There’s no accusation in his tone. It’s light, even teasing. The tension in my chest loosens a little, and I can’t help the shy smile that breaks onto my lips. It’s strange how easily his approval settles something inside me.
“Well, not that I could even come between you two, even if I tried,” Roman adds with a shrug, his tone casual. “Alex already threatened to cut us off—or kill anyone who dares.”
My eyes widen.
He chuckles at my expression, like he’s just told a harmless joke.
I let out a nervous laugh, trying to mirror his tone, but something in his gaze doesn’t quite match the lightness. Wait… Was that not a joke? Why would Alex threaten his own family?
“You think I’m joking?” Roman asks, brow raising slightly. The amused gleam fades, replaced with something firmer, almost grim.
My breath hitches.
“He threatened his—”
A sudden throat clearing cuts him off.
We both turn.
Alex stands just a few feet away. Calm on the surface, but there’s a charged intensity in his eyes, like a quiet storm always brimming beneath his skin. That same quiet power he carries without saying a word.
Roman smirks as if this timing is perfectly on cue.
“Well,” he says, stepping back a little, “I guess that’s my sign to head back.”
He walks past me, and his hand briefly squeezes my shoulder. It’s light, almost absent-minded—but comforting in its own strange way.
“Welcome to this crazy family, Lucas,” he says with a low chuckle.
I blink, the weight of his words sinking in. Family. Like I’m already part of it. Like, somehow, I belong.
Then, just before he disappears into the courtyard, Roman pauses beside Alex. He lifts a hand and gives his grandson a gentle pat on the cheek.
“I think you chose right, Sasha.”
And then he’s gone.
Alex walks toward me, and with every step he takes, my breath stutters. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way he moves, slow, purposeful, commanding. His presence wraps around me like a second skin, tightening with every inch he closes. That aura of his—dark, magnetic, impossible to ignore. It doesn’t just brush over my skin, it seeps into me, coils around my lungs, makes my heart stammer in my chest.
No matter how much time I spend with him, it still feels like that first time. That sharp, terrifying realization that I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about him. That no matter how hard I tried… I wouldn’t be able to escape him. And the scariest part is… I don’t want to.
He finally stops in front of me, and my whole body tenses, held by nothing but the gravity of his gaze. Those striking eyes—ocean-deep, clear, and unreadable lock onto mine. They steady me, consume me.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks, his voice low and deep, the kind of voice that sends heat curling down my spine, pooling in places I can’t even name.
I blink up at him, but my brain is slow to catch up. He’s so close, his scent already invading my lungs, it’s warm and clean, expensive and familiar, like safety wrapped in danger. I forget, for a second, what he even asked.
“I want to kiss you,” I say, breath barely a whisper, but it’s the only thing I can think of. The only thing that feels real right now.
That wicked smirk pulls at his lips—lazy, beautiful, dangerous. My knees almost buckle. Dear heavens, that look on his—that mouth.
He steps in closer, until there’s barely space between us. His scent completely engulfs me now, sinking into my skin, my bones. It smells like home. Like comfort. Like addiction.
“What’s stopping you?” he asks, voice husky, gaze locked on mine like he can see every single thought I’m trying to hide.
“The people around… they might see us,” I murmur, my eyes not leaving his even for a second. We’re tucked just a little ways from the courtyard, but anyone could pass by and—
Alex tilts his head, that glint in his eyes shifting, darkening into something deeper. Possessive. Unshakable.
