Mr. Diávolos & Ms. Angelos

Chapter 2

Alex's POV

The city skyline was a maze of glowing lights, stretching endlessly into the horizon, but no matter how high I stood, I couldn't escape the weight of the past. It clung to me, silent and suffocating, like the smoke from the fire that had consumed everything I once held dear.

Eighteen years. I tried to convince myself that there was enough time to forget-to let the memories fade like old photographs-but they never did. Every night, when the world grew quiet, and the city was bathed in moonlight, I found myself haunted by the ghosts of that night.

I had risen to power in this city, carved out a life for myself in the shadows, where I thrived. The past was buried deep, hidden beneath the cold, calculating man I had become. It had to be. There was no room for softness in this world, no space for feelings. I'd learned that the hard way. Trust and love-those were luxuries for other people, people who didn't know what it was like to lose everything in a heartbeat.

The only person I ever let close was Enzo, and he was gone.

But now... Now, Natalie was back in my orbit.

She didn't know it yet. She hadn't seen me watching, hadn't felt the way the world shifted the moment she returned to this city. She was still a ghost from my past, someone who had been lost in the chaos of that fire. But I had found her. Eighteen years later, I had found her.

I had eyes everywhere-people who worked for me gathered information and made sure I knew what moved in this city. The moment Natalie set foot in the town again, I knew. At first, I wasn't sure how to feel. It was like someone had reached inside my chest and ripped open a scar I thought had long since healed. But that pain, that reminder, didn't last long. Because now I had a purpose again. A promise I had made all those years ago-to protect her-was coming back to haunt me, and I would keep it.

But I couldn't just walk into her life. Not yet. Not with everything that had happened.

Natalie didn't belong in this world anymore. She was light, bright-things I didn't deserve to touch. She had survived rebuilt her life, and from what I knew, she was thriving. There was no place for me in that world, not the man I had become.

So I watched from the shadows.

Every once in a while, I'd catch glimpses of her-the flash of her dark hair as she hurried down the street, the way she would pause at a café and smile at a stranger. She didn't know I was there, didn't know the lengths I'd gone to make sure she was safe. It wasn't time for me to step in yet. She was better off without me, without the weight of the past dragging her back into darkness.

The night was quiet, just the way I liked it, as I sat in my office overlooking the city. A glass of whiskey rested in my hand, the amber liquid catching the glow of the desk lamp. The faint hum of my phone vibrating pulled me from my thoughts. I glanced at the screen-an unknown number. I debated ignoring it, but something pushed me to answer.

"Alexander," I said, my voice cold, detached.

"Alex," a voice whispered on the other end, shaky, terrified.

My heart stopped. That voice... I hadn't heard it in years, but I'd know it anywhere.

"Who is this?" I demanded, sitting up straighter, the whiskey forgotten on my desk.

"It's Sofie," she breathed, her voice trembling. "I need your help."

Sofie.

The little girl who had been like a sister to Natalie. The one I had searched for after the fire. She had been just a kid back then, but she'd survived, too, somehow. I had lost track of her over the years, unable to find any trace after she disappeared from the foster system. But now she was here, in my city, calling me.