“Then don’t pretend he ever saw you the way I did. When he used you to save his empire, I was ready to burn mine down for you.” —D

Dominic Russo didn't sleep that night. 

He paced the length of his study, replaying the video over and over, jaw clenched so tight he thought his molars would crack. 

“You knew there were cameras in that room,” he growled at Sienna, who was curled up on the velvet couch in a silk robe that wasn't hers. It was Dominic's. 

“I thought she disabled them,” she muttered. Biting her nails. “She said she had.”

Dominic laughed bitterly. “She played you like a damn violin.”

“She played us, like a damn violin. It's not only my fault, were you not supposed to know that your wife was spiraling?” Sienna threw her hands up in frustration. 

Dominic didn't say anything. How could he let this happen? He thought they had killed her, and frankly he didn’t care, but now he cared, because the Aria that showed up in his estate today was not the one he married, her eyes used to be so full of light but now, they were just….dead. Which made him more wary of her. 

“She's bluffing. She has nothing else.” Sienna added. 

“She doesn't need anything else,” he snapped. 

“That video alone can get me stripped of succession by the council. “If it gets out–”

“It won't,” Sienna cut in, standing. “We’ll fix this. We always do.”

Dominic turned to her slowly. “You don't get it, do you? Aria was the only one who ever knew how to clean up my messes without leaving a trace. Now she is the mess.” 

Sienna’s face fell. “Don't tell me you're regretting letting her go.” Her voice shook as she asked him. 

He didn't answer. 

Because the truth burned his throat. 

He didn't just let her go–he signed her death certificate. 

And now, she was back…. unrecognisable. 

No longer the quiet, composed assistant-wife. 

Now she was the fire. And she was ready to burn his empire to the ground. 

****

Across the city, in a hidden underground lounge beneath a cathedral, Aria sat across from a man who once held her heart–and might again. 

The man who saved her. 

Damon De Luca. Known as the Grim Reaper in the underground world.

Mafia prince of the rival La Serpe Nera Syndicate. Charismatic. Dangerous. The kind of man who could gut you with a smile–and kiss you afterward. 

“You're glowing,” he said, pouring her a glass of Chianti. “For someone who just blew up the Russo empire from the inside.”

“I'm not done yet,” Aria said. 

“That,” swirling the wine in her glass with a small, dangerous smile, “was just the matchstick.”

“So what's next? You burn the whole dynasty down?”

She met his gaze without flinching. “Not just the Dynasty. I want Dominic to watch everything he built burn around him–and know I was the one who lit the fire.”

Damon studied her for a long moment. His voice dropped a notch. “You're colder now.”

“And you're still reckless.” She shot back. 

“You saved me, and I came to you for vengeance, but this isn't about love, Damon.”

“No,” he murmured. “But it still feels like it is. I want it to be.”

Aria’s jaw tightened, but she didn't look away. That was the thing about Damon. He always knew how to twist the truth into intimacy. It was his weapon. It felt like the room was closing in on them but she still felt safe as the both of them stared at each other. She felt hot all over, Damon’s eyes moved from her face to her neck, and she noticed the way he moved his hand. His eyes moved down to her cleavage and he stared for a bit too long, all the way down to her legs. Peeling the dress off her body with just his eyes. 

His eyes burned with something….she couldn’t tell what it was, passion maybe? With a little bit of darkness? 

“I don't have the luxury to feel anything anymore,” she said quietly. 

“Is that what you told yourself,” he said, his voice low and smooth, “when you left me for him?” His eyes were still roaming around her body, stopping at every inch, every curve. They were meters apart and it felt like they were both touching each other, a movement distracted her and she noticed him bunching the table clothes under his fist, but his eyes were staring at her lips. Unknowingly, her tongue licked her lips, leaving a little bit of moisture at its wake. 

Silence stretched between them like a wire pulled taut. 

“You chose Dominic,” Damon said, leaning closer, his face inches from hers. 

“But don't pretend he ever saw you the way I did. When he used you to save his empire, I was ready to tear mine apart for you.” 

Her breath hitched. 

“Damon….” She began. 

But his hand slid across the table, brushing against hers–gentle, but deliberate. She didn't pull away. 

He tilted his head, voice velvet-soft. 

“Do you remember that night in Marseille?”

She closed her eyes for a second. She did. 

The rain. The wine. His fingers gripping her hips like she was something sacred. His lips tracing the curve of her spine. His tongue doing dirty things to her. His eyes worshipping every part of her extra curvy body. 

“I remember everything,” she whispered, and it nearly broke her. 

Damon’s voice dropped to a rasp. “Then stop pretending you came here for strategy alone.” 

She met his eyes. “I came here to destroy Dominic.”

“Then let me help you. Officially.”

He pulled a folded document from his jacket. A formal proposal. The signature of a blood pact. An alliance between La Serpe Nera and Aria Sidorov–her real name restored. 

She stared at the paper. Then at him.

“You're offering me a throne,” she said slowly. 

“I'm offering you the chance to never bow again,” he said. “To no one. Not even me.” 

The air between them thickened. 

Damon stood up, walking around the table to her side. His hand brushed her shoulder, then her throat, his fingers warm against her skin. 

“You came to me for war.” He said. “But I can give you more than that.”

Aria stood too, heart pounding against her ribs. “What if I want both?”

He smiled faintly, his breath grazing her cheek. 

“Then marry me, Aria“

Her eyes widened, not from surprise–but from how much she wanted to say yes. 

“You don't mean that.”

“I do” he said, voice dark and sure. “Not for love, not just for love. For power. For vengeance. For your last name to mean something that's never connected to him again.” 

“You know me Red, I’m a selfish man, if vengeance is a way for me to have you close to me, for you to wear my ring, I’ll take it. I’ll take anything you give.”

The words hung there like smoke. 

“I need time,” she breathed. 

He didn't press. “You have three days.”

Before she could answer, a shadow flickered past the glass wall of the lounge’s private room. 

Damon's hand instinctively went to the gun at his side. 

Then–boom. 

The glass exploded inward. 

Aria ducked, but not fast enough–she felt a sting along her arm. Shard embedded into the skin. 

“Get down!” Damon growled, pulling her behind him. 

Gunfire erupted in the hallway outside. 

“Back entrance,” he barked, dragging her towards the emergency exit. 

“Who the hell–” she began, breathless. 

“I've got a few ideas,” he snapped. “None of them good.”

They burst into a back alley drenched in rain, Damon's car was already pulling up–his men trained like wolves. 

He yanked open the door, pushed her inside and slammed the door shut, and jumped in beside her just as more bullets tore through the night. 

The tired screeched as the sped off. 

Aria pressed her hand against her bleeding arm, breath shaking. 

“Who knew we were meeting?” She asked 

“Well, I don't know yet. But I'm going to find out.”

He leaned over her, inspecting her wound. 

“It's shallow,” he said. “You'll live.”

His hand moved to brush the hair from her cheek, then lingered a second too long. 

“I almost lost you again tonight.”

“Which is the reason why whoever tried whatever they did tonight, will know why I'm called the grim reaper before the end of tonight.” 

And something inside her slipped–like the lock she kept on her emotions was cracking. 

“Why do you still care?”

“Because I never stopped.” 

Their lips hovered close–too close. 

But before they could touch, Aria's phone buzzed. 

He handed it to her. 

A message from Dominic. 

———————————————————

“Next time, I aim for the heart.”

———————————————————