Chapter one

The Return

I never thought I’d set foot in this city again. After everything I went through—after everything I sacrificed to keep myself and my children safe—it was the last place I ever wanted to be. But life has a twisted sense of humor. One wrong turn, one damn accident, and everything I’d been running from came crashing down around me.

The sound of screeching tires still rings in my ears. It was supposed to be a quick stop on the outskirts of town, but fate had other plans. A drunk driver veered into my car at the intersection, pushing me into the spotlight. Cameras, cops, and witnesses swarmed the scene before I even realized what was happening. 

I could feel the walls closing in as the police officers asked for my identification, as bystanders snapped photos and filmed the aftermath with their phones. I wasn’t just another woman involved in a fender bender—I was Elena Romano, the ghost of the Romano mafia empire. And now, I was visible again.

By the time I got back to the safe house I’d rented in the shadows of this city, it was already too late. I could feel it in my bones—the storm was coming. Dante, Sasha, Luca…they would know I was back. And this time, they wouldn’t let me slip through their fingers so easily.

I had nowhere to hide anymore since I knew I had their kids. Triplets.

I couldn't beat the weight of the thoughts anymore.

I pushed through the front door, my heart pounding like a war drum in my chest. My hands trembled as I locked the door behind me, hoping I’d have enough time to figure out a plan before they found me. But I wasn’t prepared for what I found waiting inside.

"Dante…" The name slipped from my lips before I could stop it.

He stood in the center of the room, his dark eyes locked on me with an intensity that made my stomach twist. I hadn’t seen him in five months, but he looked exactly as I remembered—tall, broad, and devastatingly handsome, with the cold fury of a man who had spent every waking moment searching for the woman who’d broken him. Me.

“Elena.” His voice was low, almost a growl, sending a shiver down my spine. “You thought you could run from me?”

I swallowed hard, trying to keep my composure. I couldn’t afford to show weakness now. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“You always had a choice,” Dante spat, taking a step toward me. “You chose to take my son away from me. You chose to disappear without a word. You chose to betray me.”

I backed up, my eyes flicking toward the door, but it was pointless. Dante was blocking my only exit, and even if I made it past him, he wouldn’t let me go that easily. Not this time.

“I had to protect him,” I said, my voice shaking with the weight of the truth. “I had to protect all of them.”

Dante’s eyes darkened, and in that moment, I knew he already knew. He knew about the other children. About the other fathers. “You mean them, don’t you?” He took another step toward me, his hand reaching out to cup my chin, tilting my face up to meet his gaze. “You were carrying more than just my son, weren’t you, Elena?”

I couldn’t answer. The words caught in my throat, tangled with the fear and guilt that had been gnawing at me for years. I didn’t want to admit it, not to him—not to any of them—but the truth was staring me in the face. Dante wasn’t the only one I’d betrayed.

Before I could say another word, the door behind me burst open. I whipped around, my heart leaping into my throat as Aleksandr Ivanov commonly called Sasha, his nickname, strode into the room, his icy blue eyes sweeping over me with a mixture of anger and hunger.

“Elena,” he said, his Russian accent sharp, like a blade slicing through the tension in the room. “I should have known you’d run back to him first.”

“I didn’t—” I started to protest, but the words died in my mouth as Sasha’s gaze flicked to Dante.

“I see you’ve already found her,” Sasha said, his voice dripping with disdain. “Typical. You’ve always been one step ahead, haven’t you?”

Dante’s grip on my chin tightened, his eyes never leaving mine. “She was mine first, Ivanov. Don’t forget that.”

Sasha’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Is that what you think? That she was ever truly yours?” He took a step closer, his gaze burning into me. “Tell me, Elena. Was he the first one you ran to, or did you miss me too?”

I felt like a caged animal, trapped between two predators. I’d spent years hiding from them, keeping my children’s existence a secret to protect them from this very moment. But now, here I was, cornered by the two men I had once loved—and who now both wanted to claim what they believed was theirs.

“I didn’t run to either of you,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “I’ve been running from you. From all of this.”

“Liar,” Dante growled, his fingers digging into my skin. “You’ve been hiding from us, hiding our children. You think you can just waltz back into our lives and pretend like nothing happened?”

“I never wanted to come back,” I shot back, wrenching my chin free from his grip. “But you didn’t give me a choice. None of you did.”

“And neither will he,” a third voice cut through the air like a whip, sending chills down my spine.

I turned to see Luca Greco standing in the doorway, his dark, unreadable eyes fixed on me. Of all of them, Luca was the one I feared most. Not because of his cruelty—he wasn’t like Dante or Sasha in that way. But because of his quiet, obsessive nature. He had always been the one who watched from the shadows, the one who never let his emotions show.

Now, as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, I could see the simmering rage lurking beneath the surface of his calm exterior. “You lied to all of us,” he said, his voice low and steady. “You took everything from us—our children, our legacies. You made a fool of us, Elena.”

I backed away from all three of them, my heart racing in my chest. I could feel the walls closing in, their anger and betrayal washing over me like a tidal wave. I had known this moment would come eventually, but I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t prepared for the intensity of their hatred—or the undeniable pull of the past.

“I did what I had to do to protect them,” I said, my voice trembling. “You would have torn each other apart. You would have destroyed them. I couldn’t let that happen.”

Dante, Sasha, and Luca exchanged a look, the tension between them crackling like electricity. For the first time, they seemed to be united in their anger toward me.

“You should have trusted us,” Dante said, stepping closer. “But now it’s too late for that.”

Sasha crossed his arms, his gaze cold and calculating. “You made your bed, Elena. Now you’ll have to lie in it.”

Luca, who had remained silent until now, took a step forward, his eyes dark and intense. “You took something from each of us. Now we’re going to take something from you.”

My breath caught in my throat. “What are you talking about?”

Dante’s lips curled into a dangerous smile. “We’re not leaving without our children. All three of them.”

My heart plummeted. They knew. They knew about the children—about my secret. And now they wanted to claim them, to take them from me.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You can’t—”

“You don’t have a choice,” Sasha cut in, his voice like ice. “You lost that the moment you decided to keep them from us.”

Luca’s eyes softened, just for a moment, as he stepped closer. “You’re not alone in this anymore, Elena. You don’t have to be.”

His words, meant to be comforting, only filled me with more dread. I wasn’t just fighting against them now—I was fighting for my children’s future. For their safety.

I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could speak, the sound of my phone buzzing in my pocket cut through the tension.

I fumbled to pull it out, my hands shaking as I looked at the screen. A private number. 

My blood turned to ice. I already knew who it was.

The fourth man. The one I’d been running from for even longer than Dante, Sasha, or Luca. The man who was the real threat in all of this.

I answered the call, my voice barely a whisper. “Hello?”

The voice on the other end was cold, menacing. “Did you really think you could hide from me forever, Elena?”

My heart sank as I realized that my nightmare was far from over. If anything, it had only just begun.