Alle Kapitel von He Wants Me Dead Or Alive : Kapitel 21 – Kapitel 28

Rosa’s POVRaffaele called me to the kitchen in the morning. It wasn’t exactly a request, but it wasn’t a threat either. He just said my name from the hallway—low, certain—and I found myself walking toward the sound before I could decide not to. My body moved first, my mind trailing behind, already irritated with myself for it.Breakfast was already made on the table. Eggs, toast, fruit, coffee steaming in two mugs. Everything precise. Everything deliberate. He sat at one end, looking calm and put together like this was any normal morning, like I wasn’t standing there in his space, in his world, trying not to feel the weight of it pressing in from all sides.I almost said thank you. The word rose instinctively, polite and automatic, but I caught it before it left my mouth. It felt dangerous to give him even that. I swallowed it down and sat instead, keeping my movements controlled, measured, like I was entering an interrogation room instead of a kitchen.He watched me the entire time.

Rosa’s POVI couldn’t sleep.I lay in his bed, in his blanket, in his building, staring at the ceiling while the kiss from earlier played over and over in my head. His mouth on mine. Firm. Sure. No hesitation. I kept feeling the way my body had responded, the way I had kissed him back before my brain caught up. I hated myself for it. I hated how much I kept replaying it. I hated how warm my skin still felt hours later.At 1am I gave up.I got out of bed, pulled on the robe he had left for me, and walked to the kitchen for water. The lights were low, just the glow from the city outside the windows. I stopped when I saw him.Raffaele was already there, leaning against the counter, shirt untucked, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He looked like he couldn’t sleep either. I told myself it didn’t satisfy something in me. I told myself I didn’t care.We stood on opposite sides of the kitchen for a long moment, neither of us speaking. The silence stretched, thick and heavy.Then I said his nam

Rosa’s POVMy competition was eight weeks away, and the university gym was still off-limits. Eight weeks was nothing in fight time—skills dulled faster than people realized, timing slipped, reflexes slowed—and I wasn’t about to let that happen while I sat in a penthouse like something pretty and contained, waiting for a man to decide when I could step outside. That wasn’t me, and it never would be.I found Raffaele in the living room that afternoon, exactly where I expected him to be—on the couch, laptop open, posture relaxed like he owned not just the space but the air in it. Sunlight filtered in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, catching the sharp edges of his face and the calm focus in his eyes. For a brief second, I watched him, taking in the quiet authority he carried so effortlessly, before reminding myself why I was there.“I need to train.”He didn’t react immediately. He simply lifted his gaze from the screen, steady and unreadable as always. “You can train here. The gym

Raffaele’s POVWhen my father called, he didn’t ask.“Dinner,” he said, his voice steady and unhurried over the line. “Tonight.”That was it. No explanation, no room to refuse. There never was.“I’ll be there,” I replied.He ended the call without another word.I stood there for a moment, phone still in my hand, already knowing what this was about. My father didn’t come into the city unless something needed his direct attention, and he didn’t summon me unless he had already decided the conversation was necessary. Whatever he wanted to say, he had been thinking about it for a while.I got ready without rushing, but I didn’t waste time either. By the time I stepped out, everything was in place the way it needed to be. I didn’t tell Rosa where I was going. There was no reason to, and no part of me wanted to bring her into this before I had to.The restaurant was one of my father’s usual choices when he was in the city—private, quiet, and controlled. The kind of place where no one asked q