Riccardo’s POV
Morning came too quickly. I hadn’t slept much, but that was nothing new. Sleep was a weakness in my line of work. I spent the early hours doing my usual rounds—checking security, scanning for any holes the men might’ve left behind after yesterday’s mess in the garden. Leo had nearly lost his mind when Isabella was attacked, and if something like that happened again, none of us would survive his wrath.
I was heading down the hall, lost in thought, when
A blur of movement. A soft thud.
She collided with me.
A girl—no, not just a girl. Someone unfamiliar, delicate but with a kind of fire in her eyes. She bumped into my chest hard enough to stumble back, her balance slipping. Without thinking, my arm shot out, catching her before she hit the ground.
Her body froze in my gr
