Isabela missed her children terribly; the thought of their sad little faces broke her heart.And even though Alejandro hadn't been injured by one of his enemies, it didn’t ease her sorrow. Because many loitered outside the hospital, waiting for a chance to finish off the wounded lion.— If they think I’ll let them… they’re fucking with me, those bastards. — Isabela thought as she headed to the room where her husband was.The air in the intensive care unit was dense and cold, filled with the rhythmic sound of the heart monitors and the faint hum of the ventilators.Isabela walked to the room where Alejandro lay motionless, his body connected to a multitude of tubes and machines keeping him alive.Seeing him like this, something inside her broke.Alejandro Moretti was the man she loved, the father of her children, the king of an empire he hadn’t chosen but had sustained with cunning, blood, and loyalty.The impos
The night was a velvet curtain speckled with stars, but inside Moretti Hospital, everything looked increasingly pale. His fight for survival was becoming a difficult road to walk.Outside the hospital, the air was thick with danger. Isabela knew it, and she wasn’t going to stand idly by, waiting for the enemy’s attack.The doctors had told her that her husband was fighting fiercely to survive, although, so far, the prognosis suggested that everything was against him.Ramiro never left Alejandro’s side. He was his guardian, and when he had to be with Isabela, Miguel took his place. Alejandro would never be alone for a single moment.Those had been Isabela’s orders.— I want you to keep a close eye on the doctor who just walked in. — Ramiro instructed before being relieved by Miguel.Miguel nodded.The surgeon looked tense, which was unusual. The doctor seemed to be hiding
The night was at its darkest when Isabela walked with firm steps down the hospital corridor. It was 3 a.m.Her slender silhouette, wrapped in a blue coat, cast a long shadow under the hallway lights.Outside, the city slept, unaware of the silent war underway. But in Isabela’s world, peace was a luxury no one could afford.Ramiro was waiting at the end of the corridor, his phone in hand, his expression serious and calculating.— Barragán is down. — He handed her the phone with a paused video. — Stefano did it in style.Isabela took the device and pressed play.The shaky footage showed Vicente "El Filo" Barragán tied to a chair in a dark basement. In front of him, a man wearing a black mask held a gun aimed at his head.— You need to see his execution, Isabela. — Stefano’s voice spoke from off-camera.— The man who swore eternal loyalty to him was the first to sell him
The murmur of voices around him gradually faded, like a wave retreating into the vast sea.Alejandro still felt dizzy; the many voices around him made his head spin. Only hers brought him calm, which was why his eyes desperately searched for hers.— Isabela.His voice was still too weak. Just saying his wife's name was exhausting—holding a conversation was impossible.Tears still streamed down Isabela’s cheeks, but her smile wrapped him in the warmth of a sun reclaiming him after a storm.There was pain in Alejandro’s expression, but also absolute devotion to his wife.Isabela's fingers trembled as she caressed his hand, as if she feared he would disappear the moment she let go.Alejandro tried to swallow, but his throat was a dry desert. His skin felt tight, his muscles ached, and his own body weighed on him like heavy chains he couldn't escape from.Every breath was a titanic effort, as if his soul h
Alejandro had woken up more possessive than ever. Despite feeling weak, he was still a lion… And what was left for her? She loved that fierce beast.Alejandro pulled her toward him with the intensity of a man unwilling to lose what he loved most in the world.— I don’t want that man to look at you like that again. — His deep voice carried his profound displeasure toward Dr. Eliot. — I don’t like the way he looks at you, the way he talks to you…Isabela sighed and rested her forehead against his, her breath caressing his skin.— My love… No one else exists for me. Only you.Her words of love were a balm to Alejandro, but the fury within him still burned. He couldn’t help it.Knowing that another man desired her, that he looked at her with that gleam of interest, made him feel like a wounded animal ready to fight, even when his body could barely hold itself up.— You are mine, Isabela. — He whispered, his voice a
Each day, Alejandro regained his strength. Although he still had bandages and pain in his side, his body no longer felt as weak as in the first few days.He was tired of lying down, of feeling useless, of depending on others. He needed to know what was happening outside, how much the world had changed while he was trapped within those four walls.He was no mere kitten—he was a lion, used to giving orders and moving at his own will.Sitting up in bed, his back resting against the cushions, he looked at Miguel and Ramiro, his most trusted men. Both stood firm before him, their expressions unreadable.Alejandro knew them well—he knew the silences that hid more than words ever could.—"Alright, I'm awake and getting better. Now tell me, how are things going?"—he asked in a rough voice. The lion was roaring again; the king demanded answers.Miguel and Ramiro exchanged a quick glance. From the window, Isabela, holding a book
