Chapter 7 Hearts and Fires

(Valentina)

I couldn't breathe.

The room was spinning, the book still open on the table in front of me. Names. Bloodlines. Deceptions. Betrayals.

My own name, written in ink. Not as the bride, but as a pawn.

Alessandro's eyes never left me. He stood across the room, motionless, like a predator savoring its prey.

"Now you understand," he said, his voice low, colder than I'd ever heard it before. "This wasn't about love. Or marriage. This was about survival."

I didn't reply, couldn't. The words felt like they were stuck in my throat, but I couldn't let him see my weakness. Not now.

"I wasn't meant to be your replacement," I finally said, my voice shaking. "I wasn't meant to be anything but a tool for your empire. A chess piece."

Alessandro's expression remained impassive, but I could see the slight tightening in his jaw. He was hiding something. His control was slipping.

"You don't understand the stakes, Valentina," he growled. "I do what I must to protect what's mine. And you're mine now."

I stood up abruptly, glaring at him, the heat of anger rising inside me. "And what if I don't want to be 'yours'?" I spat, clenching my fists at my sides.

Alessandro took a step toward me, his presence overwhelming. "Then you'll never leave this room."

I didn't flinch. "You're no better than the man who tried to force my sister into this role."

His eyes flashed with rage, but there was something else too. Fear, maybe? I couldn't tell. He was hiding his emotions as well as he hid the bloodshed of his world.

But it was the truth. Serafina had been pushed into this marriage, manipulated like I had been. Only she had escaped. And now I was left to pick up the pieces.

But the pieces weren't fitting together.

I was falling into something darker than I could have imagined.

I turned toward the door, wanting to escape this cage, but Alessandro grabbed my wrist, pulling me back with surprising force.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded.

"I don't belong here," I replied, struggling to pull my wrist free from his grip.

"You belong to me," he said, his voice more forceful than before.

I wrenched my arm from his hold, taking a step back. "I don't want to be your fucking property," I snapped.

I saw the flash of hurt in his eyes, but it disappeared quickly, replaced by cold indifference.

The storm raged outside, but the atmosphere in the room was colder than anything the weather could produce.

"I didn't want you here," he said quietly, his voice softening just enough to make me hesitate. "But now I need you."

I shook my head, my heart racing in my chest. "You don't need me. You need control. You need someone to replace Serafina."

A muscle in his jaw ticked. "You're wrong."

"Am I?" I replied, meeting his gaze head-on. "Then why am I standing here, in this house, trapped with your family, with no choice but to play your game?"

His eyes softened, just for a moment, before the cold returned. "Because you're the one who's going to keep the empire from falling apart."

A silence settled between us, thick with tension. But before I could speak again, the door opened.

Lorenzo.

He stepped into the room, his eyes darting between me and Alessandro. The air seemed to shift as he looked at me, his expression unreadable. And then his gaze turned to Alessandro, narrowing slightly.

"What's going on here?" Lorenzo's voice was smooth, calculated.

Alessandro stepped back, his eyes flashing with irritation. "Nothing you need to worry about."

But Lorenzo didn't back down. "Does this have anything to do with Serafina?" he asked, his tone laced with something I couldn't quite place.

Alessandro's gaze flicked to me, then back to Lorenzo. "This is none of your business."

Lorenzo took a slow step forward. "It is my business. She is my business."

My heart skipped a beat.

Lorenzo was looking at me with something more than mere interest. The tension between us thickened.

I felt a strange pull toward him, something I hadn't experienced with Alessandro something dangerous.

Alessandro's eyes darkened. "She's mine," he said, his voice low and possessive.

The words hung in the air like a challenge.

Lorenzo ignored him, his focus entirely on me. "Do you want to leave, Valentina?" he asked, his voice soft, yet sharp with an underlying urgency.

The question hit me harder than I expected.

I didn't know what I wanted.

The tension between Alessandro and Lorenzo was palpable. Both men were dangerous, but it was the danger in their rivalry that terrified me most.

I looked from one to the other, my heart racing.

And in that moment, I knew: No matter which way I turned, I was caught in the middle.

The storm raged on.