Ian scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he towered over Eton. It felt like he was arguing with a toddler who refused to accept anything else but his way. He knew that amnesia would be difficult to handle, but he didn’t think that Eton would actively fight against him like this. Not only was he a stranger to Eton, but he was some sort of disgusting sinner too.

“Fine. You can sleep in your room tonight,” he said before motioning for Eton to step away from the door.

Eton shuffled to the side, keeping his eyes on Ian as he opened the door. He followed Ian out of the room and down the hallway to another bedroom.

“All of your stuff is still here. I couldn’t throw it away,” Ian murmured as he turned on the light. He glanced at Eton’s room, taking in the light blue sheets on his bed, his posters of music artists that Ian didn’t care for until Eton made him listen to them over and over again, and framed pictures of the two of them on his nightstand. One picture was of them kissing at their wedding ceremony and the other was them with their arms around each other on a beautiful beach.

Eton grimaced at the pictures before timidly sitting on the bed. He looked at Ian expectedly.

“You can leave now,” he said.

Ian felt rooted to the spot, letting his eyes sweep over the sight of Eton finally being home. At one point, he thought that he had truly lost his husband forever. Even with Eton right in front of him, he wondered if that point was true or not. He hated losing so much hope when a miracle just happened, but it was hard to feel optimistic when his own husband didn’t want anything to do with him.

“Goodnight,” he replied before forcing himself to leave the room. He motioned for the guards who stood down the hallway. “Stay posted outside of his door. He might try to run.”

The guards nodded and positioned themselves on either side of Eton’s door.

Ian couldn’t fight the frown that spread across his face as he walked back to his bedroom. He had grown tired of sleeping in here by himself. It looked like he would be alone for a little while longer. He slumped down onto his bed, staring at the ceiling and feeling his eyes burn. He gritted his teeth, tightening his jaw and fighting away the wave of emotions that threatened to crash down on him.

He was going to figure this out. One way or another, he was going to get his husband back. Even if it took days or months, he was going to stand by Eton’s side. He had done it for two years. He could stand to wait a little bit longer for Eton to adjust and remember the life that they lived together.

Helping Eton get back to normal wasn’t Ian’s only mission, though. Eton was this way because of someone else’s actions, a man named Mattias De Leon. De Leon and his mafia group used to be a client of Ian’s organization. Things were going fine until De Leon refused to pay back his debt to Ian, and he broke away from Ian’s organization.

Ian and Eton had only been married for six months before De Leon decided to put a bullet into Eton as a warning to get Ian to back off and not come after the payment that De Leon owed him. Now that Eton was safe and back at home, Ian was even more driven to take De Leon and his group down to make them pay for their actions.

One way or another, things were going to end with blood just how they began.

***

The next morning, Ian jolted awake in his bed, sweat brimming his forehead as he panted. Nothing could stop the nightmares that haunted his sleep and brought him back to the worst day of his life, but at least his reality was different now. He didn’t have to head to the hospital to watch his unconscious husband for hours, hoping that he woke up. Eton was right down the hallway.

He got dressed for the day, smoothing a dark gray button down shirt over his chest and pairing it with dark pants. He brushed his fingers through his dark hair in the mirror, making sure he looked presentable before leaving his room. He walked up to the guards who were still outside of Eton’s door.

“Is he awake yet?” he asked.

One of the guards shook his head.

“Not yet, sir.”

Ian frowned slightly, but he figured that Eton was sleeping in. It was still early, but he needed to head out to take care of some business soon.

“When he wakes up, send him to the dining room for breakfast,” he replied before heading downstairs to tell his personal cook to get breakfast ready. He hoped that things would be different today. Maybe they could actually have a friendly conversation over breakfast and things could go from there.

Ian sat down at the long, wooden dining table in his dining room, resting his joined hands in front of him as he watched the entrance of the room and waited for Eton to arrive. When his house servants laid out a full breakfast all down the table, he started to get impatient.

“Go check with the guards about Eton,” he told one of the servants.

The servant nodded and hurried off. When he returned, he looked nervous.

“Eton hasn’t woken up yet, sir,” he replied.

Ian narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering if Eton was actually asleep or not. He checked the gold watch on his wrist and sighed, realizing that he had to leave anyway. He would have to talk to Eton at dinner.

“Send food up to his room,” he told the servant before standing and grabbing his jacket. He slipped it on and strode out of the house to get to work. He didn’t want to leave Eton, especially since he had just come home, but maybe a little bit of space was for the best.

His driver opened the backdoor of the black SUV for him, shutting the door afterward and getting in on the driver’s side to drive away from the villa.

Ian was halfway to work when he received a text from one of his guards.

Ian’s jaw tightened. It seemed like Eton purposely avoided leaving his room until he left. He breathed out heavily through his nose, shaking his head. This wasn’t going to be easy, but he wasn’t going to give up on his husband. If he gave up on Eton, he gave up on love itself, and he wasn’t ready to let go of that yet.