This is Starting Over

Mia

I left home with a new name, a violin, and no intention of ever looking back.

Los Angeles was supposed to be a clean break. A place to reinvent myself on my own terms. No rules I did not choose. No future handed to me before I was old enough to want something different. Just music, ambition, and the freedom to become someone entirely new.

Now the world knows my name.

The stages are bigger. The lights are brighter. The life I built is finally mine.

At least, that is what I tell myself.

Because no matter how far I run, there is always something in the dark reaching for the girl I used to be. A shadow at the edge of the spotlight. A voice that wants to drag me backward. A past that refuses to stay buried.

And the more successful I become, the more dangerous it feels to be seen.

I fought too hard to become Mia Biondi.

I am not going back.

Law

I should not want her.

Not now. Not after everything. Not when letting her go was the only decent thing I ever did.

Mia was always the one line I never should have crossed. My best friend's sister. The girl I couldn't forget. The woman I have no business touching now that she has built a life bigger than anything we came from.

She doesn't need saving.

She never did.

But when the shadows around her start closing in, instinct takes over before reason gets a vote. I run toward her. I put myself between her and every threat I can see.

And the ones I can't.

Because once Mia is in my arms again, I know exactly what kind of man I am where she is concerned.

I will protect her from anything.

Anyone.

Even myself.