All Chapters of His Secret Obsession: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The morning after Nico’s warning, I changed my phone number.It was a small decision, completed beneath the bright lights of an ordinary phone store, yet it felt like cutting the final thread connecting me to him. I sent the new number to my aunt, Uncle Angelo, Shelly, and the office. My finger hovered over Leon’s name for several seconds, but I couldn’t risk contacting him. Leon cared about me, but Nico was his brother and his Don. If Nico demanded my number, Leon might not have the power to refuse.When my aunt asked why I had changed it so suddenly, I told her I had been receiving calls from unknown numbers. It wasn’t completely a lie.“Is someone troubling you?” she asked.“No. I’m taking care of it.”“Arie, if you need your uncle—”“I know,” I interrupted gently. “Please don’t share this number with anyone. Not even Bianca.”The silence that followed made me wonder whether I had sounded too desperate.“All right,” she finally said. “But you can always come home.”Home.For a mome

By the time I reached the office the following morning, I had read Mr. Hart’s email so many times that I could recite every word from memory. Ethan Hale had requested that I join his account personally. I should have felt proud. Instead, nervousness twisted inside my stomach as I stepped out of the elevator.I had spent years trying to be noticed by one man. Now, all I wanted was to disappear, yet another powerful man had seen me after a single meeting.Shelly was already sitting at her desk with two cups of coffee and an expression that told me she had heard the news.“Our rising star has arrived,” she announced.“Please don’t start.”“I haven’t even started.” She pushed one of the cups toward me. “Mr. Hart sent the updated account list this morning. Your name is directly beneath his. Do you know how many people in this office would sacrifice their favourite relative to work on the Hale account?”“I would prefer it if nobody sacrificed anyone.”“That is because you’re new.”I removed

A month passed after the black box appeared outside my apartment.For the first few nights, I barely slept. Every sound in the corridor made me sit upright, every unfamiliar car outside my building sent me rushing toward the window, and every knock on a neighbour’s door made my heart pound as though Nico had finally come to collect what he believed belonged to him. I kept the emerald necklace inside the black box and buried it beneath a pile of clothes at the back of my wardrobe. I should have thrown it away. I thought about dropping it into the deepest part of Lake Washington or leaving it somewhere no one would ever find it, but I couldn’t bring myself to do either. Perhaps I kept it because it frightened me. Perhaps I kept it because some broken part of me still remembered the night Nico had placed it around my neck and told me the emerald matched my eyes.After that single message, however, nothing happened.There were no more packages, no threatening notes, and no Contini men wai

Nicholas’s POVArielle Romano disappeared two days after my wedding.She switched off her phone, changed her flight, and crossed an ocean without saying a word to me. By the time Leon entered my office to tell me she was gone, I already knew.The message had arrived twelve minutes earlier.She’s on the plane, sir.I read it once before placing my phone facedown on the desk. Across the room, three men continued discussing the Romano alliance as though nothing had happened. Contracts, ports, territories, and numbers were spread across the table in front of them. Angelo Romano spoke confidently about the businesses our marriage had united, while his lawyers examined the documents that would place his network under Contini protection.I heard none of it.Arie was leaving Italy.She had packed her belongings, moved her flight forward, and walked through an airport filled with my men without realising that every step she took had been reported to me. I knew what time she had left the Romano

For several seconds after leaving Nico, I remained in the empty corridor with my back pressed against the closed door. My knees felt weak, and my lips still carried the warmth of his kiss. I could hear the distant music coming from the reception hall, but it sounded muffled, as though I were standing underwater.I forced myself to move before someone found me there.The nearest bathroom was empty. I locked the door behind me and gripped the marble counter with both hands, gathering enough courage to face my reflection. The woman staring back at me looked nothing like the bridesmaid who had entered the reception earlier.My eyes were red, my cheeks were wet, and the lipstick I had carefully applied that morning was almost completely gone.Nico had removed every trace of it.The thought made my stomach twist.I opened my small handbag and pulled out my makeup. My hands trembled as I cleaned the smudged colour from beneath my lips and reapplied concealer around my eyes. I added another l