Part 25:

Strung tight against him, she gave him the only answer she had. She answered him with a low moan, kissing him harder as her hips moved against his. That was when the last of his control went. His hands moved over her like he could not stop touching her, and every place he touched stole another clear thought from her mind.

Her hips followed the rhythm of him without shame now, as if her body had stopped asking permission from anything but desire. The kiss that came was deeper, hungrier, and as the last distance between them closed, she held his gaze all the way through it. Every slow movement took another piece of resistance from her until her fingers dug into his shoulders and the cave blurred around them.

When her breath broke against his mouth, he swallowed the sound like it belonged to him. And the sound that left her belonged to no role, no lie, no name he had been handed by mistake. In a cave with a small white beach, two people who had run out of reasons to fight it came together, and the rock gave their voices back to them, softened by the water and the stone.

The boat cut through the water on the way back, and Isabella sat in the seat beside the wheel with her head turned away from him. She kept her gaze on the sea so she wouldn’t have to look at him. Her eyes kept filling anyway. Everything she’d said in that cave was still lodged behind her ribs, and she didn’t know how to take any of it back or whether she even wanted to.

OS brought the boat to a stop in the middle of the water, the engine falling into silence. She turned to him, then, not sure what she’d find. He came around and knelt in front of her seat down on the deck, so that for once he was looking up at her instead of down. His hand moved slow through her wet hair.

“Do you regret it?” She pulled in a long breath and let it go, and the answer came out smaller than she meant it to. “I don’t know. Right now, I don’t know anything.” He didn’t argue with that. He took her hand, turned it over, and pressed it to his chest, right over his heart, until she could feel it beating steady under her palm. Trust me.

Then he leaned up and kissed her slow. The kind of kiss that asked for nothing back, and she felt some of the tightness in her chest let go before she could stop it. The boat reached the house. Tony was waiting up on the terrace and the moment they climbed out, he didn’t waste time. Boss, the ship cleared Freeport this morning.

New York expects it late tomorrow. Tomorrow? The word landed somewhere cold in Isabella’s stomach. Whatever this was between her and OS. It had a clock on it now, and her father was at the other end of it. She made herself look at OS. You have to bring Anita here. I want to see her. Anita’s coming. He held her look and there was no give in it. But not yet.

I have to stay with the plan. She wanted to argue. She could see in his face that it wouldn’t move him and that the plan, whatever it was, was already in motion. So she let it go and heard how tired her own voice sounded. I want to be alone for a while. By afternoon, she was up on the top floor of the house in the indoor pool, standing in the shallows where the water reached her chest and the wide glass walls looked out over the sea.

She’d come up here to think, but her mind kept circling the same impossible things. She didn’t hear him come in. She only felt the water shift behind her, and then his arms came around her waist, drawing her back against him. His mouth brushed the side of her neck once, then stayed there, warm against her skin.

I know your name now. The words came low against her throat. I want to know the life Veto hid under it. So she told him, not all at once and not cleanly, but piece by piece held against him in the quiet. I’ve been in London since I was 14. After my mother died, my father sent me away to boarding school. His thumb moved slow along her collarbone, steady, and she found the rest easier than she expected.

Bella Martins. That’s the name on my papers, my mother’s maiden name. She felt the strangeness of it even now, saying it out loud to him. I didn’t understand it at first. It took me years to understand what he’d really done. He hid me. I never went back to New York. Nobody knew about this house, so I’d come here 2 months every summer and barely see him.

He didn’t say anything, just listened, his lips resting against the back of her neck like he could hear her better that way. My mother was gone. I had no one. Something in her went quieter on it. When Anita came to work here, she was the one person who treated me like a friend. The only thread I had left to anything that felt like family.

Her father worked for mine. I’ve known her since I was a child. OS smoothed a hand down her wet hair slow. That sounds like a very lonely life. I have a few friends in London. The family I chose. You could call them. She tipped her head back against him. And I’m not as buried as he thinks. His lips grazed the line of her shoulder.

What do you do there now? I studied social work. Finished 3 years ago. My father wouldn’t let me take a job. There was a dry edge to it now, so I work anyway, quietly. He thinks I spend my days reading and lunching with harmless people.” His question came softly at her ear, and somehow it pulled the truth out before she could hide it.

