapon ready. I glanced down the hallway and wondered if my neighbor across the hall was watching us through the peephole. Maybe he thought I was some kind of a queenpin or something, and I was surprised he hadn’t called the cops already—or maybe he had and Tobias had found a way to deal with it since he probably had some cop friends who helped him out with his business.

The guards searched my apartment and when they came out, they holstered their weapons and gave me a nod, which meant it was safe for me to go inside. Two guards remained in front of the door while the others went away. They’d be somewhere inside or right outside the building.

I hadn’t even realized just how tired I was until I closed and locked the door behind me, and kicked off my shoes. Stretching out my arms, I let out a soft groan and started toward my room. My guards had turned the lights on, so I switched them off. The moonlight coming through the balcony door was more than enough.

A shadow on the floor caught my eye, and I looked up with a gasp, but I couldn’t see anyone. I was probably still on edge after my encounter with Theo. The Cobras always checked every corner, and it didn’t look like anything in my apartment had been disturbed, as far as I could tell. I let myself fall onto my soft bed and closed my eyes, which was a terrible idea, because my mind immediately formed an image of Theo’s handsome face.

Would I even be able to sleep tonight or would I keep thinking about him? Maybe that was exactly what he wanted: to drive me mad with worry and leave me wondering what he was really planning to do with me. I opened my eyes and sat up. It was better if I occupied my mind with a TV show or a movie of some kind, as long as it didn’t involve hitmen and shooting, or anything romantic. Damn, what was there left for me to watch that I actually liked? Fantasy or sci-fi? Yeah, maybe that would work.

I got to my feet and started for the door. A creak behind me made me stop. The balcony door. It was the balcony door, wasn’t it? I was imagining things again, or maybe I wasn’t. Another squeak followed. That door was supposed to be closed.

A cold breeze whooshed through the room. Oh fuck.

I turned around. The balcony door was wide open, and a shadow was standing in the doorway.

It was Theo.