For a beat, neither of us moved.
Then, with a shudder that might’ve been rage—or surrender—Sienna jerked her chin up, gray eyes blazing.
"Fine," she bit out. "But don't think for a second you own me."
I smiled darkly, cold satisfaction settling deep in my bones.
"You think you’ve escaped your cage, littleprincipessa?" I rasped, yanking the door open and shoving her inside. "You’ve only stepped into mine."
The slammed door shut behind her, sealing both our fates with a metallic click.
Sliding into the driver's seat, I allowed myself one slow breath before starting the engine. The car's interior was filled with her—her citrus and vanilla scent, the heat of her fury radiating from the passenger seat like a second sun.
She stared straight ahead, rigid and silent, but the air between us crackled with tension.
I gripped the steering wheel harder than necessary, the leather creaking under my palms.
Trust. Loyalty. Promises.
All things I knew better than to believe in.
A flash of memory sliced through me, sharp and unwanted: standing in a sterile courtroom, the world blurring as the judge pronounced my sentence. The faces that had once sworn undying loyalty to me—cowards and traitors—sat silently, letting me take the fall for crimes I hadn’t committed. My own blood had betrayed me, so-called "family" stepping over my broken body to seize more power.
Prison hadn't broken me. It had reforged me.
Now, looking at Sienna—the daughter of another Don, a woman bred into the very world that had nearly destroyed me—I felt the old instincts coil tight.
No one would ever get close enough again to use me as a pawn. No matter how tempting, no matter how infuriating, no matter how gorgeous she was with that fire in her eyes.
I would use Sienna Moretti to protect my empire, to prevent a war, and nothing more.
And if I felt something raw and dangerous stirring in my chest as she sat there, seething and beautiful in her torn wedding dress?
I crushed it down until all that remained was cold, calculated purpose.
The drive stretched in suffocating silence, thick enough to choke on. Her perfume—citrus and something sweeter underneath, vanilla maybe—clung to the warm air inside the car. It was a scent that didn’t belong to chaos and bloodlines. It belonged to sunlight and stolen summers. It infuriated me.
From the corner of my eye, I watched her fists clench in the folds of her ruined gown, white-knuckled and trembling. Every inch of her radiated tension—shoulders locked tight, chin lifted in stubborn defiance.
I flexed my fingers around the wheel, the leather biting into my palms. My jaw ached from grinding my teeth, a muscle ticking wildly in my cheek. Even the low rumble of the Maserati’s engine felt too loud, vibrating through the tight space between us.
I wanted to tear my gaze away. Focus on the road. Keep this businesslike. Clean. Controlled.
But my body, traitorous and hungry for something more dangerous than revenge, refused to obey.
She shifted slightly, her bare knee brushing against mine, and the accidental touch sent a flash of heat through me so fast I nearly cursed out loud.
This woman would be the end of me if I wasn’t careful.
And careful was something I couldn’t afford not to be.
The next turnoff loomed ahead, but instinct prickled at the back of my neck, setting my teeth further on edge.
A glance in the rearview mirror confirmed it—a black SUV trailing us at a distance, lights dim, engine humming low and predatory.
"Someone's following us," Sienna said quietly, her voice stripped of the fire, replaced with something sharp and cold.
Good. She wasn't stupid.
