Chapter 1 - The Trap Behind the MirrorThe silence inside Massimo Romano’s master suite felt like a loaded weapon. Steam from the adjoining marble bathroom drifted across the dark hardwood floor, carrying the sharp scent of cedar and expensive cologne.
Massimo stood six-foot-four before me, his broad shoulders and chest covered in intricate dark tattoos—sea anchors, protective runes, and the seal of the Romano family line. His dark hair was wet, water droplets tracking down his carved jaw, his storm-gray eyes locked onto my face with a terrifying, razor-sharp focus. In his right hand, the black metal of a suppressed Sig Sauer rested casually against his thigh.
I clutched my damp midnight-blue dress, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard I was certain he could hear it.
"She sent you to the west wing on purpose," Massimo repeated, his low baritone dropping into a frozen register. "Elena has been the head housekeeper here for twelve years. She knows every inch of this estate."
"I... I don't understand," I stammered, taking half a step backward until my spine hit the mahogany door. "Why would she send me into your private quarters?"
Massimo set his pistol on the marble nightstand with a quiet, deliberate click. He reached for a silk robe draped over a chair, slipping his broad arms into the sleeves and tying the sash around his waist with effortless grace.
"Because three hours ago," Massimo explained, his eyes narrowing, "Adriana Vitali’s father offered my family a fifty-million-dollar commercial shipping deal—on the condition that my engagement to Adriana was announced at tomorrow night’s gala. If you were caught alone in my room, looking compromised, my grandmother Nonna Rosa would brand me dishonorable unless I either married you... or eliminated you."
My stomach plummeted into a cold, bottomless void. "Eliminated me?!"
"Adriana’s family didn't send you up here to give me a lover, Sophie," Massimo said smoothly, taking three slow strides toward me until his towering frame blocked out the light. "They sent you up here so my family would think I was sleeping with the florist. Then, after I rejected Adriana on stage, your 'accidental' death in a hit-and-run would destroy my reputation and trigger a federal investigation into our logistics network."
A cold sweat broke out across my back. I clutched my handbag like a shield. "I'm just a florist! I came here to set up the white orchids for the gala! I don't know anything about your shipping deals!"
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Massimo reached out. His large, warm, calloused fingers caught my chin gently, tilting my face upward until my hazel eyes met his storm-gray gaze.
"You don't know anything, Sophie," Massimo whispered softly, his thumb tracing my jawline with a tender, unexpected heat that sent a shiver straight down my spine. "But as of two minutes ago, when I told my family you were with me, you became the safest woman in Chicago... and the most dangerous target for the Vitali syndicate."
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