HIS BELLA

chap. 22

ISABELLA

The air is heavy with silence inside the car. I don't ask where we’re going, and Leo doesn’t offer. He drives like he always does—calm, controlled, like he owns not just the road but the night itself.

My fingers clutch the edge of his jacket still wrapped around me. His scent clings to the fabric. I try not to breathe it in too deeply.

We pull up outside a towering building lit in soft gold hues, a penthouse I’ve never been to before—but I know it’s his.

He opens the door for me without a word, hand brushing the small of my back as I step out. That one touch is enough to short-circuit every thought in my head.

The elevator ride is painfully silent. He doesn’t even look at me. Not until the doors open and I step into the sleek, dimly lit expanse of his penthouse.

Glass walls stretch across the room, giving a breathtaking view of the sleeping city below. The space is modern, minimal, cold—like him.

Except the moment the door shuts behind us, his mask cracks.

"Why are you ignoring me princess ?" he asks, voice low and steady but charged, every syllable like static in the air.

I don't answer. I don't look at him.

"I asked you something," he says again, this time firmer, stepping closer.

I don't turn .

“Why do you care?” I say, my voice shaking despite how hard I try to steady it.

He’s in front of me in two strides. “ Watch your tone kitten ."

I swallow hard, trying to hold my ground.

“ You and I....We don't belong to the same world . You deserve someone like Alessia "

He exhales through his nose, sharp and clipped.

I fiddled with my fingers ." She’s everything I’m not. Elegant. Perfect. Untouchable.”

His eyes darken instantly, a storm flickering in them, but he says nothing. Instead, his long strides close the distance between us in a heartbeat. Before I can react, I’m swept off my feet—literally—slung over his broad shoulder as a startled gasp tears from my lips.

“Leo! What are you doing? Put me down!” I pound lightly against his back, but he doesn’t so much as flinch. His grip tightens around the back of my thighs, holding me effortlessly in place, as if I weigh nothing more than a stack of pillows.

“Keep struggling, princess,” his voice comes out low, dangerous, vibrating through me. “See where it gets you.”

Heat rushes to my face, a mix of outrage and something else I can’t name. My fists still, but my heart drums harder.

The door slams shut behind us, rattling against its frame. My stomach flips as he finally sets me back on my feet, but before I can even find my balance, Leo has already crossed the room.

He drops onto the edge of the bed, leaning back on his palms with an infuriating calmness, his long legs spread in a lazy, unapologetic sprawl. Power radiates from the way he sits, every inch of him exuding control—and he knows it.

My breath hitches. He looks devastating like that, dangerous and tempting, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Come here.” His voice is low, commanding, the kind that curls through my body like smoke.

A slow smirk tugs at the corner of his lips, but his gaze sharpens like a blade. He doesn’t repeat himself, doesn’t have to. The weight of his stare alone is enough to make my knees threaten to buckle.