ROSA’S POVBianca didn’t answer me but she just twisted her lips like she was trying to hold something back, like the words were too big for her throat.“What did you do?” I asked again, my voice low and tight.She turned her face slightly, pretending like she hadn’t heard me, she was using her silence as some sort of shield but I wouldn’t have it. Not when my daughter was involved. I snapped then and shouted, “If you touched my daughter, I swear…”
VICENZO’S POVI slammed the door hard enough to wake up the dead as I stepped into my penthouse, my blood boiling with rage. “Where the fuck is Mateo?” I roared as I stepped into the room, the city lights behind me glaring like fire through the tall windows. The living room was dim, heavy with silence. I didn’t bother shedding my coat, just kept walking, my heart hammering wildly against my chest desperate to burst.Mateo emerged from the hallway, face tight. “I…I’m here, boss.”I crossed the room in three long strides and grabbed him by the collar, shoving him back into the wall so hard the picture frame beside his head fell with a crash.“She’s gone,” I growled. “How is she fucking gone? With the little girl who could possibly be my daughter…you hear that, Mateo? My daughter, Mateo. You want to explain to me how?”His face was flushed red and his hands came up in surrender, struggling under my grip. “Boss, wait… me explain…”“Explain?” My voice cracked. “You were supposed to have e
ROSA’S POVAfter what seemed like a lifetime of deciding if to pack some things or not, entering my apartment, leaving with a small bag and Sofia in my arms, a black SUV pulled up in front of me. It stopped just at the edge of the curb, its headlights dimmed, the windows tinted too dark to see inside. I held Sofia tighter, her small fingers wrapped in my coat, and glanced back once at the apartment building we had left behind.I hadn’t cried. Not yet. Not even when I packed everything with shaking hands or when Sofia had asked if we were going to see Enzo. I had told her no and her face had fallen in that quiet way children do when they don’t fully understand, but know enough to feel hurt.
VICENZO’S POVI didn’t say a word because I was boiling inside of me and I knew that saying something to Bianca in that state would catapult her into depression. I just stood there staring at her like the ground had shifted underneath us.Pregnant.Her arms were folded over her bare stomach, but I could see the tremble in her hands. The way her lower lip wobbled, just slightly. She was scared. Not of me—Bianca was strong and didn’t scare easy—but of losing.“You’re lying,” I finally said quietly.&nbs
VICENZO’S POVMateo had told me that they had found them and they were bringing them to the penthouse but I was restless and couldn’t wait to lay my eyes on her. Yesterday afternoon when I was making love to her seemed like a lifetime ago now. I heard the soft shuffle of feet hit the marble floor, and I turned just as the door opened and there she was.Rosalinda, pale and silent, with Sofia curled against her shoulder, fast asleep. Her tiny hand clung to Rosa’s shirt like she was afraid the world might split open again. I took one step forward, but Rosa didn’t move. She looked exhausted. Haunted. She wouldn’t even meet my eyes.
ROSA’S POVI didn’t answer his question. I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t tell him everything. Not yet. There was so much that he didn’t know and I wasn’t sure I could say them…yet. Vicenzo’s voice was rough with confusion, anger, and something else I couldn’t name but I couldn’t give him the truth. Not like this.“It’s nothing,” I said quietly, brushing past him. “Forget it.”He stepped into my space, towering, dark eyes scanning my face like he could force out every
VICENZO’S POVI needed to know, I needed her to say it, to clear every doubt in my heart because I wanted to lay in her arms forever. Rosa was my heartbeat, cuore mio.She flinched instead and I saw a shadow pass over her face; my shoulders drooped. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Please don’t ask me that.”I frowned. “Why not? It’s a simple question and the answer
ROSA’S POVI needed a distraction. I was yet to recover from my interaction with Vicenzo in his study and I didn’t think I would be able to face him so I kept busy. That’s what I told myself.I poured cereal for Sofia, wiped down the counter that didn’t need wiping, folded the same towel three times just to have something to do with my hands. I hadn’t seen Vicenzo since last night. Not really. But I felt him, I felt him everywhere.He was a shadow at the edge of the kitchen when I turned too fast. A weight in the hallway when I passed by the study. His presence pulled at me like a thread I didn’t want to tug but couldn’t stop reaching for. U was dro
ROSA’S POVHow had I gone from being an independent woman struggling to pay my daughter’s hospital bills to his? Vicenzo’s mistress? How had everything fallen apart so fast? I should have known. Should have known the minute I decided to return that I would bump into him.The new apartment was nice. Too nice. The floors were polished, the walls pristine white, and furnished with sleek furniture that had probably never been touched. It had no soul. No warmth. Just the echo of Vicenzo’s control in every detail. Nothing to suggest that it was a home.He’d picked it, no doubt. Had his people furnish it, stock the fridge, arrange the security. I had wanted to do it but he claimed it was too dangerous for me to walk around the city and only he and his men knew the safe places in the city. I hated it all but here I was, trying to settle in with Sofia while pretending this wasn’t just another gilded cage. Sofia was in her room, playing quietly w
