CHAPTER THREE

Bella's POV

The moment his words hit my ears, the world didn't just spin for me, it fractured into tiny dizzying pieces.

I do.

I do.

I do.

His words echoed again and again in my ears and as it did, I froze mid-step, the cold wind biting through the thin fabric of my coat, the wet slush clinging to my heels. I wanted to scream, to retract the words I'd just said on an angry, humiliated impulse and make him do the same but the city had other plans.

Somewhere, a car honked, sirens blared in the distance, and a cellphone camera clicked

I glanced around to see that a stranger had been filming us already.

Someone at the corner of the street, smirking behind a lens, was filming us.

My face, streaked with tears, the ruined blush of my cheeks, the shaking velvet box open in the palm of a stranger I didn't even know... it was all being captured.

And then before I could think about how to react about it, I heard the ragged, panicked footsteps pounding toward us.

"Bella!"

I looked around to see that it was Ethan. He had run out of his office looking for me. His face was pale, his eyes wide, his chest heaving and his coat flapping against his back like wings desperate to catch me.

Immediately, I took a step back. I didn't want him anywhere around me. After what he just did to my heart, I wished for only one thing: that we were miles apart.

But then something strange happened.

Ethan looked at who was with me and his eyes widened in panic.

"Boss?" he blurted when he finally stopped just a few feet away from the stranger who had my hand in his and had found his voice.

Boss? I thought as I blinked rapidly in shock.

The stranger tilted his head slowly, his storm-gray eyes locking onto Ethan with that same unreadable calm.

"Ethan. What a coincidence," he said, his voice lazy but edged with a subtle menace, the kind that made your stomach churn and your instincts scream danger.

I stumbled back, clutching the ring box to my chest. "Wait... you know each other?" My voice cracked as I spoke.

The stranger's lips curved faintly. "Yes. He's... an employee."

My brain hit pause. My hands felt suddenly too heavy as the realization sank like ice water through my veins.

What the hell?I had just proposed to my ex-boyfriend's boss.

The man standing in front of me, impeccably dressed in a black coat tailored to his impossibly broad shoulders, with hair slicked back like he was carved from shadows, was none other than Luciano Moretti.

The Devil himself!

Oh my God! I thought in horror.

OH MY GOD! I thought again, my head spinning.

I wanted to run. And so I grabbed the ring from Luciano's hand, turned around and did just that.

"I... I'm so sorry," I stammered, my words stumbling over themselves like frightened animals even as I began to run. "I... I didn't... I didn't mean..."

Luciano didn't move, didn't even blink. His eyes tracked me as I pivoted, heels clicking rapidly against the wet concrete as I fled.

Behind me, Ethan shouted, calling my name, but I didn't look back. Not once. The bastard was the last person that could stop me right now.

By the time I made it back to my apartment, my lungs were burning, tears streaked down my face and my cheeks were numb from the cold.

Ava was waiting, arms crossed, pacing like a storm contained within the small living room. I had called her on my way home, telling her that I needed her to be at my place. And like the best friend that she was, she had said yes to my request without asking questions.

"Bella, talk to me!" she demanded immediately she saw me, her voice a mixture of concern and exasperation. "What the hell happened out there?"

I sank onto the couch, dropping the ring box onto the coffee table with a hollow clink. "It... it's a disaster," I whispered, burying my face in my hands.

Ava crouched in front of me, gripping my shoulders. "Start from the beginning. What happened?"

"Ethan...Ethan cheated on me with Camilla."

Anger exploded on the features of Ava's face. "That bastard! Why am I not even surprised?"

I continued to shake even as I said, "Yeah, you warned me. I should have listened."

Ava wrapped her hands around me. "Look, it's not your fault. You just happened to fall in love with someone who does not deserve you at all. It's really not your fault."

I wiped tears from my eyes with the back of my hand even as I murmured almost inaudibly, "That is not all."

Ava furrowed her eyebrows in concern as she said, "What else?"

"I stumbled into a stranger."

"A stranger?"

I nodded.

"Well, what then happened?"

I lifted my head. "He... he's... I don't even know how to explain it." My voice trembled, and I hated how small I sounded. "I... I proposed to him and he said yes."

Ava's eyebrows shot up. "You... proposed to the stranger?"

"Yes. And he... he said yes!" I buried my face again. "And the worst part... the absolute worst part... he's Ethan's boss. Ethan was there. He had ran out and he called the stranger, 'boss'."

Ava froze for a moment, processing. Then she exhaled sharply. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a minute. You... you proposed to your ex's boss while your ex was... what? Watching?"

