Chapter 3 A GAME OF CONTROL

Elena decided two things very quickly.

First: this man was dangerous-not because he was loud or cruel, but because he didn't need to be.Second: fear was exactly what he expected from her.So she refused to give it to him.

The room was immaculate in a way that felt deliberate. No clutter. No warmth. Everything placed with intention. Elena stood in the center of it, shoulders squared, heart pounding far harder than she would ever allow to show. Alessandro studied her in silence.He didn't sit. Neither did she.

That alone felt like a victory.

He's trying to read me, she thought. Trying to see where I'll crack.

"I told you already," Elena said, breaking the quiet before it could suffocate her. "I didn't see faces. I didn't hear names. I don't even know what I walked into."

"Yet you ran," Alessandro replied calmly.

"Anyone with a pulse would've."

His gaze sharpened-not angry, not amused. Focused. As if she were a puzzle placed in front of him without instructions.

"Most people freeze," he said. "Or scream."

"And most people don't grow up learning when to disappear," she shot back before she could stop herself.

That did it.

Something flickered behind his eyes-recognition, perhaps. Or respect.Alessandro took a step closer, not invading her space, but close enough that Elena became acutely aware of him. His presence wasn't physical-it was gravitational.

"You understand survival," he said. "That makes you unpredictable."

Elena swallowed, but her voice stayed steady. "Then why am I here?"

He considered her answer carefully, as if honesty were a calculated risk.

"Because you know something you shouldn't," he said. "And because killing you would create more problems than it solves."

Her stomach tightened. So death was on the table.

"And the alternative?" she asked.

A pause. Deliberate.

"You stay where I can see you."

Elena laughed once-sharp and disbelieving. "You mean under your control."

Alessandro didn't deny it.

"No," she said firmly. "I won't be owned, watched, or caged because of your mess."

"Careful," he warned quietly.

"No," she repeated, meeting his gaze head-on.

"You be careful. Because if you think I'll quietly disappear, you've already misjudged me". Silence fell again-but this time, it wasn't heavy.

It was charged.

Alessandro exhaled slowly, a sound no one else ever heard from him. "You don't know who I am," he said.

"I know enough," Elena replied. "You're used to people obeying you. I don't."

For a long moment, he said nothing.

Then-unexpectedly-he smiled. Not kind. Not cruel. Curious.

"Very well," Alessandro said. "Then we do this differently."

She frowned. "Differently how?"

He turned toward the glass wall, signaling the end of the confrontation. "You'll stay under my protection," he said. "You'll have freedom-within reason. And in return, you'll stay alive."

"And if I say no?"

He looked back at her, expression unreadable. "You won't."

Elena hated that part of her believed him.

As she was escorted from the room, her thoughts raced. She wasn't a prisoner-not officially. But she wasn't free either.And the most unsettling truth of all? She hadn't felt powerless in that room.She had felt... seen.

Behind the glass, Alessandro watched her leave. Luca appeared beside him. "She's trouble." Alessandro's eyes followed Elena until the doors closed.

"Yes," he said quietly. "That's what makes her dangerous."

And for the first time in years, the game ahead didn't feel boring.