War changed the air inside the penthouse.
You couldn’t see it.
But you could feel it.
It sat in the silence between phone calls. In the way security moved faster through the halls outside Damien’s apartment. In the tension pulling tight across Roman’s shoulders every time his phone buzzed.
And most of all…
in Damien.
He became quieter after the meeting with Salvatore.
Not colder toward me.
Just sharper somehow.
Like every violent instinct inside him had shifted into full attention.
I noticed it immediately.
The way his eyes checked every entrance automatically.
The way he stood slightly closer to me than before.
The way his hand kept finding my lower back unconsciously, like reassuring himself I was still there.
The terrifying part?
I was starting to like it.
Not the violen
