Prologue

She moved to Italy trying to disappear and to build a life that won’t be shadowed by the people who thought of her as an extra. A burden they wanted to cast away as soon as the two people who loved her without any conditions left the world unannounced. 

Not caving to the pressure, she took her grief and broken heart to a whole new country where strangers wouldn’t push her to move on. A stable job and a small apartment with scenic evenings created the kind of peace that helped her breathe without looking over her shoulder.  

It wasn’t the kind that felt glamorous but something that was manageable and safe enough to just be in life. 

Until she met him. 

He was charming, flirted easily and spoke his heart out like he didn’t care who heard him. The effortless ease with which he carried himself was dangerous enough in a way that men like him usually are. 

She cautioned her heart, trying to not believe his words before his actions could prove them. But how was she supposed to stay unaffected when he looked at her like she hung the stars. When his eyes stopped on her as if he had been searching for her all along. 

How could she not pause and see how her heart stayed calm when he was around. 

Especially when the people in her life made sure to tell her that her expectations seemed unrealistic. That most women settle in life because that was how the society was designed. 

Then how come this total, absolute stranger was hell bent on earning her trust and do whatever it would take so he could stay in her life.  

So, despite every instinct telling her to walk away, she found herself wondering what it would feel like to let him.

***

He was born and raised in places a child should have no business to. He built his life around a profession that was based on lies, deceit and dishonesty. He learned early on that trust was something that couldn’t be given freely especially when he conned people out of it so easily. 

He wasn’t interested in anything but surviving the world. The thrill of deception and gambling people out of their money had become a habit that gave him something to live by. 

Until one accidental meeting with a guarded woman on a rainy evening shattered all the illusion he had so carefully built around him. She questioned him with curiosity rather than judging his lifestyle. 

Her kindness was a rarity in his world and her smile the most beautiful treasure he had ever seen. 

The most audacious part, she didn’t even know she possessed the power to bring him to his knees. She demanded nothing, expected nothing yet he wanted to give her the world. 

The only problem— she wasn’t convinced he was being serious. 

The trust he guarded so carefully also became the very thing he wanted to earn without the shadow of his past. 

He made it his goal to become something he never thought he could be: an honest man.

For the first time in his life, all he wanted to do was stay. 

But would she deem him worthy of her heart? Most importantly, could he be someone who deserved something as sacred as love?

❦❦❦