KANE’s POV I stare at my plate, I should be hungry but I am not. My mind keeps going back to what Jonas said; that Sergio took to the hills.There are hundreds if not thousands of hills around. Finding Sergio on my own would be like finding a needle in a haystack. I’ll need to form allies with mafia leaders from across the borders to prevent Sergio from defecting to their lands and earn himself immunity from my manhunt.My brows furrow together and my fingers curl around the wine glass so tight the knuckles turn white. Damn that snake, I should have shot him in the abandoned building when I had the chance.  But then again, if I had chosen to chase after Sergio then I would never have been able to save Lily. Do I regret sacrificing that one chance of getting the son of a bitch? I suck in a deep breath and slowly exhale, my eyes closing.The funny thing is, I do not. I do not regret entering that last roo

ROSE’s POV   This car, this luxurious car comes to a halt and I find myself peering out the window, my opens and closes as my gaze falls on the mansion in front of me. No, not a mansion. A mansion would be too ill-fitting of a description. This place is a palace, a castle, a fortress made for a king! I know for a fact that the mafia are rich but this is ridiculous! Still....I like it.  I draw in a breath and a tiny smile finds its way to my lips. So this is where Kane Ibraco lives. I look up at the countless windows that reflect the evening sun and admire the beauty of this great architecture. No wonder Lily did not stay back with us, if I were her, I’d run back to this palace too.   Tore kills the engine and turns to look at me. “It’s beautiful…” I tell him honestly. He chuckles. “Yes, so are you.” I blink, his compliment catching me by surprise and I turn to face him too. For a moment, neither

LILY’s POV   A lump lodges in my throat and my chest rises and fall. “You just met Kane yesterday, Rose,” I somehow manage to speak. I turn to her but she palms both sides of my cheeks, forcing me to stare at the wall in front. I am unable to see the expression on her face. “Yes, but I like him,” she answers simply. My fingers curl into a fist and lines mar my forehead. Why does my heart feel as if it has just been wrung dry? There is an incredible shift in the atmosphere from the jovial one earlier to the stifling one right now. My eyes creep to the window and I look out at the evening sky, unsure of what to say. Rose has always been the less impulsive of us two so to hear her say this, can only mean one thing, she is serious about Kane. “I see,” is all I can say. We spend the remaining time in my room in silence as she continues to style my hair. Rose doesn’t say anything anymore after that, she has made her point, she

LILY’s POV   We turn around and come face to face with Iroshi, the big bad of the east. The man smiles through his paper thin lips and I find myself taking a step back. I feel Kane’s arms circle around my waist to stop me from retreating. “Iroshi, how have you been?” Kane greets him. His voice is terse and I sense an undercurrent of uneasiness emanating from him. Kane is tense and rightly so. I have heard of Iroshi’s name even as a child; this man is a legend but not in a good way. He kills for fun and dips his meals in the blood of his victims. “Never better,” Iroshi replies, his eyes graze my body and I grimace. I really should not have come. Behind him, a beautiful woman clad in a kimono steps up. She has two samurai swords tied to her back in the shape of an ‘X’ and she takes her place next to Iroshi. “You have news of Sergio?” Kane asks. Around us, conversations come to a standstill. Kane may be feared by the people in our l

LILY’s POV   The kiss….our kiss is neither earth-shattering nor is it one filled with throes of passion and moans. It is none of that. Instead, it is like the waking up of one’s soul on a fine spring morning, allowing me to taste and feel every colour of the rainbow in their own sensual way. It is like tasting cotton candy as it melts in your mouth, coating every one of your senses with its softness and sweetness. Everything around me fades to nothingness, it is as if nothing else exists except the two of us. It is my first kiss and it is one I will remember for the rest of my life. “You should rest,” I whisper when our lips finally part. He massages my earlobe and offers a smile. “You should change.” We both look down at my bloodied dress and laugh a little. Or at least I do. Kane grimaces right after a laugh escapes his lips, his wound must hurt him more than he lets on. I run my hand through his hair and give him a lit