Jealousy Has a Trigger
438 Words
The meeting finally ended, but Elena’s nerves were still buzzing. The men filed out… except Ramon. He approached with that same smug expression that made her want to hide behind Lorenzo.
But Lorenzo didn’t hide.
He stepped slightly in front of her, like a shield in a tailored suit.
“You have something else to say?” Lorenzo asked, voice too calm to be harmless.
Ramon glanced at Elena — slow, disrespectful.
“I was just curious,” he said. “How long do you think she’ll last? A week? Two?”
Elena’s stomach twisted.
Lorenzo’s voice dropped dangerously low.
“Walk. Away.”
Ramon smirked wider, leaning closer to Elena. “Pretty things break so easily—”
It happened in a flash.
Lorenzo shoved Ramon by the collar and slammed him against the wall.
Everyone froze — even Elena.
His voice was pure ice.
“You look at my wife again like that… I’ll take your eye to match the other one.”
Ramon’s smirk finally vanished.
Pietro stepped in, tugging Ramon away before blood spilled.
The hall emptied.
Silence.
Just Elena and Lorenzo.
His chest rose and fell sharply as he turned to her, eyes still dark with rage.
“You shouldn’t have been near him,” he growled.
“I wasn’t,” she shot back, breath unsteady. “He came to me.”
“You’re shaking.”
He stepped closer — too close.
His hand touched her chin, lifting her face gently despite the violence that had just happened.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Her voice trembled. “You can’t protect me from everything.”
He studied her — really studied her — like he was trying to solve a puzzle that scared him.
“I can try,” he whispered.
The tension sparked… crackled… pulled them together like gravity itself had an opinion.
Elena’s heart hammered.
She should’ve pushed him away.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she whispered, “Why do you care so much?”
Lorenzo’s jaw clenched.
He leaned in — lips just a breath away.
“Because when someone threatened you…”
His voice rasped with something dangerous and honest.
“…I wanted to kill him.”
Her breath caught. A shiver ran through her.
Lorenzo pulled back abruptly — like he’d revealed too much.
Then he turned away.
“Come,” he said, masking emotion behind command again. “We’re leaving.”
But Elena wasn’t the same girl who walked into that meeting.
For the first time…
being his wife didn’t feel like a cage.
It felt like fire.
- Writer
