THE MAFIA'S OBSESSION

ONE BED

"I am not sleeping in your room."

"You are."

"I'd rather sleep outside."

"You'd be dead by sunrise."

He didn't even slow down as he carried me through the hallway.

I crossed my arms.

"As romantic as this is, you can put me down now."

"It's not romantic."

"No?"

"No."

"You've carried every bride you've had into your bedroom like this?"

His eyes flickered down to me.

"You're my first wife."

"And the last?"

His jaw tightened.

"I don't believe in replacing people."

Something about the answer lingered longer than it should have.

He pushed open a pair of heavy wooden doors.

His bedroom was nothing like mine.

Dark wood.

A stone fireplace.

A wall lined with books.

One enormous bed.

I looked from the bed...

To him.

"No."

He finally set me on my feet.

"I'll take the couch."

"I'm not sleeping in your room."

"You aren't safe in yours."

"You don't know that."

"I do."

"You keep saying that without explaining why."

He exhaled slowly.

"I'm explaining only once."

His voice became quieter.

"My father built this estate."

He walked toward one of the windows before continuing.

"Every room has two keys."

"One belongs to the person staying inside."

"The other..."

"...belongs to the head of the family."

I frowned.

"So whoever came to my door..."

"...had permission."

His silence answered me.

A chill crawled down my spine.

"They weren't supposed to come for you."

His eyes met mine.

"They were testing me."

The realization hit like ice.

"They wanted to see if you'd protect me."

"Exactly."

"And you did."

"I always will."

The words slipped out before either of us realized what he'd said.

The room fell silent.

He looked away first.

"I mean..."

He cleared his throat.

"As long as you're my responsibility."

There it was.

The wall again.

I nodded.

"Of course."

Neither of us believed that was what he'd meant.

A knock interrupted the silence.

One of Dante's men stepped inside.

"Boss."

"What is it?"

"We searched the corridor."

"And?"

"The guard assigned to this floor is gone."

"Gone?"

"No sign of him."

Dante's expression hardened instantly.

"Find him."

"Alive or dead."

"Yes, Boss."

The man disappeared.

I looked at Dante.

"You think someone inside your own house helped them."

"I know they did."

He walked to the bedroom door and locked it himself.

Then he checked the windows.

The balcony.

The fireplace.

Every entrance.

Every exit.

"You really think someone will try again tonight?"

"No."

He turned toward me.

"I know they will."

For the first time since meeting him...

I saw genuine anger.

Not the cold control he wore like a second skin.

Real anger.

Not because someone had broken into his home.

Because someone had almost reached me.

I shouldn't have noticed.

But I did.

"You can have the bed," he said.

"I'll sleep on the couch."

"I don't need your sacrifice."

"It's not a sacrifice."

"It's strategy."

I frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"If anyone comes through that door..."

"They'll reach me first."

I stared at him.

"You'd use yourself as a shield?"

"I've done worse."

He said it so casually that it frightened me.

I climbed into the bed without another argument.

Not because I'd surrendered.

Because suddenly...

The room didn't feel nearly as safe without him in it.

The candles burned lower.

Minutes passed.

Neither of us slept.

Finally...

"Dante?"

"Hm?"

"Who called me?"

He was quiet for a long time.

"It wasn't me."

"I know."

"You believed that?"

"I would've recognized your voice."

Another silence.

Then—

"You should stop trusting strangers."

"I don't trust anyone."

"You will."

His voice was barely above a whisper.

"One day."

I smiled into the darkness.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"I'm not."

His answer came almost immediately.

"I'm making myself a promise."

I didn't understand what he meant.

But long after the room had fallen silent...

I couldn't stop thinking about those words.

Across the room, Dante remained awake.

Watching the locked door.

Watching the windows.

Watching every shadow that dared move.

Not because he feared for his own life.

Because somewhere along the way...

The woman he'd been forced to marry had become the only thing in the house he couldn't afford to lose.