Emilie’s POV:
The cool night air brushed against my skin as I stood on the balcony, the city lights sprawling below like a constellation of secrets.
My fingers still tingled where Milo had touched my cheek, his words…“Something worth keeping”, echoing in my mind like a dangerous lullaby.
I should hate him. He was the devil who’d bought me, the man who’d trapped me in his gilded cage to settle my father’s debts.
But that moment, the way his dark eyes softened, the way his voice dropped to a murmur, had stirred something inside me I couldn’t name. Desire? Fear? Or something far more treacherous?
I pressed my hands against the cold stone railing, trying to ground myself. The gala’s opulence lingered in my senses, the clink of champagne glasses, the predatory smiles of mafia wives, the
