The first thing my new husband did after marrying me was give me a bedroom across the hall from his

The words on the screen blurred together.

Mrs. Caruso.

Thank you for your cooperation.

I had been played.

My father hadn't just abandoned me; he had set me up to take the fall for stealing twenty million dollars from the most dangerous man in New York.

And Nico knew it.

I slowly raised my eyes to meet his.

The cold calculation I had seen earlier was gone, replaced by a terrifying, simmering rage.

He stepped toward me, closing the distance between us in two long strides.

“Who was it, Evelyn?” he demanded, his voice dangerously low. “Who helped him?”

“I don't know,” I stammered, backing away until my shoulders hit the cold concrete wall. “I swear, I had no idea.”

He slammed his hand against the wall beside my head, trapping me.

“Don't lie to me. Your father is a coward, not a mastermind. He couldn't have pulled off a fake bomb threat, an extraction, and a twenty-million-dollar wire transfer in the middle of an FBI investigation without inside help.”

“I’m not lying!” I yelled, pushing against his chest. “He used me, Nico! Just like he used you!”

He stared down at me, his jaw clenched, his eyes searching mine for any sign of deception.

For a long moment, the only sound in the warehouse was our ragged breathing.

Then, slowly, he stepped back.

He ran a hand through his dark hair, looking suddenly exhausted.

“He transferred the access codes to your name, Evelyn,” he said quietly. “Which means, as far as my family is concerned, you hold the money.”

“But I don't!” I pleaded. “I don't even know what accounts he's talking about!”

“It doesn't matter what you know,” Nico said, his voice turning grim. “It matters what they think you know. My uncles... they won't be as forgiving as I am.”

The reality of my situation crashed down on me.

I wasn't just a pawn anymore.

I was the target.

“What do we do?” I asked, the fight draining out of me, replaced by cold, hard fear.

Nico didn't answer right away.

He pulled out his phone and made a quick, terse phone call in rapid-fire Italian.

When he hung up, he turned back to me.

“We play the part.”

“What part?”

“The part of the happy, unsuspecting newlyweds,” he said smoothly. “We go home. We act like nothing happened. And we wait for whoever helped your father to make their next move.”

“And if they don't?”

“They will. They have twenty million reasons to silence the only person who can access those accounts.”

He held out his hand to me.

“Come, Evelyn. It's time to start our new life.”

I hesitated, looking at his outstretched hand.

Taking it meant stepping fully into his world, a world of lies, violence, and constant danger.

But refusing it meant facing his ruthless family alone.

I took his hand.

His grip was firm, reassuring, yet undeniably possessive.

He led me out of the warehouse, back toward the waiting lead SUV.

The ride to his estate was as silent as the ride to Brooklyn had been, but the silence felt different now.

It wasn't suffocating; it was heavy with unspoken threats and shared secrets.

We arrived at a sprawling, fortress-like mansion in the Hamptons.

The gates opened, swallowing us into his heavily guarded world.

He walked me inside, past armed guards and silent staff, straight to the master suite.

“This is your room,” he said, opening the door to reveal a luxurious, cavernous bedroom.

“Where is yours?” I asked.

He pointed across the hall.

“There. The connecting door is locked. From my side.”

He looked straight into my eyes.

“You don’t have to pretend with me, Evelyn. Whatever kind of life you had before today is your business. But from now on, you are a Caruso. Act like it.”

He turned and walked away, closing his door with a decisive click.

I stood alone in the center of the massive room, the silence pressing in on me.

I walked over to the dresser and absentmindedly opened the top drawer.

Inside, resting on top of a stack of folded silk nightgowns, was a burner phone.

It vibrated instantly.

I picked it up, my hands shaking.