He held my gaze without blinking. A faint, sarcastic smile tugged at his mouth as he stepped inside without waiting for an invitation.
I retreated two steps on instinct.
“Oh, we have plenty to talk about,” he said, closing the door behind him as if this were his house. As if my space and myboundaries meant nothing. He moved with the kind of arrogant ownership only he possessed.
I crossed my arms tightly across my chest, trying—and failing—to hide how threatening his presence felt inside my home.
“If you’re here to talk about the project, unless you have a decent offer, you’re wasting your time,” I said. “Everything I had to say was said in that meeting.”
He lifted one brow and came closer, his gaze relentless.
“Don’t play innocent with me, Valentina,” he said. “We both know what you really want out of all of this, and it’s time we settle it once and for all.”
My pulse spiked. A cold shiver traced my spine as I forced myself to hold his stare.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He laughed quietly—a dry, cruel sound—and stepped closer until his face was only inches from mine.
“Of course you don’t,” he said, clicking his tongue. “Playing dumb. Another one of your specialties, isn’t it? You have so many, I can’t even keep track.”
I clenched my teeth.
“Not more than you do,” I shot back. “Like pointing fingers. Maybe if you’d learned to listen before you judged, things wouldn’t have gotten to this point.”
He took another step, closing the distance, his voice dropping into something dangerously intimate.
“You want to talk about jumping to conclusions?” he murmured. “About listening before deciding something?” His eyes locked onto mine like a trap. “You had five years, Valentina.Five years to come find me and explain whatever you claimed needed explaining. And you never did. Why?”
My breath caught in my throat.
How dare he?
“Come find you?” I repeated, disbelief making my voice shake. “Come find you?” Anger surged. “I didn’t owe you anything!” The words tasted like blood. “After what you did to me—”
“You deserved it,” he said simply.
The certainty in his voice made me step back again, sick with the memory of how much I had once loved this man. How much power I had handed him.
“You see?” I said, bitter, shaking my head. “I didn’t owe you anything, Enrico. And even if I had tried to explain myself, you wouldn’t have believed me. Not no matter what I said.” My voice cracked. “You never wanted to hear me. You only wanted to destroy me.”
For a moment, something—something strange—crossed his face. A shadow.
Then it was gone. Replaced by pure cold.
“I still do.”
The words struck straight through my chest. I reacted harder than I meant to, hands curling into fists. I closed my eyes briefly, turned my face away, and dragged in a breath.
“Get out of my house,” I said, forcing myself to look at him again. “You don’t have the right to be here. You don’t have the right to accuse me under my own roof after everything you put me through. You have no idea what I survived.”
“You think I don’t?” His voice snapped instantly, anger flashing sharp in his eyes. “You think I don’t know exactly who you are and what you’re capable of, Valentina?”
My eyes burned with tears I refused to let fall.
“You never knew who I was,” I said, steady through sheer will. “If you did…” I shook my head, refusing to finish. “You’re not welcome here. If you have something to say, say it fast. I have things to do.”
He stepped closer again, gray eyes narrowing.
