CHAPTER SEVEN
Marco's name glowed on the screen between us.
Daniel's hand left my jaw…just like that. Clean. Immediate. Like it had never been there at all.
He stood up and answered the call. Walked towards the window in three steps and stood there with his back to me, shoulders straight, one hand in his pocket. Like a man who had never once in his life been caught almost doing something he hadn't planned.
"Marco." His voice was immediate. Flat. The voice that had nothing to do with thumbs tracing jawlines and everything to do with running an empire. "Talk."
I stayed where I was.
On the floor beside his bed like an i***t, hands still holding the bandage, watching him transform back into himself in real time.
The shift was seamless…effortless and absolute. Like watching a door clos
