My chest ached so badly it felt unbearable. “Leo… I know everything. I know you only married me because you needed an heir.”
I’d been holding in that information for so long, it felt like a weight fell off my shoulders when I finally admitted it. I was scared of Leo’s reaction, expecting shock and shame. What I didn’t see coming was him bursting into laughter.
“Is that it?” he asked. “That’s how Angelo got you to come with him? He told you everything about my father’s will?”
“Y-Yes,” I stuttered.
“Bellissima, I never cared about the heir,” he admitted quietly. “Not really. The empire mattered. Control mattered. Power mattered.” His gaze lifted back to mine. “And baby, I found out after I took you.”
After? This was new information. I was convinced Leo took me for one reason only - to satisfy the clause in his father’s will. But I could tell he wasn’t lying. I stared at him helplessly.
“You’re still terrifying,” I whispered.
“I know,” he said.
“But not to me anymore.” Something dark and emotional flashed across his face so quickly it almost looked painful. Before I could think better of it, I leaned forward and kissed him. This time, he didn’t steal it. I gave it willingly.
Leo made a rough sound against my mouth, one hand sliding into my hair carefully, like he still couldn’t believe I was real. The kiss deepened slowly. Not brutal like before. Not punishing. Reverent. Like something sacred had slipped accidentally into the hands of a monster. When I finally pulled back, his breathing was uneven.
“You kissed me first,” he murmured.
“I noticed,” I said, flushing. His gaze darkened. Dangerous. Possessive. But softer now somehow. I slid carefully into his lapdespite his protest about his stitches, my fingers brushing the scar near his shoulder.
“So many scars,” I whispered. Leo watched me quietly.
“They all mean something,” he said.
“And this one?” I touched the bandaged bullet wound carefully.
“You.” Emotion clogged my throat. His hand settled against my waist possessively.
“You’re my wife,” he murmured against my skin. “My future. My family.”
His gaze lowered briefly toward my stomach before returning to my eyes. “And one day you’ll give me a child that grows up knowing protection instead of fear.”
That nearly broke me. I touched his face gently.
“You really want that?” I asked.
“I want everything with you,” he told me. The raw honesty in his voice made my eyes sting.
Outside, the rain continued pouring over the city Leo Moretti owned. But inside this room, for the first time, he wasn’t acting like a king. Just a man holding the only thing capable of destroying him.
“I would choose you anyway,” I whispered.
Leo froze. “What?”
I smiled shakily through tears.
“If I had the chance to go back…” My fingers slid through his dark hair slowly. “I’d still walk into that garden.”
His eyes darkened violently with emotion. “Chiara…”
“Because it would still lead me to you.”
He kissed me then like he was starving for it. Slow. Deep. Possessive enough to steal my breath. But when he lowered me carefully onto the bed afterward, there was something almost trembling beneath the control. Something vulnerable.
Like he still expected me to disappear. My fingers tangled with his.
