They moved my seat at a luxury charity gala so I would sit beside the scarred mafia boss everyone was afraid to look at

The impact of the bullet violently jolted Leandro’s frame. He let out a low, guttural grunt, but he didn't fall. He refused to fall.

Before Vance could squeeze off a second shot, Leandro lunged forward with the terrifying speed of an apex predator. He caught Vance's wrist, snapping it backward until the weapon fell harmlessly to the stage floor. With a terrifying roar, Leandro slammed the senator onto the mahogany stage, pinning him beneath a hand as heavy and unyielding as iron.

The next second, a hail of suppressed fire from the federal agents eliminated any remaining threat, and the stage swarmed with FBI and Secret Service operatives.

"Leandro!" I screamed, dropping to my knees beside him as the chaos swirled around us.

His hand was pressed against his ribs, right where the dark fabric of his tuxedo was already soaked with hot, spreading crimson. His breath came in ragged, wheezing gasps, but his good eye remained locked onto mine.

"Are you... hurt?" he rasped, his fingers trembling as he reached up to touch my cheek, leaving a smear of dark blood on my skin.

"I'm fine! I'm completely fine, you idiot!" tears spilled over my eyelashes as I pressed both hands against his wound, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. "Stay with me, Leandro! Look at me! You promised we'd burn his empire together!"

"We did," he whispered, a faint, triumphant smirk curling around his scarred lips. "We burned it to the ground, Clare."

"Medic! We need a medic on stage right now!" I screamed into the blinding glare of the television lights, uncaring that the entire nation was watching the scarred underworld boss bleed out in the arms of the woman who had brought down a presidential empire.

Dominic, bruised and limping from his fight in the loading dock, appeared at my side, kneeling down with a tactical trauma kit. Together, we worked desperately against the tide of crimson soaking the pristine marble floor.

"Hold on, boss," Dominic grunted, his jaw tight. "Don't you dare die after winning."

Leandro’s eye began to lose its sharp focus, drifting toward the towering glass skylight above, where the heavy winter snow had begun to fall once more, tapping gently against the glass like a long-forgotten memory of a frozen road in Minnesota.

"Clare," he breathed, his hand gripping mine with weakening strength. "You... are the only light... I ever found in the dark."