The rain had been falling for three hours when Evelyn Hart realised she was the only idiot still driving that road, coming down so heavily that the world beyond her windscreen had dissolved into a blur of silver streaks, her headlights barely cutting through the darkness. Water hammered against the roof of her little blue sedan, the wipers struggling to keep pace as thunder rolled somewhere beyond the hills.

Evelyn tightened her grip on the steering wheel and leaned closer to the windscreen.

"Brilliant," she muttered, watching another flash of lightning illuminate the empty road ahead, "Absolutely brilliant decision, Evelyn."

She should have stayed at the hospital, but her shift had ended forty minutes ago, and one of the nurses had called in sick, leaving the emergency department short-staffed. By the time Evelyn finally left, the storm had already turned the streets into rivers.

She could have waited until morning; instead, she had decided to take the old mountain road because it would save her twenty minutes, and now she was beginning to suspect those twenty minutes might be the worst bargain she had ever made.

Another burst of lightning split the sky, and for one terrifying second, Evelyn saw something lying across the road.

She slammed on the brakes, and the car skidded violently.

"Oh, God!"

The tyres lost traction, the steering wheel jerked beneath her hands, and the vehicle slid sideways before finally stopping several metres from whatever had been lying ahead.

Evelyn sat frozen, her heart pounding, while rain drummed against the glass and the engine continued to hum; for several seconds, she didn't move, then she looked through the windscreen again... there was a vehicle down the embankment.

A black SUV had smashed through the metal barrier and rolled several times before coming to rest against a cluster of trees, one of its headlights still glowing weakly through the rain.

Evelyn's stomach tightened as she reached for her phone, but there was no signal.

"Of course."

She tried again, but nothing happened.

Her first instinct was to drive to the nearest town and call emergency services from there, but her second was the one that won because she was a nurse, and someone could be alive in that vehicle.

Evelyn grabbed the small emergency kit she always kept beneath her passenger seat, pulled on her raincoat and stepped out into the storm.

The cold rain struck her face immediately, and within seconds, her hair was soaked while mud sucked at her shoes as she climbed down the embankment.

"Hello!" she shouted, "Can you hear me?"

No answer came, so she moved closer.

The SUV was a wreck, its bonnet folded inward, one side crushed against a tree, and shattered glass glittering across the wet ground like ice.

Evelyn swallowed hard. "Hello?" Still no response.

Then she heard it, a faint groan, and she froze because someone was alive.

Evelyn hurried around the vehicle and found the driver's door completely destroyed. She tried pulling it open anyway, but it wouldn't move.

"Don't move!" she shouted, even though she had no idea whether the injured man could hear her, "I'm coming to you!"

She circled the SUV again, searching for another entrance; the rear door was jammed, but the passenger-side door had been torn partly open.

Evelyn squeezed through, the smell of petrol hit her immediately.

"Please don't let this thing explode," she whispered.

The interior was dark except for the intermittent glow of lightning, and then she saw him.

A man was trapped against the driver's side, his head resting awkwardly against the seat, while blood ran from a wound near his temple and disappeared beneath the collar of his black shirt.

He wasn't moving at all. Evelyn crawled closer and placed two fingers against his neck, finding a pulse, weak, but there.

"Okay," she breathed, "You're alive."

His breathing was shallow, and there was blood on his abdomen, while the angle of his body suggested he might have suffered serious internal injuries.

Evelyn pulled out her phone again, but there was still no signal.

"Damn it."

She examined the wreckage, searching for anything that could help her free him.

"Can you hear me?"

The man's eyelids moved, barely, and then his eyes opened.

Evelyn stopped breathing. They were the darkest eyes she had ever seen, not merely brown, but almost black, sharp and unnervingly focused despite the blood loss.

He stared directly at her. "Who..." His voice was rough, barely audible. "Who are you?"

"I'm the person trying to keep you alive."

His gaze moved over her face. "You need to leave."

Evelyn frowned. "What?"

"Leave." He repeated.

"You've lost a lot of blood, and you're trapped inside a wrecked vehicle. I'm not leaving you."

His jaw tightened. "You don't understand."

"No, apparently I don't," Evelyn replied, reaching for the emergency scissors in her kit, "So you're going to have to explain it to me later."

She cut through the man's shirt and examined the wound, and the bullet hole was obvious. Evelyn's blood ran cold... He hadn't been injured in the crash; he had been shot.

She looked at him. "You've been shot."

His expression didn't change. "Yes."

"Who shot you?"

"Doesn't matter."

"It matters to me if they're coming back."

"They are."

The answer came so calmly that Evelyn almost laughed, but then she heard something... an engine. Her head snapped towards the broken window.

The sound was faint beneath the rain, but unmistakable; another vehicle was approaching.

The man's expression changed immediately, and every trace of weakness vanished from his eyes.

"Get out," he ordered.

Evelyn stared at him. "You're serious?"

"Now."

She looked through the shattered window, where headlights appeared through the trees, one vehicle, then another.

Her heart began to pound. "Who are they?"

The man's breathing became heavier. "My enemies."

Evelyn stared at him in disbelief. "Your enemies?"

He looked at her as though she had asked the most irrelevant question in the world. "You saved the wrong man."

A door slammed somewhere above them, and Evelyn's stomach dropped as footsteps approached through the rain, several pairs.