Isabela spent two hours in Alejandro’s room, enjoying a rare and precious moment of tranquility.They had managed to divert Alejandro’s attention toward his children, something she had thoroughly enjoyed.Listening to her children, Mateo and Lucía, share stories, laughter, and the affectionate gestures they had prepared for Alejandro made her smile.Alejandro wrapped his arm around her, now free from the IV that had been used for days to hydrate and medicate him. The bruises on that arm were hidden behind Isabela so their little children wouldn’t get scared if they saw them.Isabela understood, taking Alejandro’s hand in hers. She intertwined her fingers with his to help him keep his arm concealed behind her, as it still hurt a little.Despite the pain, he showed how much he had missed them. Their children filled the room with energy and joy, clinging to their father as if time and distance had never existed.Alejandro listened t
The hospital continued to operate like a well-oiled machine, with staff moving through hallways illuminated by the cold glow of fluorescent lights.Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the hospital's routine.But for Katherine, a young nurse in her second year of service, the air had become heavy, almost unbreathable.Her heart pounded in her chest, her hands trembled, and her mind replayed the scene she had unintentionally witnessed over and over again.From her station at the nurses' desk, she had seen two men pushing a stretcher covered with a white sheet. It wouldn't have been unusual in a hospital… if it weren’t for the fact that she recognized the woman's shoes beneath the fabric.They were high heels—expensive, designer shoes, far too elegant to belong to just any patient.The woman under that sheet was Isabela Moretti. She realized it the moment she saw those shoes, as she had always admired Mrs. Moretti's eleg
The city trembled under the constant rain, as if trying to wash away its own conscience. But for Vittorio Salvi, the water cleansed nothing. Each drop was a reminder of his failure, of the impunity that rose with the face of a king and the perfume of a queen.Salvi’s office, usually a mess of papers and spilled coffee, had been transformed into a kind of war room. On the corkboard, photos pinned with red tacks drew lines toward names, locations, front businesses, legal aliases and street nicknames.Alejandro Moretti was at the center, of course, but the real challenge was the figure holding everything from the shadows: Isabela Moretti. But she was clean and untouchable.Salvi didn’t say it to anyone, but he had begun to fear her more than Alejandro himself.— That damn woman has steel teeth and lava in her veins instead of blood. Alejandro’s luckier than he thinks to have her as a wife…— I’d like to think my wife woul
The rain fell without strength, but with persistence, as if the sky refused to let the day dawn in peace.In an old shed on the outskirts of the city, hidden under a false name and documents bought with the urgency of fear, Ramiro tried to sleep with a pistol under his pillow and his conscience devouring his soul.He had done the unthinkable.He had talked.He had signed papers, handed over documents.He had sold out Alejandro Moretti.His former boss.The man to whom he had sworn loyalty.Now, he hoped the law would protect him from what was coming next.But the law didn’t know the whole picture.Alejandro Moretti wasn’t alone.A soft knock on the door made him sit up abruptly.Three knocks. Then silence.—“Who is it?” he shouted, his voice rough.—“It’s me, brother.” The voice on the other side of the door was warm. Familiar.Ramiro breathed out, approached the door w
Isabela’s kisses had calmed, for a moment, the whirlwind of thoughts assaulting his soul.Alejandro had always prided himself on staying one step ahead of his enemies, but he had never imagined the enemy would be living under his own roof.That he had unknowingly opened the doors of his home—and his heart—to him.Alejandro valued Ramiro. He considered him his greatest ally, a friend.— This damn business destroys loyalties and affections — he murmured to himself.Looking at Isabela sleeping beside him, Alejandro felt a hollow in his stomach.The room was dimly lit, illuminated only by the faint glow of the moon seeping through the linen curtains.Isabela slept deeply, wrapped in white sheets, her serene expression contrasting with the storm Alejandro carried inside.He had loved her body with desperation, like someone clinging to a last breath before drowning.But neither her skin, nor he
