The next morning was too quiet.
Alec woke up with Serena still tangled in his sheets. Her back to him, bare skin kissed by the sunlight pouring in from the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of his penthouse. Hair tousled. Breathing soft. Spine curved like a poem he wanted to memorize forever.
He reached out, brushing his fingers gently down her arm.
She stirred but didn't wake.
It was the first time Alec had ever let someone stay the night.
Correction—he didn't let her.
He wanted her to.
And that scared him more than anything.
Because Alec Virelli didn't do soft. He didn't do mornings-after. And he damn sure didn't do feelings.
But now… Serena Vale was in his bed, under his skin, and haunting his every thought.
And she still wasn't telling him the truth.
---
Serena woke with a gasp.
Not from a dream—but from memory.
A flash.
A scream.
A door slamming.
And blood.
Always the blood.
She sat up too fast, the sheets falling from her bare chest as she clutched the edge of the bed, eyes wide, breath ragged.
Alec sat up beside her instantly. "Serena."
She didn't answer.
"Look at me."
She turned to him slowly. "I'm fine."
"You're not."
Her voice came quieter. "I just don't like sleeping too long. It makes me feel…"
"Unsafe," he finished for her.
She blinked, surprised.
He reached out and touched her jaw gently. "Who hurt you?"
Her throat tightened. "It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me."
Serena looked into his eyes. They weren't cold now. Not sharp, not calculating. Just… real.
She could lie.
She could tell him she was just another girl with a bad breakup and a broken heart.
But Alec wasn't the type to fall for surface-level shit.
"I left someone," she said finally. "Someone powerful. Someone who thinks I belong to him."
His eyes sharpened instantly. "Is he looking for you?"
"I don't know."
"You do."
She paused. "Yes."
Alec clenched his jaw.
Serena looked down at her hands. "I shouldn't have come back to you."
"You shouldn't have left."
"I was trying to protect you."
Alec leaned forward, voice dropping to something lethal. "Serena, you don't protect me. I'm not a fucking porcelain doll. If someone comes for you…"
He leaned closer.
"They come through me."
---
Meanwhile…
Across the city, the man from the car stood in a lavish room lined with screens. Security feeds. Data profiles. Information about Alec Virelli and all his ties.
He stared at the paused image of Serena in Alec's lap.
Beautiful.
Vulnerable.
Mine, he thought coldly.
Dimitri Vale.
Her ex. Her captor. The man she escaped from a year ago without a trace. Mafia blood, political ties, and a taste for breaking beautiful things just to watch them beg.
"I want her back," he told the man beside him.
"Yes, sir."
"I don't care who I have to destroy. Virelli, his empire, his fucking city—burn it down if you must."
He stared at Serena's frozen image on the screen again.
"She's mine. Always has been. Always will be."
---
Back in the Penthouse
Alec stood by the kitchen counter, shirtless, coffee in one hand, his phone in the other. Serena wore only one of his button-up shirts as she moved around the kitchen like a ghost—quiet, unsure, beautiful.
He couldn't take his eyes off her.
Even now, knowing there was a man hunting her.
Even now, knowing she could bring hell to his door.
He didn't care.
He'd burn hell first.
"You're staying here," Alec said without asking.
Serena looked up. "You don't get to decide that."
"I do," he said simply. "Because if I let you walk out of here, I'll lose my mind."
She walked up to him, arms crossed. "This isn't how this works."
He tilted his head. "How does it work, Serena? You show up. Ruin my sleep. Shake my world. Make me feel something for the first time in years. And now I'm supposed to let you walk out and risk never seeing you again?"
She was quiet.
"I don't want to be someone you save," she whispered. "I want to be someone who saves herself."
"Then let me stand beside you while you do," Alec said. "I'm not asking to fix you. I just want to stay in the fire with you."
Tears threatened at the edge of her lashes—but she blinked them away.
This man…
He wasn't perfect.
He was arrogant. Dangerous. Possessive.
But he was hers—for now.
And she didn't want to run anymore.
---
Later That Night
Serena stood on the balcony, wrapped in his shirt, the wind kissing her skin. Alec came up behind her, sliding his arms around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder.
Neither of them spoke.
Not until Serena whispered, "If I stay… I need to tell you everything."
He nodded once. "Then tell me."
She looked down at the city lights below.
"I was supposed to marry him. Dimitri Vale. My family owed him. I was nothing but a transaction. A trophy. A prize he planned to lock in a glass case and destroy slowly."
Alec's grip tightened slightly.
"I escaped during a gala last year. Faked my name. Burned everything behind me. But I've been looking over my shoulder ever since."
She turned to face him.
"He won't stop until he finds me."
Alec cupped her face gently. "Then let him find you."
Her eyes widened.
"Because this time," he said darkly, "I'm standing in front of you."