“And instead, instead, I sit across from girls who know how to disappear while everyone is looking at them.” For a moment he didn’t say anything. His hand went still in her hair, and when he spoke, his voice had changed. Your father hid you from the world, and you chose to spend your life finding the people the world hides.

” Isabella went very still against him. No one had ever said it back to her like that, had ever taken the shape of her whole life, and handed it to her in a single sentence, and the truth of it went straight through her. She turned in his arms to face him, and brought her hand up to the side of his face.

Then his mouth was on hers, and the rest of it went quiet. A knock came at the open door. Tony stood just outside it, his gaze fixed on the far wall, anywhere but the pool. Boss didn’t mean to interrupt. But you told me to tell you the second it happened. The papers are ready. Isabella pulled back from him, the spell breaking.

What papers? Aeros didn’t take his eyes off her, the two of them dripping onto the tiles. Anita threw every piece of ID you had into the sea the day my men stopped your car. Smart of her. It also means you can’t so much as leave the country on your own name right now. He let that land. So a clean identity, travel papers, enough to get you out of Malta.

Her chin came up. As who? Isabella Ki. His thumb moved slow along her jaw like the answer mattered more than he was letting on. And then when you choose it, Isabella Svino. When you choose it, the words stayed with her after he’d gone. Not Sino, not marriage. Choose. Her father had spent her whole life making her choices for her and calling it protection.

OS had just put one back in her hands and waited. That evening, Eros said he had business and wouldn’t be staying for dinner. So, Isabella ate alone on the terrace, her plate mostly untouched, the dark water spread out below the rail. Tony stood a few steps away, close enough to watch her, and far enough to pretend he wasn’t.

Tony, she didn’t turn around. When is OS coming back? Where did he go? Tony shifted on his feet, choosing his words carefully. I can’t tell you where he is, miss. He hesitated over the name, then said it anyway. Ky. Her fork stopped halfway to her mouth. She set it down and looked at him. So, you know, too.

He dipped his head, and the smile he gave her was almost gentle. The kind a man offers when there’s nothing useful he’s allowed to say, “Tony.” She turned in her chair to face him fully. “Let me see Anita, please. She needs to know I’m all right.” He shook his head slowly. I can’t do that, Miss Ky. Miss Vela knows you’re safe.

That’s all I’m allowed to say. Then he gave her a small nod and walked back inside, leaving her with the night and the sea. Isabella looked out at the black water and felt something harden inside her. She was tired of men building walls and calling them protection. Her father had hidden her. Os had guarded her. Different hands, same cage.

She’d spent her whole life being moved from one set of locked rooms to another by men who all swore it was for her own good. And the worst part, the part that made her angriest, was that when she thought of OS, her heart still slammed against her ribs like it wanted out of her chest, his hands, his mouth, the way he looked at her as if she were the only thing in the room worth seeing.

It ruined every clean thought she tried to have about him. Am I in love with him? The question scared her more than anything because some reckless part of her wanted the answer to be yes. She picked up the wine and drank it down in one long swallow. Do something, Isabella. You can’t be anyone’s porn. Not your father’s and not his. Isabella checked the time.

2:45 in the morning, and Aeros still hadn’t come back. From the bed she’d been watching the speedboat down on the lower terrace, tied to the bolard, riding the black water. The door opened in the dark. She let her eyes fall shut and made her breathing slow like a woman asleep, but she’d known him before she saw him.

His scent reached her first, leather and out, and the warm night still clinging to him. She heard the soft fall of fabric beside the bed. Then the mattress dipped, and he slid in behind her where she lay turned away from him, and wrapped an arm around her, and buried his face in the back of her neck. Isabella caught the inside of her cheek between her teeth.

His hand spled low across her stomach and drew her back into him. And when her body answered it before she could stop it, his mouth moved to her ear. You’re still awake. She kept her eyes closed. Where were you? He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. There were things that needed handling. She turned in his arms to face him. Their eyes found each other in the low light, and he pushed her hand into her hair, slow.

What is it? She didn’t have an answer she could give him. She let her face do it instead. Everything she couldn’t say sitting right there for him to read, his thumb moved along her cheekbone. I know what this is doing to you. The words came low and even. Not tonight. Tomorrow, we sort all of it out. His name came out of her low, half a plea and half something she didn’t have a word for. OS.