VICENZO’S POV“I am not your bloody mistress, Enzo,” she yelled at me. “I am worth more than that!”I stared at Rosa across the kitchen counter. The rose she brought back from the ball still sat there, proud and red like it meant something.“You are.” I said without missing a beat. “If I can’t have you, no one else will.”She wouldn’t look at me now. She stood with her arms crossed, the calm fire in her eyes daring me to argue again.“I’ll get you the apartment,” I said finally, my voice low. “But there will be rules.”She blinked, wary. “Rules?”I stepped closer. “Only I come to visit. No one else. And when I call, you answer. When I come, you open the door. You still belong to me, Rosa. I won’t have another man breathing the same air as you.”Her jaw tensed, but she didn’t speak. Just nodded once, slowly. Maybe it was compromise. Maybe it was defeat. I couldn’t tell.“And you will do what I say,” I ad
ROSA’S POVThe air changed before I saw him. I noticed people in the crowd start to whisper and stare at usand I knew that Enzo was about to do something crazy.I turned my head just slightly and there he was, cutting across the dance floor like he owned theroom. His eyes locked on mine, but they weren’t soft. They burned. And they were aimed at DonSalvatore.“May I cut in?” Vicenzo asked, his voice sharp beneath the smoothness. He didn’t try to maskthe disdain on his face.Salvatore didn’t flinch. He merely smiled, charming to the last second, and released me with agentleman’s grace. “Of course, Signor Moretti,” he said, inclining his head. “Though I fearyou’ve interrupted a very good story.”“I’m sure she’ll remember it,” Vicenzo said coolly, already placing his hand at the small of myback. His touch sent a rush up my spine, but I stiffened.Salvatore’s eyes lingered on me for a moment longer. “Ti rivedrò Rosa,” he said in perfectItalian, "I'll see you again, Rosa. Soon.”I
VICENZO’S POVHer breath hitched under me as her fingers tangled in my hair. Her skin was fever-warm and flushed beneath my mouth. I was high on lust and wanted to consume every part of her as my mouth latched into her nipples, hard and erect. She was beneath me but she wasn’t small. She never had been. She met every kiss, every graze of my teeth with something wilder. Her legs wrapped around me, her back arching, her lips parting with a gasp that made my blood thrum.“Enzo…” she whispered, voice wrecked, pulling me deeper, like she couldn’t get close enough.
ROSA’S POVI needed a distraction. I was yet to recover from my interaction with Vicenzo in his study and I didn’t think I would be able to face him so I kept busy. That’s what I told myself.I poured cereal for Sofia, wiped down the counter that didn’t need wiping, folded the same towel three times just to have something to do with my hands. I hadn’t seen Vicenzo since last night. Not really. But I felt him, I felt him everywhere.He was a shadow at the edge of the kitchen when I turned too fast. A weight in the hallway when I passed by the study. His presence pulled at me like a thread I didn’t want to tug but couldn’t stop reaching for. U was dro
VICENZO’S POVI needed to know, I needed her to say it, to clear every doubt in my heart because I wanted to lay in her arms forever. Rosa was my heartbeat, cuore mio.She flinched instead and I saw a shadow pass over her face; my shoulders drooped. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Please don’t ask me that.”I frowned. “Why not? It’s a simple question and the answer
ROSA’S POVI didn’t answer his question. I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t tell him everything. Not yet. There was so much that he didn’t know and I wasn’t sure I could say them…yet. Vicenzo’s voice was rough with confusion, anger, and something else I couldn’t name but I couldn’t give him the truth. Not like this.“It’s nothing,” I said quietly, brushing past him. “Forget it.”He stepped into my space, towering, dark eyes scanning my face like he could force out every
VICENZO’S POVMateo had told me that they had found them and they were bringing them to the penthouse but I was restless and couldn’t wait to lay my eyes on her. Yesterday afternoon when I was making love to her seemed like a lifetime ago now. I heard the soft shuffle of feet hit the marble floor, and I turned just as the door opened and there she was.Rosalinda, pale and silent, with Sofia curled against her shoulder, fast asleep. Her tiny hand clung to Rosa’s shirt like she was afraid the world might split open again. I took one step forward, but Rosa didn’t move. She looked exhausted. Haunted. She wouldn’t even meet my eyes.
VICENZO’S POVI didn’t say a word because I was boiling inside of me and I knew that saying something to Bianca in that state would catapult her into depression. I just stood there staring at her like the ground had shifted underneath us.Pregnant.Her arms were folded over her bare stomach, but I could see the tremble in her hands. The way her lower lip wobbled, just slightly. She was scared. Not of me—Bianca was strong and didn’t scare easy—but of losing.“You’re lying,” I finally said quietly.&nbs