Chapter 2 2

Ruby's fingers curled into the soft leather of her purse, her pulse hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. She was used to high-stakes conversations, to digging for the truth even when it meant facing danger head-on. But nothing-nothing-could have prepared her for Damien Vitale.

The way he watched her, the way he spoke-there was something almost lethal about it. A slow, deliberate kind of danger, like a predator toying with its prey just to see how long it would take before it ran.

She refused to run.

"I believe in men who think they're devils," she answered evenly, meeting his gaze. "Men who rule with fear and power. Men who think they're untouchable."

The air between them seemed to tighten.

Damien exhaled a soft chuckle, but there was no humor in it. "And yet you walked straight into my world, knowing exactly what I am."

Ruby lifted her chin. "I walked in because I need answers. And I think you want me to find them-otherwise, you would have had me turned away at the door."

A slow, pleased smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, like she had just amused him in the most unexpected way.

"Bold." He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the table. "Tell me, giornalista, what exactly do you think you know?"

Her pulse skipped.

This was the moment. The line she was about to cross.

She could still turn back. Walk out of this club and pretend she never started digging into Damien Vitale's business.

But then she thought of the files she had hidden in her apartment. The whispered names, the bodies that had disappeared without a trace. She thought of Lorenzo Ricci, the corrupt detective who had first tipped her off about a brewing war in the city-one that had Damien Vitale's name written all over it.

No. She couldn't walk away.

She swallowed hard. "I know about the shipment arriving next week. The one coming in through the Brooklyn docks. I know it's not just weapons, and I know the people involved are tied to you."

Silence.

A silence so sharp, so absolute, it made the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

Damien didn't blink. Didn't react. He simply stared at her, his expression unreadable.

Then, in one fluid motion, he lifted his hand.

Before she could process what was happening, a man appeared beside her-tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in all black.

Ruby's stomach twisted.

"You've been misinformed," Damien said smoothly, his voice almost lazy as he leaned back. "And I don't take kindly to rumors."

The man beside her shifted, a silent warning.

Ruby's mouth went dry.

Was this it? Had she pushed too far?

No. Stay calm. Control the conversation.

She forced herself to steady her voice. "I don't deal in rumors. I deal in facts. If you wanted to silence me, you wouldn't have wasted your time bringing me here."

Damien's gaze darkened, and for the first time, a sliver of something dangerous flickered across his face-something close to approval.

"You're either incredibly brave," he murmured, "or incredibly foolish."

"Maybe a little of both," she admitted, her heart still racing.

Another stretch of silence.

Then, to her utter surprise, Damien lifted a hand, dismissing the man beside her.

He disappeared as quickly as he had come.

Ruby forced herself to take a slow breath, keeping her posture straight.

Damien studied her for a long moment before speaking again.

"You're playing a dangerous game, bella."

His voice was lower now, softer-but no less dangerous.

She swallowed. "And you're the one holding the deck of cards."

Another slow smirk. "That depends. What do you want in return for your silence?"

She flinched at the implication. "I don't want money."

"I didn't say money."

Her breath hitched.

His gaze dipped-just for a second-to her lips. Just long enough for the temperature between them to shift, for her pulse to stutter in response.

She wasn't naive. She knew what power looked like. Knew what it felt like when someone like Damien Vitale set his sights on something.

And right now, he was looking at her.

Oh, hell.

Her stomach tightened, but she refused to let him see the effect he had on her.

"I want the truth," she said finally, her voice firm. "I want to know why Ricci is so desperate to take you down."

Damien exhaled a slow breath.

"You really don't know what you've walked into, do you?"

A flicker of unease curled in her gut.

But before she could respond, Damien leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"You want the truth, bella?" His breath brushed against her skin, sending an involuntary shiver down her spine. "Then you should be prepared to bleed for it."

A slow, icy chill crept down Ruby's spine.

Something about the way Damien Vitale said those words-soft, deliberate, laced with an edge of dark amusement-made her breath hitch.

"Bleed?" she repeated, keeping her voice steady despite the unease twisting in her gut. "Is that a threat?"

Damien chuckled, low and rich, as if she had just entertained him. "No, bella," he murmured, tilting his head slightly. "It's a warning."

His fingers tapped against his whiskey glass, slow and deliberate, before he leaned back into the booth, studying her with an intensity that sent heat coiling low in her stomach.

"You're chasing ghosts, giornalista," he continued smoothly. "Lorenzo Ricci has fed you just enough breadcrumbs to lead you straight into the fire. The question is... do you have any idea whose fire you've stepped into?"

Ruby swallowed.

She thought she had an idea.

She had spent weeks piecing together whispers of the criminal underworld, pulling at threads that all seemed to tie back to Damien Vitale. But now, sitting across from him, feeling the weight of his gaze like an invisible touch, she realized something unsettling.

She had been prepared for a monster.

Instead, she found a man far more dangerous-one who was impossibly controlled, intelligent, and entirely unreadable.

A man who wasn't just powerful, but untouchable.

And yet, here she was, thinking she could challenge him.

Ruby straightened her shoulders. "You haven't denied the allegations."

A slow smirk curved his lips. "And what allegations would those be?"

"That you're involved in smuggling." She watched him carefully. "That you're orchestrating something much bigger than weapons. And that Ricci is determined to expose you for it."

Damien exhaled a soft laugh. "Ah... so you think Ricci is the hero in this story?"

She hesitated.

Did she?

Everything she knew about Ricci painted him as a man desperate to take down the mafia. A man willing to bend the law to serve justice.

But now...

Something in Damien's expression made her second-guess everything.

"Why don't you tell me who the real villain is, then?" she challenged.

Damien's gaze darkened. "You don't want that answer."

Her pulse kicked. "Try me."

A long silence stretched between them, thick with tension.

Then, slowly, Damien reached into his jacket pocket.

Ruby stiffened, instinctively bracing herself-but instead of a weapon, he pulled out a sleek, black phone and slid it across the table toward her.

Her brows furrowed.

"What's this?"

"A lesson."

She hesitated before picking it up. The screen was already open to a file-a series of images. Surveillance footage.

And then-

Her stomach twisted violently.

The first image was of Lorenzo Ricci.

But it wasn't the Ricci she knew-the one who played the role of the honorable detective. No. In this grainy, timestamped footage, he stood in the shadows of an alley, exchanging a thick envelope with a man Ruby recognized.

A man tied to a rival crime family.

She flipped to the next image. Another exchange. Another payoff.

And then the final image.

Ruby's blood turned to ice.

It was a body. A man she didn't recognize, but the message was clear-Ricci wasn't just taking bribes. He was eliminating anyone who got in his way.

Her grip on the phone tightened.

"I told you," Damien murmured, watching her reaction. "You're playing a dangerous game."

She forced herself to meet his gaze, her breath shallow. "Why show me this?"

"Because I want to know how far you're willing to go for the truth."

The air between them crackled with something heavy-something dark and intoxicating.

Ruby swallowed hard. "And what if the truth leads back to you?"

Damien's smirk was slow, predatory.

"Then I guess we'll find out how much you're willing to bleed for it."