Prologue

My Guardian Stranger: Book Two

The war for power didn't end with Ignacio's fall. It started something worse.

Ignacio is gone—killed by Dominic, who believed his oldest ally had betrayed him. But that war was never just theirs. It pulled everyone into the fire—lies, blood, and ruin. And from the ashes, I rose.

I was Ignacio's right arm, his weapon, his shadow. But I don't live in his. I don't take power—I become it. Now, with Dominic rotting in a cell and Ignacio buried beneath the weight of his sins, the empire is mine to rebuild. Or burn.

But nothing stays dead. Not loyalty. Not betrayal. And certainly not enemies.

The ghosts of the past are circling. Old debts, forgotten names, and unfinished wars are coming for me. And I know their faces—because I helped make them.

This isn't a new beginning.

This is the reckoning.

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