SOLD TO SIN

Touch Her And Die

Chapter 05

*****

Obsidian Tower, 6:00 AM

Aria learned two things before sunrise.

One: Lorenzo De Santis didn’t sleep.

Two: He didn’t forgive either.

He was waiting in the foyer when Dante dragged her downstairs. Fully dressed this time. Black suit. Black shirt. Buttoned to the throat. No blood. No softness. No trace of the man who’d let her clean a knife wound six hours ago.

That man was gone.

The Emerald Serpent was back.

“You’re late,” Enzo said. He didn’t look at her. He looked at his watch. Like she was a meeting he didn’t want.

“It’s six AM.”

“And?” His eyes cut to her. Cold. Flat. “Debt doesn’t sleep, stellina. Neither do I.”

Dante shifted beside her. He didn’t know what happened last night. No one did. Enzo had made sure of it. The only evidence was the gauze under his shirt and the way Aria couldn’t look at his mouth without remembering the word no.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To collect.”

“Collect what?”

Enzo finally looked at her. Really looked. Head to toe. The green dress was gone. She was in jeans and a sweater , cheap, nothing that belonged in his world. Good.

“Your dowry,” he said. Vale Enterprises, 7:15 AM

The building still had her father’s name on it.

VALE ENTERPRISES

***

42 floors of glass and steel in Midtown. Richard Vale had built it from nothing. Vivienne had sold it for parts.

And now Lorenzo De Santis owned 51%.

Aria’s heels clicked on marble she used to run on as a kid. Employees stared. She didn’t recognize any of them. Vivienne had gutted the staff, replaced loyalty with leeches.

Enzo walked like he owned the air. Dante and Silas flanked him. Nyx brought up the rear, typing on her phone, ignoring Aria completely. That was new. And worse.

The boardroom was on the top floor.

Vivienne was already there.

So was Bianca.

They were seated at the long table, lawyers on either side, smiling like hyenas who’d found a fresh carcass. The smiles died when Enzo walked in.

“Mr. De Santis,” Vivienne purred. “We were just discussing the terms of—”

“You were discussing nothing,” Enzo said. He didn’t sit. He stood at the head of the table, hands in his pockets, like this was a execution, not a meeting. “Because you don’t own enough of this company to discuss the weather.”

Bianca’s face went red. “We have 49%.”

“You have 49% of a corpse.” Enzo nodded to Dante.

Dante tossed a folder onto the table. It slid, stopped in front of Vivienne.

“What’s this?” she snapped.

“Proof,” Enzo said. “That you’ve been embezzling from Vale Enterprises for the last three years. Shell companies. Offshore transfers. All tied to your personal accounts.”

Vivienne’s face went white. “You can’t prove—”

“I don’t need to prove. I need to bleed.” He smiled. It wasn’t nice. “And you’re hemorrhaging.”

Bianca stood. “You can’t do this! That company is ours!”

Enzo finally looked at Aria. For one second. One cold, dismissive second.

“No,” he said. “It’s hers.”

The room went silent.

Aria’s stomach dropped.

Vivienne recovered first. “Excuse me?”

“She’s a Vale,” Enzo said, like it bored him. “The last one with her father’s blood. And as of 4:00 AM this morning, she signed over her proxy rights to me.”

He lied.

Aria hadn’t signed anything.

But Vivienne didn’t know that.

“Security,” Vivienne screeched. “Get them out!”

No one moved.

Because Silas Kane had stepped forward.

Because Silas Kane was 6’5” of scar tissue and silence, and when he cracked his knuckles, it sounded like bones breaking.

“Walk,” Enzo told Vivienne. “Or crawl. I don’t care. But you’re not leaving through the lobby. Service elevator. Back alley. Like the trash you are.”

Bianca looked at Aria. Real hate. Real fear. “You b***h. You did this.”

Aria said nothing.

Because Enzo was right. She hadn’t.

He had.

And he’d done it without asking her. Without telling her. Without caring what it cost her.

He owned her. And now he owned her name too. Obsidian Tower, Penthouse, 11:43 AM

“You used me.”

Aria didn’t yell. Yelling was for people who thought they’d be heard.

Enzo didn’t look up from his desk. Laptop open. Gun next to it. Always a gun. “I used your name. There’s a difference.”

