"I'm going through with the marriage."
The words land between us like something dropped from a height.
His face doesn't change immediately but I watch something shift behind his eyes, watch him process what I just said and come to terms with it.
"No, you're not," he says finally.
"Yes I am."
"Isabella—"
"I heard Matteo tonight. Talking with Rafael. He needs this alliance, Enzo. The family needs it. Without the De Lucas we can't handle the O'Rourkes and I'm not going to be the reason people die because I wanted something for myself."
"So you're just going to sacrifice yourself." His voice is flat and cold and barely controlled.
"I'm doing what's necessary."
"That's bullshit." He takes a step toward me and his jaw is tight and his hands are curling into fists at his sides. "You're scared. You're using duty as an excuse to avoid fighting for what you actually want."
"Don't." I hold up one hand. "Don't stand there and tell me what I want when you have no idea what it costs."
"I know exactly what it costs because I'm the one who's going to have to watch you marry someone else." His voice cracks slightly on the last word. "I'm the one who's going to have to stand there and watch Vittorio put his hands on you and know what it feels like to have you and not be able to do a goddamn thing about it."
The rawness in his voice makes my chest ache.
"I'm going to talk to Matteo tomorrow," he says, quieter now but no less intense. "I'm going to tell him everything. I'm going to offer myself as your husband instead. We'll figure out the alliance another way."
My heart breaks and mends and breaks again in the space of one breath.
"No," I say.
"Isabella—"
"I won't let you do that. I won't let you ruin your relationship with my brother over this. He trusts you. He needs you. I'm not taking that from him." I take a breath. "The wedding is happening. That's final. But—" I stop.
He goes very still. "But what?"
"But we have time before it happens. Days…" I meet his eyes. "We could be together until then."
The silence that follows is so heavy I can barely breathe through it.
"You're asking me to have you temporarily." His voice is dangerous and quiet. "You're asking me to touch you and taste you and be inside you knowing that it ends the second you put on a white dress for someone else."
"Yes," I say simply. "That's what I'm asking."
"That's the cruelest thing you've ever said to me."
"I know." My voice comes out barely a whisper. "But it's all I have to offer. It's this or nothing, Enzo. You decide."
He stares at me and I watch him war with himself, watch him run every angle, watch him try to find a way to say no and failing.
"If I agree to this," he says finally, "I'm going to change your mind. You understand that? I'm going to spend every second we have together making it impossible for you to walk down that aisle to him. That's the deal."
"You can try."
His eyes go dark. "You think I can't?"
"I think you'll give it everything you have and it won't matter because at the end of the day I love my family more than I love myself."
