“What if I tell Asher?” I whispered. “He’ll protect us. I know he will.”
Dad nodded.
But it wasn’t an agreement. It was resignation.
“Yeah,” he said, voice quiet. “I’m sure Asher loves you. Just the way you are. I’m sure when he finds out, he’ll be happy. Ecstatic, even. Maybe he’ll want to marry you right away.”
I almost smiled—until he finished.
“But when he tells his father… Domenico won’t hesitate to kill you.”
The air in the garage changed. Thicker. Harder to breathe. It was the first time he had said it so clearly. So bluntly. So full of hurt.
Someone wanted me dead. And not just anyone.
The Don.
It cracked something inside me. A new fear I hadn’t felt before crept into my skin like cold.
And for the first time, I was scared.
I wanted to speak, to say something—anything—bu
