Chapter 4 The Man who Bleeds in Silence

The door stayed closed for hours.

Isadora sat on the floor of the study, legs pulled to her chest, the scent of gunpowder clinging to her skin. Her heartbeat hadn't returned to normal. She kept staring at the broken window-the jagged hole through which death had tried to enter.

But all she could think about was him.

Luciano throwing himself over her without hesitation.

His body, warm and solid, shielding hers like instinct.

The thunder of his voice when he told her to stay. The way he looked at her-as if losing her wasn't an option.

Her fingers trembled as she pressed them to her lips, still tingling from how close they had come to a kiss that might have ruined everything.

He's just your protector, she reminded herself.

But that voice inside her? The one that had grown louder with every moment spent in his presence?

It whispered something else.

He's the only person who's ever chosen you without asking for anything in return.

The door burst open just after 3:00 a.m.

Luciano stormed in, blood streaked down his left arm, his white shirt soaked through with it. His eyes were wild, jaw clenched, rage radiating off him like heat from a fire.

"Luciano-!"

"Where are you hurt?" he demanded, eyes scanning her body.

"I'm not. I'm fine. But you-"

She rushed to him, but he stepped back.

"Don't touch me."

It wasn't cruel-it was wounded. Defensive. Fragile in a way she hadn't seen before.

"Luca..." Her voice softened, and something in him cracked at the sound of it. "You're bleeding."

"I've had worse."

"That doesn't mean you get to bleed in silence."

He looked away, jaw tightening.

"Let me help."

When he didn't protest, she reached out, gently guiding him to the chair beside the fire. She grabbed the first aid kit from the cabinet beneath the bookshelves-standard placement in a house always ready for war.

"Take off your shirt," she said quietly.

He hesitated. Then, wordlessly, he obeyed.

And just like that-he wasn't Luciano Moretti, shadow prince of Sicily.

He was a man with scars.

Long, white slashes marred his back and ribs, faded now, but unmistakable. Evidence of a life earned in violence. Of betrayal. Of pain no headlines could capture.

Her breath caught. "Who did this to you?"

He didn't answer.

Instead, he watched her with eyes that had forgotten what tenderness looked like.

She cleaned the bullet graze on his arm carefully, hands shaking. He hissed, but didn't pull away. Her touch was gentle. Reverent.

"Why do you do it?" she asked after a while.

"Do what?"

"Carry everything like it's your penance."

He didn't look at her when he replied. "Because it is."

She finished wrapping the bandage, then sat beside him on the floor, her head resting against the side of the chair.

"They tried to kill me tonight."

"Yes."

"And you saved me."

He didn't respond. But she felt the tension in him shift, ever so slightly.

"Do you ever wonder what we could've been," she whispered, "if we weren't buried under all this blood and duty?"

His silence stretched too long.

When he finally spoke, his voice was so low she had to strain to hear it.

"Every day."

Isadora's eyes burned. She blinked fast, keeping the tears at bay.

"You act like you're made of stone," she said. "But I see you."

His hand dropped to her hair-just a touch. Just enough.

"Don't," he said hoarsely. "Don't see me, Isadora. If you do... I won't be able to let you go."

She looked up at him, her lips parted.

But before either could speak-

BOOM.

The lights cut out.

Total darkness swallowed the room.

Then the emergency generators kicked in. Red backup lights flickered to life, casting everything in blood-hued glow.

Luciano was on his feet in a second, grabbing the gun strapped beneath the desk.

"They've breached the estate," he said grimly.

Her stomach dropped. "What?"

"They're not after you anymore," he added, voice clipped. "They're after both of us now."

The fire roared in the hearth behind them. Alarms echoed outside.

And in that moment, surrounded by death's approach, Luciano turned to her and said the one thing she never expected:

"If anything happens to me... run. And don't look back."