“Not to me.”

“Then you’re stupid.”

The word hit like a slap.

Aria walked to his desk. Planted her hands on it. Leaned in. “I said no to you last night. And you punish me by stealing the only thing I had left?”

Now he looked up.

Emerald eyes. Cold. Mean. Mafia.

“You had nothing left,” he said. “I gave you leverage.”

“You gave yourself leverage!”

“Same thing.” He stood. Slowly. Too close. “You’re in my house. You eat my food. You wear my color. You are leverage, Aria. Stop pretending you’re anything else.”

She hated him. Right then, she hated him.

Good.

Hate was safer than whatever she’d felt last night with his blood on her hands.

“Did you even need the company?” she asked. “Or did you just want to take something from them?”

His jaw ticked. “Both.”

“Why?”

“Because they took you first.”

The answer shut her up.

Enzo saw it. Saw the crack in her armor. He stepped around the desk. Crowded her. Not touching. Never touching. Not after she said no. But close enough that she could feel the heat of him. The rage of him.

“You think I’m the villain,” he murmured. “You’re right. But I’m your villain. And I don’t share.”

The door opened.

Dante. “Boss. Problem.”

Enzo didn’t move. Didn’t look away from Aria. “What.”

“Marinos grabbed a girl. Thought she was yours. Redhead. Green dress.”

Nyx.

Aria’s blood went cold.

Enzo’s face didn’t change. But the air did. It went arctic.

“Where?”

“Red Hook. Same warehouse.”

Enzo was already moving. Past Aria. Past Dante. To the wall of weapons. He pulled a gun. Checked the clip. Slid it into his shoulder holster.

“Dante, Silas with me. Call Marco. I want that block locked down.”

“And the girl?” Dante asked.

Enzo looked at Aria. One second. One decision.

“She stays.”

He left. Obsidian Tower, 3:22 PM

The building shook.

Not literally. But Aria felt it. In the air. In the way the maids whispered. In the way Silas came back alone, blood on his knuckles, and told her “He’s fine” before she could ask.

Nyx wasn’t fine.

Aria saw her on the security feed Dante wasn’t supposed to leave open. Nyx, carried in by Marco. Leg bent wrong. Face purple. Alive. Barely.

Enzo walked in behind them.

No blood on him.

Which meant all of it was on his hands.

He looked at the camera. Like he knew Aria was watching.

And he mouthed one word:

Mine. The Green Room, 9:00 PM

He came to her.

No knock. No warning.

He was still in the suit. Still perfect. Except for his hands. Raw. Split. He’d used them instead of a gun.

Aria stood. “Is she—”

“Alive.” He shut the door. “Unfortunately.”

He crossed the room. Stopped too close. He smelled like smoke and sin and violence.

“They thought she was you,” he said. “Green dress. Red hair. They grabbed the wrong one.”

Aria’s knees almost gave out. “Because of me?”

“Because of me.” His hand came up. Not to touch. To hover near her face. Like he wanted to. Like he wouldn’t. “Everything that happens to you is because of me. Understand?”

She nodded.

“Say it.”

“I understand.”

“No.” His eyes were black. No green. Just pupil and possession.

Instead, she whispered,

It wasn’t a surrender.

It was a weapon.

Enzo heard it.

His hand finally touched her. Just his knuckles. Brushing her cheek. Once. Like he was memorizing her.

“Good,” he said. “Now here’s what happens next.”

He stepped back. Cold again. Mean again. Mafia again.

“You’re going to sign those accounts over to me. All eighty-two million.”

Aria blinked. “What?”

“You want protection? You want Vivienne to stay in the alley where I put her? You pay for it.”

“You said—”

“I said a lot of things last night.” His smile was cut glass. “I was bleeding. Men say stupid things when they bleed.”

He was back. The man from the foyer. The man who threw her on a bed and told her to turn.

Aria’s stomach rolled.

“So that’s it?” she said. “I’m back to being a debt?”

“You never stopped.” He tossed a folder on the bed. “Sign it. Or don’t. But if you don’t, the next girl they grab will be you. And I won’t get there in time.”

He walked out.

The door locked.

Aria stood there.

And hated him.

And hated that part of her still remembered the word mia.

TBC...