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“I said I’m fine, Matteo.” My voice is sharper than I intended, but I can’t afford for him to see through me right now. Not when my thoughts are still tangled in Giacomo’s words.

Matteo studies me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, finally, he lets out a slow breath, running a hand through his hair. “I will not fail you.”

I blink. “What?”

He steps closer, his voice lower, rougher. “I failed once. I won’t fail again. With Emily… I should’ve seen it coming.”

He meets my eyes, unwavering. “I know you said you’re fine—that you’re all right—but I’m your husband. My first duty is to protect you. And I won’t let you walk into danger ever again.”

I stare at him, my chest tightening. There’s something raw in his expression—something that makes my heart ache.

I exhale, forcing a small smile. “You won’t.”

He watches me for a moment longer before nodding slightly. And just like that, the moment passes.

“Let’s go home.” He presses his lips against my forehead in the sweetest of gestures. “I think we proved our point being here. Dario and Ginny are leaving, too.”

Matteo leads me out of the gala, his hand firm on my lower back as we move through the crowd. The weight of the evening settles over me as we step into the car, the city lights flickering past the tinted windows.

But my thoughts are somewhere else. Giacomo’s words echo in my mind.

Be careful who you lie with.

I stare at the flash drive resting in my palm, my fingers curling tighter around it. I’m unsure if I’m more afraid of what’s on it or what it might change. Caught between the urge to destroy it and the need to know what it’s hiding.

The question is: Am I ready for what’s inside—and will I ever be? And once I see it, could it change everything I’ve come to know and love about the man sitting beside me?

32

MATTEO

Something is off. I can feel it in my chest. My wife has been…different these past few days. After the gala, I noticed a shift in her behavior. She tells me she’s fine, but I know her better than most—and I can feel that she’s not. Something’s on her mind—and every instinct points to Giacomo. The thorn that never stops digging deeper.

“I’m sure you’re overthinking it.” Valerio sits on the opposite side of my desk sipping a coffee. “Maybe she is just shaken up by what happened and then seeing Giacomo. Her head is probably all the way fucked.”

I shake my head and lean further into my chair. “No, it’s not that. She would tell me if it was. There is something else.”

“Maybe—but until she does, there’s no use worrying yourself over it. Just be there for her. Focus on what’s in front of you.” He sets his mug down and throws me the file he walked in with. “We know when the next shipment is for his trafficking ring. They are coming in from Western Africa, about fifty women—ten of them underage.”

My lips curl up in disgust. “That ass has no moral code.”

The men in this industry are far from saints, but we live by a code. We stand by the rules set out in order to keep all of us in check and from turning into absolute devils. The first and most important rule is that we don’t touch women or children.

“He will be gone soon enough.” Valerio adds, “We should have it intercepted by midnight before the ship officially docks. Dario lent us some of his men to make the bust.”

I nod. “Never in my years did I think that I would ever align myself with Dario, of all people.”

“Life has a crazy way of bringing the most unlikely people together. But we need to stay on high alert. I added three more guards to the penthouse, as you requested. We don’t need another person slipping through the cracks.”

I open my mouth to respond, but the shouting from outside stops me.

“You can’t go in there, he’s in a meeting!” I hear my receptionist call. “Please, just wait?—”

Then the door swings open without warning. Valerio looks over his shoulder, and we both look to the only one who could make it into this building without issue.

Daniele.

“I am so sorry, sir,” my secretary says. “I tried to stop him, but he?—”