He pressed his face to the side of her throat and breathed her in. And when he lifted his head, the look he gave her said it before he ever spoke. Trust me. Her lips parted under his thumb. Before she could answer, he drew her in and kissed her slow and deep and almost careful. That carefulness undid her more than hunger ever could have.

She gave herself to the kiss, her hands sliding up to his shoulders, her body moving toward him before pride could stop it. He pulled back just enough to look at her. No war, no father, no tomorrow. Just the way he looked at her like she was the only thing left in the world he could lose. Maybe this is the last time I’ll ever be this close to him.

The thought cut clean through the heat of him. She kissed him harder, done being careful. His control slipped. His hands found her waist and pulled her flush against him, and she felt all of it at once, his weight, his mouth, her own pulse loud in her ears. Closer, she thought, then closer still, the room fell away.

There was only his breath and hers, ragged, tangled, the same. And in the moment they came together, a sound left her, half pleasure and half grief, and one tear slipped loose, and ran down her cheek. He kissed it away, tasted the salt of it on her skin. You’re mine, Isabella. rough against her throat, his voice barely holding.

A groan tore out of him as she moved under him. I can’t be without you. His forehead dropped to hers. Not anymore. She held on to him as if her hands could keep the moment from ending. The sun hadn’t come up yet. Isabella lay watching OS sleep beside her, his body curled around hers even now. like this with his guard down.

He wasn’t the hard man who gave orders and bent rooms to his will. He was the one who’d held her in the dark an hour ago, the one who’d come apart in her arms. Then she eased out from under his arm slow and got up. She dressed without turning on a light, barefoot, shoes in her hand. She went down the stairs without a sound.

The house felt asleep, though she knew better. The men were somewhere. The cameras were somewhere. Still, the corridor outside the bedroom was empty, and the stairs were clear. Out on the terrace, the night air cool off the sea. She crouched at the mooring and worked the line free of the bolard. She’d never handled anything this fast, but she’d run her father’s little Zodiac up and down the coast for years, one hand on the tiller.

“I can do this,” she told herself. She climbed down into the boat and felt under the console latch, and there it was, the spare key left where one of the men had tucked it after fueling her up. She closed her hand around it and took the wheel. Up on the cliff path, two of Iris’s men stood under the security light, talking, their attention on the upper road where any trouble would come from.

No one was watching the water. One chance. That was all she had. She set her jaw and turned the key. The engine roared awake. Both men spun toward the sound and she shoved the throttle forward. The boat lurched, swung wide, fought her, then caught and tore away from the rocks. She threw a look back.

The men were already sprinting for the terrace, shouting. The balcony off the bedroom was still dark and empty. The words left her low, torn away by the wind, almost before she’d said them. “Goodbye, Aeros Svino. I’ll find my own way. OS woke to the sound of an engine catching, and the bed beside him was cold.

He was at the glass before the thought had a name, in time to see the speedboat pulling away from the rocks below, a small figure low behind the wheel, the wake already white and widening on the dark water. His glance cut to the empty sheets. Then he was moving down the stairs two at a time in nothing but his boxes, the morning air hitting him cold the second he came out onto the terrace.

Tony and three of the men were down at the rail shouting after the boat, their voices torn apart by the wind. He turned when he heard OS behind him, and there was real distress on his face. I’m sorry, boss. I didn’t think Miss Ky would actually take the boat. The words came fast, tripping over each other.

The spare key was still in the console after the fuel check. Should we put the helicopter up? We can intercept her the second she comes ashore. Aeros didn’t answer right away. He stood watching her pull farther out. That figure at the wheel holding her line, not once looking back. No, Tony. His voice came out quiet, far quieter than the men expected. Let her go.

He didn’t turn from the water. Get every man we have on the far shore into position. Every place she could land now. They watch. They don’t approach. Eyes on that boat the whole way. I don’t want anything happening to Isabella. Tony stared at him like he’d misheard. Boss, the ship reaches New York tonight. Veto Ki is going to be here.

He looked like he couldn’t square the order with the plan. She’s our leverage, isn’t she? OS could still catch the trace of her on his own skin. Leather and O gone soft with the warmth of her. His hand went to his chest before he knew it was moving. Flattening over the spot like he could press the feeling down.

