As we race away in the car, a storm of anger and fear swells inside me. How could she be so reckless? How could she risk everything like that?
When the empty road stretches before us, I slam on the brakes, my heart pounding in my chest. I throw the...
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It had been ten days since we arrived in Italy. Ten long, grueling days spent lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. Antonio, Matteo, and I had settled into a small cottage just outside the city, close enough to the old Vittore mansion but far enough to avoid suspicion. The cottage was modest, blending into the rural landscape, and served as our base of operations.
The mansion had changed since the last time I had seen it. Once an old, forgotten relic of the past, it had been completely refurbished. Marco Vittore had wasted no time turning it into his fortress, filling it with guards and redecorating it to suit his power-hungry vision. From a distance, I watched the comings and goings of the place every day, keeping a close eye on Gio, Marco, and Isabelle. I could see them moving about, confident in their victory, believing Chiara was secure under their watch. But they had no idea I was here, watching, planning.
I had found out soon after arriving that Chiara was alive. That knowledge should have been a relief, and in some ways, it was. But knowing she was alive wasn’t enough. Not when she wasn’t with me. Not when I couldn’t see her, hold her, protect her from the monsters that surrounded her. Every second spent without her felt like a knife twisting deeper into my chest.
We were lucky enough to find a maid within the mansion who was willing to help us. Her name was Sofia, a quiet woman who seemed meek on the surface but had a fierce loyalty to Chiara. She risked her life to slip us information, little by little, whenever she could escape the estate. She provided us with valuable insights about the guards' shifts, the security cameras, and most importantly, the layout of the mansion.
One evening, as Sofia snuck out of the estate to deliver the latest intel, Antonio couldn’t help but ask her the question that had been on all our minds.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked, his voice low but intense. “You know the risks.”
Sofia glanced at him, her eyes serious. “Chiara saved me,” she said simply. “There was a man in the estate—a guard—who thought he could do whatever he wanted with the maids. Chiara saw what was happening and stepped in. She humiliated him, made sure he never touched another woman in that house again. She didn’t have to do that, but she did. I owe her my life, and I’ll always be grateful to her.”
Hearing that made my chest swell with pride. Even trapped in that place, surrounded by people who sought to control her, Chiara remained the fierce woman I knew. She didn’t back down, didn’t let anyone strip her of her dignity. She was still my Chiara, and that gave me hope.
But then Sofia delivered news that shattered my fragile sense of peace. “They’re planning her engagement,” she said quietly. “To the Angelo heir. They’re going to announce it soon, at the masquerade ball.”
A cold rage settled into my bones. An engagement. They were planning to marry her off to some sleaze, and I wasn’t going to stand by and let it happen. Chiara wasn’t some bargaining chip to be traded away. She was mine. And I was going to get her back.
Sofia, knowing how important this was, didn’t stop there. She told us about a secret entrance into the mansion, hidden in the backyard, and outlined the positions of the security cameras. She even gave us details about the masquerade ball—who would be attending, where the guards would be stationed, and how we could slip in unnoticed.
After Sofia left, we sat down to finalize our plan. Matteo, with his tech skills, would hack into the security system and disable the cameras. Antonio, ever the fighter, would take down the security handling the event and stay on standby as backup in case things went sideways. And me? I would be the one to enter the mansion, find Chiara, and get her out of there.
The night of the ball arrived faster than I expected. Dressed in a black tuxedo, I donned a black mask that covered most of my face, blending in with the rest of the guests. The mansion was bustling with people, everyone dressed in their finest, oblivious to the storm that was brewing beneath the surface. I moved through the crowd like a shadow, my eyes scanning the room for any sign of her.
And then I saw her.
My heart stuttered in my chest as my gaze landed on Chiara, standing across the room, surrounded by people who had no idea how much she meant to me. Her beauty had always been striking, but tonight, she looked ethereal. The light from the chandeliers above made her dark hair shimmer, and her brown eyes—those eyes that had always been able to see straight through me—were filled with a quiet defiance. She looked like a queen standing in the midst of enemies, and in that moment, I knew with absolute certainty that I loved her more than I had ever loved anyone in my life.
Seeing her after all this time, my heart finally beat normally again. It was as if every piece of me that had been fractured over the past two months began to heal, just by looking at her. She was the light in my darkness, the one person who could calm the storm raging inside me. I didn’t care how long it took or how many enemies I had to face—I would bring her back.
But before I could approach her, I saw a man—her so-called fiancé—pull her to a corner. His hands gripped her arm tightly, his face inches from hers as he whispered something I couldn’t hear. I clenched my fists, fury boiling in my veins. The bastard had no right to touch her, no right to even look at her.
I watched, ready to intervene, but then I saw it—the fire in Chiara’s eyes. She pulled back, her chin raised as she said something to him and punched him in the face. The man paled, stumbling backward. He looked terrified. Good.
Chiara didn’t need me to protect her. She was strong enough on her own. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to step in.
As the man slunk away, Chiara turned to leave, but before she could slip away, I moved. In one swift motion, I stepped out of the shadows and pulled her into a dark corner, pressing her back against the wall. Her eyes went wide with shock, her lips parting in surprise as she stared up at me.
I could feel her heart racing against my chest, could see the confusion and fear in her eyes as they met mine.
But then, beneath the mask, she saw me. Her brown eyes, filled with a mix of emotions, locked onto mine, and for a moment, everything else faded away. It was just us, standing in the dark, and for the first time in two months, I felt whole again.
