Stolen Shadows

Content Warning

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This novel contains mature themes that may be distressing for some readers.

Please be advised that the story includes references to:

While this book centers on survival, healing, justice, and love, it does not shy away from the realities faced by its characters.

Reader discretion is advised.

Lucy Hale hated the alley behind Club Riva.

Too many shadows.

Too many secrets.

Too many screams that went unheard.

She checked her watch—1:43 AM.

The club was still roaring behind her, flashing neon lights reflecting off rain-slick pavement.

She should’ve been home hours ago, asleep before her spreadsheet-filled morning meeting.

Instead, she stood hidden between dumpsters, a hood pulled low, a pulse of adrenaline humming in her veins.

Her phone buzzed with a text from her informant.

Two men. Black van. Target: young woman leaving club. Be ready.

Lucy cursed under her breath.

Another abduction attempt.

Another girl they thought no one would miss.

She wasn’t a cop.

She wasn’t trained for any of this. But she’d promised herself she would never allow another girl to simply… vanish.

Not when she could do something to stop it.

Footsteps echoed.

A girl stumbled out of the club’s back door, laughing, tugging her coat around her. Petite. Dark hair. Dressed for a night out not for a fight of her life.

Bad idea to walk alone this late.

Lucy’s muscles tensed.

Then the van rolled forward.

A man stepped out.

Another slid from the passenger side.

They moved smoothly, too familiar with the ritual of abduction.

Lucy felt her stomach twist.

Not again.

She moved fast.

The girl turned just as one man grabbed her arm. Her laughter cut off, replaced by a terrified gasp.

She tried to fight them off hopelessly swinging her fists trying to get herself free. Not one connected with her abductors.

“Let her go!” Lucy shouted.

The men spun toward her, surprised.

She swung a metal baton from her sleeve and cracked it against the first man’s wrist.

He recoiled with a scream.

"Stay out of this you bitch" he shouted.

The second lunged.

Lucy dodged, kicking hard.

He hit the wall.

“Run!” she told the girl.

But the girl didn’t run. She froze, shaking. standing like a statue in shock.

The men regrouped, stepping toward Lucy now.

She forced her breath steady.

She’d done this before.

She’d survived worse.

But tonight, she was outnumbered. she would have to think carefully to get out of this alive.

A roar of an engine split the air.

A black SUV screeched to a stop, doors flying open.

Two massive men in tailored suits jumped out—armed and furious.

“What the hell—Emily!”

The girl gasped. “Luca?”

Lucy blinked.

Emily.

Lucas DeLuca’s sister.

Aw, hell.

The men in suits tackled the abductors.

Lucy grabbed Emily’s hand, pulling her back as a man with dark hair and a suit stepped out of the SUV.

He radiated authority and danger in equal measure.

Lucas DeLuca.

The Bravata boss.

Their eyes met.

He turned to Emily pulling her into a hug. She sobbed into his chest saying sorry over and over again.

He turned his focus on Lucy.

His were sharp, assessing, dark with a fury she felt in her bones.

“You,” he said quietly, staring at Lucy like he’d been waiting to meet her his whole life. “You saved my sister.”

The alley suddenly felt too small.

Emily clung to Lucas’s arm. “She… she saved me, Luca.”

Lucy swallowed, backing away. “I have to go.”

Lucas stepped forward. “Wait.”

But she was already disappearing into the shadows.

And the Bravata boss watched her go—with the unmistakable look of a man who would absolutely find her again.

Lucas DeLuca was not a patient man.

He stood at the mouth of the alley long after the suv took Emily home and his men dragged the abductors away for interrogation.

The scent of rain and gasoline lingered, mixing with the metallic tang of adrenaline.

But all Lucas saw was the memory of a girl disappearing into the darkness.

A girl with fire in her eyes.

A girl who fought off traffickers alone.

A girl who saved his sister’s life.

He clenched his jaw.

He had to find her.

“Boss,” Matteo said, stepping beside him, breathing heavy from the fight. “We need to go. Marco Verri’s men don’t try something like this unless—”

“I know,” Lucas cut in, voice low and deadly.

“He’s pushing lines. Testing us.”

But that wasn’t what kept his pulse burning.

“Find out everything about the woman who helped Emily,” he ordered.

Matteo blinked. “Boss… she didn’t even give her name.”

“Then find her anyway.”

“How?” Matteo asked carefully. “There are no cameras in this alley. She’s good—knew exactly how to avoid being seen.”

Lucas’s eyes narrowed.

Exactly.

Too good for a civilian.

He replayed the fight in his head—the precision of her strike, the way she anticipated the attacker’s movements.

This wasn’t luck.

This was skill.

“Someone like that leaves traces,” Lucas said.

“A name. A contact. A life. Find it.”

Matteo nodded and hurried off.

Lucas stayed a moment longer, running a hand through his hair, exhaling slow.

For years, he’d built walls around himself.

He trusted no one outside his inner circle.

He feared for nothing except Emily’s safety.

And tonight, someone had protected her better than his own men.

He needed to know who she was.

Not just to thank her…

…but because something inside him—something he didn’t trust—wanted to see her again.