Olivia Graham was twenty-two when she started a whirlwind romance with charismatic Jakob overseas.
By age twenty-five, Liv was back home and checking off the widowed box on paperwork. With zero plans, Olivia and beloved dog Snuggles find themselves...
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Flashback
"Why can't Noah do this, papou?"
Elias Scala is the youngest male Scala in the entire family. Five older brothers, seventeen male cousins. All of them brought up knowing they will be part of a loving, happy, drug cartel family.
"Eli," his grandfather warns. "You know why."
"No, I don't," he argues stubbornly.
"You are close to her in age, and you are the most charming of my grandsons."
"Papou, can we not just get back at the Linettis in a different way?"
Eli did not care for the idea of hurting women. And he did not know what they had planned for her when they got her.
His grandpa hastily stood up, chair scraping on the floor, slamming his fist down on the table. "No! They caused a huge problem in our cartel when they split off, and they need to deal with the consequences."
Eli looks up at the ceiling, carefully thinking his words out because his grandpa looks pissed. His water had sloshed over the cup when he pounded his fist. "I thought you said her name was Olivia Graham."
"Eli," he sighs. "Her mom was a Linetti. Her dad was Cormac Graham, and now her brother Will is heading up that family. Olivia is a very well protected girl wherever she goes. The only way that we are going to get her is if you lure her in."
The Grahams broke their contract with their cartel when Will took over for them. Eli was unsure why his family cared so much until he realized how much money they lost.
So Eli found himself saying goodbye to his girlfriend in Santorini, changing his identity, and moving to Lisbon for his assignment.
He fell in with people he knew as acquaintances and started to enjoy his life in Portugal. They knew him as Eli, but learned to refer to him as Jakob within days.
For weeks, he stealthily watched Olivia from a distance. She had lived there for a while already, and he needed to understand her habits and routine.
What started as an assignment turned into admiration for her beauty and sweet nature. He trailed behind her in cafes and observed her interacting with people to find her idiosyncrasies and use them to his advantage. She was wary of strangers, but he found her staring at happy, romantic couples. She liked children, pets, and leisurely reading.
