Danger doesn't always announce itself with gunshots.
Sometimes, it whispers.
I felt it the moment I woke up.
The room was quiet—too quiet. The kind of silence that made the hair on my arms rise. Morning light filtered through the curtains, soft and deceptive, but my chest felt tight, as though something unseen had already crossed a line.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," I said.
It wasn't Valerio.
A maid stepped inside, her face pale. "Mrs. Knight… there's something you should see."
She handed me a small black box.
No return address. No note inside.
Just a single object resting on velvet.
A ring.
Not mine.
It was old, elegant—and unmistakably worn. I didn't need to ask to know who it belonged to. I had seen it last night, glinting on Alessia's finger as she smiled like a woman who never lost what she believed was hers.
My stomach twisted.
When Valerio arrived minutes later, one look at my face was enough.
"Who touched this?" he demanded, voice lethal.
"No one," I said quietly. "It was delivered."
His jaw tightened as he stared at the ring, something dark and volatile igniting behind his eyes. He picked it up like it offended him.
"She's testing boundaries," he said. "And she just crossed one."
"What does she want?" I asked.
Valerio looked at me then—really looked at me—and for the first time, I saw something raw beneath the control.
"She wants you to understand," he said slowly, "that she existed in my world long before you."
"And you want me to understand… what?"
"That she doesn't anymore."
His phone rang.
He answered it without breaking eye contact with me.
"Yes," he said. Pause. "No. Touch her again and I'll bury you both."
He ended the call.
The air felt heavier after that.
"You shouldn't leave the house today," he said.
I straightened. "I won't live like a prisoner."
He stepped closer, towering, his voice low and edged with something dangerous. "You won't live at all if you underestimate her."
Something inside me snapped.
"I didn't ask for this war," I said. "I signed a contract, not a death sentence."
Valerio's hands came up, gripping my arms—not hard, but firm. Grounding. Possessive.
"And that contract made you mine," he said. "Which means your safety is no longer negotiable."
The intensity in his eyes stole my breath.
"This isn't about control," he continued, voice roughening. "It's about survival. And I will burn this city down before I let anyone touch you."
There it was.
Not strategy.
Not power.
Obsession.
That night, thunder rolled over the estate as if the sky itself was warning us.
I stood at the window when a single gunshot echoed in the distance.
Valerio was there instantly, pulling me away from the glass, his body shielding mine.
"Stay behind me," he ordered.
"What's happening?" I whispered.
"A message," he said coldly.
Another shot.
Closer.
Alarms blared. Guards rushed through the halls. Valerio pressed his forehead briefly against mine, a rare crack in his armor.
"You're the leverage now," he said. "And that makes you the target."
Fear coiled in my chest—but beneath it, something else burned.
Resolve.
"I won't break," I said.
His eyes softened—just for a second.
"That," he murmured, "is exactly why this is becoming a problem."
As chaos unfolded outside, I realized the truth.
This deal had gone beyond contracts and appearances.
Valerio Knight wasn't just protecting me anymore.
He was willing to destroy anyone who reminded him he could lose me.
And Alessia?
She had just declared war.