DEBT OF DESIRE

THE KING'S MOVE

I knew she would come around. The moment she walked into my house with those desperate eyes, I saw it—desperation. I said, putting my phone away

“See, Dom,” I told Domanico, my new right-hand man, “desperation makes people predictable. It makes them bend, even break.”

I opened my drawer, pulled out a cigar, and lit it. Smoke curled lazily into the air as I smiled, knowing everything was falling into place.

“Boss… do you love her?” Domanico asked.

I chuckled, shaking my head. “You’re new to this game, Dom Dom. Your father would have known better. It’s never about love. It’s business. Always business. you'll understand everything when the time is right.”

I turned to the window, watching the roses in my mother’s garden sway in the wind, heavy with dew.

“Tell me, then,” he pressed carefully. “How does the game work?”

“Marriage isn’t a joke in my world,” I said, exhaling smoke. “A wife isn’t a lover or a companion—she’s leverage. An heir is insurance. Gabriella is my insurance. Not that she isn’t beautiful—she is. Too beautiful for her own good , in fact. She’s got that fire in her, the kind that almost made me reconsider… almost. But business comes first. Always business.”

I glanced at him, smirking. “Even when my phone rang and I heard her trembling voice saying she was ready to marry me, I felt something. Not pity—never pity. But a strange satisfaction, like watching a chess piece move exactly where you planned.”

My eyes darkened. “She’s going to pay for her father betraying my family. She doesn’t even know what she’s stepped into.” I laughed coldly. “You’ll understand this business later, Domanico.”

I stubbed out the cigar and gave the order. “Have the car ready by eight. Bring her straight to the estate. And tell Matteo to prepare the contract. I’m going to finish what my father couldn’t.”

“Yes, boss.”

My men never question me. That’s the difference between them and people like Aria—obedience is survival. And soon, I’ll bend her until she lives by my rules. She will obey everything I say.

The roses outside reminded me of what my mother always said when I was a boy: Even beauty needs thorns, or it won’t last. Maybe that’s why I chose Aria. She has thorns—she just doesn’t know how sharp they are yet.

I picked up my phone again and called my father.

" Father, I'm going to make people who wronged you before pay,"

" What do you mean, son?"

" Just wait and watch dad, you'll find out soon," I dropped the phone.

I went to bed that night satisfied, knowing tomorrow would be a big day.

By the time my men reported that the car was on its way to her building, I was already dressed. Black suit, black tie—my armor. A man like me doesn’t show cracks.

Today, Aria Russo would walk through my door again. But this time, not as a beggar.

This time… as mine.