3

Nico

“Shit! Did she see me?”

Bianca’s voice was shrill, bordering on hysterical. Her hands trembled as she yanked her dress back up, the zipper catching halfway. “Oh God, Nico, did she see us?”

I reached for my shirt where it hung half-off a rusted chair. The fabric was still warm, my skin damp with sweat from where her back had pressed against me moments before.

She’s not allowed down here,” Bianca muttered, shoving her heels back on with shaking fingers. “This part of the house is off-limits. What the hell was she doing here?”

I smoothed the sleeves down, one button at a time. She stared at me, mascara smudged beneath her eyes, lips swollen from kisses that already meant nothing. She was a mess, hair tangled, chest heaving, breath stinking of wine and desperation. I’d barely touched her and yet she looked ruined.

It wasn’t flattering.

“Who was she?” I asked.

Bianca blinked. “What?”

“The girl.” I clarified, fastening the last button. “The one who ran.”

She licked her lips, still flushed. “Romano’s daughter. The oldest one. Alessia.”

Alessia Romano.

Of course. That kind of quiet, haunted beauty didn’t belong to servants. It belonged to the kind of girl they protected in golden cages. The kind who had no idea what monsters slept in her own house.

Bianca tried to laugh, but it came out brittle. “Well. This is awkward.”

I tucked the front of my shirt into my slacks and reached for my belt. I could still feel the girl’s stare, and I didn’t like how the image of her had rooted itself in my mind.

Bianca moved closer. “Do you really plan on going through with it?”

I didn’t answer. The buckle clicked.

“I mean, she doesn’t seem like your type.” Her tone shifted into something casual. “She looks… boring, if you ask me. Probably never even kissed a man.”

I slid my watch over my wrist.

Alessia Romano was anything but boring. She was a fucking temptation, the kind men went to war for. She looked like a girl who’d never had to fight to be desired. A girl who didn’t know what real hunger looked like. But one wrong look, one second too long in a room with me, and I could teach her.

God help me, I wanted to teach her.

I clenched my jaw, silencing the thought before it grew legs and crawled into places it had no business living. I didn’t do softness. I didn’t do delicate things.

“She won’t know how to handle you,” Bianca added, quieter now. “Girls like her… they break. You’d destroy her.”

I turned. “Is there a point to this?”

Her smile slipped. “I’m just saying,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself. “It’s not you. This whole charade. A marriage? Peace treaty? She’s a pawn. You hate pawns.”

So many people thought they understood me. They read the surface, and mistook it for simplicity. I didn’t hate pawns. I used them. That was different. What I hated was when pawns thought they were queens.

I stared at her. “It’s none of your business.”

She laughed bitterly. “Oh, I think it is my business. Considering you've been fucking me. I deserve—”

“You’re getting emotional.” I cut in.

And if there was one thing I’d learned in this world, it was this: emotion is the fastest way to lose power. One moment of softness, and everything you’ve built crumbles under the weight of sentiment. “We're done.”

She let out a small, sharp breath like I’d slapped her. “What?”

“I thought you knew what this was,” I said flatly.

“I did!” she snapped. “But I’m not made of stone, Nico. You think I’d sleep with someone for six months and not feel something?”

I sighed inwardly. “You feel something. That’s your problem.”

“You don’t feel anything, do you?” Her voice broke. “I love you, Nico.”

The words hung in the room like poison.

“I love you,” she said again, softer now. “I thought maybe… maybe you felt something too. You let me stay. You let me close. I thought—”

“You thought wrong. You were the closest intel I could get to Romano. Unfortunately, you haven't given me anything solid these past few weeks. You've let your feelings cloud your judgement. That makes you a liability.”

Her lips parted. “So you used me?”

“You let yourself be used.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. Her lipstick quivered. “You can’t just… fuck me and then discard me like some cheap whore.”

“You’re right,” I said smoothly. “You were a very expensive whore.”

She staggered back like I’d hit her.

“I let you in,” she said, her voice shaking. “I gave you everything. I risked my life for you.”

“And now you’ve outlived your usefulness.”

The words came out too easily. But they were true. Part of me felt the itch behind my ribs, the darkness that always hovered just behind my thoughts. I could kill her. Right now. No one would question it. Not in this house. Not if they knew she was a filthy snitch.

Her expression twisted. Ugly, heartbroken and desperate all at once. “You don’t mean that,” she whimpered. “You’re just trying to push me away. I know you.”

“No,” I said. “You thought you did. You thought fucking me made you untouchable.”

“I would’ve done anything for you.”

“Exactly,” I said. “That’s the problem.”

Bianca stared at me for a long time.

And then something inside her snapped. “You’re going to regret this,” she screamed. “I’ll make sure you pay for what you did to me!”

I stepped forward, crowding her against the wall. Her breath caught in her throat. I leaned in, so close she could feel the weight of my disgust. “You let this become personal,” I said, voice low. “That’s your sin. Not mine.”

She flinched.

“You were a tool,” I continued, “and now you’re broken. I don’t keep broken things around.”

“I’ll tell him,” she hissed. “I’ll tell Romano everything.”

My jaw clenched. This is why you never blurred the line. Why pleasure was never worth the price of unpredictability.

“Do it.” I said calmly.

Her eyes widened.

“Tell him everything,” I added, adjusting my cuffs. “Then pray he kills you before I do.”