Vowbound

My breaths came shallow now. Not because I didn't want to breathe, but because every inhale felt like it was tearing something open inside me.

Mattheo noticed.

He always did.

"Hey," he murmured, tightening his hold on me when my steps faltered. "Stay with me."

"I am," I said, though my voice sounded wrong to my own ears. Thin. Faded. "Just... tired."

He didn't answer that. Instead, he reached into his coat with one hand, pulling out his phone. His thumb moved fast, precise, like muscle memory took over when fear threatened to cloud him.

"Heimly," he said the moment the call connected. His voice dropped into something sharp and controlled, but underneath it I heard the strain. "We need extraction. Now. Secure location. No questions."

PROLOGUE:

She crossed oceans to escape a past no one was supposed to uncover.

He built an empire on a family name that was never as clean as it looked.

When a sharp tongued woman from France steps into the world of the powerful Romano family, she expects cold stares, luxury, and distance. What she does not expect is the way one handshake pulls her straight into decades of buried lies, forbidden alliances, and a truth that could destroy two families at once.

The Romanos are rich, ruthless, and untouchable. Or so everyone thinks.

Behind closed doors are secrets sealed by blood, betrayal, and a mistake that was never meant to resurface.

As attraction blurs into danger, she must decide whether love is worth the cost of the truth.

And when the past finally comes knocking, not everyone will survive what it reveals.

Some names were inherited.

Some secrets were stolen.

And some loves were never meant to exist.