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Tears spill down her cheeks, and this time she doesn’t try to hide them.

“So that’s it?” she whispers, voice hollow.

“You go into the dark, and I just sit somewhere safe and wait to see if you come back in a fucking box? I can’t do that, Ares.

I’ll lose my fucking mind.” She shakes her head, tears falling freely now.

My chest caves in.

“I can’t lose you,” she whispers.

“Ehi,” I murmur, brushing my thumb along her jaw, soft where everything else in me is steel. “Calmati, amore mio.”

A quivering breath pushes past her lips.

“I’m already lost in you, Jordyn,” I rasp.

“You own me. You fucking own me, and it terrifies me how deep I’ve fallen.

I can’t think straight when you’re near.

I can’t sleep unless I know you’re breathing next to me.

I’m crazy about you, bambina. And that’s exactly why I have to do this. ”

She tries to speak, but I kiss her instead. Hard. Desperate. Like it might be the last time. Her hands curl into my shirt, gripping me like she’s trying to hold my soul in place.

When I pull back, I rest my forehead to hers, swallowing the crack in my voice. “Let me do this. Let me protect you the only way I know how.”

Her breath hitches, and I feel the shudder of it run through her whole body.

“Don’t...don’t ask me to be okay with this,” she whispers.

“I’m not asking,” I murmur, brushing my thumb under her eye where a tear clings.

“I’m begging you to trust me.” I offer her a crooked smirk, trying to soothe her panic with what little charm I have left.

“Have you forgotten who you’re talking to?

Why do you think they call me Il Mietitore ?

I don’t die easy. Plenty have tried. I’ve buried every one of them. ”

She shakes her head, backing away like distance might change the truth. But I close the space between us again, wrapping my arms around her like armour.

“You’re not invincible, Ares,” she breathes, eyes searching mine. “You pretend like you are, like nothing can touch you, but I see it. I see how much you bleed.”

Those six words tear through me with more force than a bullet.

I hold her face between my palms, forcing her to look at me. “Maybe I’m not invincible,” I admit, voice low, rough. “But I have to be, for you. I can’t afford to fall, Jordyn. Not when they’re circling like vultures. Not when they already tried to take you once.”

Her brow furrows, fresh tears slipping down her cheeks. I lower my head until our foreheads touch, her breath trembling against my skin.

“You don’t get it,” I murmur. “If anything happens to you, I won’t just burn the world, I’ll fucking become the flame. And there’ll be nothing left of me to come back.”

Her hands slide up my chest, fists curling into my shirt like she’s trying to anchor us both. “Then don’t give them the chance,” she pleads. “Stay with me. We can leave it all behind, Sicily, the name, the war. The goddamn throne. Please, don’t do this to me.”

I close my eyes, jaw gritted tight. God, how I wish that were possible.

“If that were a possibility, do you think I would hesitate? I was born in blood, Jordyn. I can’t walk away from it. And even if I could, they’d never stop hunting us.”

I pull back enough to see her, to carve every gorgeous feature into my mind.

“But I can make sure they never touch you again. That’s why I’m doing this, bambina.”

Her voice is barely a whisper. “I don’t want you to. I can’t even think about my life without you in it.”

“You won’t have to,” I murmur, pressing my lips to her forehead. “Because I’m coming back for you. No matter what it takes. No matter how many bodies I have to climb over.”

I tilt her chin up, forcing her to meet my eyes, my lips grazing hers with every word.

“But if I don’t… if this is the last night I ever hold you, then I need to know you’re out there breathing, even if I’m not.”

Jordyn’s lips tremble as she chokes out a sob, and this time, I let her fall apart in my arms. Because I need to remember how it feels.

Because by tomorrow morning, she’ll be gone.

And I’ll be the fucking ghost hunting what’s left of my enemies in the dark.

Off the leash...until Nicolai is dust.

Jordyn’s tucked against me, her breath steady where her head rests on my chest. One of her legs tangled with mine, her fingers splayed over my ribs. Now and then, her thumb strokes my skin, slow and absent, like she doesn’t even realise she’s doing it.

And I can’t fucking breathe.

Because I know what’s coming.

I stare at the ceiling, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other resting behind my head, every muscle locked tight even in this silence. Especially in this silence.

The safehouse is ready.

