Obsessed With My Beautiful Enemy

The Attack

CHAPTER 12

LENA POV

The alarms sounded like screams, my heart slammed hard against my ribs while red emergency lights flooded the room again. For one disoriented second, Salvatore still stood close enough for me to feel his warmth against my skin.

Too close. His hand was still wrapped around mine.

And somehow that terrified me more than the gunshot downstairs.

The softness from moments ago vanished instantly from his face. Coldness replaced it so fast it felt unreal. Like I imagined the c***k in his control. Like I imagined the way his breathing changed when I touched his scar.

He released my hand slowly before turning toward the room door.

"Stay here."

The command snapped through the room sharply. I stared at him in disbelief.

"Absolutely not."

His jaw tightened immediately. "Lena—"

"You don't get to lock me in rooms every time something happens."

Another gunshot echoed somewhere below us. Closer this time. My stomach twisted hard.

Salvatore reached inside his jacket and pulled out another weapon smoothly before checking the magazine with terrifying calm.

Everything about him changed when violence entered the room. His body became colder. Sharper. Deadlier.

But beneath that control, I noticed something else now. Fear. Not for himself. For me.

The realization hit unexpectedly hard.

"You think someone came for me," I said quietly.

His eyes lifted toward mine instantly. Silence answered me. Which meant yes.

God. The fortress suddenly felt too small. Too exposed.

Another alarm blared loudly through the hallway outside. Fast footsteps thundered past the room. Men shouting. Weapons clicking. Chaos.

Salvatore moved toward the door before stopping suddenly beside me again. His gaze dragged across my face carefully like he was memorizing it.

That strange intensity returned.

"You do exactly what I say tonight," he said quietly.

The tone wasn't angry. That made it worse. It sounded personal.

"I'm not one of your soldiers," I muttered.

"No," he agreed softly. "You're the reason they're searching every room in this fortress right now."

The words wrapped tightly around my chest.

Before I could answer, someone pounded hard against the door.

"Boss."

Charlie. Salvatore opened the door halfway without taking his eyes off me.

"What?"

"We found two guards dead near the south wing."

Cold silence filled the room instantly. Charlie's face looked grim beneath the flashing red lights.

"Execution style," he continued. "Professional."

My pulse started climbing again. Salvatore's expression didn't change at all. That scared me.

Because I was beginning to realize the calmer he became, the more dangerous things actually were.

"Where's Matteo?" I asked immediately.

Salvatore looked at Charlie.

"Still secured upstairs with Diego," Charlie answered quickly.

Relief crashed through me so fast my knees nearly weakened. Thank God.

Salvatore noticed my reaction instantly. Of course he did. He noticed everything.

"I want four men outside this room," he ordered Charlie. "Nobody enters without my permission."

Charlie hesitated slightly before glancing toward me.

"You think she's the target?"

"I think someone wants me distracted."

That answer chilled me completely.

Salvatore looked back at me again. "Lock the door after me."

"Salvatore—"

"Do not open it."

Then he walked out. Just like that.

The room suddenly felt empty without him inside it. Which was insane. Completely insane.

Because this man kidn*pped me. Destroyed my life. Murdered my brothers in front of me.

So why did the silence he left behind feel worse?

I hated that question.

Outside the room, voices echoed through the hallway while guards rushed past continuously. Thunder shook the windows hard enough to rattle the glass.

The storm over the island had become vicious now. Dark waves crashed violently against the cliffs below.

I wrapped my arms around myself tightly while staring at the closed door. My hand still tingled from where Salvatore touched me.

God. That brief moment before the alarms. The way he looked at me afterward. No man had ever looked at me like that before.

Like touching him hurts. Like it mattered.

The thought unsettled me deeply.

A soft knock interrupted my thoughts.

I froze immediately. The guards outside shifted instantly.

"Password," one of them barked.

A familiar laugh answered from the hallway. "Jesus Christ. Since when do we use passwords?"

Diego. Relief loosened something inside me.

The door opened seconds later before Diego stepped inside carrying Matteo asleep against his shoulder.

Brutus padded quietly beside them. The massive black dog walked into the room like he owned it. Honestly, he probably did.

Matteo stirred slightly against Diego before mumbling sleepily. "Lena?"

"I'm here," I whispered immediately.

Diego carefully lowered Matteo onto the couch while Brutus immediately settled near his feet protectively.

The sight almost softened the room. Almost.

I moved toward Matteo quickly, brushing hair gently away from his forehead. He looked exhausted. Too young for all this fear.

"He wouldn't sleep without checking on you first," Diego said quietly behind me.

I looked back at him. "What's happening downstairs?"

His expression darkened slightly. "Someone breached the lower docks."

My stomach tightened. "How?"

"That's what Salvatore is currently trying not to kill people over."

That sounded about right.

Diego loosened his jacket before glancing around the room casually. But I noticed it. The tension beneath his calmness. Even he looked uneasy tonight.

"That prisoner," I said slowly. "He wasn't really maintenance, was he?"

He snorted softly. "Not unless maintenance workers usually carry military knives."

I sat slowly on the edge of the couch beside Matteo. Brutus lifted his giant head briefly before nudging Matteo's leg gently with his nose.

The movement looked strangely affectionate.

"You trust that dog around him?" I asked quietly.

Diego actually smiled at that. "Brutus likes about three people on this island."

"And Matteo is one of them?"

"Apparently."

I looked toward the dog again. Brutus looked terrifying. Huge. Scarred. Violent-looking.

