Pier Five.
He hadn’t asked. He hadn’t guessed. He’d known. Just like that, the ground beneath her no longer felt so solid anymore.
Dani’s throat tightened.
The sense of déjà vu struck her unexpectedly. Like before… someone knowing too much, slipping past her walls, making her question if she’d ever really be safe again.
She forced the thought away, but it clung like an oil smear beneath her skin. She wasn’t a naive kid anymore. Alexandros Kallistratos differed from most of the guys she met—from Zayan.
Maybe realizing that was what scared her the most.
From the shadowed side of a white cargo van, a man stood silent, motionless but for the slow rise and fall of his chest.
The midmorning sun glinted off the gleaming silver curves of theBentley Continental GT as it rolled out of the boatyard, kicking up a swirl of dust in its wake. The man’s eyes—dark and sharp as a hawk’s—tracked the luxury vehicle until it turned the corner and disappeared.
A half-million euro car,he mused with a smirk.
It fit the arrogant bastard behind the wheel.
His gaze slid back to the cavernous boat bay across the lot. The clang of metal and muffled curses drifted from the shadows—sounds as familiar to him as blood and salt. It was a world he understood—oil, sweat, effort. The life that wore down a man’s hands, spine, and dreams.
And there she was.
Dani Collins.
The name curled in his mind, not with affection—but with the bitter taste of unfinished business. His dark eyes narrowed as he studied her. The sneer pulled at the scar on his upper lip.
She took everything that mattered to me. Now, I’ll take everything back—and with interest.
Dani hadn’t seen him—probably wouldn’t recognize him if she did. He had changed a lot since they had last seen each other.
No, she hadn’t seen him—not yet, but she would. He’d first caught sight of her three weeks ago, bent over the hull of a fishing boat near the docks, her auburn curls tumbling from beneath a bandana, grease on her cheek, laughing at something a dockhand was saying.
The sound of her laughter had nearly stopped his heart.
It had taken him years.
Years of crawling his way across continents. Years of backbreaking labor on cargo ships, hauling nets on trawlers, pretending to be invisible while the salt and sun stole the softness from his skin and the last remnants of his youth.
But he’d found her—and she was more beautiful today than she had been four years ago.
His discovery had been by chance, yes—but the gods had smiled on him. At last.
And now… now she would pay.
The plan formed with quiet precision in his mind. He’d already started the groundwork. New identification. A false name in the port registry. Connections with men who wouldn’t ask questions when he needed to disappear. All he needed was time—and patience.
And he had both in abundance.
His gaze swept over the bay again. Dani’s silhouette moved within the shadows, her voice carrying as she spoke to someone—laughing again.
That laughter would stop soon enough.
She didn’t even know it yet, but she had just become the most valuable pawn in a game that would end in wealth, vengeance… and blood.
Because Alexandros Kallistratos had just made her even more important.
His smile widened, but it held no warmth—only yellowed teeth and cruelty.
