“You make the word fiancée sound like both a prank call and a fairy tale.”

FLASH-FORWARD — Kade's POV 
[Weeks from now]

She's in my bed.
In my arms.
Pretending.
She thinks I don't remember.
She's wrong.
Not everything. Just enough to know this:
If I pull the wrong thread, she'll run.
And if she runs...
I'll burn the world to find her.

BLURB

She swore she’d never cross paths with him again.
But while grading papers in her favorite café, Kyra looks up—
And sees the one man she spent twenty years avoiding.
Her rules were clear.
Too bad fate had other plans.

➤ PROLOGUE: THE BLOOD PACT

Rule #1: Stay 2,000 miles away from Kade Sterling.
Rule #2: Refer to Rule #1.

This was not some quirky whim scribbled in a journal after a doomed date.

This was a blood pact with myself, reinforced by two decades of consciously measured distance.
GPS-monitored. Map-dotted. A life engineered to head in the opposite direction of him.

Even when Zeta University in Malibu offered me a position, I didn’t even consider opening the email attachment because California? Too risky.

Too close to him.

Twenty years of silence was no accident—it was survival.
And some truths? It’s better they remain buried and never see the light of day.

✦✦✦

➤  COLLISION COURSE
7:23 PM — The Cloister Café, Beacon Hill

Which is why, when I glanced up from my midterm grading pile and saw Kade Sterling slouched in a corner booth ten feet away, my coffee felt like molten acid sliding down my throat.

Cynic Kyra (Kyra’s inner thoughts): What. The. Actual. Hell.
He's here in Boston?
Retreat now. No eye contact.

The Cloister Café had always been my sanctuary after work. With its dim lighting, creaky wooden floors, and an indie music playlist, it created an atmosphere where my thoughts felt like part of a movie soundtrack.

The aroma of espresso filled the air like a warm embrace, yet it couldn't melt the chill running down my spine.

After being radio silent for two decades, the last person I thought I’d collide with in my favorite bistro café had to be Kade freaking Sterling.

I instinctively ducked behind a crooked tower of stats exams, pen quivering as I pretended to grade.

Why Boston? Why now?

Was this some cruel caffeine hallucination or had the universe imploded to hurl him back into my orbit just to destabilize me all over again?

But no—he wasn’t a mirage.
He was there, undeniably real.
Older, impossibly even better-looking, with time chiseling out his edges and leaving something almost dangerously magnetic behind.

Dark, tousled hair. A stormy gaze that could unravel you in seconds.
A chin dimple that probably caused most Californian girls to regret their wrong decisions.

His broad shoulders stretched against a crisp white dress shirt like the fabric was under duress—it felt less like clothing and more like armor.

At that moment, he appeared quite irritated, as seen by the way his jaw clinched as if he were fighting the urge to bolt.

His date, a blonde Silicone Valley CEO (of Botox, not tech), giggled like a wind-up toy set to obnoxious.

Her: "So, like, I told him—if you can’t afford a yacht, what are we even doing here?”

Kade's mouth twitched. 

He looked like a man counting down the seconds to his own execution—but with superior bone structure and a smirk that could melt glaciers.

Him: "You mentioned earlier that you're a Pisces? Well, that explains why you feel things so deeply... like your intense connection to my bank account."

I snorted before I could stop myself. It sounded like an embarrassing record scratch.

He might’ve matured physically, but there it was—the warmth buried beneath his boyish smile. The same smile he once wore openly for me—a girl drowning in melancholy at the time.

And just like that, it wasn’t thoughts clouding my mind—it was memories surging up.
Sharp as glass.
Twice as dangerous.

"Your eyes are so beautiful..."

The words flickered like a ghost in the blackness of my head.
Not imagined, but recalled.

A voice that hadn't touched my ears in two decades—soft, boyish, sure.

I tried forcing the fragment down under mental lock and key.
Too much and far too soon

But it lingered stubbornly anyway.
Unrelenting but not defeated entirely... not yet.

✦✦✦

➤ MEMORY LANE (FLASHBACK) 
 [Twenty years ago]

Golden sunlight filtered through the oak leaves, casting a warm glow on Kade’s grin as he leaned back on his heels, hands tucked behind him in playful secrecy.

"Hey," he said, voice warm as the summer breeze—like my arrival was the best part of his day.

I tried to tame a rebellious strand of hair that’d escaped in the wind, tucking it behind my ear with a soft, “Hi, Kade.” My voice caught; I was always a little breathless around him.

He stepped closer, the gravel beneath his boots crunching and kicking up faint wisps of dust laced with the earthy smell of sunbaked soil. His fingers shifted behind his back—a quick movement, an unspoken promise.

“What’ve you got there?” I asked, curiosity overcoming me.

With a magician’s flourish, he unveiled his secret: a handful of wildflowers—daisies, cornflowers, and lavender. The stems were slightly flattened, signs of a too-tight grip as he’d carried them along the way.

"Here." His confidence faltered for a moment as if second-guessing himself, and he held them out carefully. “Do you like them? I picked them all just for you.”

He offered them as though they were treasure.

His fingers brushed mine as I accepted the bouquet. The petals were soft against my skin.
Fragrant.
Messy.
Perfect.

"Wow," I murmured, warmth creeping into my voice as I tightened my hold on the flowers.
"They're lovely." A lump rose in my throat.

Gathering courage from some hidden place inside him, he added, "Your eyes are so beautiful."

Kade glanced at the bouquet in my hands and smiled with quiet pride.
“I picked all the flowers that matched your eyes,” he said softly, tilting his head in wonder.
“How do you have so many colors inside them? Most people just have one—or none this bright.”

********

I should’ve buried that memory deeper.