LOGIN~~LENA~~Three days had passed. And to my surprise, absolutely nothing had happened.I had spent the first day expecting a disaster to occur. By the second day, I had convinced myself that someone would eventually corner me in a hallway, demand the device back, or reveal that they somehow knew I had kept it. And the third day, I no longer knew what to think.There were no messages, threats, mysterious instructions and no signs that anyone even remembered I existed.The people behind the device had simply vanished.At times, I found myself wondering if I had imagined the entire thing. The silence bothered me more than I wanted to admit. Silence meant waiting. And waiting usually meant something unpleasant was coming.Niccolò had been equally absent.Not physically. He was still in the house every night, but he had barely been around otherwise. Whatever business occupied him seemed important. Over the past few days, the
~~NICCOLÒ~~ I woke up in the middle of the night. Lena was sprawled against my chest calmly, one of her arms was tucked beneath my ribs while the other rested over my stomach. Her breathing was even now, and she felt soft on my skin. Every few minutes she shifted slightly closer without even realizing it, chasing my body warmth in her sleep. And every single time she did, my mind got worse. The room was dark except for the faint city lights slipping through the curtains. I stared at the ceiling, with one arm behind my head while the other stayed wrapped around her waist. This was a mistake. A massive one. I had spent years building control so carefully that most people believed I was born without emotions entirely. Discipline kept people alive in my world, feelings got exploited and attachments got you buried six feet underground. Yet somehow this woman had managed to crawl under my skin in a matter of weeks. I looked down at her quietly. Her hair was spread across my ches
Niccolò pulled back from the kiss, breathing heavily, his forehead still stayed on mine. His eyes were dark, full of an emotion I couldn't quite name. Without a word, he stood up and took my hand, pulling me gently to my feet. "Come with me," he said calmly. I didn't argue. My legs felt shaky as he led me out of the study and down the quiet hallway toward his room. The mansion was silent around us and every step forward made my heart beat faster. The moment we stepped inside his room, he closed the door and locked it. Then he turned to me slowly. The lamp on the bedside table cast a soft, warm light across his face. He cupped my cheek with one hand, brushing my skin with his thumb like I was fragile. "I'm not going to rush this," he murmured. "Not tonight." "I don't even know what we're doing anymore," I admitted quietly. His thumb brushed my cheek again. "Neither do I." His eyes stayed on mine. "But I know I'm done pretending I don't want you." That surprised me more than a
The moment Niccolò stepped out with Matteo to handle the situation, everything crashed down on me at once — the note, the glitch in the camera, the fact that someone inside this house wanted me dead. I stayed in the study like he asked, but the walls around me felt like they were closing in. My legs gave out. I slid down onto the floor beside the large desk, with my back pressed against the wood, and finally let the tears come. They fell hard and heavily. I covered my mouth with both hands trying to stay quiet, but quiet sobs still escaped. Everything was just too much. The kiss from yesterday. The secrets. The surveillance. My mother's death. And now this — someone watching me from inside the mansion, threatening me with details only someone close would know. I felt so stupid, so small and completely alone even though I was surrounded by people. I cried until my chest started hurting, until my eyes felt swollen and puffy, until my throat felt sore. I was still crying when t
NICCOLO'S POV:I didn't sleep.I sat at my desk until the early hours with the photograph face up in front of me and worked through everything else around it. Reports from the overnight team. Security logs from the breach. Matteo's preliminary findings on the dental modification. I read through all of it twice and retained none of it the way I normally would because my mind kept pulling back to the same image: Lena sitting across from me in that chair, eyes burning, refusing to blink.She had asked the right question.I hadn't answered it. Not fully. And I'd told myself it was because she wasn't ready, because the hour was wrong, because the full truth needed more than a tired office and a photograph between two people who still didn't entirely trust each other. All of that was true.It was also true that I wasn't ready. And that was something I hadn't admitted to myself in a long time.I put the photograph in the desk drawer and locked it.At six in the morning Matteo knocked twice
~~NICCOLÒ~I left the living room without looking back, the echo of Lena’s desperate voice still hanging in the air. My steps were sharp down the hallway.Matteo caught up quickly.“Boss,” he said. “What do you want done with the three at the gate?”I didn’t slow. “Leave them. They’ve been punished enough. If they fail again, they’re gone. No more chances.”Matteo nodded. “And security? We should tighten it more. Double the inner perimeter, no solo movement for her even inside the grounds.”I let out a short breath. “How much tighter do you want it, Matteo? The place is already locked down. She still walked out. Tightening walls won’t fix the problem if she keeps testing them.”He didn’t push. After a beat he asked, “The hearing aid? Should I grab the spare set?”“No,” I said, adjusting the current one with two fingers. “It’s fine now.”Matteo left it at that. I continued to my room and pushed the door open.Bianca was already inside, standing near the window like she belonged there.