Nobody touches Isabella. There was no give in it at all. I only want to know where she is. We’re changing the plan, Tony. Tony stayed there a moment longer, something working behind his eyes. Then gave it up and went to make the calls, throwing one last look back over his shoulder. OS didn’t move, his eyes on her until she was no more than a pale speck against the open sea, a thin line of foam marking where she’d gone.

He shook his head slowly, and the smile that pulled at his mouth had an ache in it. “Stubborn girl! Run all you want. You’re still mine.” Isabella nosed the boat onto the strip of sand near the Conte house and went up the beach fast, her shoes in one hand. Nothing moved. The grounds looked deserted, the windows dark, the place holding its breath.

She slipped in through the side door she’d used a thousand times as a girl, and took the stairs to her old room two at a time. She stripped out of the clothes she’d worn off the island and pulled on shorts and a t-shirt, something she could move in. From the bottom drawer, she took the cash she kept stashed there.

All the while she kept crossing to the window, scanning the drive, the gardens, the line of the sea. OS hadn’t come after her. The thought landed in two places at once. Part of her achd at it. Part of her could finally breathe. Maybe he loves me enough to let me go. She turned the idea over, afraid to trust it. She was halfway across the room, ready to leave for good.

When she heard it, the low chop of a helicopter coming in over the water. She froze at the glass and watched it drop toward the pad. And as it touched down, she saw him through the open door. Veto Conti. For one second, she just stood there. She’d meant to be gone. Instead, she turned and ran for the library.

The blue book came off the shelf the way it always had, and the wall behind it gave, and she stepped into the dark of the tunnel, and pulled it shut behind her. She was waiting in the black, her own pulse loud in her ears, listening to the front of the house come alive, her father’s voice, the heavier tread of his men doors. She knew the route by heart.

She moved along the tunnel until she reached the stretch that ran behind his study, found the loose stone with her fingers, and eased it out without a sound. The little gap, looked straight in. Veto was pacing like the room was too small to hold him. You’re certain where Svino is? One of his men gave a short nod.

Kamino, sir, we’ve pinned down the location. That ship docks tonight. Veto stopped at the window, his back to her. I take my daughter and my cargo back the moment it does, or I don’t recover from this. You understand me? A man who can be robbed and stay robbed is finished. What do you want us to do, sir? The man’s voice stayed careful.

Move on the place. Veto looked out toward the sea a long moment. Hit the house, the dock first, then the generator. I don’t care if it’s a drone, a boat, or a man with a bag of explosives. I want Sorvino trapped on that rock before the ship reaches New York. The man shifted. Sir, Miss K is with him.

Veto took out a cigarette and lit it in no hurry at all. Get her out if you can. The question came back lower this time. And if we can’t, he drew on the cigarette, and the answer came without a flicker of feeling. Then make sure she never leaves that island as a sino. In the dark, Isabella stopped breathing. There he was, the man who’d worn her mother down to nothing with years of quiet cruelty, who’d called every cage he built a kindness.

Her father, his name, and his standing came first. They always had, before her mother, before her, before anyone. She had spent her whole life telling herself he was hard, but he was hers. Listening to him now, she understood the shape of it for the first time. He had never been afraid of losing her. He had been afraid of being seen losing her.

One of the men stepped in close. The car’s ready, sir. It’ll take us to the city apartment. Veto nodded and gathered a few things off the desk. We don’t stay here. Sino will know I landed within the hour. She listened to them go, the voices thinning, a door, the cars on the gravel, then nothing. Alone in the tunnel, Isabella pressed the back of her wrist to her eyes and wiped the tears away.

For the first time in her life, Isabella stopped wondering whether her father loved her. He did. In the only way Veto Conti knew how to love anything, he loved owning her. Isabella ran for the water like something was chasing her. The boat had slid back off the sand and drifted out, riding low on the swell a dozen yards from shore.

She didn’t stop to think. She hit the water at a dead run and swam for it, dragged herself over the side and shoved the hair out of her face. She had to reach OS. She had to warn him. Whatever her father had planned, she would not let him take Aeros, too. The engine bit, and the boat shot out across the open water, the bow slapping hard against the swell.

