HIS BELLA

chap. 20

LEONARDO

The glass is cold in my hand, but it does nothing to calm the heat inside me.

She’s asleep upstairs, curled under my jacket like she belongs in it. Like she belongs to me.

She doesn’t know.
She can’t know.
Where I come from. What built me.

The moonlight glints off the ice in my glass, and suddenly, I’m not here anymore

                          Flash back

I’m sixteen again. Italy.
My father’s study smells like cigars and silence. The kind of silence that crushes your ribs.

He stands behind his desk, arms crossed, disappointed again. I don’t even remember what I did—I missed a meeting, wore the wrong suit, laughed too loudly. Whatever it was, it wasn’t perfect. And that, to him, was a sin.

“You think the world will wait for your feelings?” he said, voice sharp as glass.
“You're my son. Act like it.”

I remember clenching my fists so hard they bled—nails digging crescent moons into my palms—because crying was weakness, and weakness wasn’t allowed in the Romano family .

~~~~~~

Since then, I’ve learned how to be exactly that.
Untouchable.
Emotionless.
Efficient.

And yet... one girl with hazel-brown eyes and strawberry-scented hair stumbles into my arms and I forgot everything I was , everything my father wanted me to be I forgot how to breathe .

I down the last of the whiskey and set the glass on the railing, gripping the edge like it’s the only thing anchoring me to this balcony—and not to that room in my memory.

She's intoxicating—like whiskey burning through your veins, leaving behind a slow, smoldering warmth you crave again and again.

I'm used to women throwing themselves at me at one look majorly for my money and looks which makes me look at them with nothing more then disgust .

But
She's different .

She looks at me like I’m someone worth knowing. Like there’s more to me than the headlines and the black cards in my wallet. It’s disarming.

She’s the exact opposite of everything I was raised around.
Soft. Honest. Curious. Loud in the quietest way.

And every second I spend with her, I feel something uncoiled in my chest—something that terrifies the hell out of me.

I'm not familiar with this feeling I’ve had everything money could buy—power, silence, control.

But nothing ever felt like this.

Nothing ever felt like her.

Isabella doesn’t just walk into a room—she fills it.
With her laughter, her stubborn questions, her wild curiosity that digs under my skin and settles in places I thought were long dead.

She asks me things no one’s ever dared to.

Things that don’t come with price tags or strategic value.

Do you like dogs or cats?
What’s your favorite color?
Do you believe in love?
Simple. Innocent. And yet they unravel me more than any boardroom war ever could.

She makes me feel more human something that I forgot in a long time I don't know what this feeling is I cannot even describe myself of the feeling of protecting her from everything evil maybe even from myself .

My father's words ring in my head
“Feelings make you weak. Empires aren’t built on emotion.”

But maybe I don’t want to build an empire anymore.
Maybe... I want to feel her fall asleep beside me and not be afraid I’ll ruin her too.....

Author's note

Hello my lovely readers ,

Here's a little glimpse into Leo's past this chapter is a little short but don't worry the upcoming chapter will be a interesting one .

What are your thoughts on leo and what you think will happen to them further.... would leonardo still be stuck in the past or will Isabella will change him .