[ 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? 

  [ IRIS’S POV ]

The room fell into dead silence.

My father’s head snapped towards me, his eyes narrowing with sudden suspicion. Blood drained from my face. 

My heart is beating loudly against my chest. Salvatore was exposing our meeting, but why? 

Sofia’s stare burned into my skin. She has asked me. And I had lied. That I hadn’t seen him. And I had never come face-to-face with the beast wearing human skin.

“You were in the library?” My father’s voice slid over the room like a blade wrapped in gold. 

“What did we say about you sneaking off there late at night, Iris?”

“Looking for a book,” I said, the lie cracking as it left my mouth.” I didn’t see anyone, not the guards, not Sir Salvatore.”

Salvatore turned towards me as soon as the word sir left my mouth. 

A ghost of a smirk plays at his lips, the kind that makes my nerve flare and blood ache at the same time. 

His look tells me he would like me to repeat the word sir later, when it’s just the two of us. I looked away from him. If he thinks he can implicate me. Then two can play.

“My gaze flicked to Sofia. I needed her to believe me. Needed her to believe I hadn't seen Salvatore. 

My eyes unconsciously went back to the beast. And I hissed.

“You told me, he wasn’t there with you yesterday when I asked Iris, Was that a lie?” Sofia asked. 

Sofia looked at me like a detective trying to drag the truth out of a criminal. My body was shaking lightly, but I needed to make myself believable.

“Like I said Sofia, I didn’t see him. He must have walked into the library without me noticing. You know how much of a living ghost he can be, if he can slip past the trained guards. Then who am I to notice he was even in the library with me?”

“That’s right Iris. Am sorry for doubting you there for a second. I hope you’re not angry with me sister,”

“No it’s fine Sofia.” My gaze went back to the devil.

His lips curved just barely. A smirk that never reached his eyes. Like he was enjoying this, watching me twist under the weight of his revelation.

That was when I knew that he had seen Sofia last night. And his saying I was at the library yesterday was to set me ablaze.

“Precisely,” Salvatore said calmly,” If I can get in easily, an assassin can get in .”

He paused. Let it sink. For all in the room.

“Starting tonight, my personal security details will guard every door. Every window. Every…” His gaze slid to me, slow and steady .” …. Member of this family.

   “We have our own guards….. “ My father started his pride wounded. 

He knew our guard was nothing compared to the Morettis. But still, he would bleed rather than admit.

Salvatore’s hand slammed onto the desk, the sound like a gunshot in the small room. The inkwell rattled.

”My bride-to-be must be protected,” Salvatore said, his voice dripping with a fake sincerity that made my skin crawl. What a liar, I thought.

“And her sister. Especially her sister. She’s …. A flight risk, delicate, isn’t she Lorenzo? We wouldn’t want her getting lost before the wedding would we?”

My father looked between Salvatore and me. He was a greedy man, and the prospect of Moretti soldiers guarding his house meant he could move his own men to the front lines of the docks.

 He saw it as a tactical advantage. He didn’t see the wolf marking his territory.

“Fine,” my father grunted.” Add the clause. And don’t forget you will also be here as per tradition.”

What tradition is he talking about, why would Salvatore stay in our house till the wedding? I moved my back a little from the wall. 

Since I got here I am finally getting interested in whatever they are discussing. 

“Yes, I am going to be in this household as per tradition Lorenzo. Making sure everything and everyone is in order.” He said his eyes were on Mine.

Salvatore bent over the paper. He didn’t just sign his name, he carved it into the paper with enough pressure to leave an indent on the wood beneath. 

He scribbled a jagged, aggressive script that looked more like a threat than a signature.

 As he finished, he clicked the pen shut. The sound was final. His eyes flew to my side. And I looked away.

The deal was done. On the paper, he belonged to my sister. But as the men began to shake hands and pour more bourbon.

Salvatore walked towards the door. He had to pass me to get out.

He slowed his pace. As he brushed past me, his shoulder hit mine, a hard, intentional contact that knocked me slightly off balance. 

He leaned into my ear, his scent of sandalwood and danger enveloping me.

He wasn’t touching me, but I was visibly shaking at his proximity to me. 

“Check your balcony tonight, Little mouse,” he hissed, his breath hot against my ear.” My men are already in place. And I will be the one watching the feed.”

“What feed? I asked, my voice shaking slightly.

 He smirked and walked out, his long strides carrying him away with the confidence of a man who had just bought a kingdom and intended to burn it down.

Sofia ran over to me, her eyes sparkling with a mix of excitement and jealousy.

“Did you hear what he said, did you hear that, Iris? He’s so protective of me! He’s already obsessed with me, with our safety. And good thing you didn’t lie to me about seeing him at the library.”

I looked at my sister, at her ivory dress and her naive smile. She thought she was the center of the world. 

She doesn't realize she was just the curtain Salvatore is using to seal his prize.

“Yeah,” I whispered, my hand trembling as I touched the locket hidden in my dress. 

I looked at my father, he was busy chatting with Vincenzo. My gaze moved to Vicenzo and his deadly eyes were on me. What is the deal with father and son?

Sofia was about to go back to father, to celebrate and drink to the deal they just signed.

“Sofia,” I called and she turned back to me. Without talking or giving her a reason for stopping her. I walked out of the study with a smirk on my face. Giving her a slight taste of her own medicine.

 That night, I didn’t go to the garden, I sat on the edge of my bed and looked at the black dome of the security camera newly installed in the corner of my ceiling. The little red blinked once.

Somewhere in this house or in a van outside, or in the van outside, or in his own dark bedroom, Salvatore was watching. 

And for the first time in my life, I realized that being “protected “ by a Moretti was the same thing as being hunted.

My gaze flicked back to the camera, and I gave it my middle finger. Fuck you. I mouthed