prologue

Maxwell caprio was thirty four years old. He was a well built, dandy young man in the prime of his life. Though he was not what one could call an alluring and attractive man, he was handsome in most of his physical features.

He had a long thick matte of dark beard and we'll trimmed hair that touched his neck, a very muscular build and eyes blue that matched the intensity of the open ocean.

And in less than twenty four hours, he would be dead.

He had received a dire call from his wife an hour ago and as he left his office and cancelled the rest of his meetings that morning, he was feeling a bit hysteric. His secretary had just rung to remind him of his early morning appointment with one of of their top Salers in the real estate company which he owned but he had to cancel that too. He took the first flight on board and left Las Vegas to return to Rhodes Island his home.

It was December 25th, Christmas day. He smiled when he remembered that his little darling Liesel would probably be up lighting candles for the big party that evening. He tousled with the little box in his hands. He had gotten Liesel a small necklace, a golden one laced in between with little crusts of turquoise and sapphire. He hoped she liked this one. He could hardly recognise her face from the last time he saw her as a baby compared with now.

The last time he spoke to them had been in three months. His daughter Liesel was in senior class by then in 2nd grade high school.

His phone rang again as he set down his hot cup of coffee in front of him. In an hour or so, he would be landing in RI. He picked up the phone to see who it was.

Giving a bit of a sigh, he answered the call.

"well hello dad. It's Liesel. How are you?" She was back home munching on some milk cookies. She couldn't even wait to hear him again after all this time

"Lily how you doing sweetheart. I'm coming home tonight. So be rest assured, I'll be home soon." He wondered where Ann was. They had been quarrelling most of the time about his frequent travels .

"I know, I overheard you telling mum that.so how's Vegas and your trip? I miss you dad and I'm glad you'll be home this time."she was peering down at her nails now and she couldn't help but smile as her dad spoke back, she really missed him maybe a little bit too much.

"I miss you too darling. Guess what, I got you that little trinket you've always asked for." He was bribing her again and of course it always worked, he was hoping she wouldn't notice.

"Really? That's great. Dad it'll be my best gift from you. I love you dad. I'll be waiting till you return."she said it more gently this time.

" I love you too. Kiss your mom for me okay?" He replied and then the line went dead.

That was the last time he ever spoke to his family again and then the terrible thing happened.

He could hear alarms blaring all around him. His head was spinning and everywhere around him was soft, wet, cold. It was dark and he could make out moving shapes. He couldn't feel his body or any of his limbs but he was still breathing that he was certain. He felt his body being pulled away from the soft earth and unto something softer.

His eyes fluttered open again and he leaned to face reality. He could smell something foul. It was warm, almost hot, red or was it pink, thick liquid flowing unto the soft sheets. It was his own blood! Now he was beginning to feel the pain that sliced through every muscle in his body and every vessel in his brain.

Where was he? What had he been up to? What happened? Than all of a sudden everything slowed to a halt. He fell unconscious.

Liesel watched as her father's lame, weak and almost lifeless body pulled up in front of their doorstep. Her heart felt torn open, sliced apart and ripped out from her insides. She could have wished for death at that moment. If only she had the power, she could have done anything to save her dad from the miserable death that day.

As she watched her father struggle to live as the doctors made their way into the operation room to perform the surgery, she knew that it was all over. Her father had been killed from factors considerable before his untimely death. His car had flown over the bridge that connected the towns. His Mercedes had crushed him to the ground below, beneath the thick layers of ice and snow.

Her life was over the moment the doctors came to tell her mother Ann Caprio the terror that haunted them for years to come. Her dad, her hero, her savior, her warrior was gone forever.

She stood motionless without an expression on her face. Her hands were cold and without feelings. But who could she blame.

Life wasn't always fair and it had not been fair to let her father die such an untimely death. She had loved the man and that had been taken away. How could she be so trusting, so dependent, so confident to lay all her hopes in a man, her father that she would never see again.

The burial was done a day after New year, January 2nd. It was a day she would never forget. The occasion had been touching. It was done in a garden her father had always loved. He usually took her for walks and spent a whole day in the garden just with her.

Tonnes of Lillie's and gardenias had been used to decorate the place. It would be their final legacy and farewell as he left them all.

Yet after all that, Liesel never gave up to find someone who would love her like her father had once did in his lifetime

However, history changes when another young man comes into her life and relinquishes the desire, the fever pitched ache inside of her. She finds something that she list a long time ago.

That need and passion is what drives her wild to reveal how it feels to really love someone. But can she build, confide,rely, and trust in just one man?

Her heart has been broken once, can she deal with it if it is broken yet again?