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CHAPTERONE
AMER
Four months ago, my heart made itself known after years of only being used for pumping blood into my veins. My brothers and I have been working non-stop at taking out our father and uncles—forcing them out of their seats as head of the house. Danti ended up killing Preacher while I handled our father alongside our little brother, Benito. Emilio unfortunately went to ground and no one has heard a word about him.
Danti told Benito and me about our little sister and her being protected by Finley, the owner of Night’s Bliss and someone with whom we made a deal to ally ourselves with. Arwen was being protected by Finley’s right-hand man, Cedric. How the irony goes that Cedric is also the half-brother to the bastard who caused trouble for my sister in the first place.
But what has my heart beating once more is the woman I saw on the couch. The one I thought was dead. She went missing so many years ago, only for me to find out she’s been alive all this time. For the past several days, I’ve been giving her and my sister time to heal after what they went through. I don’t know for sure yet what exactly happened, but I know that it had to be hell for them. At least that’s what I can tell from the bruises marring their bodies.
Done with waiting, I need to talk to Finley and Cedric and ask them about Mara-Lee. More than anything, I need to know what happened to her. She’s not the same as she once was, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want her any less.
* * *
Checking the time on my Rolex, I step out of my BMW and walk to the back door of Night’s Bliss, where I’m met by one of Finley’s security team.
“Take the stairs to the third floor, they’re waiting for you,” the guy says, jerking his chin to the stairs just as I enter.
Nodding, I take the stairs up and step into the office to find Cedric and he’s talking to Finley while they wait on me to join them.
“Hello, Finley, Cedric,” I say, offering my hand to both of them to shake.
“How’s it going, Amer?” Finley asks, eyeing me curiously.
“You know, living the dream.” I shrug, take a step back, and glance between the two of them. “I have a question about one of your employees.”
“Who?” Finley asks.
“Mara-Lee.”
Finley narrows her eyes at me. “What do you want to know about her? Does this have something to do with you calling her Stellina the other day?” She becomes protective.
“I know Mara-Lee and I want to make sure that she’s doing okay.” I’m not trying to give away my real reason for asking about her. Not yet.
“How do you know her?” Cedric asks, taking a step closer to me as his voice lowers, brows creasing.
“Stellina and I know each other from the past. I went to school with Mara-Lee’s older brother, Mallik. He doesn’t know about her yet, but he’s my right-hand man. I’ve known her since she was six. Then she went missing after her sixteenth birthday.”
Finley studies me for a moment, as if she is trying to make sure I’m not feeding her a load of shit. She must see that I’m not pulling anything with her and nods. “Mara-Lee’s been through a hell of a lotta shit. It’s not mine or Cedric’s place to tell you her past. What she went through is for her to tell you when she’s ready. Only then can you know what happened to her. What I can tell you is her past keeps her from reaching out to Mallik and why he doesn’t know where she is. You want to know what’s going on and why she’s stayed away all these years, you take it up with her,” she states.
I should have known that’s what Finley would say. Still, I have to ask, “Why hasn’t she told him that she’s alive and doing well?”
“Mara-Lee thought it would be best that he didn’t know . . . that no one knew. Again I won’t tell you anymore,” she replies.
Nodding, my mind goes to the conversation I had with Mallick a few weeks ago.
I sit down in a brown Italian leather high-back chair across from Mallik, a face I’ve seen a million times in my life, but today it’s different.
“She’s alive, you know,” Mallik says as he runs his hands through his hair.
“You talking about Mara-Lee?” I knew he was. We have this same conversation several times a year . . . ever since she first went missing.
“You know who,” he mutters, breathing out a sigh. “I saw her. I know I did. But I called out her name, and she didn’t even look in my direction. Fuck, I looked like an idiot calling out to her only to have her ignore me.”
“Are you sure it was her?”
“I know what my sister looks like.”
“Yeah, but maybe it wasn’t her.” Even as the words slip past my lips, a bitter taste coats them. I’ve never believed my Stellina, my beautiful Mara-Lee was dead. She was out there, and I wasn’t going to give up on looking for her. “Regardless, we won’t give up on looking for her. I miss my Stellina just as much as you do. She was meant to be mine.”
