[ IRIS’S POV ]

“I believe I asked you a question. Iris. What are you doing here and why is he here with you?” 

Sofia is not a fan of the library. I expect that she will be somewhere drunk or sleeping. But here she is, asking me questions about her fiancé.

“Who do you say was here?” I threw the question back at her, the last thing I want her to know is that her so-called fiancé has been stalking me for the last five years. 

“The last time I checked Sofia, you met me here alone, didn’t you?”

“I thought I saw Salvatore walking out of here, discreetly” she asked looking around, as if looking for pieces of evidence.

“Why would he be here with me? I left you guys at the party and if anyone should know where he is. It should be you.”

“And maybe it was a guard you saw, how sure are you it was him?”I added, my voice unbelievably calm.

“Well, maybe, I saw wrong, Salvatore wouldn’t come to fathers private study late at night. Follow me, Iris, let me walk you to your room. It's late.”

Without waiting for me to reply she’s already working out of the room. That’s more like her.

Tomorrow they signed the deal.

Tomorrow her engagement will be sealed.

-------

[ SALVATORE’S POV ]

The Russo gala room was large. But to me it’s a playground. A playground meant for kids to enjoy. 

I watched as Iris slipped away from the party, as I had expected. She hates crowds. And staying here is against her principles.

I watched as my father and Lorenzo discussed and I knew they wouldn’t be talking about any other things, other than the alliance and the engagement. One that will never take place.

I left the hall too, leaving the men trying to talk about business. 

I walked down the hallway silently, to the room assigned to me for the night in the Russos’ estate.

Getting to the room, I changed my outfit to casual and picked up my tablet to look at my little mouse.

 Maybe to watch her sleeping face a little before retiring for the night. 

But there she was, standing in front of the mirror talking to herself.

 Then she slipped out of her room barefoot and made her way to the library.

 —————

Iris was sitting with her legs curled against her chest. She wasn't reading, she was holding the locket the one I had gifted her against her chest.

“Do you like it?” I asked, and I watched as she jumped in fear, looking around for the source of the voice.

I moved to the moonlight so she could see her nightmare. The one who would enter her life and make a permanent stay.

“You need to leave, this is my father's private study.”

I watched as her lips moved, and I could see fear in her eyes. The one that sends a signal to the big salva under me.

All I want right now is to bend her over the desk here and now. But no. I would take her nice and slow and it’s not going to be in her father’s little rusty study.

I looked into her deep blue eyes, the one that draws me in each time I look at her picture or watch her through my camera lens. 

And God, her eyes would be the end of me. I let my eyes travel to her lips. The one I would be biting soon. 

“Then he will do what? I asked, taking a step closer to her,” I would like to know what your father would do to me. Especially when he finds me running my hands over his precious little daughter, taking her raw in his private study.”

 I watched as her eyes went large, and she looked behind her for an escape route, one she would never get from me. Not when I am finally standing before her after five long years.

And the idea of her father watching when I am taking his daughter is not so bad at all. But Iris is meant for my eyes alone. No one, I mean no one would dare take her away from me.

“Your father is currently drunk on his vintage, celebrating a deal he’d think he won.”

“Think he won? Aren’t you here to sign a deal with my father and take Sofia as the medal?”

Jealousy, I hear jealousy in her voice. And it makes my entire night.

“The locket,” do you send it?” She asked, her hold on the locket tightened.

“Took you long enough to know. Iris, I replied.” My eyes moved back to the locket, then back to her mesmerizing gaze.

“I send all of them,” I said, stopping just an inch from her, a distance I knew would control me from touching her. From running my hand all over her body. To know how it would feel against mine.

“The books. The Lilies on your birthday. The vintage camera you found on your doorstep when you turned eighteen.” I sent all of them.

Her breath hitched.”That was you? For five years …. I thought I had a guardian angel. Or a ghost .”

“I am no angel, little mouse,” I growled, reaching out to touch her, to touch what is mine. But she flinched, so I looked at her gently. Instead, I tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. 

“And I am more dangerous than a ghost. A ghost can’t touch. Can’t keep what belongs to him. But me, I will not only touch you, I will spread you apart and ruin you in every way possible, so that you won’t have a choice but to come back for more .” I said my hand was still behind her ears.

“I did not belong to you, I never did. And I never would.” She hissed. But her body betrayed her, instead of moving away, she leaned into my touch. See, even her body recognizes its master.

”You’re to be engaged to my sister tomorrow, and the papers will be signed tomorrow.” She said.

I laughed, a low, dark sound, I give when something amuses me.

“I signed a piece of paper to get on the walls. To be close enough to finally reach out and take what I’ve been watching from a distance for five years. 

And oh! If you keep saying you don't belong to me, I will have no option but to bend you over a desk here to show you who you truly belong to. Should we put that in text? Mamasita?”

And I mean it, if she dared say she isn’t mine, then I would have to show her who she belongs to.

