I ran from Chicago the night I found my husband with my own sister, carrying a secret he never knew existed. Three years later, he appeared on my porch and stared at my twins with his own amber eyes. I told him he had the wrong house—but when black SUVs rolled into town, I learned my sister had staged everything to erase me and my children.

The decision to return to Chicago was not made in a day.

It was made in the quiet hours of the night, while the rain fell gently over the mountains and the twins slept peacefully in their rooms.

"I don't want the penthouse, Marco," Elena said, standing on the balcony of her apartment, looking down at him as he stood in the gravel alleyway.

"I’ve already sold it," Marco said, looking up at her. "I bought a house in Lake Forest. It has a large yard, a swing set, and a small bakery down the street where the owner makes fresh cinnamon rolls every morning."

Elena smiled, a real, warm curve of her lips that made his heart leap.

"And your business?" she asked. "The Bellini organization?"

"I’m stepping down, Elena," Marco said, his voice steady and sure. "Marcello is taking over the daily operations. I’ve transitioned my personal shares into a legitimate real estate development firm. I want our children to grow up in the light. I don't want them to ever have to run from the shadows."

He stepped closer to the wooden stairs.

"Can I come up?" he asked.

Elena looked at him—at the amber eyes that looked so much like her children’s, at the hands that had once held her in the dark, and at the man who had walked through the fire to find her.

"One," she whispered.