Page 123 of Fire and Silk

Don’t make this harder than it already is.

She needs a man who doesn’t choke on his own name. She needs blood that won’t betray her, a future that doesn’t bleed. I can’t give her that.

She takes a step toward me. “What the hell are you talking about?”

I keep my voice cold. “Is it really so hard to believe? I used you. I got what I needed. The inheritance is mine. You’re not.”

Mico steps forward again.

“Let’s go,” he says to her.

“No!” she shouts. “Don’t touch me.”

She turns back to me, eyes blazing. “Severo, what is this? Just fucking tell me—”

I don’t blink.

And that’s when Mico grabs her.

She screams, thrashes as he lifts her off the ground and throws her over his shoulder. Her fists beat against his back. “Put me down!” she yells. “Severo—talk to me!”

I stay still.

Every cell in me wants to rip her back, cradle her against me, tell her she’s mine.

But I can’t.

Matteo watches it all. Says nothing.

Lira kicks harder. Mico carries her down toward the edge of the trees where the car waits, tucked in shadow. The engine’s already running.

Her voice fades.

Branches crack as they disappear behind the ridge.

My legs give way, and I fall.

Before I even found Lira, Uncle Nero had come to me. He gave me the update. Mina and Maksim were moving to find the heir before me. They didn’t care about timing anymore. Nero laid out their steps, and I gave him one order: slip Matteo in.

They thought Matteo hated me. They believed I boxed him out, took too much power, worked too far beyond the rules. It didn’t take much to let them think he’d betray me. They took the bait faster than expected. I fed them just enough resentment to give the lie shape.

They believed Matteo had turned. And when Lira signed the bond, I knew exactly what would come next.

She was the key. The third heir.

The bond put everything in our hands, and my siblings wouldn’t let that stand. So, they reached for the only pressure point I’d left open—Matteo.

Matteo played it well. Told me when Salvatri showed up at the Marrazzi estate, when he walked through the gates like he belonged there. Said he wanted his woman back. Said he could help them take me out .

The plan was straightforward: kidnap me and Lira, pressure her to cross the border. Use me as leverage, then disappear me we were out of jurisdiction. Make it look like I ran. Let her believe I chose to vanish.

They’d strip her of every truth she had.

And I was going to let them try.

At first, I planned to use it. Matteo would feed us every location, every name, every movement. My men would be waiting. Maksim and Mina would be caught red-handed breaking code. An assassination attempt against family is blood-law. Salvatri would burn with them.

But that night—she looked at him and called him family.