Villa Moretti woke up under an overcast sky. The sea, which usually roared with poetic strength, seemed unusually silent that morning. As if it too sensed that something ominous was coming.Alejandro had been awake since before dawn. He hadn’t slept well since Salvi’s name reappeared on his radar.He checked every message, every email, every file, as if he could catch a ghost before it slipped through his walls.Sitting in front of the large window in his study, his eyes were fixed on the fog over the cliff. In his lap, the Protocollo Nero dossier lay open.A map of connections, allies, enemies, possible traitors, and dormant accounts in tax havens. Each page, a piece of his empire. Each red mark, a target.—Did you get any sleep? —asked Isabela, walking in with a silk coat and her hair still damp.Alejandro closed the dossier and slid it back into the safe.—Sleep is for those without enemies at cour
The Moretti villa in Costa Esmeralda looked like something out of a painting. The sea crashed elegantly against the cliffs, bougainvillea hung from the balconies, and the Italian sun bathed the stone façade as if blessing every inch of the property.But Alejandro didn’t trust perfect places. Nor did he trust weeks that were too quiet. His instinct told him he couldn’t rely on the apparent calm. An enemy could appear from anywhere.Since his return to Italy, he had followed the protocol: reappear as a businessman, cleanse his image in society through charity events, discreet visits to his lawyers, and zero contact with the past.A resurrected ghost in Italian suits and diplomatic manners.And yet, something felt… off. Something in the air unsettled him, as if the wind was warning of a storm, even though the sun reigned high in the sky.—"What’s worrying you, Alejandro?"—Isabela asked, approaching him as he stood on the
The journey back to Italy was as pleasant as it was safe.On a private jet, Alejandro and his family returned without setbacks, leaving behind Greece and a person they had grown to appreciate very much.Miguel.He had decided to stay in Greece with his woman, who was expecting his child.At first, Alejandro didn’t like the idea. Miguel had served him since he was very young, loyally by his side for years.But convinced by Isabela, Alejandro let Miguel go so he could marry Katherine, his former nurse, and start his family in Greece.Miguel would not serve Nikos; his loyalty was only to Alejandro.Melina, at her son Nikos’s request, got him a job at the Italian embassy. Miguel was now an honorable citizen with no criminal past.Grateful to Melina, Isabela left a friend behind—free from the hell she herself wished to escape.While Alejandro and his family arrived at their mansion in Cos
The sun slowly descended over the Greek horizon, tinting the columns of the Mikelos mansion in gold, as if time wished to linger a few more sacred seconds in that twilight moment.Isabela sat on the upper terrace, the one that opened directly to the Aegean Sea, where the sea breeze carried echoes of her childhood among ruins, bougainvilleas, and memories that hurt and caressed all at once.The air smelled of jasmine and hot stone, of history and broken promises. Her father’s mansion stood tall, surrounded by vineyards that stretched across the hills, as if the past tried to hold her tight.And yet, despite being surrounded by people who had watched her grow and appreciated her, despite her last name and her story, Isabela no longer felt at home—she felt like a guest in that enormous mansion.Her brother Nikos laughed in the music room, accompanied by his fiancée and by Alejandro and his children, Mateo and sweet little Lucía.
In the discussion between the Mikelos sisters, there was an involuntary witness. Nikos.He hadn't meant to overhear, he had returned to the mansion with the intention of talking to Isabela and asking her some questions.His fiancée was in agreement. She was having a good time with Isabela's children. Nikos's fiancée was a school teacher, she loved children and found Mateo and Lucía fascinating.Although he heard everything, he didn't mention a word to anyone about what he'd overheard.That night, he dined with Alejandro, whom he liked very much, and the entire Moretti family. Fífi was not invited to the dinner.The morning light broke through the windows of the house, tinting the linen curtains in golden tones.Nikos had woken up early and was watching the sea horizon from his room. His fiancée was still asleep, but he had spent the night awake, torn between the ghosts of the past and the urgent need to act.Hi
Alejandro had found out about the meeting Isabela had arranged with Andreas’s lawyer. He knew that her decision meant something serious.He feared he had lost her again. And what hurt and worried him the most was that this time, he wasn’t guilty of anything—except loving her madly.The first to walk out of that room was Fifi. Her face said it all.Running into Alejandro in the hallway, she stopped and looked at him straight in the eyes.— You’re a bastard, Alejandro. If you had the guts to choose me instead of daddy’s little princess, all of this would’ve been ours, and her organization would have a very powerful leader…— Now, you’ll have nothing. And do you know why? —That stupid Isabela gave it all to daddy’s bastard… he owns everything.Fifi’s bitterness was spit like venom, thinking no one was listening.But behind a heavy curtain stood Isabela.— I can’t believe I fell in love with a bastard like you. —I w