I groaned, pressing my palms against my temples. "He... he saw me after I had proposed. Someone filmed it. The entire city probably knows by now. Oh, my God, Ava. I checked my phone while coming back home. They're calling me the... the Valentine's Bride online. Can you believe that? I... I can't... I can't even..."

Ava flopped beside me, hugging me tight. "Okay. Okay. Breathe, Bella. First, calm down. Second, I swear, we will survive this insane... very insane mess. But you need to tell me...how do you even know this man? You just saw him and propose to him?"

"I don't know him at all," I said through gritted teeth. "I... I literally just... proposed on impulse because I... because I... felt like... felt like everything else in my life just exploded and..." My voice cracked, and I buried my face in Ava's shoulder.

She rubbed my back soothingly. "Bella... hey. Look at me. You are not a disaster. You are... you're chaotic, sure, but... also brilliant in a way that makes men like him say yes. You didn't plan this, and that's okay. Sometimes, crazy, unplanned stuff... it changes everything."

I shivered, thinking about his gray eyes, the calm, unflinching way he'd said yes. A shiver of something... unnameable ran down my spine.

Ava pushed her body back while pinching the bridge of her nose. "Alright. But this isn't just... cute drama. He's... clearly powerful. That's... that's dangerous, Bella. Danger comes with this kind of man."

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. "I know. I know. And... I don't even know what to feel anymore. Humiliated, angry, scared...everything."

Ava sighed and gave me a pitying look. "We will figure things out. Don't fret."

CHAPTER FOUR

Bella's POV

By nightfall, my phone was an explosion of notifications I couldn't bear to look at. Messages from friends I hadn't talked to in years, news outlets tagging me, strangers posting the video on every platform imaginable.

The title was mostly, "Valentine's Bride: Manhattan's Most Impulsive Proposal."

I didn't know what to think about all of it.

One minute, I was trying to propose to a man that I thought was my boyfriend. The next minute, I was going viral as somebody else fiancee.

I locked myself in my apartment, hiding in the dark with only the glow of the city through my window for company. Even though Ava was sleeping on the couch, couldn't sleep.

And then, at midnight, a knock, sharp and insistent, sounded on my door.

I froze. My heart slammed against my ribs like a trapped bird.

Ava, who was still around, whispered, "Who... who would knock at this hour?"

I didn't answer. I crept to the door, peeking through the peephole.

Then my heart stopped at what I saw.

Luciano Moretti.

He was there on my porch.

He had a black coat with his hands in pockets and he was standing with that impossible, composed posture that seemed to mock the chaos I felt right now upon seeing him.

His hair was perfectly in place despite the night wind. His eyes-gray storms-pierced through the glass, unmoving, unreadable.

There were some men, dressed in black suits behind him.

I swallowed hard when I saw a black limousine behind them.

I swallowed, trembling.

How the hell had he known where I was staying?

Only a few hours ago, the only thing I knew about him was that he was the lord of the underworld and Ethan's boss. Nothing else.

He didn't know me.

So how did he know my place? How?

Just then, a voice in my head answered me, "That's why he is the king of the underworld. He knows how to get information in a matter of seconds."

Knowing that the voice was right, I sighed deeply and then I opened the door.

"You made me a public figure," he said evenly, stepping inside without waiting for an invitation. The apartment seemed too small for the space he took up, the quiet authority he radiated. "Now we fix it."

Glad that Ava had gone inside my bedroom, I gaped at him, frozen. "Fix... what?"

He closed the door with a calm, deliberate click, his coat brushing against the floor like silk. "This," he said, nodding toward the scattered glow of my phone screen, notifications buzzing endlessly. "The... spectacle you created. My face, my name... your 'proposal.' Everything."

I could barely speak. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"You didn't think," he said, cutting me off smoothly. "I know." He stepped closer, and the apartment seemed to shrink further, the air thickening around us. "But thinking doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that the world has now seen this, and my business interests... my privacy... are compromised."

I swallowed hard, feeling the chill of the apartment mix with the heat of his presence. "So... what... what do you want me to do?"

Luciano's gray eyes softened fractionally, just enough to make my stomach quiver. "We pretend it's real. Our engagement should be made real until the story dies. Public appearances, posts, interviews... we do all of it to control the narrative. In exchange," he paused, letting the weight of his words land, "I guarantee your safety. Nobody interferes with you. Nobody harms you."

I blinked, the words sinking in.

Safety. Protection...I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

My heart thudded. "You... you want me...you want us to... fake it?"