Kamino rose ahead of her, pale and sharp under the noon sun. For one second, relief hit her so hard her eyes stung. Then she saw the smoke. A dark column was climbing the side of the cliff house, twisting up into the clean sky, her hands locked on the wheel. No, no, no, no. The first blast tore up from the dock.

Fire ripped off the rocks bright enough to stain the water orange in broad daylight, and the sound of it reached her a heartbeat later, deep and brutal across the sea. Then the glass front of the house buckled, and a second column burst from the generator wall. The scream tore out of her before she knew it was coming.

1. Her hand jerked off the throttle. The boat slewed sideways on its own wake, and she dropped to the floor of it, one hand clamped over her mouth, the other locked on the edge of the seat, like the world had tipped under her. Last night she had been in that house in his arms. Now it was gone, and OS with it.

For a few terrible minutes she couldn’t move. She stayed where she’d fallen and stared at the burning place on the cliff, at the spot where he had slept beside her hours ago, where his mouth had been on her skin, where he had told her she was his, and he couldn’t be without her anymore. Then whatever she’d been holding together split open the rest of the way, and she let it.

When she finally pushed herself up, her legs shook under her. The tears were still there, wet on her face. But behind them, something hotter had come back. The same fire that had been in her eyes. is the first time she’d ever decided to fight. She brought the boat around away from the smoke and pointed it back the way she’d come.

I know where you are, father. The words came low and certain, half torn away by the wind. I won’t let you take one more thing from me. Her fingers closed hard around the wheel. You’ve taken enough. The apartment sat on the top floor of a building that looked out over the marina, the kind of place no one would think to check.

Her father had leased it years ago for a mistress, and it still sat in that woman’s name. No one would ever guess Veto Conte was here, which was exactly why Isabella had come. The sun was going down over the water when she reached the door. Two of her father’s men stood outside it, and they straightened when they saw her, hands drifting toward their jackets.

She didn’t slow down. Open it. I’m Isabella Ki. They looked at each other, thrown, and that half second of hesitation was all she needed. She pushed past them and walked in. Veto stood by the windows with a phone in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other, half turned away from the door.

Nobody? What do you mean no body? His voice was tight. Then find him. The words hit her like ice water. No body. OS was alive. He hadn’t died in that house. Somewhere somehow he had walked out of it. The relief came so fast it almost buckled her knees and right behind it came the question that mattered now.

Where was he? Veto turned and saw her. For one second real surprise crossed his face. I’ll call you back. He ended the call and lowered the phone. Isabella. He set the glass down and came toward her, his arms beginning to open. Thank God you’re all right. Did you get away from him? His tone warmed, smooth, and certain. Come here.

Come to your father. She didn’t move. Her eyes stayed level on his. You had the house hit. Veto stopped where he was. Something shifted in his face just slightly, but she knew him too well to miss it. You don’t know what you’re saying. She cut across him. Did you even stop to wonder whether I was inside it? His hands opened like the answer should have been plain.

My men had orders to get you out first. Isabella shook her head and the laugh that came out of her had no humor in it. And Anita, did anyone even ask if she was alive? She took a step closer. 4 days I was gone. Did you lose one minute of sleep over me or only over what Sino might have taken that belonged to you? Veto’s jaw tightened and his words came out clipped. Do not raise your voice to me.

And there he was, not the relieved father with his arms held open, the man underneath, the one who had always expected her to fold, his tone leveled out, cold and even. I am your father. I have protected you your whole life. You seem to have forgotten that. Protected me from what? Her voice shook, but her feet stayed where they were.

From your own world? Is that why I grew up in a cage, Papa? because of what you are. Veto’s eyes moved over her differently now. They went to the door to the guards behind her, then came back to her face, and his next words came low. How did you get away from him? The suspicion in him sharpened to a point.

If you’re standing here, where is Eeros Sino? Isabella looked at him, and for a moment she couldn’t believe there had ever been a girl who waited for this man to love her the right way. I heard you. The name she’d called him all her life wouldn’t come. In the study at the house, I was behind the wall the whole time. Veto went still.

She gave his own words back to him, low and exact. Get her out if you can, and if you can’t, make sure she never leaves that island as a sorino. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then it was Veto who looked away first, and when he answered, there was no apology in it, not even a flicker. I said what had to be said.