Dante checked the place twice, once with a full sweep, once alone. Clean. Remote. Nestled along the Sicilian coast, buried behind olive groves and cliffs. No neighbours. No ties to the Russo name. Just stone walls, reinforced glass, and a view that pretends to offer peace.

There’ll be guards, of course. But not mine. Not anyone she knows. Ghosts pulled from Dante’s black book, ex-special forces, mercs, hired guns with no affiliations. They don’t ask questions. They don’t look too long. They don't know her name.

They won’t even know who she is.

To them, she’s just la ragazza . The girl.

No contact. No conversation. Only orders.

Her bracelet will still ping her location to me every hour. Quiet signal. Encrypted line. One Dante and I monitor in silence. No phones. No texts. The house is equipped with jammers in every room, set to block anything from leaking out. If anyone does try to trace her, they’ll find static.

And if they get close?

There’s a black car in the garage. Hidden panel. Gas tank full, keys already coded. Drive it far enough and it leads to a second location I haven’t even told Dante about.

A last resort.

She doesn’t know any of this. And I won’t tell her. Because if she finds out the layers I've buried her under, she’ll think it’s a prison.

But it’s not.

It’s the only place I can leave her and still carry on without losing my fucking mind.

If I lose this war, Jordyn disappears. New name. New life. Enough money in an offshore account to buy whatever future she wants. And if anyone comes looking?

They’ll find nothing. Just like I promised her.

I glance down at her now, still curled into me, eyes closed, breathing even like we’re both not acutely aware that this might be our last night together.

This might be the last night I get to feel her warmth against me. Breathe her in. Taste her.

She’s unaware that while she’s trying to hold me together, I’m already halfway gone, replaying every contingency, every threat, every move I’ll make once I let her go.

And when I do...God help anyone who steps into my path.

The veranda is quiet. Eerily still, save for the distant chirp of cicadas and the faint hum of wind rustling through lemon trees. I lean against the iron railing, cigarette burning between my fingers, eyes locked on the gravel drive like I’m expecting the world to end at any moment.

That quiet moment is interrupted when I hear the shuffle of footsteps. I don’t turn, I don’t need to. I know the cadence, measured, smooth, and cautious.

Enzo.

He stops a few feet away, close enough for the smoke to curl around him, but far enough to make sure I know he’s not trying to get too close.

“Just got the news about Luca,” Enzo says, voice low, unreadable. “What the fuck were you thinking, Ares? Going after Nicolai’s son like that? Luca is just a kid and you?—”

“He put that pill in her hand and almost killed her,” I cut in, voice flat. “Doesn’t matter how old he is. He knew what he was doing, just like Nicolai did when he teamed up with Alessandro and tried to kill Matteo. Or have you forgotten about that, fratello?”

Enzo stops a few feet away, staying just outside striking distance like he’s not sure who he’s talking to anymore. Probably smart, considering I don’t trust him for shit.

I take a slow drag, eyes fixed ahead. “No, I haven’t forgotten.

And I’m not saying he didn’t deserve to bleed for it,” he says carefully.

“But you didn’t have to go nuclear. Beating him, I get.

But gouging out his eye and cutting all his fingers off and dropping him on Nicolai’s front step?

” He exhales hard. “That’s grim, even by your standards. ”

I snort. “He’s lucky I needed him to pass on a message, or I would have cut out his tongue and fed it to him.” I assert calmly. “Maybe next time I’ll send flowers and a warning note? Or better yet. I’ll knit him a fucking apology scarf.”

Enzo’s eyes harden, and I can see the vein in his temple throbbing. “You think this is funny?”

“No,” I say, finally turning to face him. “I think it’s inevitable, and you’re wasting your breath.”

“For Christ’s sake.” Enzo’s voice is tight now, barely holding back. “You think you’re unstoppable. But you’re not, Ares. You’re not invincible. And this path you're on? It doesn’t end with you winning, it ends with you buried...and you’ll take her with you.”

I turn my head, just enough for him to see my eyes.

“And what would you have me do, Enzo?” I say, quiet but lethal. “Nicolai sealed his fate the moment he marked her. The bastard’s been watching her. Sending her roses with notes. He got into her fucking bedroom at the manor. She’s already been taken once. I’ll die before I let it happen again.”