He nodded once. "Exactly. The world is in a frenzy and wants us to be engaged right now. You say yes to the world. I say yes to you staying unharmed. Simple."

This was ridiculous, I thought.

I wanted to laugh, scream, cry, collapse all at once. Everything was ridiculous right now. So ridiculous.

"And... what if I say no?"

Luciano's expression hardened, the storm in his eyes sharpening in a way that caused chills to run down my spine. "Trust me, darling, you don't want to find out."

A cold shiver ran down my spine again and yet in a surprising manner, the raw, reckless part of me that had proposed earlier stirred again.

This man in front of me wasn't just dangerous. He was... magnetic. Dominant. A storm I might willingly step into.

And as he leaned slightly closer, the air between us charged with a tension that made my breath hitch, I realized one thing: my life had just spiraled into chaos, and there was no turning back.

Not from him.

Not from what had happened.

Not from the world that was now watching me as Bella Hart, the Valentine's Bride.

CHAPTER FIVE

Bella's POV

For a moment, all I could do was stare at Luciano Moretti.

He stood in my tiny living room like he owned oxygen, like he could command gravity itself. His coat was still buttoned, not a wrinkle on him, not a single lock of hair out of place. Meanwhile I was one blink away from falling apart.

He wanted me to pretend to be engaged to him?

Me?

A girl who had just proposed in public because her heart got drop-kicked into a trash can?

Really?

"No," I said, my voice trembling for a whole different reason now. "Absolutely not. I'm not doing any of that."

His eyebrow lifted, so gracefully arrogant it should've been illegal. "You don't have a choice."

My jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"

He took a slow step forward, and my lungs forgot their purpose. "This is already public. You and I are in a mess together, Miss Hart. The only way out is forward."

"Forward?" I sputtered. "By lying to the entire world? By...by being your fake fiancee? Are you insane?!"

His lips twitched. "Possibly."

I threw my hands up. "Fantastic. I proposed to a lunatic."

His gaze flickered over my face, lingering a second too long on my mouth. The air between us thickened, heated and charged with something I absolutely refused to name.

I stepped back. He stepped forward.

"Look," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "I didn't mean what I said. I was emotional. Heartbroken. Stupid. Pick any adjective you want, okay? I don't even know you."

"You will," he murmured.

My stomach fluttered-annoyingly-while my brain screamed run. "I don't want to," I snapped.

He tilted his head, studying me like I was an equation he fully intended to solve. "Do you think I want this?" he asked quietly.

"Well... you said 'I do' pretty fast."

"I was curious."

"Curious?" I repeated, incredulous.

"Yes." His voice dropped again, lower, darker. "You didn't run from me. You didn't lower your eyes. You didn't tremble like other people do when they realize who they're standing in front of."

"I did tremble!"

"That was not fear."

My breath hitched. "I-excuse me-what-"

His eyes glinted, as though he could hear the disaster happening inside me. Then, with a faint tilt of his head, he said with a softer tone, "You're overwhelmed. Breathe."

"I am breathing!" I snapped again. "And you're... you're doing that thing."

"What thing?"

"That thing where you act like you're in control of every molecule in this room."

"I am in control of every molecule in this room."

I blinked. "See? This is exactly why I can't do this."

"You must," he said simply.

"Why?" I threw my arms out. "Why me? Why this? Can't you just call your PR team and say I'm clinically insane? Or possessed? Or drunk? I don't care...just fucking pick one."

He stepped closer...dangerously closer. His cologne curled around me, warm and dark, stealing my oxygen. "Because you said, 'Marry me.' And I said I do. And the world heard."

I swallowed, heat crawling up my neck. "Then... then say no."

Luciano's gaze dropped to my lips again. "I don't want to."

A sharp pulse shot straight through my body. I hated the way it made me feel. I hated that he noticed. I hated that he was right about the trembling.

"Get out," I whispered, because my voice couldn't handle anything louder.

He studied me for a long, silent beat which as long enough for my heart to thump embarrassingly loud in my ears. Finally, he nodded once.

"Very well."

He walked toward the door, his presence trailing behind him like a shadow that didn't want to leave. His hand touched the doorknob, but he paused, looking at me over his shoulder.

"Think carefully, Bella," he said softly. "This is bigger than a broken heart."

My pulse jumped. "What does that mean?"

His eyes locked with mine. His gray eyes were stormy. Serious. Too serious.

"Trouble is already coming," he said. "And now? It has your name."

The doorknob clicked just then and he walked out.

I looked at him until he left, my heart beating frantically in my chest as he did so.