empire of sin

Chapter 5:Ties That Bind

Florence – The Romano Estate, The Next Night

Sofia hadn’t left the estate.

She told herself it was because she needed answers. Because Leo’s claimthat her father had been murderedechoed in her chest like a heartbeat she couldn’t silence.

But the truth?

She couldn’t walk away.

Not yet.

She sat in Leo’s study, sunlight bleeding through tall windows, lighting the dust motes like golden ash. A stack of her father’s journals lay before her. Leo had retrieved them from one of his private vaults—somehow knowing more about her family than she ever had.

She flipped a page and paused.

There it was.

A single name, written in her father’s familiar hand L. Romano. Underlined twice.

Beneath it:

>L “He gave me his word. I hope to God he keeps it.”

She didn’t realize Leo was behind her until his hand closed around the back of the chair.

“I told you,” he murmured.

“You knew my father,” she said, turning to face him. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

His gaze was unreadable. “Because the man your father was in the light wasn’t the same man I knew in the dark. He worked with us briefly. He had something we needed. And then he disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

Leo nodded. “He tried to protect you. He paid for it.”

Sofia’s chest ached. “Why would a man like you care about his daughter?”

Leo stepped closer. “Because he asked me to protect you. And because the moment I saw you, Sofia... I forgot every reason I ever had to stay away.”

The air between them charged like static.

“You should hate me,” he said softly.

“I do,” she whispered.

“Then hate me while you come.”

Before she could speak, Leo pulled her into him and crushed his mouth to hers.

But this time, it wasn’t teasing. It wasn’t a threat.

It was consuming.

Sofia gasped into his kiss as his hands swept down her sides, grabbing her thighs and lifting her onto the desk, the journals forgotten beneath her.

His mouth trailed down her throat, sucking at her pulse point, dragging the strap of her dress off her shoulder with his teeth.

She arched, panting.

“I’ve waited long enough,” he growled.

He tugged her panties aside and slid his fingers between her folds, finding her soaked and ready. She moaned as he rubbed her c**t in slow, agonizing circles.

“I told you I wanted you begging,” he said against her neck. “But I’m the one losing control.”

She grabbed his shirt, yanked it openbuttons scattering across the floor and kissed down his chest, tasting salt and skin, desperate to feel every part of him.

He gripped the back of her neck, gently but firmly, guiding her face back to his.

“I want you to remember this,” he said.

“Remember what?”

“That I can be gentle with you... right before I f**k the lies out of you.”

He spun her around, bending her over the desk. Her breath hitched as he pushed her dress up, revealing her completely.

“Hands flat,” he ordered.

She obeyed, trembling.

Then snap.

A sting bloomed across her ass. His palm.

Her gasp turned to a moan.

“Every time you lie to yourself about not wanting me,” he said, voice low and gravelly, “I’ll remind you like this.”

He pushed inside her with one slow, brutal thrust.

Sofia cried out at the stretch, the burn, the rightness of it.

He filled her completely, and then he moved deep, slow, relentless.

She clawed the desk, crying out with every thrust. His hand tangled in her hair, pulling her back so his mouth could claim her neck. His other hand reached around to rub her c**t in hard, perfect circles.

“You feel that?” he growled. “How your body opens for me? You were made for this.”

She moaned, broken and breathless.

Her orgasm ripped through her with violent beauty, her body spasming around him. He followed moments later, spilling inside her with a groan that sounded like surrender.

They collapsed onto the desk, breathing ragged, skin slick with sweat.

When he finally pulled out, he leaned down and pressed a kiss between her shoulder blades.

“You’re mine now,” he whispered.

Sofia didn’t argue.

Because part of her already knew it was true.