“No…” I mutter under my breath, my gaze fixed on woman’s form approaching my garden, she looks awfully like you. “It-it can’t be.”

The garden is full of everything my baby girl Aurora could dream of on her fourth birthday—a big princess castle bouncy house, extravagant balloon arches, unicorn and pony inflatables, a large old fashioned Disney style dining table.

I even hired a lady to dress up as the Disney princess Aurora.

My mind swirls with thoughts of the past—memories of you engraved into my brain like a horror movie I can’t escape.

You and I were high school sweethearts—so to speak—you were my escape from the brutal, tough ‘love’ I experienced at home, considering I was born into a mafia bloodline. You made me feel normal. Safe. Content.

Having you in my life brought an unfamiliar light and joy that I’d never gotten to experience. My childhood was built on me being trained as my father’s heir—trained to take over his empire once he had passed away.

I have. Now I’m the most ruthless, feared man in London.

When you and I turned sixteen, we moved into an apartment together. My father allowed it because he saw you as an opportunity to produce a heir for me and keep the Styles bloodline going.

It wasn’t planned, but not long after we moved in you fell pregnant with our baby. Much to my father’s disappointment, it wasn’t a boy. You were pregnant with my baby girl. My Aurora.

When you gave birth. It all clicked into place. For once, I felt like my life had meaning. I had you, the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and our baby. I finally had hope for a beautiful life admits the chaos of being born into the mafia.

But you vanished. No explanation. Nothing.

The day after you gave birth. I’d left the hospital quickly to buy some snacks for you. When I returned, only Aurora was in the hospital room. You had gone.

I never saw you again. You didn’t answer my calls or my texts. My whole entire world fell apart. I had to learn how to live without you while also learning how to be a father. Alone.

I’ve raised Aurora by myself as a single father, while also juggling running an empire since my father’s passing.

I’ve never moved on. I physically can’t do it. You not only abandoned me, but you abandoned our daughter too when she was only a new born. For four years I’ve held onto hope that maybe you’d come back. But I’m also inexplicably angry.

No words in the English dictionary can describe what your departure did to me.

I can hear Aurora babbling in the background. However, my whole body is trembling with emotions I can’t name, as I realise the woman walking into my garden is in fact you.

I’m a mob boss for fucks sake, I’m never thrown off balance. But this—this is shattering my composure. I never thought I’d see you again. My palms are sweaty, chest heaving and for a second I think I might actually be hallucinating. But then you step closer, and I see those eyes. The same fucking eyes, the ones that haunted me every night after you disappeared.

“No…” I mutter again, louder this time, voice rough, strangled. “It is you.”

Aurora’s laughter rings out behind me, bright and innocent, as she plays with the woman dressed as a princess. The sound slices through me like a knife. She doesn’t know. She doesn’t understand that her mother—you—is standing right here, like some ghost clawing its way back into our lives.

How can you do this? On her fourth birthday you decide to come back—as if you didn’t abandon us the day after she was born.

My heart flutters at the sight of you—you’re still the same woman I fell hopelessly in love with. But, you’re also the woman who left me and our daughter behind.

The air turns heavy, charged. My men notice, but it’s Niall’s sharp eyes I catch first. His jaw clenches. He remembers you. He knows everything.

I take a step forward, fists clenching at my sides. “You’ve got some fucking nerve,” I rasp under my breath, my voice low, lethal, but trembling with something I can’t mask. “Walking back into my life. Walking back into Aurora’s life.”