"I don't know how to do this," I admitted. "I don't know how to care about someone without it destroying us both. The last person I loved—Eva—died because I couldn't protect her."
"I'm not Eva." Valentina's hand came up to cup my cheek. "And you're not the nineteen-year-old boy who lost his sister. You're a man who's learned from every mistake, every loss. You'll protect me better because of what happened to her, not despite it."
"What if I can't? What if—"
She kissed me, cutting off the spiral of fear.
When she pulled back, her eyes were fierce. "Then we fail together. But we don't fail because you were too afraid to try."
The gunfire outside had stopped. Domenico's voice came through my earpiece: "Hostiles neutralized. You're clear."
But I couldn't move. Could only stand there looking at this extraordinary woman who'd somehow seen past every wall I'd built and decided I was worth fighting for anyway.
"I'm falling for you, too," she whispered. "In case that wasn't obvious."
Despite everything—the attack, the danger, the bodies in my hallway—I smiled.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." She squeezed my hand. "So let's survive this. Together. Like we've been doing."
"Together," I agreed.
This time, I meant it in every possible way.
My phone buzzed with a message from Domenico:One alive for questioning.
I stood and helped Valentina up. My shoulder screamed protest, but I ignored it.
"Stay here," I said. "Lock the door behind me."
"Alessio—"
"This part you don't need to see."
I left before she could argue, before the look in her eyes could change my mind.
The captured operative was bleeding from multiple wounds, zip-tied to a chair in my secure room. One of Domenico's men had already administered enough first aid to keep him conscious. We needed answers more than we needed him dead.
I pulled up another chair and sat facing him. Close enough to smell his sweat and blood and fear.
"Who sent you?" I asked.
He spat. Blood and defiance.
I smiled. "Wrong answer."
Twenty minutes later, I had everything.
The attack had been ordered by Marco DeLuca personally—not through intermediaries, not through careful layers of deniability. He'd called the team leader directly, offered triple their usual fee, and provided complete security protocols for my penthouse.
"When?" I asked.
"Three hours ago." The man's voice was ruined, barely recognizable. "Said you'd broken the blood debt. Said you were harboring his daughter. Said she needed to be eliminated and you with her."
"How many more are coming?"
His remaining eye widened. "What?"
