Page 118

“That's not for you to decide. All my life I've been surrounded by men who make decisions for me. I thought you were going to be different.”

I reach for the beautiful ring he gave me earlier and slowly slide it off my finger. My hand trembles as I hold it out to him.

“I need time to think,” I say, my voice barely steady. “I can’t do this right now.”

Nico stares at the ring in my palm, something painful flashing across his face.

“Eleonora…”

“Please,” I whisper, tears slipping down my cheeks. “Just… take it for now.”

The look on his face as I place the ring back in his hand nearly breaks me.

For a split second, something raw and painful flashes across his features, not anger, but something closer to heartbreak. It makes my chest tighten so hard I almost reach out and take the ring back.

Instead, I turn away quickly, tears already spilling down my cheeks as I walked out of his office. I didn’t want him to see me cry.

By the time I reach our bedroom, the tears have turned into full sobs. I crawl onto the bed, curling into myself, pressing my face into the pillow that still smells like him. The scent only makes it worse.

I thought he was different.

I really believed that somewhere along the way, he would see me as an equal, and not make decisions that affect me without letting me have a say.

Maybe I’m still nothing more than a pawn in this game.

The door opens softly behind me.

“Eleonora…” Nico’s voice is gentle, careful. He doesn’t come closer. “Baby…”

I keep my back to him, shoulders shaking with silent sobs. “I’d like to be alone. If you don’t mind.”

There’s a long pause. I can feel him standing there, watching me.

“I know this is your room too,” I whisper, voice thick with tears. “I’ll move back to my old bedroom.”

“No,” he says quietly. “If you need space, I’ll give it to you. This isourroom. I’ll sleep somewhere else.”

I hear him hesitate for another second, like he wants to say more, but then the door clicks shut again. He leaves.

The moment he’s gone, the dam breaks completely.

I bury my face deeper into the pillow and cry harder than I have in a while. Ugly, heaving sobs that shake my entire body.

I cry for my sisters, for Sienna who lost Domenico, for Camilla and Daniela who are still trapped in that house. I cry because I let myself fall for a man who kidnapped me. I cry because for a brief, stupid moment, I thought maybe someone finally sawme,not my last name, not my value as an alliance, not what I could give them.

Just me.

And now I don’t know what’s real anymore.

Do I even want to marry him? Or am I just terrified of going back to a life where I’m sold off to someone like Gallo?

Is this feeling in my chest love… or is it Stockholm syndrome wrapped in mindblowing sex I’ve ever had?

I cry until my throat hurts and my eyes burn. Until there are no more tears left, only exhaustion and a hollow ache in my chest.

I don’t know what I’m going to do. I just know that right now, it hurts.

The next few days, Nico keeps to his word and gives me exactly what I asked for. Space.