Chapter 6

Dario's pov

The warehouse stank of gasoline, sweat, and fear.

Three men were kneeling in front of me, bloodied and trembling. One of them-Marcos-had worked under me for five years. Trusted. Paid well. And still, he thought he could skim off my shipments. Sell my product behind my back.Stupid.

I stepped forward, boots echoing on the concrete floor. My men stood silent behind me. No one moved. No one breathed.

"You think I wouldn't find out?" | said, my voice low, almost calm. "You think loyalty is optional in my world?"

Marcos opened his mouth to beg, but I didn't give him the chance. My fist connected with his jaw-sharp, brutal.He collapsed, coughing blood.

The others flinched. Good.

I pulled the blade from my belt slowly, letting it catch the light. The same blade used when I was seventeen-when learned my first body.

"You stole from me without being prepared to go through this ,I crouched in front of Marcos, voice low and cold. I didn't shout.I didn't need to.

The sound of his screams filled the room as I made my point-cut by cut. I wasn't here for questions. I was here for consequences.

When I finally stood, blood stained my hands, my shirt. I looked down at what was left of Marcos and the two others still sobbing behind him.

"Clean this up, I said to my men. "And make sure the rest of the crew sees what loyalty costs when it breaks."

Because in my world, betrayal isn't forgiven.

It's erased.

The car door slammed behind me, and the scent of burning rubber and city smoke faded into silence. I lit a cigarette, took one drag, then crushed it beneath my boot. My mind was loud-louder than usual. Ezebel.

Damn girl had been slipping into my thoughts too often lately. The way she moved last night... slow, careful, like she knew exactly what she was doing. It wasn't innocence _it was strategy. That brief glance at the gun, her deliberate silence, the shift in her posture...I could still see it.I could still feel it. And I didn't hate it.

"Dario," my right-hand man muttered, pulling up beside me. His name was Silvio-loyal, efficient, merciless when needed. He never asked questions, and I liked that.

We walked into the house together, the guards nodding without a word. As we stepped through the main hallway, voices floated in from the servants' wing. I paused. Marta's voice.

"Ezebel... Where were you last night?"There was no anger in her tone, just concern.

I didn't stop walking.i turned the corner and stepped into the view ,cold and composed. watched the maid shake in fear "why wouldn't they" kill in front of them often.

"She was in my room,"do you have any problem with that, said my voice calm and final.

Silence drop like a blade Marta's eyes snapped to mine her lips parted slightly--but then ,something flickered in her expression.A smile .faint and knowing.

She dipped her head respectfully, but I caught it.

She wasn't surprised. If anything... she looked almost relieved.

Marta had worked in my family since I was a boy.

Fifteen years. She'd served my father, seen my mother at her worst and most ruthless, and she'd helped raise me in the shadows of blood and secrets.Ezebel reminded her of something-someone.My mother.

That same quiet fire. That same dangerous softness.She said nothing, just turned back to Ezebel with a calm that spoke louder than words.

I looked at Ezebel again-still quiet, still frozen-and I walked past them both, saying nothing else.

Let them stew.Let the tension spread. This house was mine." And now so was she'

Ezebel's pov

The next morning,the cold air was thick with the smell of onion's and oil.All the maid stood in a line behind the long marbel counter in the kitchen,listening as the chief maid shouted instructions

I kept my head down hands folded in front of me pretending to listen carefully like the others.in truth my mind was elsewhere---trapped in the memories of the night before,of Dario's stare.

Suddenly I head a voice it was our chief maid (Marta), "where were you last night she said you weren't in your room.

I looked up at her in shock, didn't know what to say I can't tell her I went to clean Dario's room last night,it will only make the other maids be suspicious of me and it will make them hate me more it not like they didn't hate me from the start though.

"SHE WAS WITH ME"I heard the voice behind me it was Dario's voice "do you have any problems with that "he asked her .no at all sir ,Marta said.

Then he walked out.

I stood frozen a plate still in my hand it wasn't a lie I had been in his room.I was the o e who made the choice to go there to tempt him.to play a dangerous game.

But I never expected him to say it .not out loud.not like that.

My heart pounded. Not with fear- but something heavier. A kind of shame I couldn't name. Because now the entire house would talk. They'd look at me differently. I'd be the girl who belonged to him.Even if I didn't.Even if I refused to.

I forced my hands to stay steady, setting the plate down on the counter.

I have to survive this.