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.

CHAPTER SIX

Bella's POV

"Bells!" Ava exclaimed from the hallway immediately Luca was gone, rushing in with wide eyes. "I saw a shadow of him. Was... that him? Was that the guy? OH MY GOD IT WAS, WASN'T IT?!" She shut the door dramatically. "Girl. GIRL. What the hell...how is he even real? And why does he look like he bites?"

I groaned loudly, falling onto the couch. "Ava, please. Not now."

She flopped beside me, eyes shining like a toddler at Christmas. "Bella, he is...my God...like...like if sin took human form. And he came to your house looking like that. And he wants to fake-marry you? Babe... babe...this is destiny!"

"It is insanity," I snapped immediately while rolling my eyes in exasperation.

"Destiny," she corrected.

I shot her a glare. "Do you not remember what happened today? I caught Ethan cheating. I humiliated myself. I proposed to a total stranger. I went viral. I cried so hard my eyes might fall out. And now some... mafia-looking, storm-eyed mafia boss wants to drag me into a PR stunt that could ruin my entire life."

Ava blinked hard at that. "You think he's mafia?"

"Have you seen him?" I flung my hands up in frustration and cried out. "No normal civilian looks like that."

"Fair point," Ava whispered, nodding solemnly. Then her eyes lit again. "But babe... maybe this is fate."

I stared at her. "Ava. I am done with fate. Done. Done with men. Done with love. Done with everything. I am retiring from romance. Permanently."

"Oh please," she laughed. "You're a romance novelist's dream."

"I am a cautionary tale," I corrected. "And I want nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with love again."

She sighed dramatically, looping her arm through mine. "Fine. No love. But you have to admit... he's sexy."

I groaned and buried my face in a pillow. "I want to die."

"You can die," she said, rubbing my shoulder. "But not tonight. Because we need ice cream."

I almost smiled at that. Almost.

***

The next night though, everything changed.

I got home from my shift at the company where I saw working as a marketing consultant, juggling my bag, keys, and a pack of ramen, only to stop dead in the hallway.

My door was slightly open.

My heart dropped to my toes.

I pushed it gently. It creaked.

The lights were off. The air felt wrong-disturbed, invaded, cold.

My stomach twisted painfully as I stepped inside.

My living room was a mess-my drawers open, magazines tossed onto the floor, cushions flipped over. Everything.

Panic clawed up my throat.

"Ava?" I called weakly, hoping to hell that she was not around.

Nothing.

I rushed to my desk.

My laptop was gone.

Gone.

My pulse went wild. "No, no, no, no-"

Then, my phone buzzed.

It was a new message from an unknown number: You shouldn't have met him.

My chest constricted even as I saw another message and read: Walk away while you still can.

I stumbled backward, hand trembling so violently the phone nearly fell.

There was a third message: You're in danger because of him. Watch your back.

I sank onto the couch, breath coming in fast, shallow bursts.

This wasn't just heartbreak.

This wasn't just humiliation.

This was danger.

Real. Tangible. Close.

My phone vibrated again and this time, I was so scared to look.

I sighed deeply and braced myself to read.

I am outside.-L.

Furrowing my brows in surprise, I checked my windows to see a black car idled at the curb.

The car was sleek, expensive, silent.

My heart thudded in my chest as I looked at it.

I shook my head at myself for being surprised about this in the first place.

I mean, if he could know my place easily yesterday, then he could get my phone number in the blink of an eye.

The back door opened slowly and my blood ran cold as Luciano stepped out.

He looked like midnight had dressed him with his black coat, black gloves and black expression.

In between the window, our eyes locked. And instantly, as if something in me was being prophetic, I knew what he was coming for.

Immediately, I shook my head and said, "No...no, no, no-"

He lifted a hand in a calm, steady manner. It was a gesture saying 'come here'.

But I couldn't move.

Another text buzzed in my hand. I turned to look at the message: He can't protect you forever.

My breath froze as I read the message.

Luciano's jaw flexed when he saw my pale face, the shaking in my hands.

"Bella," he said from the doorway of the car, his voice low and dangerous even through the distance, "get in."

"I-I don't-"

"Now."

Fear surged through me. But not of him but

of whatever had broken into my home, had stolen my laptop and had sent those messages.

Whatever he meant when he said trouble had my name.

I swallowed hard, heart pounding so violently it hurt.

Then I grabbed my coat, shoved my keys into my pocket, and stepped outside.

The cold slapped me hard even as I noticed that his men were not around.

Luciano held the car door open. His gray eyes were no longer unreadable and they were holding something far worse. It was something I didn't want to think about.

I hesitated only a second.

Then I climbed in.

I didn't look back.

I couldn't.

Because somehow, I knew

I wasn't stepping into danger.

I was already in it.

And Luciano Moretti...

He was the only one who knew why.