Chapter 20 Rafe
RAFE
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three loud insistent knocks on the door to the suite. Only Enzo knocks like that. The sound slices through the still silence of the early morning, a brutal intrusion into our fragile bubble.
For a moment, I refuse to move. My hand remains draped over her hip, my face nestled in her sweet-smelling hair.
"Rafe." Enzo's voice slices through the thick wooden door, muffled but edged with urgency. "Open up."
I quickly grab a white robe from the chair and yank the door open. Enzo stands there, rigid, his face grim. "This better be worth it, Enzo. Whatever it is."
"We have a problem," he says without preamble. "A big one."
"Scorpione Nero?" I ask, though I already know the answer.
"They've escalated fast. The relationship photos worked too well. They don’t buy it as strategy. They think you’ve caught feelings.
That you’ve gone soft. And when a man like you looks compromised, every predator in the room starts circling.
They’re worried you’re weak. And they're moving soon to prove it. "
I clench my jaw, grinding the rage down into something sharp and quiet. My fingers tighten on the back of the chair, the wood creaking under the pressure, but I don’t move. Not yet.
“They think I’m compromised,” I repeat slowly. “That I’ve gone soft.”
Enzo doesn’t respond. He doesn’t have to.
I nod once, coldly. “Fine. Then we’ll give them a performance they won’t forget. Something loud. Something permanent.”
“The clock is ticking. We don’t have much time.”
“How long?” I ask.
"They've set a deadline. They want proof that she's truly under your control, or they'll eliminate her publicly as a message."
Eliminate her.
The words echo in my head, and for a moment, I can't breathe. The thought of Nikki being reduced to a corpse, as a warning to me and others, makes something desperate claw at my chest.
“She’s not expendable,” I grit out. “She’s mine.”
"They've done their homework on her," Enzo continues. "They know about her real background. They know the trust fund story is fake. They think she’s a grifter who latched onto the wrong man. They don’t trust this situation and if things were reversed, we would feel the same way.
" He pauses. "They want you to prove she's not playing you.
They want proof the relationship's real.
That Nikki's truly yours, under your protection.
And if she's not…well we both know the answer to that. "
Mine.
The word reverberates through me with a force that's almost violent.
Hell yes, she's fucking mine.
I grip the back of a chair to keep from putting my fist through the wall.
"What would work as proof?" I ask.
Enzo's expression darkens. "A grand gesture. Something so public, so undeniable, that it removes all doubt about her commitment to this life. To you and your associates. Right now, they see her as a loose cannon, a threat to us all."
I know immediately where this is heading. "An engagement?"
"Maybe," Enzo says. "It might work if it was loud and public. The kind that makes international headlines and locks you both into this narrative permanently."
"A fake engagement's a huge problem," I say. "I doubt she’ll go along with it. If we do this, if we take it that far... there's no going back. The scrutiny, the target it puts on her, it amplifies everything tenfold."
I know I should object. Weigh the risks. Make the clean, bloodless call. But the moment I imagine her gone—really gone—something primal snaps inside me.
But even as I express my doubts, I know I’m willing to do it. I'll put a ring on her finger and claim her in front of the entire world if I need to, because the alternative is unthinkable.
I know how they work.
They'll make an example of her to their enemies. The kind that makes headlines across the world and sends an undeniable message to rivals, to informants, to anyone who might consider crossing them.
The image of her broken body, bloodied and discarded like trash is unbearable.
It's not happening.
Not ever.
"They're waiting to see what you do," Enzo adds. "They're testing you. To find out how far you’re willing to go to protect your assets. But they won’t wait much longer."
"They want to know what I'm willing to do to keep her alive?
The answer's everything. I'm willing to sacrifice everything to protect her.
Make sure my precise words get back to them.
Make sure they hear every syllable. Make sure they understand I mean it.
The day they try to harm what's mine will be the day they take their last breath. "