All Chapters of His Arranged Protection: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

153 Chapters

LAST WARNING

LENA“Why is there a photograph of Niccolò in this file?”Marcus didn’t answer right away. He stood near the window with his arms crossed, staring at nothing in particular. The silence stretched long.I stepped closer.“Don’t do that. Don’t go quiet on me now. That picture was tucked into the last section of my mother’s case file. I want to know why.”He exhaled through his nose, still not looking at me.“Marcus.”Finally he turned.“I continued the investigation for a few months after Clara died,” he said. “Protocol required me to list anyone with a clear connection to the Santoro family as a person of interest. Niccolò was one of them. I followed that line because I had to.”“And?”“I never found anything solid that connected him directly to her death. No orders or confirmed presence at the scene. After a while I abandoned that angle and moved on.” He held my gaze. “That was it.”

NOW HE KNOWS

LENAThe rope burned my skin every time I twisted my wrists.I pulled harder, ignoring the sharp sting that ran up my arms. The chair creaked beneath me. My shoulders screamed from the angle, but I kept working at the knots. I forced myself to breathe slowly. Losing control wouldn’t get me free.A soft laugh drifted out of the shadows.I froze.The girl stepped forward slowly. The frail, helpless look was gone. “You’re persistent,” she said. “I’ll give you that.”I glared at her through the dim light. “Who are you? Why are you doing this?”She only laughed again.“You don’t need my name.” She stopped a few feet away, tilting her head. “You only need to understand one thing. Stop digging into a case that has already been solved. You’re going to ruin something that is going perfectly fine.”“If you think threatening me will make me stop, you’re wrong.”“I’m not threatening you.” Her smile widened. “I’m warning you. There’s a difference.”I leaned forward as far as the ropes would allow

THEY CROSSED THE WRONG LINE

NICCOLOLena finished speaking and the room fell quiet.I looked at her for a long moment. Her hair was still damp from the shower. The bruises around her wrists stood out dark on her skin. She sat on the edge of the bed with her hands folded tightly in her lap, waiting.My eyes moved to the file and the scattered papers between us.Only a few hours earlier I had been standing in the entrance hall with no idea where she was. Her driver’s voice had been shaking over the phone. No one could tell me what had happened. For the first time in a long time I had felt something close to real fear. I had stepped away from so much of the life I used to live because I wanted her safe. Because the thought of her getting pulled back into that world made something in my chest tighten until it hurt. If she only understood how far I would go to keep her protected. How far gone I already was when it came to her.I finally spoke. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”She looked up.“You should have said so

A THREAT

NICCOLO Morning light cut across the desk in thin, pale lines.I had been awake for hours. The reports Matteo sent overnight were still open on the laptop in front of me. Camera stills, partial names, dead ends dressed up as information. Most of it was thin. The useful pieces were buried beneath layers. I scrolled through them again searching for the pattern I had missed at three in the morning.The door opened behind me.Lena stepped into the room wearing one of my shirts, the sleeves pushed up past her elbows. Her hair was still messy from sleep. She stopped when she saw the laptop glow and the untouched side of the bed.“You barely slept.”“Matteo started looking into the girl,” I said without turning fully. “The delivery company and the driver who disappeared after he left you.”She came closer immediately, bare feet on the floor. “Show me.”I angled the screen toward her. We went through everythi

WE FOUND HIM

LENAI couldn’t stop staring at the photograph.The image was sharp. Niccolò’s hand rested on my waist, a small smile on my face, the wet sponge still clutched in my other hand. It had been taken only minutes earlier, while we were cleaning and laughing as though the world outside the window didn’t exist.Niccolò gently took the picture from my hands“They want us to know we’re being watched,” he said. His voice was calm, but there was something harder underneath it.“Do you think they were inside the foundation while we were cleaning?”“It’s possible.” He looked at me carefully. “But don’t jump ahead of what we know.”He was already pulling out his phone. He called Matteo and gave short, precise instructions. When he hung up, he turned back to me. “We should go home.”I shook my head. “I don’t want whoever this is to scare me away from my own foundation.”“Being brave doesn’t mean pretending you’re not afraid.” His eyes held mine. “We’re leaving.”I wanted to argue. The stubborn par

