1 Chapter- 1

LOOK."

Sebastian Petrov held out his cupped hands and opened them slowly. Perched on his palm was the most stunning butterfly Mia Sanchez had ever seen. Its lacy wings sparkled yellow and golden as they pulsed in the sunlight.

"Be careful," she cried without thinking. "Don't hurt it."

He gave her a quizzical look, as though wondering why her first thought might be that one. "I would never hurt it," he said, his voice low and rough with emotion. "I just wanted you to see it. It's so beautiful, so precious… ." His voice went so soft she could barely hear his words. "It reminds me of you."

She turned to look up into his forest green eyes, her heart in her throat.

"Oh, Sebastian," she whispered, tears threatening. She looked more deeply into his eyes, hoping for truth. Did he really mean it? About her? There had been so many lies in her life, she was almost afraid to believe. And then she laughed with happiness.

Her laugh must have startled the butterfly, because it took off, circling above them, rising higher and higher in the offshore breeze, until it was just a sparkle against the blue sky.

They watched until it disappeared, and then she tucked herself into the crook of his arm and sighed.

"Here's the truth, Sebastian. That butterfly was my heart. You set it free." She looked up, searching his eyes, hoping to see that he felt like she did, almost afraid that he wouldn't. "I never knew life could be like this," she said simply.

He pulled her in closer, wrapping her in his strong arms and smiling down into her face. "Neither did I," he said softly. "I never knew what love was until there was you."

He kissed her lips slowly, touching her tongue with his, savoring every nuance of her taste. "Promise me we'll never let it slip through our fingers, like other people do," he murmured. "Promise me we'll always remember this day and how we felt."

"I promise," she said, reaching up to get more of his kisses. "And what's more, I promise it will only get better."

Only get better. Only get better.

Her own words echoed mockingly in her head no matter how hard she tried to blot them out. That was then. This was now. How did you celebrate the death of a romance?

You didn't. You just tried to survive it.

And now, here she was in front of Sebastian's family home, ready to sign, seal and deliver an official end to all they had meant to each other only months ago. She shifted the satchel she was carrying and wrapped her fingers around the beautifully twisted bars of the wrought-iron fence that topped the limestone wall that held back those who didn't belong inside.

Of course that meant her. Especially her.

Blame it on the newfound adulthood. Everybody else did. She'd used that excuse herself when she'd married Sebastian, a man she'd known at the time for less than three months. Their marriage had been passionate, intense, and only lasted for a few weeks before their separation. All in all, it hadn't quite been half a year since they'd first met, though it seemed a lifetime. Blame it on the immaturity. A whole generation of young people had given in to impulses they never would have thought of before the newfound adulthood drums had begun to beat a rhythm to their lives.

She and Sebastian had both volunteered for military intelligence work, both taken some very tough training, and when they met later on as the training was ending, they'd seemed to be so well matched, she found it hard to believe that the man she'd married could have possibly grown up in this…well, it was a mansion, wasn't it? There was no way to put a more modest face on it. Rich people lived here. Very rich people.

She and Sebastian had never talked much about their backgrounds. She hadn't realized he was hiding his just as surely as she had been hiding hers. She'd been pretty sure he didn't secretly have a family in demon kingdom like she did. But then, she didn't talk to anyone but her brother Eros about that.

And here she was, standing outside of the address where she'd been told he now lived, trying to get up the nerve to go to the door and ask to see him. She didn't belong here. Her heart was beating a wild salsa in her soul and her knees felt like water. She was scared stiff.

But what she was most afraid of was her own traitorous heart. Would she let him walk all over her emotions again? Would she be able to keep the cold, sharp edge of her bitterness alive once she looked into his mesmerizing blue eyes?

She had to. She wasn't just building a life for one any longer. She couldn't afford to follow her heart. Two months being all by her own in an unknown place had taught her to stop dreaming and start facing reality. That tended to happen when the man you thought was the love of your life left you to fend for yourself in an unknown place without any explanation or warning.

She looked at the brass bell meant for visitors to announce their business. What was she going to say to the butler? She had to get in to see Sebastian one last time.

Sebastian. It still took her breath away to think of him, and she had to control that. He didn't love her anymore. That much was perfectly clear. But she needed his signature on a couple of official documents. And then they could cut the last ties between them and walk away and never look back.

Her hands were trembling. Could she hold it together long enough to get all that done? She had to. She had no other option and she knew that. She knew she at least had ti try for the sake of her baby and to nit let him down.