Lynne Graham Books ⚡ Direct

So Lily had written a breakup note. She’d said she was tired of being poor. She’d called him a mistake.

She’d been eighteen. He’d been a struggling law student, not the heir to a shipping empire. They’d made love in her father’s greenhouse, and Rio had said, “One day, I’ll build you a garden by the sea.”

“Six months,” she said hoarsely. “No… no intimacy clause.” lynne graham books

Lily laughed through her tears. “You already have a greenhouse?”

And for the first time in her life, Lily Hart — now Lily Karras — believed in happy endings. So Lily had written a breakup note

She froze. “How do you know that?”

He looked at her. Just looked. Then: “You still sleep on the left side of the bed.” She’d been eighteen

By nightfall, she was installed in his Athenian penthouse — a palace of glass and marble overlooking the Acropolis. Her room was down the hall from his. The bed was cold. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling, remembering the boy who’d once brought her wildflowers and told her she was enough.

Rio stepped inside without being invited. His suit was Savile Row, his watch a Patek Philippe, and his presence filled her cramped flat like a tidal wave. “Your father owed me more than you know. And now you owe me.”

“No.” He stopped inches away. “Because my father also told me where you were. And I drove three hours to your flat that same night. But you weren’t there — you were at the hospital. Mabel’s surgery. You’d paid for it yourself, working three jobs. And I thought…” His voice cracked. “I thought, she’s still saving everyone except herself. ”