The ride back was quiet, but it wasn’t empty.
Alessia sat beside Rafael, her hands resting in her lap, still slightly unsteady, her pulse only just beginning to settle. Her mind refused to be still, replaying everything in fragments the trap, the fear, the moment she realized she had lost control, and then him. The way he had arrived. The way he had looked at her.
That look stayed with her.
It hadn’t been anger. It hadn’t been control.
It had been something deeper. Something far more dangerous.
She shifted slightly, her gaze flickering toward him for a brief moment before she looked away again. Rafael hadn’t said much since they left, but he didn’t need to. His presence filled the car steady, protective, unyielding in a way that made it impossible to ignore him, even in silence.
When
