He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from my face, the gesture almost gentle but laced with ownership. “Fight me on this, Kiara, and I’ll make sure every designer in Milan comes here under armed escort while you try on dresses in my bedroom,but you will not leave,not while there are enemies breathing who want to use you against me or my family.”
My chest tightened with a mix of defiance and despair,gis family had made it clear: I was an addition to their empire, not an equal,Elena would probably approve of this lockdown,Luca would laugh,and my own family,my father prioritizing the alliance over my freedom, Lorenzo burning with jealousy he couldn’t act on,offered no real escape.
I turned my face away from his touch, staring out the window at the guarded gardens.
“Fine,” I said col
