I twisted around, meeting Nick’s warning glare, and calmly pulled my wrist free.

My voice was flat.

“Relax, Don. I won’t breathe a word of anything I shouldn’t. Everything that happened before? It dies with me. We’ll act like we never met.”

Then he snarled out a warning before climbing into the Rolls-Royce ahead of me and settling in the seat beside Seraphina.

“Behave yourself. We have your family in our hands. If Seraphina so much as gets a scratch, you and your entire family die.”

The ice in his gaze sent a chill straight through my bones.

The ride to the Moretti’s estate in Chicago passed in silence.

I followed them up the tree-lined drive.

After I walked Seraphina to her suite, Nick turned to leave, pausing only to glance back at me with an unreadable, conflicted look before he vanished down the hall.

I bowed my head, turning toward the kitchen, when a pair of arms wrapped gently around my waist from behind.

Seraphina was taller even than me, her chest warm against my back, a soft fragrance wrapping around me.

“Thank God you’re alright.”

I went rigid with shock, shoving her back by instinct, a faint, unbidden panic creeping into my voice.

“Thank you for saving me, Miss. Moretti.”

She looked at me, amber eyes soft with apology.

“I’m so sorry. You were toyed with, hurt, all because of me. It was never your fight.”

I braced myself for a warning to stay away from Nick and Vincent, but her next words stopped me cold.

“I’m never going to marry them. I never wanted this partnership. It was always their delusion, not mine.”

My mind went completely blank.

What had she just said?

I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

But she led me to my room, and settled me into a guest suite in the estate.

Every day, I made her a fresh tiramisu.

Seraphina was unfailingly kind, never demanding, never cruel.

I didn’t know if this was all part of some game she was playing with Vincent and Nick, so I had to be on my guard at all times.

Every time Vincent and Nick sent truckloads of priceless jewels, luxury cars, and vineyard deeds, she turned them away without a second thought.

Afterward, she’d glance over at me, nervous and soft, and murmur, “I’d never take any of it. Don’t worry.”

I didn’t understand what any of it meant, and I could only wait and watch how things unfolded.

Days later, Vincent and Nick stormed into the estate together.

I was in the kitchen, measuring tiramisu ingredients, when Nick burst through the door.

He grabbed me by the throat, slammed me hard against the cold tile wall, his eyes black with unbridled rage.

“What the fuck did you say to Seraphina!? She’s willing to burn the Moretti family’s congressional dirt, throw away everything, rather than marry either of us!”

Vincent stood in the doorway, watching me with a cold, vicious smirk.

“We were too soft on you, Leah. Should’ve let you freeze to death on New York’s streets when we had the chance.”

I’d done nothing. The pressure on my throat stole my breath, black spots dancing in my vision. I fought against his grip, gasping out.

“It… wasn’t me…”

Something in my sharp, unbroken gaze made Nick loosen his hold for a split second.

In that instant, I summoned every ounce of my strength and slapped him hard across the face.

The crack of the blow echoed through the kitchen.

Nick’s head snapped to the side, stunned, before his eyes turned murderous.

“Leah Rossi!”

I clutched my throat, gasping for air, and ignored his roar entirely.

He lunged for me again, disgust twisting his features.

“I swear to God I’ll wipe you and your entire bloodline off the face of the earth.”

Vincent said nothing, but his hand dropped to the pistol at his waist, raw, unbridled bloodlust in his eyes.

Staring at the two men who’d gambled with my heart, who’d ground my dignity into the dirt, I let out a bitter laugh.

“Two spineless cowards who treat people’s feelings like a game? You dare call me manipulative?”

I grabbed a paring knife off the counter and drove it straight into Nick’s wrist.

He howled in pain, yanking his hand back, while Vincent ripped his pistol up, aiming it dead at my chest.

In that split second, a figure burst through the door, stepping directly in front of me to shield my body.

It was Seraphina.

Vincent immediately lowered the gun, his snarl melting into desperate softness.

“Sera, don’t listen to her lies. We’ll give you every resource on the continent, keep you and your family safe forever.”

Nick clutched his bleeding wrist, his voice softening into sickly sweet concern.

“Sera, she’s manipulating you. She just wants to drive a wedge between us.”

Seraphina looked at them both and sighed softly.

“Vincent. Nick. I can’t partner with either of you. And I’m never going to marry you.”

With that, she stripped away the last of her feminine facade.

The illusion of the graceful, fragile heiress vanished entirely, replaced by the broad, unapologetically masculine frame of a man.

I froze, rooted to the spot.

Seraphina’s voice shifted, warm and clear, a man’s low laugh lilting through the words.

“Sorry I scared you.”

My brain went blank.

The gentle, graceful air of the woman who’d saved me was gone.

Her features, once breathtakingly soft and beautiful, sharpened into strikingly handsome, distinctly masculine lines.

He was a man...