HE FINALLY SPOKE

LENANiccolò didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.Every question came out low and controlled while his hands did the real work. The man in the chair took it without a sound, jaw locked, eyes fixed somewhere past Niccolò’s shoulder, refusing to give even a single noise that might count as surrender. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth and dripped onto the concrete. His breathing stayed harsh but steady, like he had practised enduring this kind of pain before.I stood near the wall with my arms wrapped tightly around myself, watching the version of my husband I had hoped never to see again.Niccolò’s next strike was harder, the man’s head snapped sideways. For a moment I thought he might finally break. Instead he spat blood onto the floor and kept his mouth shut, eyes still distant and stubborn.“Who sent you?”Silence.Niccolò stared at him for a moment. Then he reached down, picked up the chair by its back, and

HE FINALLY SPOKE II

LENA I followed Niccolò out of the room and down a short corridor into a smaller space that smelled of concrete and cigarette smoke. Matteo was waiting with a laptop open on a metal table and several printed pages spread out beside it. He looked up when we entered, expression as cold as ever. “I went through everything he gave us,” Matteo said without waiting. “The names, delivery routes and payment methods. There’s a very obvious pattern.” He turned the laptop so we could see the screen. A list of aliases filled the page, each one linked to a different city and cover story. But the pattern underneath was the same. “It’s intentional,” Matteo continued. “Whoever’s behind this has been using the same framework for a while. This man was just one of the hands they hired. I’m certain he’s our connection.” A cold feeling slid down my spine. The idea that someone had been this organised while leaving notes on my desk and photographing us through a window made the air …. “The financi

THE THREE SUSPECTS

LENAI woke to the soft weight of Niccolò’s arm across my waist and the quiet rhythm of his breathing on the back of my neck.For a few long seconds I didn’t move. The sheets were warm and the room was still dim with early light. I let myself imagine that this was all there was, waking up beside him with no plans for the day, no investigation waiting downstairs, and no threats hanging over us. Just the two of us, together, with a quiet morning that belonged only to us. The fantasy held until the phone on the nightstand started ringing. I reached for it without opening my eyes fully, saw Matteo’s name on the screen, and answered with slight irritation.“It’s rude to call a married man first thing in the morning while he’s still in bed with his wife.”Niccolò’s quiet laugh vibrated on my back. The sound was warm and teasing, and for a second I almost forgot I was annoyed.On the other end of the line Matteo sounded briefly caught off guard. “I—apologies. I assumed you would both be up

SHE FOUND ME?

If Victoria knew anything, I needed to hear it from someone who had been close to her.By the next morning, we had an appointment with one of the few people who had ever managed her money.The woman sitting across from us looked like she had been expecting this conversation for a long time. She now ran a successful fashion agency, all glass walls, clean lines, and assistants moving quietly in the background. It was the kind of place that made the past seem far away, until someone walked in and brought it all back. She folded her hands on the desk and met our eyes without flinching. “Whatever you’re here for,” she said, “I had no part in it.” I studied her for a moment. “Do you know why we’re here?” “I knew it would be connected to my old life the moment I saw your names on the appointment list.” Her voice stayed even. “I was the financial manager for all of Victoria’s funds. I’m the most obvious person to

SHE FOUND ME? II

LENA The file sat on the desk in front of me, impossible to ignore. Clara Thorne. My mother’s name written in faded ink across the tab. My fingers hovered over the edge of the folder, the paper slightly worn at the corners. One movement and I would know whatever had been kept from me. Whatever had been worth hiding all this time. Months I'd stopped asking questions about her. Told myself the not-knowing was a wound that had scarred over. It hadn't. I was about to open it when I heard footsteps in the hallway. Niccolò. I shoved the file into the top drawer, closed it quietly, and stacked a random set of foundation papers on top of the desk just as the door opened. He leaned against the frame, watching me for a second longer than necessary. “There are a few businessmen interested in investing in the foundation,” he said. “They’re in the city today. You can have lunch with them if

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