The morning came heavy with haze.
Golden sunlight filtered through the high windows of Leonardo Moretti's private suite, catching on the dust motes in the air like a spotlight on the quiet chaos inside. His tie hung loose around his neck. His shirt was half-buttoned. And in his hand, he held the invitation to his own engagement party set for next month, gilded in gold, his name tied in script to a stranger's.
Leonardo let the card slip from his fingers and fall to the marble floor.
A knock at the door jolted him. He didn't answer.
Another knock, firmer this time. "Leo. Open up."
He knew the voice. Knew it too well.
Leonardo walked to the door, unlocked it, and stepped back.
Marco entered, his eyes scanning him in an instant. Disheveled. Pale. Something unsteady under that usual grace. "Did you sleep?"
"No." Leonardo poured himself a glass of water and didn't drink it. "I kept wondering if I should have said yes."
Marco frowned. "To what?"
"To your offer. Last night."
Marco's eyes darkened, and he closed the door quietly. "You still can."
Leonardo laughed bitterly. "No, I can't. You and I both know that. My father's already started talks with the Vasquez family again. He wants to secure a trade route through South America he needs this marriage. And I'm the sacrificial pawn."
Marco stepped forward, quiet but intense. "You're not a pawn."
Leonardo looked up. "Then what am I, Marco? I was born to be a weapon. A name. A symbol. Everything I feel, everything I want it's weakness to them. Love is weakness."
Marco's jaw tightened. "Not to me."
A silence stretched between them, filled only by the distant ticking of the ornate clock on the wall.
Leonardo finally looked at him. "You remember my 23rd birthday?"
Marco blinked. "Of course."
"You took me to the vineyard outside Florence. Said it was just a job security detail while I 'relaxed.' But it wasn't, was it?"
Marco's lips tugged into a rare, subtle smile. "You'd been locked inside the estate for months. You needed out."
Leonardo chuckled quietly. "And you showed me the stars. We lay on the hood of the car, pretending we weren't who we were."
Marco stepped closer now, his voice softer. "You kissed me first."
Leonardo's eyes met his. "You didn't stop me."
Marco's expression shifted gentle, full of aching restraint. "I would've let the whole world burn that night."
The air between them thickened with everything unsaid.
But then the spell broke as Leonardo turned away. "And now look where we are. You're standing guard while I'm being sold off in the name of diplomacy."
Marco walked forward and caught his wrist.
"Then choose me, Leonardo."
Leonardo's throat worked, but he didn't speak.
"Tell them no," Marco whispered. "We'll disappear. You have enough accounts under aliases. I know places. You trust me."
"I do," Leonardo said softly. "That's the problem. I trust you more than I trust myself."
Marco's grip loosened, his hand trailing down Leonardo's arm before falling away. "Then I'll wait. I'll wait until you stop being their son and start being your own man."
A knock sounded again this time brisk, businesslike. One of the inner guards.
"Sir, Don Moretti requests your presence in the library. It's urgent."
Leonardo swallowed his hesitation and nodded. "I'll be there."
As the guard's footsteps faded, he turned back to Marco.
"If I walk out that door, I'll be agreeing to everything."
Marco met his gaze, steady. "Then don't walk out."
Leonardo hesitated.
But then composed, shoulders squared he walked.
And Marco was left behind in the silence once again, watching the man he loved walk straight into the arms of duty.