Enzo glances toward the house. Toward the room where Jordyn is. “I know you think you’re protecting her, but you’re not, Ares. You’re dragging her deeper into something she doesn’t even understand.”

“I gave her the choice to walk away, and she didn’t take it,” I say.

“She took my hand instead and vowed to stand by my side. In my fucked-up world that girl in there is the only thing that matters. And I’ll kill anyone who tries to take her away from me.

That includes Nicolai. That includes anyone who sides with him. That includes you and Luciano.”

Enzo recoils as if I’ve struck him. It flickers across his face before he masks it with that cool, controlled exterior he’s always worn better than I have. “Do you really think I’d let anything happen to her… or to you?”

I don’t answer. I just glare.

Then a bitter laugh escapes me, low and hollow. “Don’t insult me, Enzo. Don’t stand there pretending like you’ve got my back when you’re holding the same fucking blade he is. You’re not here for me. You’re here for the throne. Just like him.”

“That’s not fair?—”

“Isn’t it?” I cut in, eyes narrowing. “You’ve been nodding along with every bullshit move he makes. The marriage. The legacy. Capo dei Capi. Tell me, did it ever cross your mind to ask what I wanted? Do you even fucking care?”

He swallows hard.

“Yeah, I thought not.”

A moment of silence lingers between us. Then I go for the throat.

“You talk like you’re better than me, like you’re the balanced one, the golden fucking child. But I remember your first marriage to Elena. You did it for the family, for appearances. How’d that turn out, huh? You were in someone else’s bed within a week.”

Enzo flinches hard.

I press in. “And now what? You gonna walk away from Bianca too if papà snaps his fingers and tells you to? Or would you just fuck her behind your next wife’s back like last time?”

“Don’t,” Enzo growls, the word low and dangerous.

“Why not?” I snap. “You can stand there and preach about duty and legacy, but I know what it cost you. And now you expect me to swallow the same poison and thank you for it?”

He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t have a fucking word to defend himself because he knows I’m right.

So, I step back, eyes burning into his.

“You may be my brother, Enzo. But if you stand with him, you stand against me. It’s as simple as that.”

Enzo looks down, voice tight. “This war’s going to kill you, Ares. And it’s going to kill her too, if you keep pulling her deeper into it.”

“I’m already dead without her.”

He shakes his head. “She’s a kid.”

“She’s not just some wide-eyed girl who stumbled into my life. She’s stronger and has more heart than you’ll ever know. And while you and Luciano were busy playing kingmakers, she was the one who made me want to live for the first time in my fucking life.”

“I’m not sacrificing her,” I say, voice low, final. “I’d rather burn this entire fucking empire to the ground than watch her become another casualty in a game I never asked to play.”

Enzo exhales shakily, then looks at me. “I don’t want to lose you, Ares.”

“You already did,” I answer quietly. “The second you backed the marriage to Giana, you chose their world over mine.”

I wait for him to deny it, but he doesn’t say a word. And maybe that’s the clearest answer he’s ever given me.

“I’d rather die for her than live with a woman I don’t fucking want.”

Enzo scoffs, but I cut him off with a glare sharp enough to draw blood.

“You think I don’t know how this ends? That I haven’t run every fucking scenario in my head? I’m not stupid, Enzo, I just don’t see the point in surviving a world without her in it.”

I step forward, voice dropping to something raw and low.

“And don’t talk to me about Giana like she’s a solution.

She’s a cage dressed in silk and Luciano’s signature on the bars.

You want to survive this war? Fine. But I’m not crawling through it just to sit on a throne built on someone else’s blood, holding someone else’s fucking hand. ”

I hold his gaze as I utter the next words. “She’s my endgame,” I whisper. “Not a deal. Not a strategy. Her . I’ll protect her with my last fucking breath, even if that means becoming the very monster I’ve spent my whole life trying to outrun.”

“You always did love too hard,” Enzo mutters, his tone defeated.

“Love like this doesn’t come soft, Enzo. It carves itself into bone.”

I turn to leave, but pause, just long enough to look him dead in the eye.

“Tell dear old Papà, nice try sending you to reel me in. But no dice. If he wants to leash me, he better come and try it himself.”

“Ares—”

I don’t wait around for him to spit out whatever he has to say, I turn and start walking away. “Riferisci al che la sua arma non obbedisce più.”

Tell the Don his weapon doesn’t follow orders anymore.