~ Massimo ~
I did the right thing.
I had been repeating those five words to myself like a mantra since the sun went down the next day.
I was in my study, sitting in my leather armchair, the one that felt more like a throne than a piece of furniture, staring into the dying embers in the fireplace.
The room was vast, filled with walls of dark mahogany bookshelves that stretched toward the ceiling, holding secrets and ledgers that have kept the Valentino syndicate standing strong.
Usually, this room was my sanctuary, a place of logic and planning, but this evening, it felt like a cage.
My mind wouldn't stop wandering back to what happened last night in the dining room. I kept seeing the shock on their faces when I hadn't reached for my gun. I kept hearing my own voice admitting—out loud, in front of my men—that Niamh had changed my mind.
