CHAPTER 12: VELVET BLADES
1209 Words
The silence in Salvatore’s office clung to the walls like smoke—thick, choking, impossible to ignore. Mia held her ground, but inside she was shattering. She wanted to scream, to throw the files at his feet, to demand why he’d done it.
But more than that, she wanted to believe him.
And that terrified her most of all.
Salvatore stepped closer, his dark eyes searching her face.
“I know you don’t trust me. I know I don’t deserve it. But everything I’ve done was to protect what I built—and now, to protect you.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Protect me? From what? The truth? Or from yourself?”
“You were never supposed to find that file,” he murmured, voice edged with regret.
“But if you hadn’t, you would’ve kept asking questions. And someone else would’ve noticed. Someone who wouldn’t hesitate to make you disappear.”
Her breath hitched. “Who?”
His jaw clenched.
“People much worse than me. People who don’t care about anything but blood and silence.”
Mia’s head throbbed. She couldn’t tell what was real anymore. Lies came too easily to men like Salvatore. But the way he looked at her now—like she was both his salvation and his ruin—shook her deeper than any truth ever could.
She dropped the file onto the desk with a thud.
“I want answers. Real ones. And I want them now.”
Salvatore exhaled slowly, then moved behind her and closed the office door. The soft click echoed like a gunshot in the stillness.
He didn’t speak. He didn’t offer empty promises. He just crossed the room, closed the space between them, and cupped her jaw in his hand.
“You want the truth?” he said, his voice low, rough.
“Then I’ll give it to you.”
And then he kissed her.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t apologetic.
It was everything they hadn’t said—every lie, every betrayal, every twisted thread of l**t and fury tangled into one violent, aching connection.
Mia tried to resist, but her body betrayed her. She melted into him, her hands fisting his shirt, dragging him closer like she wanted to hurt him and heal herself at the same time.
Salvatore growled against her lips, then lifted her effortlessly onto the desk, pushing everything aside until her back hit the cool wood. His mouth moved down her neck, his hands sliding up her thighs, bunching her dress at her hips.
“I hate that I want you like this,” she whispered, gasping as his fingers brushed dangerously close.
“I hate that I still want you.”
He looked up at her then, eyes dark with a hunger that had nothing to do with power and everything to do with her.
“Good,” he said.
“Because I’ve never stopped wanting you.”
Then his mouth was on her again, hot and merciless, tearing through her defenses. She opened for him—body, soul, everything—and he took it all like a man starving.
He knelt between her thighs, kissing a path up her inner legs, slow and punishing, worshipful and sinful all at once.
“Salvatore—” she moaned, hands tightening in his hair.
“I’m going to ruin you,” he growled against her skin.
“And you’ll thank me for it.”
And when his tongue finally found her, Mia shattered—again, and again, and again—until all that was left was her wrecked breath and the man who had broken her open with his mouth, his hands, his brutal truth.
When he finally pulled her back into his arms, her dress slipping back into place, Salvatore whispered against her temple.
“This isn’t over. But it’s real. And I’ll prove it to you. Even if it kills me.”
Mia clung to him, her heart bleeding between love and war.
Because loving him would cost her everything.
And leaving him… might cost her soul.
***
Mia’s throat tightened, the sound of his vow echoing louder than the rush of blood in her ears. She wanted to believe him. God, she wanted to fall into those words and let them cushion her from every ugly truth pressing against her lungs. But trust didn’t come easy. Not with Salvatore. Not anymore.
“Words are easy,” she whispered, still pressed against him.
“But the man I saw in that file… he doesn’t protect. He destroys.”
His arms tensed around her.
“You think I don’t know that?” he rasped.
“I’ve destroyed things I loved before. I’ve ruined lives, Mia. But you—I’d set fire to my entire world before I let it touch you.”
Her heart stuttered.
Then he gently pulled away, just enough to meet her eyes. His expression had shifted—still fierce, but open now. Exposed. And it was that rare flicker of vulnerability in a man like him that cracked something inside her.
“What do you want from me, Salvatore?” she asked, voice barely audible.
His thumb brushed her cheek.
“Everything. The truth. The lies. The war that’s coming. I want you with me, even when it gets ugly.”
She stared at him, heart breaking all over again, because she wasn’t sure if she could survive being pulled deeper into his world. And yet… part of her didn’t want to leave it.
A loud knock broke the stillness.
Salvatore’s entire body went taut.
He turned his head toward the door like a predator sensing danger.
“Stay here.”
But Mia slid off the desk before he could stop her, her dress falling back over her thighs, her hand gripping the file she’d uncovered.
“Not this time. If I’m in this, I’m all the way in.”
His jaw ticked, but he nodded once.
They moved toward the main room, the knock coming again—louder now, more urgent.
Salvatore opened the door.
Luca, his head of security, stepped inside, face pale and tense.
“Boss. We’ve got a problem.”
Salvatore’s hand dropped to Mia’s lower back instinctively.
“Talk.”
Luca’s eyes flicked to Mia, then back to Salvatore.
“The Valenti shipment was intercepted. Burned to ash. And we found this.”
He handed over a small, charred envelope. Salvatore opened it, scanned the contents—and his whole body went still.
Mia watched his hand curl into a fist.
“What is it?” she asked quietly.
He showed her.
Inside was a note, scribbled in blood-red ink:
“You were warned. She’s next.”
The world tilted.
Mia stared at the threat, heart turning cold. Suddenly, every secret, every betrayal… it all felt like child’s play compared to what was coming.
Salvatore’s voice was like steel.
“Get the car. Double the guards. No one gets near her.”
“But—”
He turned to Mia, cupping her jaw again. This time, his gaze was dark fire.
“You're not just in this anymore, Mia. You're the center of it.”
And for the first time, she wasn’t sure if she was Salvatore’s greatest weakness… or his deadliest weapon.
- Writer
