THE SHADOW BETWEEN US

night the city sw

atercolor painting of bleeding neon and shadow. The smart thing would have been to stay home, to nurse

been accused o

o idealistic, Elena. Too naive for the real world." Then he'd walked out of my apartment with

n wash away the sting of his words. The gallery opening had been a disaster anyway - another pretentious

. Should have gone home to

I kept

when I

e. Everyone else hurried past with their heads down, umbrellas clutched tight, desperate to esca

help me,

ight, dark hair that looked like sin, and eyes that seemed to hold secrets I wasn't sure I wanted to kn

ound myself

urse. Men like hi

voice low and rough, like whiskey and smoke. The

d. Should have hurried

idn

being worth staring at," I repl

e." He pushed off from the lamppost, moving toward me with the fluid grace of a predator. The rain

her d

es you th

tailored suit visible beneath it. "You're too po

ld smell his cologne - something dark and intoxi

ol that made my blood run cold. I'd seen that symbol before, hidden in the files my fath

of the un

. The expensive clothes, the predatory confidence, the way people

t just d

drian Bl

w better than to say it too loud. The man who controlled half the criminal enterprises

rain, flirting with him li

on. Those dark eyes missed nothing, saw straight thr

came out breathier than

t hair from my face. The touch was electric, sending shivers down

ld stop it, before I could think about the

t made it sound like a prayer. Like a promi

, born from years of feeling ordinary, unremarkable.

heekbone with devastating gentleness. "Yo

ad said, everything I'd believed about myself. This dangerous, powerful man

know me," I

"I know you're standing in the rain instead of running away. I know you're brave enough to

you been lo

into the touch despite every instinct screaming at me to run

what

mine. "But you... you're light, Elena. Pure light

it was. But there was something in his voice, something

," I said, but I

es

going to

t I'm also going to show you things you've never im

n't want that

No questions, no consequences. You'll go back to your s

itude of the decision I was about to make. One step backward, and I could return

ht about my job at the gallery, about the endless cycle of pretentious openings and meaningless sma

he promise in his eyes and th

ped fo

ise breaking through st

everything I'd never known I wanted - desperate, consuming, absolutely devastating. I could taste the

I was breathless, diz

pens now?

ad resting against mine, "

my apartment, to safety, to the life I understood. But look

nted

" I wh

s beautiful and terrifyin

to my wor

my reflection in the window. My hair was soaked, my makeup smudg

. The electric thrill of

ooking at the last glimpse

would be gone forever, replaced by someone darker, more

form of destruction, that salvation

like I was extraordinary, and for the first time in my

d a future I couldn't imagine, toward a love that wo

p me, I cou