I will fucked her, mark her, let everyone in the whole estate hear her scream. Destroyed the alliance. Stop the engagement and take her home with me.

"Say it Irish, say you're not mine."

[ SALVATORE’S POV ]

I wanted her to say she's not mine. To say she doesn't belong to me. But luck was on her side. She didn't.

I leaned down, my face so close to hers that our noses almost touched.

“I know everything about you. Iris. I know you hate the taste of champagne but like tea. I know you sneaked out to the garden at 2:00 AM when you couldn't sleep.

I watched her.  Letting my words and the meaning behind them sink into her body. 

 “And in the afternoon when you're bored. I know you have a birthmark shaped like a star on the small of your back.”

“From the trees. Through the lens of my camera. From the back of the cars you never noticed. “I confessed.

“I watched you grow from a girl into a woman. I watched men try to approach you at school, men I had to….. discouraged from ever speaking your name again.” I added and I watched her eyes grow into a realization.

“You’re insane,” She whispered.

“I am obsessed,” I corrected,

 My hand moved from her hair to her throat, my thumb resting over her thudding pulse. I wasn’t squeezing, but the threat was there.

“There is a difference. Insane men lose focus. But with you, I have never been more focused in my life. Every move I’ve made, every war I’ve fought, everybody I’ve buried, was to get to this moment. To this house,”

“Why not just ask for me ?” She cried .” If you wanted me so badly, why marry Sofia ?”

My eyes darkened, a flash of genuine rage crossing my features .” Because your father would never have given me his precious youngest daughter.

“If you know me like you truly claimed, you would know I am not his precious daughter. I have no interest in the kind of world and businesses he runs. My sister does. So if you 

Want a queen for your dynasty. It’s her.

She need not say that out loud cause I know. But wanting Sofia to be the queen of my empire. Never.

“He wants you for a political trade later. He thinks you’re a hidden ace. I said looking into her eyes.

My lips brushed against her ear. “ I didn’t play 

by Lorenzo Rossi’s rules. I took the bait so I could burn the whole trap down. By the time this wedding arrives, Sofia would be the least of my problems. And you. Will be in my arms. You belong to me, Iris. Every fiber in you is 

mine."

She tried to push me away, but her hand landed on my broad chest. A simple gesture that nearly makes me roll my eyes behind my head. A gesture that makes a big salva stands at attention. Wanting to be stroked and worshiped.

I grabbed her wrists, pinning them behind the armchair. Not to hurt her but to display that my strength was absolute.

My eyes moved to her lip, it was fresh and plump. And it makes me want to place mine on it. To know if it's succulent and as fresh as it looks.

“Can I kiss you? Iris ?” I asked, my mouth 

almost on hers.  

“Let me go, Salvatore.” She rasps.

“Not until you understand,” I said, my voice dropping to a low command.” You’re going to play the part of the dutiful sister. You are going to help Sofia plan her wedding. You are going to stand at the altar as her bridesmaid.

I won’t," she sobbed.” I won’t do what you just asked. You belong to my sister. To Sofia.

“You will .” I countered, my eyes burning into hers .” Because if you don’t, I’ll start taking things away from his family. First, your father’s business. Then, your sister’s reputation. And finally your freedom. Do you understand, Iris? You are mine. And you do as I say.

“You have been since the moment I saw you five years ago standing in the rain outside your school, looking like you wanted to set the world on fire, only that it’s me you light it on, and I can feel it burn, deep inside my veins.”

I released her wrist and stepped back.

“Go to sleep, little mouse,” I said, glancing towards the door .” And keep the locket. It looks better on you than it did in the box.

Without another word, I melted into the shadows of the library. 

As I walked out of the library, I could see Sofia from the corner of my eye, but I didn’t stop. Am not in the estate for me. She’s just a means to get what I desire. 

I went to the balcony, and the fresh breeze hit my face, calming my nerves. But not enough to calm the raging man in my trousers. Who wants nothing but Iris care and touch.

Iris, I muttered into the darkness of the night.

About twenty minutes later, I felt a presence behind me, and I did not need to turn to know who it was. Sofia. With her heels clicking loudly on her feet and her perfume smelling like an abandoned sacrifice.

Who in their right senses would wear heels at night?

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re here? I should have joined you, so we could talk about the alliance and our engagement.” She said, biting her lips as she looked at me, only if she knew how ridiculous she looked right now.

“Leave. Sofia, I want to be alone. I did not need you here?” I said not bothering to spare her another glance.

“You did not need to play hard. Salvatore. I know you want me, all men do, and I won't mind if you want me here, right now before the alliance is signed, you’re going to be mine anyways. So what do you say? She asked.

“Firstly I’m not any man, and secondly you have just three seconds to leave my sight or I will push you off the balcony. And watch you die in your own blood. Your father Lorenzo would not do shit about it. If I say you leave. You leave.”

[ IRIS’S POV ]

I woke the next morning with my bones heavy, lazy, like sleep never truly reached them. 