The injured man reached weakly towards the weapon lying near his hand, but Evelyn caught his wrist. "You can barely breathe!"

His eyes locked onto hers. "If they find me alive, they'll kill you too."

She hesitated, then another sound reached them, the unmistakable metallic click of a gun being loaded.

Evelyn's face went pale. "Oh, God."

The man looked at her. "Now you understand."

The footsteps came closer, and Evelyn's mind raced because she could run, she should run, and there were armed men outside, while she had no idea who they were or what this stranger had done to make them hunt him through a storm.

But then she looked at the blood covering his shirt...

She remembered every oath she had taken as a nurse, she remembered the patients who had begged her not to let them die, and she remembered how she had always believed that saving a life shouldn't depend on whether the person deserved it.

Her jaw tightened. "Fine."

The man frowned. "Fine what?"

"I'm saving you."

For the first time, something resembling surprise crossed his face.

"You have no idea what you're doing."

"Neither do you, apparently, because you're bleeding all over my emergency kit."

A faint, almost disbelieving smile touched his mouth, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

The footsteps were now only metres away, and Evelyn looked around desperately.

The wreckage had created a narrow space beneath the passenger side, partially hidden by the angle of the vehicle and the fallen branches around it.

She looked at the man. "Can you move?"

"No."

"Wonderful." She slipped one arm beneath his shoulders and the other beneath his back.

He was heavy, much heavier than he looked. "On three," she whispered, "One... two..."

He suddenly grabbed her wrist. "Wait."

"What?"

His eyes searched hers. "If I survive this, forget you ever saw me."

Evelyn stared at him. "You really are terrible at asking for favours."

A gunshot exploded outside, and Evelyn flinched as the bullet struck the wreckage.

"Get down!"

The man pulled her towards him instinctively as another shot tore through the vehicle, glass exploding around them while Evelyn screamed and ducked.

The stranger rolled, using what little strength remained in his body to shield her. "Stay down!"

"You're bleeding!"

"I know."

"Then stop trying to protect me!"

He looked at her through the darkness. "Too late."

Another bullet struck the metal frame, and voices shouted outside.

"They're here!"

Evelyn's breathing became frantic as the stranger pushed himself upright, his face having gone frighteningly pale. "Listen to me."

"What?"

"When I tell you to run, you run." He instructed.

"And what about you?"

"I'll follow."

"You can barely stand."

His eyes hardened. "I said I'll follow."

Evelyn opened her mouth to argue, then she saw something in his expression, it wasn't fear, never fear, it was calculation, cold, controlled calculation.

He was waiting for something, although she didn't understand what, but apparently, neither did the men outside.

One of them shouted, "Search the vehicle!"

The stranger's hand closed around Evelyn's, his grip surprisingly strong. "Now." He pulled her into the darkness beneath the wreckage.

They crawled through the mud as the men approached, while Evelyn held her breath.

A pair of boots stopped only a few feet away. "He's not here."

"Check again." Another said.

"The vehicle is empty." The first man confirmed.

Evelyn's heart slammed against her ribs, empty? How could they not see them? She slowly turned towards the stranger.

He was watching the men through a narrow gap beneath the wreckage, his expression perfectly calm. Then his gaze shifted to her, and Evelyn finally understood something, this man wasn't merely a victim, he had been prepared for this.

He knew exactly what his enemies would do, he knew how they would search, he knew where they would look, and somehow, despite being shot and nearly crushed to death, he was still three steps ahead of them.

The men eventually moved away, their voices fading into the storm.

The stranger released Evelyn's hand. "Stay here."

She stared at him. "Where are you going?"

"To make sure they don't come back."

"You can't even walk properly."

He slowly pushed himself upright, his eyes met hers, "watch me."

Before Evelyn could stop him, he disappeared into the darkness..She waited, one minute passed, then another, while the rain continued pouring and nothing happened.

Then, somewhere beyond the trees, three gunshots rang through the night. Evelyn's blood turned cold.

She crawled out from beneath the wreckage. "Hello?"

But all she heard was silence. She stood. "Where are you?" Still no answer.

She took one cautious step forward, then another, that was when a shadow emerged between the trees. Evelyn froze.

The stranger walked towards her, blood soaking his shirt and rain streaming down his face, but he was standing. Behind him, two men lay motionless in the mud.

Evelyn stared at them, then at him. "Who are you?"

The stranger stopped. For several seconds, neither of them spoke. Finally, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a black card, placing it in her trembling hand. "Adrian Moretti."

Evelyn looked down at the name, she didn't recognise it... not yet, but she would eventually... Everyone knew the Moretti name. She simply hadn't realised that the man standing in front of her was the most dangerous member of the family.

Adrian turned away. "Forget me."

Evelyn looked at the blood on his shirt, the bodies behind him and the weapon hidden beneath his jacket. "Something tells me that's going to be difficult."

Adrian stopped, he glanced back at her, and for the briefest moment, their eyes met, then he disappeared into the darkness, leaving Evelyn alone beside the wreckage with a bloodstained card in her hand and no idea that the worst night of her life had only just begun.

Three days later, her fiancé would be dead, and the first thing Adrian Moretti would say when he saw Evelyn again would be:

"You were never supposed to survive."