All Chapters of SUBSTITUTE BRIDE FOR THE MAFIA DON: Chapter 261 - Chapter 270

Andrea’s POVI froze, electricity shooting through my skin where he touched me. It was the first time he'd touched me since that day in my room, and my body reacted instantly—heart racing, skin heating, breath catching.I looked down at his hand on my wrist, at those long fingers wrapped around my arm, then up at his face. He'd taken off his sunglasses now, and those dark eyes were looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite read."What?" I asked, my voice coming out breathier than I intended.He held my gaze for a long moment, something flickering in those dark depths. Then he released me like I'd burned him. "Nothing. Just... stay close when we're inside. This mall gets crowded, and I don't want to lose track of you.""I'm eighteen, not eight. I think I can manage not to get lost.""Just stay close," he repeated, his voice hard. Then he got out of the car.I sat there for a second, my wrist still tingling where he'd touched me, trying to get my racing heart under control. Then

Andrea’s POVAfter I checked out and paid for the clothes, we left the store. I could feel Dante's anger radiating off him in waves as he walked beside me, his hand on my lower back again—firm, possessive, and completely at odds with the cold distance he'd been maintaining for the past five days.We made it about ten feet from the store before he stopped abruptly, turning to face me."What the fuck was that about?" His voice was low, controlled, but I could hear the fury simmering underneath."What was what about?" I tried to play innocent, adjusting the shopping bags in my hands to avoid looking at him."Don't play dumb, Andrea. You just told a store full of people that I'm gay.""It was nothing," I said, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal. "Just a harmless joke.""A harmless joke." He stepped closer, and I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact. "You think lying about someone's sexuality is a harmless joke?""They were being annoying," I muttered, my cheeks heating under

Dante's POVSeeing the hurt look on Andrea's face hurt me more than I cared to admit.The words I'd said to her had been cruel. Deliberately cruel. I'd watched her face crumble with each cutting phrase, watched the light in those blue eyes dim and then go out completely. Watched her blink back tears that she refused to let fall in front of me.And every single word had felt like swallowing glass.I hadn't meant them. Not a single fucking one.But she needed to hear them.She needed to believe that what had happened between us in her room was nothing. That I didn't think about her constantly. That I hadn't spent the past five days avoiding her because being near her made me want things I had no right to want.She needed to think I was an asshole who saw her as nothing more than an annoying obligation. Because that was safer. For both of us.I didn't want her thinking I was like the prince charming in her romantic novels. I wasn't. I was a dangerous man and I was bad news. My hands were

Andrea's POVThe rest of the week, I behaved exactly as Dante wanted me to act. Professional and distant.It was easier than I'd expected, honestly. Easier to shut down, to build walls, to become the polite, emotionless stranger he'd made it clear he wanted me to be. I stopped asking questions. Stopped trying to engage him in conversation. Stopped looking at him with anything other than cool indifference.When he drove me places—which Luca still insisted on, much to both our displeasure—I sat in the passenger seat and stared out the window in silence. When he stood nearby while I explored museums or bookstores or walked through Central Park, I pretended he didn't exist. When our eyes accidentally met across a room, I looked away immediately, my expression carefully blank.I became exactly what he'd accused me of being that day in the food court: a spoiled college girl who was just passing time until she could go home.Except I wasn't spoiled, and I wasn't just passing time. I was prot

Andrea’s POVHis voice stopped me in my tracks. He still hadn't turned around, still had his back to me, but somehow he'd known I was there.I stood frozen in the doorway, torn between running and staying."Andrea." Now he did turn, and even from several feet away, I could see the intensity in his dark eyes. "Please. Don't leave."Something in his voice—the rawness, the vulnerability—made my feet move forward instead of back. I walked through the French doors and onto the balcony, stopping a few feet away from him."How did you know I was there?" I asked quietly."I always know when you're near me." He said it simply, like it was an undeniable fact. "I heard about your mom. Luca told me." He paused, his jaw clenching. "I'm so sorry, Andrea."The genuine concern in his voice, the softness in his eyes, was my undoing. All the fear and panic and terror I'd been holding back since Luca had told me the news came rushing to the surface.A tear slipped down my face, then another, and then I