The drive back to Alejandro’s massive, heavily fortified estate was dead silent. The partition between the back seat and the driver was rolled up, isolating them in a bubble of thick, suffocating tension.
Alejandro sat rigidly, his dark eyes staring out the tinted window at the passing city skyline. His jaw was clenched so tightly a muscle ticked in his cheek. He hadn't looked at Sarah once since they left Pier 14.
Sarah, sitting cross-legged next to him, remained perfectly calm. She knew him better than anyone else alive. She knew this icy silence wasn't born out of anger toward her—it was born out of sheer, unadulterated terror for her safety.
The moment the armored SUV pulled up to the grand entrance of the mansion, Alejandro threw his door open before the security guards could even reach for the handle.
"Inside. Now," he commanded, his voice a low, rough growl.
Sarah didn't argue. She calmly slipped off her trench coat, handing it to a bowing maid, and followed Alejandro into his private, oak-paneled study. The heavy double doors clicked shut behind them, and the second they did, Alejandro turned around.
The cold, calculated mafia genius was gone. In his place was a man completely unraveled by fear.
"Are you losing your mind, Sarah?!" he roared, slamming his hands down on the massive mahogany desk. The sound echoed like a gunshot in the quiet room. "You walked onto a hot dock! Vance had twelve men with their fingers on their triggers! If one of them had a nervous twitch, if a single bullet had strayed—"
"But it didn't, Andro," Sarah interrupted softly. She walked toward him, her steps slow, measured, and entirely cool.
"Because I stopped them!" Alejandro yelled, stepping out from behind the desk to meet her, his chest heaving. He grabbed her shoulders, his grip tight but careful not to hurt her. His obsidian eyes burned into hers. "You don't understand the world I rule, Sarah. They call me a monster, but there are worse devils out there. The second they realize what you mean to me, you become a target. You are my only weakness. My only one."
Sarah looked up at him, completely unfazed by his towering, dangerous presence. Her sassy streak sparked in her eyes as she reached up, placing her cool palms gently against his hot, sharp jawline.
"Then it's a good thing your weakness knows how to keep you in line," she murmured, forcing him to look down into her serene eyes. "Did Vance shoot? No. Did he sign over the shipping lanes? Yes. You are a genius, Andro, but when it comes to me, you blind yourself with rage. I went to that dock to make sure you kept your head. I am not a fragile glass doll you need to lock away in a tower."
Alejandro leaned into her touch despite himself, his eyes closing for a brief second as his forehead rested against hers. A ragged breath escaped his lips. The scent of her—soft, clean, and entirely detached from the blood and gunpowder of his daily life—instantly anchored his chaotic mind.
"You are not glass, Sarah," he whispered, his voice dropping into a raw, deeply possessive tone that made her breath hitch. He opened his eyes, staring directly into her soul. "Glass breaks. You are a diamond. But even diamonds can be stolen. I can't lose you. If anyone takes you from me, I won't just kill them—I will burn the entire world to ashes to find you."
The air in the room suddenly turned heavy, charged with a strange, magnetic electricity. His hands slid down from her shoulders to her waist, pulling her just an inch closer. For the first time in their years of friendship, the boundaries they had carefully built were beginning to blur.
Before either of them could speak, the desk phone buzzed with an urgent ring.
Alejandro didn't want to answer it, but the specific ringtone meant it was an emergency encryption line. Keeping one arm wrapped securely around Sarah’s waist, he reached over and hit the speaker button.
"Speak," Alejandro commanded.
Lucas’s voice came through, sounding tense. "Boss, we have a problem. We intercepted a communication from the Italian syndicate. Old Man Vance just leaked footage from the gala last night. The entire underworld now knows that a woman named Sarah is the only person who can bring Don Alejandro to his knees. The Rossi family is already putting a bounty on her head to force you out of the city."
Alejandro’s grip on Sarah’s waist tightened so fiercely it was almost painful. The warmth in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a terrifying, dead void.
"Let them try," Alejandro whispered to the empty room