Sentiment is a luxury men like me don’t get to keep. He turned and called toward the hall. Bring the cars around. We’re leaving. Then to her, almost mild again. I have you back. Now I get my cargo back, too. She held her ground. I’m not going anywhere with you. His face hardened, and when he spoke, the warmth was gone for good.

You don’t get a choice. We’ll make new arrangements somewhere no one can ever use you against me again. The fear was still there, but underneath it she had gone steady. Enough, Papa. I’m done hiding. I’m done being moved. I’m not coming with you. Veto’s hand closed around her wrist hard. Then I’ll take you out of here myself. We’re going.

One of the guards started forward, then froze. The hallway had gone strangely quiet. A voice came from the doorway, low and cold. Take your hands off her, Veto. Aos came through this door with six men behind him, their guns already up and trained on her fathers. His eyes found Isabella first, and held Aeros. His name came out of her low and unsteady, every knot in her chest loosening at once. His face stayed hard.

He didn’t look away from Veto. Let go of her arm. You’ve done enough to her for one lifetime. Veto’s grip loosened, and his color drained a shade. Sorvino, how did you find this place? How did you get past my men? The corner of Eros’s mouth moved. Not quite a smile. I let her go. I didn’t leave her unprotected.

Veto’s eyes cut to Isabella. Eris’s tone cooled. A man who spends his life shooting people in the back should expect it to come back around. His tone cooled. And trying to bury me with that house? sloppy. I stopped expecting men like you to honor a deal a long time ago. Vita recovered fast the way he always did.

Kill me and all you’re left with is your revenge. That ship docks in New York and you get nothing. I sold the cargo to the Russians this morning. Aeros looked almost bored. Of course you did. You just missed one thing. The Mirinoff brothers have been mine for years. That ship was mine before it ever left the Bahamas. A laugh broke out of veto, sharp and disbelieving.

You paid the Mironovs for your own cargo. Aeros’s expression didn’t change. No, you only thought you did. The money was bait. The moment you took it, you opened the door. Check it if you want. Veto’s face went gray. He fumbled the phone up, thumb working the screen, and whatever he saw there drained the last of the blood out of him.

Aeros lifted a shoulder. I only took back what was mine. I’m not the thief here. He tipped his head toward the hall and Tony stepped in with Anita beside him. She was pale and shaken, but she was whole. Isabella crossed the room and pulled her in, and for a moment, she just held on. Veto’s voice cracked. You set me up.

All of it was a trap. Eros’s words came low and even. You set yourself up. You robbed me. You put a knife in my back. You’re a cheat and a coward, Veto Conti. And you already know what that costs. Aeros, no. Isabella was moving before she finished the word. Don’t Don’t kill him.

The muscle in his jaw ticked, but when he looked at her, some of the hardness left his eyes. You know I won’t do anything that hurts you, Isabella. Then his gaze cut back to veto, cold again. But if he ever comes for you, I won’t be merciful twice. And the price he really owes, that one I haven’t collected yet. He held out his hand to her.

Come with me. My jet leaves in 45 minutes. I can give you a life where you never have to hide again. Where you use your own name, where you work wherever you want. Isabella’s throat tightened. And if I don’t come with you, what happens then, Oros? His hand lowered slow. He held her eyes across the room.

Then I’ll respect it. The words cost him. And this will be goodbye. Isabella’s eyes had filled, but her chin stayed up. She looked at neither of them. Not at Veto, not at OS. And when she spoke, her voice came steady. I don’t need any man to build my life for me. Her gaze moved to her father first. Not Vto Conti, then to Aeros. And not Aeros Svino either.

Nobody in this room is here to save me. She turned full on her father. I’m done hiding because of your dirty work. Do you hear me? You’re not going to do to me what you did to my mother. Veto’s mouth curved unbothered. This is the family you were born into, Isabella. Like it or not. I can choose my own family though, she held his eyes.

Can’t I? Isabella Aeros said her name low, something pulling under it. She looked at him and the words came quiet and certain. I’m choosing myself, OS. Behind her, Veto let out a low laugh. The muscle in Eros’s jaw tightened. Tony shifted at his shoulder. Let’s just take her and go, boss. OS lifted her hand without looking at him. No one touches Isabella.

