“Surprising considering she left him,” I gestured broadly around us, “This place.”
“Cosimo smirked, leaning against the doorway. “This place is worth ten million dollars,” he said. “Plus whatever’s inside… Twenty million, maybe?”
I blinked in surprise, the weight of his words hanging in the air like a balloon waiting to pop. “Twenty million? Seriously?”
I could hardly wrap my mind around the sum he mentioned. Felix and Cosimo came from a completely different world than I did.
“Mhm.”
“Right…” I said, thrown off balance. “Well um, let me show you what else I’ve cleaned up.”
After the kitchen, I showed him the upper floors. The bedrooms were sparsely furnished and still bore the scars of neglect, but the sheets were clean and the floors swept. I pointed out the little fixes I’d managed—the peeling wallpaper taped back, the broken doorknob replaced. He nodded along, occasionally making a quiet, teasing remark that made me tense just slightly, aware of the way he studied me as much as the rooms.
Finally, we headed back down to the living room. The faint light from the street filtered in through the dusty windows, and for the first time, the space felt almost lived in. Almost like it could belong to someone. I glanced at Cosimo, wondering what he was thinking, and found him smiling. Not in a mocking way, but in a way that made it hard to keep my walls up.
He was a really nice guy compared to Felix, and it was hard to dislike him. Even so, I couldn’t shake the sense that he was dangerous. Not in an obvious, threatening way, but in the quiet confidence he carried, the way he seemed to take in everything around him—including me.
I reminded myself to stay alert. Cosimo might be friendly, even charming, but that didn’t mean he could be trusted. Every move, every word had the potential to matter, and I wasn’t about to let my guard down.
“Find anything good?” he asked as we finished the tour in the living room. “I’m sure there’s a trove of treasures in this mess.”
“A lot of expensive stuff. I just set it aside for Felix.”
A flicker of disappointment crossed Cosimo’s face, but he quickly masked it with another smile. “Our grandparents always did have an eye for fine things. Like this,” he said, nodding toward an expensive piece of art on the wall.
“Here,” he said, stepping closer. Before I could move, he closed the distance, placing a hand against the wall just above my shoulder, effectively boxing me in. His other hand gesturedtoward the painting. “I want to show you this properly,” he said, voice low and smooth.
My stomach tightened, caught between surprise and caution. Warning bells were going off, but I wasn’t about to anger a man who was most surely in the mafia. “Uh… okay,” I muttered, careful not to lean in or encourage him.
He leaned just slightly, enough to keep me pinned but not threatening, letting his eyes flicker from me to the painting. “See the brushwork here?” he asked, tracing a detail with his finger. “You can tell the value isn’t just in the material, but in the care. Every stroke matters.”
I nodded, trying to focus on the painting instead of the way he’d trapped me against the wall. My heart was racing and I felt like a rabbit that had been caught in a trap.
And then, as quickly as Cosimo had boxed me in, he was off of me. I stumbled back, heart pounding, confused how he had ended up on the floor—until I looked up.
Felix stood in the living room like a coiled predator, every muscle taut and ready to spring. His eyes burned with a feral intensity, enough to make the air itself seem to shiver. The lines of his face were carved in anger, jaw clenched, shoulders rigid, each movement measured and lethal. Even without a word, his presence filled the room with a dangerous, undeniable power.
Felix’s gaze snapped to Cosimo, dark and blazing. Every inch of him radiated tension, like a coiled spring ready to snap. His voice cut through the room, low and lethal, every word carrying the weight of restrained fury.
“Do not touch her,” he growled, each word dripping with warning and menace.
Cosimo slowly got to his feet, hands raised slightly in mock surrender, a small, almost amused smile playing on his lips. Felix didn’t move, didn’t speak. His glare said it all.
I froze, caught between relief that Felix was here and fear of what would happen next. Cosimo was calm, but I was sure even he knew better than to meet Felix’s fury head-on. Every instinct in me screamed that this was serious, that one wrong move could set off a storm I didn’t want to witness.
Felix’s eyes bore into Cosimo, dark and unrelenting. Every inch of him radiated danger, coiled and ready to strike. His voice cut through the tense silence, low and sharp, carrying the weight of both anger and warning.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, each word deliberate, each pause heavy with threat.
“I have a key,” he said lightheartedly, holding up his copy. “Came to give it back to you.”
“You could have done that at work,” Felix snapped, stepping closer, voice tight with controlled anger. “Not here. Not in my house.”
Cosimo’s smirk faltered slightly, though he still raised his hands in a casual gesture of surrender. “Relax,” he said smoothly, “I didn’t mean any trouble.”
Felix’s gaze didn’t waver, as if daring Cosimo to test him. “Trouble doesn’t need intention,” he said, and I felt an icy shiver crawl up my spine.
“Alright, alright,” Cosimo said quickly. “No harm meant. I’ll go.”
