Chapter 64
I didn’t remember walking back upstairs.
Everything after Alessandro said no was a blur, his voice, the cold dismissal, the way Logan didn’t even lift his head to look at me. My chest bur helplessness, with fury. And g
I had asked him.
I had begged.
And he still refused
I me, my movements ales and numb. For a long moment, I just stood there, staring at the floor like it held at the answers
I shut the bedroom door behind me, my didn’t have.
Then I sat on the edge of the bed, gripping the edge of the mattress until my knuckles went white. I wasted to scream. I wanted to hit something. Instead did nothing. Because that’s what I was allowed to do.
Nothing.
Alessandro had made that painfully clear.
I laid back against the mattress, staring up at the omate ceiling, trying to will my heartbeat to slow down. But all I could hear was Logan’s voice. The pain in it. The confusion. The betrayal.
And mine was the face he had looked at, hoping for help.
I closed my eye
Time passed, I didn’t know how long. Minutes, Maybe an hour. Maybe more.
A sharp knock broke the silence, and I sat up instantly
I crossed the room and opened the door.
A maid stood in the hallway. Her eyes were downcast, but her voice was soft when she spoke. “Don Alessandro is waiting for you downstairs.”
My brus pulled together. “Why?”
to dress nicely, then meet him within less than five minutes”
She hesitated, then added, “He asked me to tell you to d
“Did he say where we’re
She shook her head. “No, sir. Only that you come now.”
I exhaled slowly and gave a tight nod. “Alright.”
She dipped her head and stepped away, leaving me is the doorway.
I turned back into the room and walked toward the wardrobe. My fingers moved mechanically as I pulled out something decent, dark slacks, a black shirt, something Alessandro might approve of. The irony wasn’t lost on me. After everything he’d done, I was still getting dressed for
Still obeying
When I looked at myself in the mirror, I barely recognized the reflection staring back at me. Expressionless. Tired. Hollow eyed.
I didn’t look like Nikalai anymore. I looked like someone Alessandro owned
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Chapter 64
But I left the room anyway
I descended the staltrase slowly, my fingers trailing the polished railing, heard still heavy from what I’d witnessed esther. Lõpur 1 Mon
leave my mind. The way Alessandra had spoken to him, like he wain’t even homin.
And yet now, as I reached the Int step, it was as if that moment had never happened.
Alessandro stood near the fennt entrance, dressed in a tailored suit so pristine it looked like it had been seen directly onto Him. Hit ponture leas one hand adjusting his cufflinks, the other backed into his pocket. When he looked up at me, there was no trace of anger or cruelty in his expresión. Be remnants of the storm I had seen in the basement.
He looked… Unbothered.
“You took your time,” he said, his voice cool and collected
1 stared at him for a beat, unsure if I should say anything. He didn’t mention Logan, Didn’t apologize. Didn’t even flinch
I followed him outside without a word, where a sleek black SUV was waiting for us. His men were already in formation Marce included, eyeing me briefly before turning away. As if they all knew. As if they all approved.
Inside the car, Alessandro sat beside me, legs crossed, fingers tapping against his phone screen. He didn’t look at me. Dedn’t ask how I was doing. The
silence between us wasn’t too much
Like him.
His hand rested on my knee halfway through the drive, a casual claim of ownership. The same hand that had curled around the back of Logan’s chair with such cold finality.
I stared at it.
He squeezed lightly, then turned his attention back to his phone, as though the gesture meant nothing. As though this were just a normal night out.
When we arrived, a full security team greeted us. Men in black fanned out like shadows, sweeping the street, blocking the entrance, their presence intimidating and absolute
Alessandro stepped out first and offered me his hand, the perfect gentleman in appearance.
But that’s all it was appearance.
“Try to enjoy yourself” he said lowly as I took his hand, his eyes flicking over me. “You look beautiful.”
Inside, the restaurant was empty, eerily so. The flickering candles, the soft music playing overhead–it all felt like a carefully staged illusion. A comantic evening, framed by a man who had just tortured someone hours earlier.
“For us,” he said when I asked if the whole place
way reserved.
Not for me. Not for you.
För un
I nodded, unsure
of what ebe
to do.
He pulled out a chair, and I sat stifly. The water poured us wine, and I besitated.
Alessandro noticed. “Relax,” he said with faint smile. “It’s just wine.”
Chapter 64
“Is this your way of saying sorry?” asked with
His eyes narrowed slightly, but the mers of his mouth lifted into something like a smirk, though it didn’t quite reach be enk
My smile faltered just a fraction. “So this is your version of an apology?”
He leaned back, his postre effortlessly dominant as he gazed at me, ‘I don’t say sorry,” he repeated, his voice fat. ‘I don’t have to, I deal with thing i way I see fit.
I couldn’t
uldn’t help but look at him, studying the man in front of ine. He was cold. Detached. But somehow, there was something more smithing underneath the surface. Something that didn’t show in Isis actions, but lingered just beyond his control.
“So, you’re just going to keep doing things your way and expect
sake everything better?” Lasked, trying to keep my shire ever.
Alessandro took a slow sip of his wine before setting the glass down. “You’re learning, Angel,” he said, his voice almost teasing. 3 don’t need your forgiveness. I don’t need anyone’s. But I also don’t leave things undane.” Ills gaze locked onto mine, the weight of his words sinking in.
His men were still scattered around the room, silent as ever. And here I was, sitting across from a man who could order anyone’s death on a whim and it look like nothing. Yet he had taken me out to dinner–something normal, something human.
I exhaled slowly, trying to push the confusion to the back of my mind. He was right, though. Alessandro didn’t apologize. He wasn’t the kind of man who would. Instead, he would keep you close, make you feel like you meant something–then remind you of the power he held over everything.
I reached for my glass of wine, looking at him over the rim. “So, what happens now?” I asked softly.
He leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. His eyes gleamed as he spoke. “Now? Now we eat.”
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