Then he held her eyes one last time, and the smile that came was a pained thing. Stubborn girl. Aos turned for the door, Tony and his men falling in around him, and the room felt colder the second his back was to her. Before he reached the hall, he looked at Veto one last time, and every trace of the softness he’d shown her was gone from him.

“If a hair on her head is ever harmed, I won’t kill you fast, Veto. I’ll make it last.” Then he walked out. Her father waited until the last of them was out of sight before he turned to her, his face already settled into something almost warm. “You’re not going with him, Isabella.” He came a step closer after everything he’s taken from me.

Don’t hand him one more thing. A warmth crept into his expression that turned her stomach. I’m proud of you. You know, you brought a man like that to his knees. You’re your father’s daughter after all. She went very still. Then she looked at him. And for the first time in her life, she felt no fear at all.

You don’t understand me at all, Papa. Her words came quiet and even. I didn’t stay because you told me to. I stayed because I wasn’t going to break you in front of your own men. Her voice didn’t waver. You’re still my father. Veto started to cut in. Isabella, I’m nothing like you. Her words stayed low and steady. You don’t even know how to love.

Not my mother. Not me. You just watched a man let you live because he loves me and called it weakness. Her chin lifted. He knows you’ll come for him. He chose to spare you anyway because hurting you would hurt me. Maybe at the cost of his own life one day. Her eyes held his. What have you ever given up for me? Veto’s mouth opened, but for once nothing came.

The answer was written in the empty space where it should have been. Isabella turned away from him and didn’t look back. Anita caught her hand at the door, her eyes still red. Isabella, she searched her face. Do you love him? Isabella’s throat tightened, but the answer was the easiest thing she’d said all day.

Yes, I love him. A smile broke through before she could stop it. I think I finally get what it means to love someone. To put them before yourself. She leaned in and kissed Anita’s cheek. Thank you for all of it. Anita squeezed her hand and didn’t let go. Isabella’s voice dropped just for her. You know where to find me.

She went down through the building and out into the street where the light had gone gold and low over the water. The cars were pulling out. OS had nearly reached the last of them. She called after him before he could get in, sharp enough to carry. Eeros Servino. He stopped. For a moment, he didn’t move at all, and when he turned, the corner of his mouth had already lifted.

She crossed the distance to him with steady steps and stopped close enough to feel the warmth coming off him. “Isabella Kiy,” he said, like her name was something he’d been holding. She looked up at him, the words barely above a whisper. What happens now? His knuckles grazed her cheek, and the hardness she’d seen all night was gone from his face.

What do you want to happen? She let herself breathe him in. I miss New York. Then we’re going to New York. Something eased in him as the words left him, her mouth curved, then wavered. “I don’t have anything to bring with me, only myself.” His arm came around her waist and drew her in slow and sure until almost no space was left between them.

That’s more than I could ever want. Her eyes filled, and this time she let them. His thumb came up to the side of her face and caught the first tear before it could fall. “No more cages,” he murmured. She leaned into his palm. “No more cages.” Then his mouth found hers. behind them. The sea kept breaking against the old stone harbor, the cars idling at the curb, the city moving on without them, and for a few seconds she heard none of it, only the water and the sound of his breathing.

When he finally drew back, he didn’t pull her toward the car. He opened the door and waited. Isabella looked once at the building behind her. Somewhere above them, her father was still standing in the ruins of everything he’d thought he owned. Then she looked at Aeros. He held his hand out to her open and left it that way. He didn’t close it around hers.

Not this time. She placed her hand in his. And when she stepped into the car, it wasn’t because she had been taken or hidden or traded or won. It was because she had chosen. The door shut softly behind her, and the car pulled away from the harbor toward the airport toward New York. For the first time in her life, Isabella Ki belonged to no one but herself.

And because she did, she could choose him. Thank you for staying with Isabella and Aeros all the way to the end. Now I have to ask, would you have chosen Aeros, the dangerous man who came to tear your family apart and ended up loving you for exactly who you are, not your name? Yes or no? Tell me in the comments.

I promise you I read every single one. If this story moved something in you. And here’s the truth. Your comments are what keep me going. A single like makes my whole day. As long as you keep loving these stories, I’ll keep writing them and I’ll keep them free for you always.

Take care of yourself and never let anyone keep you in a cage and call it

THE END.