Prologue
Liana
Dead.
The word made no sense. Sometimes I heard it in cartoons, but I could never understand what it meant. They’d said it over and over—your parents are dead.
Where was Mommy?
Why wasn’t she back yet?
The quilted coverlet wrapped my body. My head pounded. I’d spent the day crying, dragging Charlotte, my stuffed rabbit, throughout the strange house with cold floors, chased from rooms by that boy—Mike. He was mean. He’d stolen Charlotte, and I couldn’t go to sleep without her. I rubbed the crust of tears sealing my eyes shut.
The door creaked.
A boy stepped through in pajamas. I tried to disappear under the covers, and stopped. His hair brushed his shoulders. He seemed much younger than Mike. A shy grin tugged at his lips as he lowered something to me.
“Charlotte!” The wool scratched my face as I hugged the rabbit. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Who are you?”
“Vinny. I’m Mike’s cousin.” He kneeled beside the bed. “What’s your name?”
“Liana.” A dim hope flickered in my chest. “Do you know where my mommy is?”
“Sorry.” He pulled the comforter to my chin. Then he stroked my hair, from the side to the back, just like my mother. “Everything will be all right. You’ll see.”
“I miss her.”
“You have us now. We’ll be your family.”
I wasn’t sure about that, but I believed Vinny’s smile. His gentleness had lulled me into safety. I slumped with exhaustion.
“It’s time to sleep, Liana. Close your eyes.”
“Okay.”
He planted a kiss on my brow, and then he disappeared, closing the door softly. Heat flared across my cheeks and burrowed into my heart. Years later, I wondered why its warmth had never left me.
One
Liana
two years ago
It took being trapped in a burning building to realize I was in love with Vinn Costa, my brother’s best friend.
It was Christmas.
Vinn sat at the bar as my brother Michael danced with his seven-year-old daughter to a George Michael song. Tinsel and green decorated the walls of The Black Cat, a mob-owned lounge and restaurant where the boss of the Family liked to hold his annual holiday celebrations. A mountain of catered food was piled on tables, but the tantalizing scent failed to draw Vinn from his lonely corner. Twinkling lights cast a colorful pattern over him.
He had a broad hero’s face, with a chiseled jaw. A shadow of stubble peppered his dimpled chin under a shapely mouth which beckoned a kiss. A strong nose led to eyes so dark and terrifying, staring into them gave me a thrill. A full-blooded Italian, Vinn sported the olive complexion I’d always envied.
He was gorgeous—I’d seen him shirtless—and he could’ve given Henry Cavill a run for his money.
A flood of heat engulfed my cheeks. The breath sucked from my lungs. I was a five on a good day, but Vinn was a perfect ten.
Since I was four, I’d crushed on Vinn Costa. He’d held my hand on trips to the beach. He’d saved me from running off and hurting myself. From the moment I met him, he’d protected me. But as we grew older, we drifted apart.
It’d been a while. School had kept me busy. The last text message we’d exchanged was back in April.
I stepped forward.
Rough fingers wrapped my arm, stopping me. I frowned at their owner, my oldest brother, Daniel. We looked nothing alike, because we weren’t related by blood. His mom had adopted me. My birth parents were a mystery, present only in faded photographs and even more distant memories.
Daniel’s skin was darker, his hair blacker, and his eyes two amber flames next to my blues. He was more than twice my age at forty-three, and my only father-figure. His hooded gaze narrowed as he followed my beeline to Vinn, his attitude drenched in disapproval.
“Liana. Don’t.”
My stomach fell. “What?”
Michael detached from his daughter to stand beside Daniel, wearing an identical frown. They stood within an inch of each other’s heights, but Michael was more fine-boned and lean. Though, as similar as they may have looked, they never agreed on anything.
Growing up with two older brothers hadn’t been easy. Family dinners became an excuse for Michael and Daniel to try to assert dominance over the other. They’d left me out of their fights, but it was still a grim way to grow up.
“You know what I’m talking about.” Daniel’s frigidity gave no doubt on the subject. “Leave him alone.”
“It’s Christmas,” I whispered. “I was just going to say hi.”
“And you hoped he’d ask you out? Because you brought him a gift?” Daniel’s smirk was a little too knowing. “Oh, Li. You need to give this up.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Come on, Li. You’re not that dumb.”
“Easy.” Michael shot him a glare. “She’s a kid.”
“Not anymore,” Daniel snapped, oblivious to the agony building in my chest. “I should’ve said something a long time ago, but I held off because you’re so young. Watching you pine after him embarrasses me.”
His caustic tone bit my cheeks. They’d both seen through me, and it stripped me emotionally naked.
“Who says I am?”
“It’s obvious, hon. I thought you’d grow out of it.” Michael’s mouth twitched with a bleak smile. “I know you’re crazy about him, but it’ll never happen.”
It was like he’d fisted my heart. “You don’t think Vinny likes me?”
“Not the way you want him to, sweetheart.”
My eyes burned before he finished the sentence. “Maybe—”
“It won’t happen. Ever.”
A violent flush claimed my face as my insides rebelled.
Michael took my shoulder. “You’re such a nice girl. There is a guy out there for you, but he won’t be Vinn.”
“Why not?”
Daniel groaned, kneading his forehead. “Fuck’s sake, Liana.”
“He’s too damaged,” Mike cut in. “He’ll hurt you. And, more importantly, he is not interested.”
Michael’s determination to stamp out my attraction to Vinn was nothing new. He always had a not-so-subtle jab ready whenever he caught me hanging around his cousin-turned-best-friend, but I’d never heard it so bluntly. Every word sawed into me.
“Did he say that?”
“He doesn’t have to.” Michael released a long sigh, his tone pitying. “Don’t take it personally. Vinn’s twenty-eight years old. You’re nineteen. That’s a big gap.”
“You’re both assholes.”
Daniel patted my head. He left, abandoning me with this hateful bastard.
Michael and I had never gotten along.
He’d mellowed out once he had a baby, but I’d never forget the angry teenager who hated me for existing.
“Why couldn’t you leave me be?”