Not So Easy After All

Victor Blackwood rules the country's underworld with an iron fist, and to the world he is power itself. To Vivienne, he is love—the man who once shielded her from gunfire in a rain-soaked alley and made her his only lover. For seven years she believed she was the woman who would stay by his side until the end.

Then his foster sister Queenie Stone returns from abroad. On Valentine's Day, Vivienne cooks his favorite dishes and waits, but his chair stays empty while Queenie posts photos of him at her side. Vivienne sends a message asking to break up; Victor ignores it, certain she is only acting out and will come crawling back. He does not know that she was easy to please only because she once loved him.

When he finally comes home, he reheats yesterday's steak and offers diamond earrings—a gift Queenie told him to buy. Vivienne no longer wants mending. She is leaving, and no gesture of his can turn her back.