Chapter 4 - FIRE IN THE SHADOWS
The next three days were a blur of adrenaline and silk sheets. The East Wing of the Moretti estate was a fortress of marble and glass, overlooking the Manhattan skyline. I had gone from scrubbing these floors to being treated like royalty—or a high-value prisoner.
The underworld was at war. Vincent’s retaliatory strikes against the Bellini family were swift and brutal. News reports called it a "sudden wave of corporate restructuring," but anyone with half a brain knew it was a massacre. Warehouses burned. Bellini lieutenants vanished.
But inside the penthouse, there was a strange, terrifying peace.
On the fourth night, I couldn't sleep. I left Lily snoring softly in the king-sized bed and walked down the darkened hallway to the kitchen for a glass of water. As I turned the corner, I stopped.
Vincent was sitting at the kitchen island in the dark. His tie was undone, his white shirt sleeves rolled up, revealing forearms corded with muscle and ink. A glass of amber liquid sat untouched before him.
“Can't sleep?” he asked, not turning around.
“No,” I admitted, stepping into the dim light of the city glowing through the windows. “I keep waiting for the door to be kicked in.”
Vincent finally turned to look at me. In the moonlight, the harsh, unforgiving lines of his face seemed to soften. “No one is kicking down my doors, Elena. You’re safe.”
“For how long?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself. “Once the Bellinis are gone, what happens to us? We know too much.”
He stood up, closing the distance between us until I could feel the heat radiating from his body. His presence was overwhelming, a gravitational pull that made my breath catch.
“You think I’d hurt you?” he asked, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.
“I don't know you, Mr. Moretti.”
“Vincent,” he corrected, stepping closer. He reached out, his thumb gently tracing the line of my jaw. My skin burned at his touch. “And you know me better than anyone who sat at that table. You saw me at my blindest, and you—your brave little girl—opened my eyes.”
I looked up into his dark eyes, realizing with a jolt of panic that I wasn't just afraid of this man. I was drawn to him.
May you like
Suddenly, a massive explosion shook the building. The glass in the kitchen rattled, and the fire alarms began to shriek.
“Get down!” Vincent roared, tackling me to the marble floor just as the reinforced windows shattered inward under a hail of automatic gunfire.