But Matteo slept peacefully beside him anyway. Another reminder that monsters weren't always simple. Just like Salvatore.

That thought annoyed me immediately.

Diego noticed my expression changing. "You're thinking about him again."

I glared slightly. "You enjoy making observations nobody asked for."

"And you avoid answering them."

Fair point. Unfortunately.

I leaned back against the couch slowly while thunder shook the room again.

"What happened to him?"

He stayed quiet for a second. Too quiet.

"I know about the m******e," I continued carefully. "But that's not what I mean."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "You saw the scars."

Not a question.

I swallowed slowly. "Yes."

"And?"

And nothing. That was the problem.

I should've felt satisfaction seeing proof that Salvatore suffered too. Instead all I felt was something heavy and uncomfortable sitting inside my chest. Pity maybe. Or understanding. Both were dangerous.

"He looked…" I hesitated.

"Weak?" Diego offered dryly.

"No."

That answer came too fast. Diego noticed immediately.

"He looked tired," I admitted quietly.

Something unreadable crossed Diego's face then. "Salvatore hasn't slept properly in ten years."

The honesty surprised me. I frowned slightly.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Maybe because you're the first person he's looked at without wanting to destroy them."

My pulse stumbled embarrassingly hard. "No," I said instantly. "He definitely wants to destroy me."

Diego laughed softly under his breath. "That's the problem."

Before I could ask what that meant, voices exploded loudly outside the hallway again.

Angry shouting. Fast movement.

The guards outside straightened instantly. Then the door burst open hard enough to slam against the wall.

I stood immediately.

Salvatore walked inside covered in rain and blood. Not his blood. At least I didn't think so.

His black shirt clung damply to his body while water dripped slowly from dark hair onto the floor. The entire room changed the second he entered it.

Brutus lifted his head immediately. Matteo stirred again sleepily.

And me? I couldn't stop staring at the blood smeared across Salvatore's knuckles.

His eyes found mine instantly. Sharp. Searching. Checking.

The intensity of it made my stomach twist.

"You're hurt," I said before thinking.

Diego looked painfully amused beside me.

Salvatore ignored him completely. "I told you to stay inside."

"I did stay inside."

His gaze dragged slowly across the room before landing on Diego.

"You brought them here?"

"He was panicking," Diego answered calmly. "Figured you'd prefer the kid alive."

Salvatore exhaled slowly through his nose like he was trying very hard not to lose patience. Then his eyes returned to me again. Always back to me. It was becoming impossible not to notice.

"What happened downstairs?" I asked carefully.

One side of his jaw flexed once. "We found another spy."

Coldness settled heavily in the room. "Another?" Diego repeated sharply.

Salvatore nodded once. "He killed himself before interrogation."

My chest tightened instantly. This was bigger than one escaped prisoner. Much bigger.

Salvatore walked toward the bar silently before pouring himself whiskey with steady hands. Too steady. That frightened me more.

"Dante?" Diego asked quietly.

"No."

Both of us looked toward him immediately.

Salvatore drank slowly before speaking again. "This doesn't feel like Dante."

The statement landed heavily. Because if someone like Salvatore Romano felt uncertain, everyone should be terrified.

I watched him carefully while lightning flashed outside the windows. The blood on his hands looked almost black beneath the red emergency lights.

And suddenly I remembered something. The way he looked after killing my brothers at the wedding. Calm. Empty. Broken. Like violence no longer affected him at all.

But tonight was different. Tonight something beneath his control kept slipping.

"You need stitches," I said quietly.

His eyes lifted toward mine again immediately. "There's blood on your shoulder."

Diego looked over instantly. Sure enough, dark blood stained part of Salvatore's sleeve near his shoulder blade.

He barely reacted. "It's nothing."

"It doesn't look like anything."

A dangerous silence stretched between us.

Diego suddenly cleared his throat loudly. "Well. This feels intimate. I'm leaving."

Nobody answered him. Typical.

He smirked slightly before heading toward the door anyway. "Try not to emotionally destroy each other before morning," he muttered.

The door shut behind him.

Now it was just me. Salvatore. Matteo is sleeping nearby. And Brutus watched everything like a silent guard.

Salvatore loosened his bloody sleeve slowly before sitting heavily in one of the chairs near the fireplace. For the first time since I met him, he looked exhausted.

Not weak. Never weak. But tired in a way that reached bone deep.

The scar near his collarbone remained visible beneath the open shirt.

Without thinking, I moved closer. Big mistake.

Because the second I stepped near him, his entire body tensed automatically. Like instinct. Like survival.

"You don't trust anyone," I murmured softly.

His eyes stayed on me. "No."

"At least you're honest about it."

"Honesty keeps people alive."

I stopped directly in front of him. The tension between us thickened immediately. Dangerous. Heavy.

His gaze lowered briefly toward my mouth before returning upward again.

God. Every look from this man felt physical.

"You should let someone clean that wound," I whispered.

"Are you volunteering?"

The low roughness in his voice sent heat straight through me embarrassingly fast. I hated that. Hated him for noticing too.

Slowly, Salvatore leaned back slightly in the chair while still watching me. Like a predator pretending not to stalk.

"You're afraid of me," he said quietly.

I swallowed slowly. "Yes."

The honesty seemed to affect him somehow. His expression darkened.

"But not enough," he murmured.

Before I could answer, Brutus suddenly growled. Low. Warning.

Every muscle in Salvatore's body locked instantly. The dog stood up fast beside Matteo, ears pulled back toward the hallway.

Then the lights went out completely