My pulse stumbled at that, something cold sliding down my spine. It wasn’t reassurance. It wasn’t even a warning. It was a promise.
Thedresswaitingforme was blood red. Of course it was. Everything about this date felt deliberate.
Silk skimmed over my skin in a way that made me feel exposed without actually revealing anything, clinging in places that made me too aware of my own body. I stood in front of the mirror longer than I needed to, staring at a version of myself I didn’t quite recognize.
This wasn’t me. This was something Leo was shaping for his own enjoyment.
“Turn around.”
I didn’t hear him come in. I swallowed and did it anyway. His gaze moved over me slowly, assessing, like he was deciding whether I met some standard I didn’t want to understand.
“Bellissima,” he murmured. “You look so good for me.”
“I didn’t dress for you,” I reminded him.
“No?” He stepped behind me, close enough that I could feel him there without seeing him, his presence pressing in. “Then who?”
I didn’t answer, because there wasn’t anyone else, and we both knew it. His fingers brushed my hair, lifting a loose strand before letting it fall again.
“Loose,” he said. “Like I told you.”
“I don’t care what you told me,” I said.
“I know,” he said, and there was something almost amused in it. “My little fighter.”
The car ride was worse than silence. It was awareness, of Leo sitting too close, of the city outside, of the fact that the car door wasn’t locked, like he was testing me already.
I could run.
The thought sat there, heavy and real. When the car slowed at a red light, I saw people just outside the window. Normal people, moving through their lives like nothing had changed. All I had to do was open the door. My hand shifted slightly in my lap before I could stop it.
Leo didn’t even look at me. “Try it. I fucking dare you.”
My breath caught. “I wasn’t trying to-”
“Lie again,” he said mildly, “and see how that works out for you.”
I stilled, forcing my hands to stay where they were. The light turned green, and the car moved again, the moment passingbefore I could decide what I was going to do. My chance was gone. Something twisted in my chest that felt disturbingly like relief.
The venue was already waiting for him. Glass and light and people who looked like they belonged there, all of it shifting the second our car pulled up to the curb.
Conversations slowed. Heads turned. It wasn’t loud, it wasn't obvious, but it was there all the same. Power didn’t need to announce itself, and neither did Leo Moretti.
His hand settled at the small of my back, firm and unyielding, guiding me forward.
“Stay close,” he said under his breath.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I snapped.
“I know,” he replied. “That’s the point.”
The doors opened, and there were cameras, flashes going off in quick bursts, voices calling out over each other as we walked to the entrance of the building.
“Leo, over here!”
“Who is she?”
I wasn’t expecting so much attention. I thought men like him preferred to operate from the shadows. I froze for half a second before Leo’s hand tightened slightly, grounding me whether I wanted it or not.
