Novels by Naomi Oh

CHAPTER 63: Mirabella’s POV The moonlight cut through the curtains, spilling over the bed in pale silver. Tuscany was quiet in that way that made your heartbeat sound too loud. Giovanni’s arm was still draped around my waist, heavy and possessive, his breathing slow and even against my neck.Sleep wouldn’t come back to me. My body was still, but my mind wouldn’t stop. Every time I closed my eyes, Marco’s voice echoed, that smug, taunting calm he always used before doing something cruel. Giovanni said he’d burn the world for me. And I believed him. That terrified me almost as much as Marco did.I slipped out from under his arm, careful not to wake him. The marble floor was cold beneath my bare feet as I padded toward the window. Outside, the vineyards stretched under the moon like a sea of silver leaves. The air was cool and sharp when I opened the door and stepped onto the terrace.The stables were a dark silhouette beyond the garden. I don’t know what possessed me to go

CHAPTER 62- Giovanni’s POV I watched her clutch the phone, knuckles white, but her spine straight. She was fit to be my queen. My woman didn’t crumble, she stared down the devil and dared him to blink first. And Christ, I was proud of her for it.That smug bastard. Calling my wife in the dead of night, thinking he could rattle her. Thinking he could rattle me.She finally turned, eyes finding mine, and for a second she tried to pretend she wasn’t shaken. Brave little liar. I saw the tremor in her hand, the way her breath hitched.But I didn’t stop her when she walked past me. I let her go without a word. Not because I believed the act she put on, but because I needed the silence to think. To plan.I sat in my office until the whiskey burned low in the glass, the amber bite doing nothing to quiet the rage in my blood. Lorenzo and Carlos stood before me, waiting for my orders. “He’s not hiding anymore,” Lorenzo said, voice flat. “The warehouse was a message. The call to Mira

CHAPTER 61- Mirabella’s POV My body went cold the second I heard his name.Marco. What the fuck did he want now? There was always something fucking happening in this world.The sound alone was enough to drag me back. Back to the night Papa died. The crack of the gun still lived in my bones, the metallic sting of blood in the air clinging to my throat. I saw Marco’s face again in that haze, shadowed, unreadable, lips pressed tight like he was already calculating the power he would seize even as our father’s body fell.For one fractured moment, I had thought he was on my side. That killing Salvatore meant freeing me. But Marco had never really protected me. Not from our father’s wrath. Not from the nights I locked myself in my room and prayed to be invisible. He had always chosen power, ambition, himself. And later, when he found out I married Giovanni, his threats echoed louder than any promise of family he ever gave me.“Mirabella.” Giovanni’s voice cut into my spi

CHAPTER 60- Giovanni’s POV Her eyes locked on mine when I said it. “Then teach me. Teach me before I ruin you.” And I meant it. I didn’t want to lose her because I don’t understand my feelings. I couldn’t. The silence that followed nearly drove me mad.So I did the only thing I could think of to stop the rejection I knew was dancing on her tongue. “Get dressed, kitten. We’re going out.”She blinked at me. “What, a morning stroll? You planning to leash me like your guard dog?”“Breakfast.”Her lips parted, caught off guard. I smirked. “Unless you’d rather stay in bed with me, which, believe me, is my preference.”That earned me an eye roll, but she slid off my lap. “Fine. But if this ends up being one of your power plays, I’m throwing my coffee at you.”I let out a low laugh as she slid off my lap. God help me, this woman.An hour later, we sat on the rooftop terrace of my private café, the city stretching beneath us. No bodyguards hovered close, no audience except

CHAPTER 59 – Mirabella’s POV The balcony doors shut softly behind me, and I walked away before Giovanni’s stare could pin me in place any longer. My pulse was still unsteady, my lips still tingling from the kiss I’d pressed to his cheek. I hadn’t even meant for it to linger that long. But it had, and now the warmth of it clung to me like a secret I couldn’t wash off.Ti amo.The words echoed in my head, sharp as glass. How could a man who kept me caged say he loved me? How could someone who killed without hesitation claim he’d destroy the world for me?Well, he’d kill without hesitation, idiot. I groaned.He didn’t love. He conquered. He took. He possessed.And yet, a part of me whispered, he believed what he said.I shook the thought off violently, muttering a curse under my breath as I rounded the corner, straight into Dominic’s arms.“Mira,” he said, pulling me into a crushing hug. His arms locked around me like a steel trap, he squeezed and I got a whiff of w

CHAPTER 58- Giovanni’s POV The words were already out before I could take them back.Ti amo, Mirabella.For a man like me, that should have been impossible.I’d built an empire on control, on bending men until their bones cracked, and never letting my enemies see anything but steel in my eyes. Love was a weakness, a softness that made men hesitate when they should strike. I’d told myself that all my life. I’d told her that once, not so long ago, when she looked at me with that sharp, defiant gaze that undid me in so many ways. But the moment the words left me, I knew the truth. I had been lying to myself all along.Her silence stretched between us, and I watched her lips part, her breath falter, her eyes wide as if she didn’t know whether to run or fall. I wanted to close the distance, to kiss the disbelief off her mouth, to make her feel what I already knew pulsed in my veins. But I didn’t. Not yet.Because the admission wasn’t only for her. It was for me.I’d been fighting