I hadn’t rested. Not after what happened at the library yesterday.

Salvatore said he has been watching me for five years without my knowledge. 

Chasing men away, friends, strangers, even the ones I wanted gone myself.

 And the way he spoke of owning me sent a cold shock racing through my nerves. like I belong to him. 

How can a man be so crude….and so devastatingly hot at the same time?

Claiming one woman while preparing to marry another. Only an insane man would attempt something like that. And unfortunately, that man was right here in the estate with me.

I just wanted today’s alliance to go smoothly. So I could return to my life, where no one noticed me. And I was invisible by choice. 

“Iris, are you there? Can I come in?”

I tossed the duvet aside and bolted upright. My gaze flew to the clock on the wall, and I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. 

I wasn’t late. For a moment, I’d been certain I had missed the alliance meeting and signing.

“Come in, Sofia,” I said, settling back slightly.” I hope you’re not here to remind me what a widow I have become.”

Sofia stepped inside. The first thing her eyes assessed was my nightwear, still clinging to my body. She sighed, long and tired.

“I knew this was exactly how I’d find you,” she said .”We need to be in the study in thirty minutes. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be late for your sister’s engagement finalization.”

With that, she turned and left, no pause, no room for reply.  An act I will be setting straight soon.

 She would learn to get a reply from me before walking off or she shouldn’t border on talking to me.

I headed to the bathroom and began my routine, preparing myself for the alliance.

All the while, hoping, quietly, desperately, that it would fail. So, Salvatore would be out of the estate and my life for good.

______________

The Russo study felt smaller than usual. The heavy scent of my father’s expensive Cuban cigar and the moretti’s aged bourbon created a suffocating haze.

 Two large desks have been pushed together to form a bridge between the two empires.

 And on one side sat my father. He looked more smuggler than I’d ever seen him. Obviously happy about the alliance, but the engagement in Particular.

 My father likes power and the Morettis are a force of nature and here they are about to get married to his daughter. 

On the other side is the architect of death. Vincenzo Moretti. A man whose name spelled doom.

Salvatore stands beside his father like a silent reaper, waiting for harvest. 

The cloth he wore did not do justice. A plain white shirt and a pair of dark jeans, but the bottom was thin enough to trace the hard plane of his chest. 

Rugged and entirely too distracting. Well if he’s here to show off, then he succeeded. Because right now, Sofia’s mouth is about to hit the hard floor.

I stood by the window hidden by the heavy velvet curtains. Sofia stood front and center. 

She was wearing a silk white dress that screamed perfect bride. Only if she knows ten nuts have been screwed off his fiancé's head. 

She looked like a queen prepared for her coronation. I, in my simple black slip dress, felt like a shadow.

“The terms are set,” my father announced, his voice booming with the false heartiness of a man who just sold his soul for a profit.

“The shipping routes in the north, the casinos in Vegas, and the union of our bloodlines.

Salvatore weds Sofia on the first of next month.

Salvatore didn’t look at my father. He didn’t look at the maps spread across the table. He didn’t even look at Sofia, who was beaming at him with practiced, elegant grace. Like a queen sitting on her throne.

His eyes-dark, predatory, and burning with the same lustful fire in his eyes. The one he had looked at me with at the library.

I felt the heat of his gaze crawling over my skin, tracing the line of my throat. I was imagining his thumb pressing there again. 

My heart hammered against my ribs, a trapped bird wanting to fly and stay all at once.

“Salvatore,” Vincenzo prompted, sliding a gold fountain pen across the desk. It looked like a weapon in this room .” Sign. End the war.”

Salvatore moved then. Every movement was slow, deliberate, and terrifyingly powerful. He stepped towards the desk, but his eyes never broke contact with mine. It was a silent challenge.

 The one I did not plan on losing, not to him. Run, his eyes said. See how far you get before I catch you.

He picked up the pen, but he didn’t lean down to the paper.

“Wait,” Salvatore's voice was a low growl that vibrated in my very marrow.

My father stiffened. But the smile didn’t leave his face, but his eyes turned cold,” Is there a problem? Young Moretti.”

Sofia's smile was now off her face, I watched as she looked over at our father, then back to Salvatore, and back to the paper on the desk that was yet to be signed. 

Her hands were now clutching her perfect white dress. What a dramatic family I have.

“The contract stays,” Salvatore said, finally gaining at the paper as if it were an afterthought.” But I want a clause added. A security amendment.”

Sofia stepped forward, her hand reaching for Salvatore’s arm .” Security? Salvatore, we have the finest guards in the state.”

Salvatore didn’t flinch, but he didn’t acknowledge her touch either. He looked back at me “ The Russo estate is compromised. Your father’s finest let me slip into the library last night unnoticed, didn’t they, Iris?”

I felt his question ring in my head.  I had lied to Sofia. That I wasn't there with him.

And here he is, saying it in front of all that he had slipped into the library unnoticed.

WHAT DO I DO?