“They’re the same person, Elena. That’s what you need to understand. I’m not two separate people, one good, one bad. I’m just, this. Violence and tenderness, protection and danger. All of it wrapped up in one very complicated package.”
“And Greco? The Russo family? What do they want?”
“My territory. My operations. Everything I’ve built.” The explanation continues, laying out the territorial disputes, the escalating violence, the reasons why a Christmas market became a battlefield. “Greco thinks he can take what’s mine through intimidation and force. He’s wrong.”
“And me? Where do I fit into all this?”
“You don’t. You shouldn’t.” The truth is bitter. “You’re an innocent caught in the crossfire because I was selfish enough to want something normal. Something pure.”
“Stop that.” Her hand reaches across the counter, finding mine. “Stop acting like you’re some irredeemable monster. You’re a man who made choices in impossible circumstances. That doesn’t make you evil.”
“Doesn’t make me good either.”
“No, but it makes you human.” She squeezes my hand. “And the human part—the part that buys flowers for his mother and dances in the snow and holds me when I’m scared, that’s the part I’m choosing to believe in.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Too late. Already did.” She stands, moving around the island to stand between my knees. “So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to stop trying to scare me away. I’m going to stay here until this Greco situation is resolved. And we’re both going to stop pretending this thing between us isn’t exactly what it feels like.”
“And what does it feel like?” The question is dangerous, but it needs asking.
“Like falling. Like fire. Like something inevitable and terrifying and completely worth the risk.” Her hands frame my face, forcing eye contact. “I’m not going anywhere, Alessandro. You might as well stop fighting it.”
“I hurt people, Elena. I destroy lives. That’s what I do.”
“Maybe. But you also protect what’s yours with everything you have. You care about your men. You tried to push me away to keep me safe.” Her thumb brushes across my cheekbone. “That’s not a monster. That’s a man who’s been forced to be hard because the world he lives in demands it.”
The words crack something open, some carefully maintained wall that’s kept emotions at bay for years. Arms wrap around her waist, pulling her closer, and for a moment, vulnerability is allowed, just this once, only with her.
“I don’t know how to do this,” the confession is muffled against her sweater. “How to be what you need and what my world demands.”
“Then we’ll figure it out together.” Her fingers thread through my hair, gentle and grounding. “But Alessandro? You need to let me in. Really in. Not just the sanitized version you think I can handle.”
“You say that now. But when you see what I’m really capable of—”
“Then I’ll decide if I can live with it. But you don’t get to make that choice for me.” She pulls back just enough to meet my eyes. “Deal?”
Looking at her, this stubborn, brave, impossibly optimistic woman who’s choosing danger over safety, me over common sense, my only possible response is truth.
“Deal.”
She smiles, and the room suddenly feels brighter. “Good. Now, what’s the plan? How do we handle Greco?”
“We don’t handle anything. I handle it while you stay here, safe, behind reinforced steel and armed guards.”
“Alessandro—”
“This is non-negotiable, Elena. You’re not going anywhere near this situation.” The command comes out sharper than intended. “You’ll stay here, where I can protect you, until Greco is no longer a threat.”
Her eyes narrow. “I’m just supposed to sit here like some damsel in distress while you go off and do... what? Fight some mob war?”
“Essentially, yes.”
“And how long is that going to take?”
“As long as it takes.”
“That’s not an answer!”
