Chapter 3 - The Broken Glass
Alessandro stared at the dead black rose, his eyes burning with a murderous rage.
He crushed the threatening note in his fist and ordered Dante to lock down the entire estate.
Nobody was allowed to enter or leave the property without his direct authorization.
Rosa held Lily tightly in her arms, her entire body shaking with a profound sense of terror.
She begged Alessandro to let them leave the estate and disappear back into the quiet life they knew.
Alessandro refused, his voice low and dangerously firm.
He told her that running away would only make them easy targets for the Romanos out on the open streets.
He promised that the walls of the Moretti estate were the only things that could keep them truly safe.
To prove his point, he assigned Dante to become Lily's personal shadow, swearing the guard would die before letting anyone touch her.
The next few hours passed in a suffocating blur of tension as heavily armed men patrolled the corridors.
Rosa paced the floor of the master suite, unable to calm her racing heart.
Alessandro poured a glass of amber whiskey and offered it to her to help steady her nerves.
Their fingers brushed against each other as she took the heavy crystal glass.
The air in the room suddenly grew thick with an unspoken, magnetic pull between them.
Alessandro admitted that he had never stopped looking for the mysterious woman from the cabin.
He stepped into her personal space, his gaze dropping to her trembling lips.
Rosa looked up into his eyes, feeling the defensive walls she had built for four years begin to crumble.
He leaned in slowly, giving her every opportunity to pull away.
She didn't move, holding her breath as his lips finally met hers in a desperate, searing kiss.
It was a kiss filled with years of longing, hidden secrets, and undeniable possession.
Rosa dropped the whiskey glass, the crystal shattering against the expensive hardwood floor.
Suddenly, a deafening crack echoed through the room, much louder than breaking glass.
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The massive window facing the gardens shattered violently inward, raining sharp shards across the carpet.
A high-caliber sniper bullet embedded itself into the headboard of the bed, mere inches from where Lily was sleeping.
