SHADOW

CHAPTER SIX

I waited a long while before unfolding the letter.

Aurora, remember my warnings vincent isn't someone you can take down with rash decisons.Also remember you live with a ticking bomb.Wait Aurora.

The game isn't just about strength anymore.Its about patience

-S.

I folded the letter back and stared out into the garden's flickering lights."That snake,she had disappeared for months and now is watching me?"

"Wait" she repeated and turned back to the party."

THE NEXT DAY

The esate was quieter in the mornings.

It was a beautiful morning but not for Aurora who hadn't slept a wink.

Aurora stood the tall window of her room, unmoving .The letter was folded neatly on the dresser.Matteo had handed it to her last night despite being drunk.She remembered everything her sister said through the letter and the weight of understanding heavy on her . but that wasn't what kept her awake.It was Antonio.

The man who had stepped between her and Vincent the night before.A man known to break bones without blinking had defended her as if it were instinct, it made her heart warm up to know that he hadth defended her. But she couldn't feel happy for long because she knew if her past leaked out he wouldn't look at her with warmth but with that chilling fury.She had seen it before-that night at the auction.

A knock came through the door,interrupting her string of thoughts.

"Madam," a maid's voice came through the door, light but respectful ."Your prescence is requested in the east garden by the sir"

A single line that sent ripples through her spine.She replied with a single nod and went out to the east garden.

The garden behind the estate was crisp in the early hours,bathed in filtered sunlight and shadows from the tall hedges and trellised vines.There was a grace to the way the paths twisted through the greenery,elegant and restrained.Like everything Antonio was.

He stood by the stone founain.His suit jacket was off,sleeves rolled to the elbow revealing forearms with minimalistic ink- on his right arm there was a serpent wrapped around a sword, it's mouth opened in a silent hiss and it's fang bared at the blade's edge and on the left was the Roman numerals XII-VII(July 13) the day his brother died and day he changed.He didn’t turn when he heard her steps. But he spoke.

“You didn’t say a word last night.”

Aurora came to a gentle stop, keeping space between them. “There was nothing to say.”

He gave a soft scoff under his breath. Then turned, slowly.

His gaze landed on her like a challenge.

“You didn’t flinch when Vincent insulted you.”

“There was nothing to flinch at,” she replied calmly.

“Most women would’ve cried. Or left.”

“I’m not most women.”

Antonio's stare sharpened at that, as if something in her tone had shifted. He studied her—not the way a man looks at beauty, but the way a hunter watches something unfamiliar… something unpredictable.

“By my experience the quiet ones are the dangerous ones, should I be worried about you Aurora?”

Aurora tilted her head. “Your choice”

Their eyes locked. Long enough for the garden to fall still.

And then his voice dropped. A whisper, nearly lost in the rustle of leaves.

“I don’t like surprises, Aurora.”

She didn’t blink. “Then stop underestimating me.”

There was something fierce in her voice, but not raised. Something steady. He hadn’t expected that.

And something inside him shifted.

Maybe it was the vulnerability he masked with power. Maybe it was the wound he carried from a life of betrayal. But in that moment, for the first time, he looked at her not as a pawn in a marriage he didn’t want but as a woman who just might undo him.

Antonio didn’t reply immediately. His jaw clenched, his eyes studying her again. But something softened around the edges of his sharp features.

Then—slowly—he stepped closer.

Close enough for Aurora to catch the faintest scent of his cologne: something dark, like cedarwood and smoke. A scent that belonged to someone constantly walking through fire but never burning.

She didn’t move.

His hand lifted.

For a second, she thought he was reaching for her waist, maybe her chin.