Chapter 1 - The Ring on the Desk
The flawless diamond struck the mahogany desk with a hollow clatter.
Elena Bruno turned away expecting a bullet in her back.
Instead, Domenico Ricci smiled.
Rain hammered the floor-to-ceiling windows of his Chicago penthouse, turning the skyline into streaks of blue and silver.
“I cannot do this, Domenico.”
Domenico remained behind his desk, broad shoulders filling a charcoal suit. Dark ink covered parts of his hands and disappeared beneath his cuffs. He looked at the ring, then at Elena.
“You are returning my ring.”
“It was never really mine.”
His expression hardened.
“Explain.”
Elena crossed her arms.
“Desmond Ashford is attacking your supply lines. Now he’s targeting the financial side of the organization.”
“I know what Ashford is doing.”
“Then you know why you suddenly decided to marry your accountant.”
Domenico leaned back.
“Suddenly?”
“For five years, I balanced your books. You barely asked what I ate for lunch. Two months ago, you started sending cars for me. Private dinners. Flowers. Jewelry.”
“You hated the flowers.”
“They were ridiculous.”
“They were roses.”
“There were three hundred of them.”
A faint amusement touched his eyes.
Elena refused to be distracted.
“I know what this is.”
“Do you?”
“You want spousal privilege. You want your soldiers obligated to protect me. And if Ashford thinks I know where your money is hidden, marrying me puts a spotlight over my head.”
Domenico’s amusement disappeared.
“You think I would use you as bait?”
“I think you would use anyone to win.”
Silence.
That sentence would have terrified most people after they said it.
Elena had spent five years learning that Domenico respected courage more than obedience.
Usually.
“I resigned,” she said.
His gaze sharpened.
“My resignation is on the server. I’m leaving Chicago tonight.”
Domenico slowly stood.
Elena’s heartbeat accelerated.
He was tall enough to make the enormous office feel smaller.
“You think you can simply leave?”
“I’m about to find out.”
She walked toward the doors.
“Elena.”
She stopped but didn’t turn.
“If this were only about protecting the Ricci accounts,” Domenico said quietly, “you would never have seen that ring.”
Her fingers tightened around the handle.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I know.”
She left.
The doors closed.
Domenico waited five seconds.
Then he picked up the diamond.
His underboss, Marco Bellini, entered through the side door.
“She returned it?”
Domenico studied the custom-forged band.
“Yes.”
Marco grimaced.
“You’re smiling.”
“She finally did exactly what I needed.”
Marco stared at him.
“You wanted her to reject you?”
“I needed to know she would choose freedom over fear.”
Domenico turned the ring between his tattooed fingers.
A tiny inscription had been engraved inside the band.
Not a family crest.
Not a Ricci motto.
Two words.
Elena Bruno.
Marco lowered his voice.
“You still haven’t told her.”
“No.”
“About Ashford?”
“Not all of it.”
“About her father?”
Domenico’s smile vanished.
“Especially not that.”
---
Elena reached the private elevator.
The doors opened.
A man in a black suit stood inside.
He wasn’t Ricci security.
Elena knew every guard Domenico employed.
The stranger smiled.
“Miss Bruno?”
Elena stepped backward.
The man reached inside his jacket.
Before his hand emerged, someone slammed him against the elevator wall.
Marco appeared from the corridor.
Two Ricci guards followed.
The stranger was dragged away.
Elena stared.
“What was that?”
Marco looked toward Domenico’s office.
“Proof.”
“Proof of what?”
The office doors opened.
Domenico stood there.
“That Ashford already knows you’re leaving.”
Elena went cold.
May you like
“How?”
“That,” Domenico said, “is the question you should have asked before returning my ring
