ra

ntrolled impatience. The hand that had bee

a low growl, a warning from an apex pre

old room. Closing the distance would be a mistake, a sign of w

, Mr. Russo." My voice was soft, bu

ement, cold and sharp as a scalpel, touched his

I am offering a strategic reminder. For

in his posture. The U

ho helped forge this empire, she values tradition and order above all. But there are also spies paid by your stepmother

arctic blue eyes sharpened, the gaze of a h

ll happen? Seraphina will be furious that you are rebelling against the marriage she arranged for your sons' sake.

gives your stepmother the ammunition she needs to undermine your authority, and it become

le

s the hiss and cr

and brutal. I was showing him a different kind of battlefield-one fought wit

of realization in

couldn't deny. "But I will not have my utility, as your wife, stripped from me before my first d

he truly looked at me. Not as a debt collection, n

a stalking panther. The immense pressure of his presence settl

feel the heat radiating from his chest. He smelled

ers surprisingly steady as they cupped m

to meet his gaze head-on, my ex

hooked a finger under the edge of my lace veil. He drew it

last physical barrier

y exposed to his scrutiny. My green ey

at work as he swallowed. His thumb brushed lightly against my jawline, a fl

lethal friction of two weapon

I felt in my bones. He dropped his hand, breaking the contact

es the terms of our arrangement," he added, h

atched him, letting my s

ath. He had been outmaneuvered in

room, where a long, velvet sofa sat in the s

"Do not make a sound. Do

wrapped in a comma

graceful mock-bow of acknowled

n the fi

in doing so, I had forced the Underboss to se

r that belied the tension knotted in his shoulders. He stalked towards the ad

ale. The adrenaline that had kept m

barefoot to the massive king-sized bed and sat on its edge, my hands resting smoothly on the expensiv

ead. To melt the glacier that was Eliga Russo, to truly weapo

d more importantly

his ruthless ambitions, all locked safely away in my mem