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Chapter Eight: Trial by Fire

Author: Zainab
last update Last Updated: 2025-10-31 07:41:28

(Alessandro’s POV)

It was a mistake. I knew it the moment I agreed to let her go to that store. But the look of caged desperation in her eyes had worn down my resolve. I had become the monster she saw me as, and I couldn't stand it. So I let her go, surrounding her with a net of invisible security so tight I thought she'd be safer than she was in my own home. I shadowed her myself, parked in an armored sedan across the street, watching her through the store window, feeling like a fool.

I watched her move through the aisles, her face lit up with a genuine interest that made my chest ache. She was so beautiful, so alive when she was in her element. For a moment, I allowed myself to imagine a different life, one where I could give her simple things like this without the constant threat of war.

Then I saw them. Two men. Their posture was all wrong, their attention fixed on her with predatory intensity. Dante’s wolves. My blood ran cold. The traitor in my organization had struck ag
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