The necklace lay between us like a verdict.
Angelo’s command - “Bring her to me”, still rang in the air, sharp as steel.
Two guards slipped from the room at once, their boots hammering against the concrete corridor. Silence followed, a silence that didn’t feel empty but heavy, thick, the kind that coils before a storm.
Angelo remained standing, stitches straining beneath his shirt, his jaw locked tight. His eyes never left the necklace, as though it whispered something only he could hear.
I stayed rooted where I was, pulse hammering. My chest rose and fell with uneven breaths, smoke still ghosting my lungs. And yet, some part of me couldn’t look away from him. His fury was a living thing, quiet, coiled, dangerous, and for once, it wasn’t aimed at me.
Minutes stretched like wire. The
