Lucien Valois clenched his fists, his burning gaze fixed on Vincent Valois. "Father, I must have her. In all these years, she's the only woman who's haunted my thoughts."

Vincent slammed his palm on the table, making the teacup rattle.

"Bullshit!" He jabbed a finger at his son's face. "You think I don't know about your escapades? Sleep with whoever you want—I never cared. But Jenna Roland is off-limits! If you dare approach her again, get out of the Valois family!"

"Why?" Lucien's voice trembled. "You never interfered in my personal life. Why is Jenna—"

"Because she belongs to Ethan Roscente!" Vincent's veins bulged on his forehead. "If Ethan hadn't called me that night, do you think I'd have bailed you out of that club?"

Lucien's pupils contracted.

He'd assumed Sylvia Savigny had tipped off his father. Not Ethan.

"What's their relationship?"

"None of your business." Vincent yanked at his loosened tie. "Remember this—if I want to keep my position, you stay away from Jenna Roland!"

Lucien sneered. "You're the mayor. Ethan's just a businessman—"

"Just a businessman?" Vincent laughed bitterly. "He controls the International Chamber of Commerce. Both sides of the law answer to him. Eighty percent of the nation's economic lifeline is in his grip. A man like that could remove me with a snap of his fingers."

Rain suddenly lashed against the windowpane.

The gravity of the situation finally struck Lucien. He remembered Jenna's slender waist beneath her chef's coat during their first meeting at the hospital. These sleepless nights, even when intimate with Yvonne, Jenna's aloof face haunted him.

It was an obsession bordering on sickness.

Vincent lit a cigarette, his eyes dark through the smoke. "You know what Yvonne is capable of. That girl from last time is still in the psychiatric ward. If she finds out about your fixation on Jenna—"

A chill crawled up Lucien's spine.

He could never forget the girl with severed breasts, her mutilated face. Yvonne sipping wine beside the carnage, smiling more terrifying than any demon.

"Father," he suddenly looked up, "why did you force me to marry Yvonne?"

Seven years of silence shattered with that question.