Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
I'm lying on my bed crying when I hear it.
The softest sound. A careful click and then my door is opening.
I sit up fast, my vision blurred with tears as Enzo slips inside and closes the door behind him with the same careful silence, turning the lock without a sound.
"E-Enzo," I whisper. I'm off the bed and across the room before I even finish saying his name, throwing myself into his arms.
He catches me and holds me tight, so tight I can barely breathe. His face is buried in my hair, and I'm crying against his chest, my hands fisting in his shirt.
"You came," I sob. "You came back."
"I had to see you." His voice is rough and broken. "I couldn't leave without—I can't just leave like this, I can't—"
"Then don't." I pull back and look at him, my hands on his face. "Don't leave. Please don't leave me. Take me with you. I'll go anywhere. I don't care where, just take me with you."
"Isabella—"
"Please, Enzo. Please." I'm begging now, openly, desperately. "I can't stay here without you. I can't do this. Just take me and we'll figure everything else out, we'll—"
"I can't." His voice cracks. "You know I can't. Your brother would hunt us down. The De Lucas would see it as an insult. The O'Rourkes would use it against your family. I can't put you in that position."
"I don't care—"
"I care." His hands cup my face, his thumbs wiping away tears that won't stop falling. "I care about keeping you safe. Even if that means—" He stops, his jaw tightening. "Even if that means leaving."
"No." I shake my head frantically. "No, you can't leave. You can't leave me here. Not after everything."
He kisses me.
Hard, desperate and devastated, his hands in my hair, pulling me against him, and I kiss him back with everything I have, with all the fear, grief and helplessness churning inside me.
I kiss him like I can make him stay through sheer force of want.
His hands are already moving, sliding down my sides, finding the hem of my shirt, pulling it up, I lift my arms and let him strip it away.
"I need you," I gasp against his mouth.
He's already working at my jeans, urgent and fumbling. "I know, baby. I need you too."
We strip each other with desperation, clothes hitting the floor, hands shaking, both of us breathing too hard, then we're naked, and he's bringing me to the bed.
"Tell me you love me," I gasp against his mouth.
"I love you." He enters me in one hard thrust and we both gasp. "I love you so much it's destroying me."
"Then don't leave." Tears are streaming down my face. "If you love me, don't leave."
"I have to." His forehead presses to mine, his hips already moving. "I will find a way for us, but right now you know I have to give Matteo some space to think things through."
"I don't care about Matteo." My fingers dig into his shoulders. "I only care about this. About you. About us."
He drives into me harder, faster, nothing gentle about it, nothing careful, just raw desperate need. I'm crying, clinging to him and meeting every thrust.
"You feel so perfect," he says roughly. "Every single time. Like you were made for me."
"I was." The words come out broken between gasps. "I was made for you and you're leaving and I can't—I can't—"
"I know." His hand slides between us, finds my clit.
The added pressure sends me spiraling fast, too fast, overwhelming.
"Enzo—"
"Come for me," he says against my ear. "Please. I need to feel you. One more time."
I shatter with his name breaking apart in my throat, my whole body locking around him, and he follows immediately with a groan that sounds like it's being torn from his chest.
We stay like that for a long moment, foreheads pressed together, both trying to catch our breath.
He looks down at me, gently, and when he enters me this time it's slow, deliberate, his eyes locked on mine.
"I can't fucking get enough of you," he says quietly, his voice wrecked. "I could have you a thousand times and it still wouldn't be enough."
He kisses me to stop the words, slow and deep, he starts moving with the same deliberate rhythm, each thrust controlled and utterly devastating.
"I'm going to remember this," he says against my mouth. "Every second. The way you feel. The way you sound. The way you're looking at me right now. Until we can be together again, whenever that is."
"Don't talk about remembering." My voice breaks. "Don't talk about this like it's the last time."
"Isabella—"
"Please." I pull him closer. "Just be here. Right now. Don't think about leaving. Just be here with me."
He buries his face in my neck and moves faster, I can feel the desperation in every thrust, can feel him trying to memorize me the same way I'm trying to memorize him.
"Touch yourself," he says roughly. "I need to watch you."
I slide my hand between us to find my clit and he lifts his head to watch, his eyes dark and intense, and the way he's looking at me sends heat flooding through my entire body.
"That's it," he says. "Just like that. Let me see you fall apart."
I work myself in circles while he drives into me steady and hard, and when I come it rolls through me in waves, and he watches my face through all of it like he's trying to burn the image into his memory.
He follows me over with my name on his lips, his rhythm breaking, his whole body going taut, and then he collapses beside me and pulls me against him.
We lie there in silence, my head on his chest, his fingers drawing patterns on my shoulder, both of us breathing too hard.
"I have something I need to show you," he says finally, quietly.
"I don't want to see anything except you."
"Isabella." His hand tilts my chin up. "Please. This is important."
I nod because the seriousness in his voice stops my argument.
He reaches for his phone on the nightstand, opens something, and when he shows me the screen, I'm looking at a detailed map of the mansion.
"What is this?"
"Escape routes," he says quietly. "Blind spots in the camera coverage. Weak points in the perimeter. Everything you need to get out of this house safely if something goes wrong."
My stomach drops.
"Enzo—"
"Listen to me." His voice is urgent. "If Matteo changes his mind about the wedding.
If Vittorio tries to force the issue. If the O'Rourkes come for you.
If anything happens and I'm not here, you use this.
" He scrolls through the map, showing me each route.
"This hallway, second floor east wing, blind spot where cameras don't meet.
This window in the library, alarm delay.
This door to the gardens, old lock. All of it. "
"Stop." My voice breaks. "Please stop."
He looks at me and his eyes are devastated.
"You planned this," I say, tears already running down my face again. "You planned for me to survive without you."
"Yes."
"How long have you been planning this?"
"Since the cabin." He sets the phone down and takes my hands. "Since I realized I couldn't always protect you and that loving you meant making sure you could protect yourself."
Something breaks open in my chest.
"I can't do this without you," I whisper. "I can't—"
"You're the strongest person I know." His thumb wipes away my tears. "You'll survive this."
"I don't want to survive it. I want you."
"I know." His voice cracks. "I want you too. So fucking much."
We hold each other in silence, both of us trying not to think about what comes next, trying to exist in this moment for as long as we can make it last.
But time doesn't stop.
"I have to go," he says finally. "If I stay any longer someone will find me and it’ll make everything worse."
"I know."
He sits up and starts getting dressed and I watch him, memorizing every movement, storing it away.
When he's dressed he comes back to the bed and cups my face.
"I sent the map to your email since you only have a burner for now," he says. "Study it. Memorize it. Promise me."
"I promise."
"If you need help and I can't get to you, call Rafael. He knows everything."
"Okay."
He kisses me one more time, soft and lingering, and when he pulls back his eyes are wet.
"I love you," he says. "That doesn't change. No matter what happens. No matter how long I'm gone. I fucking love you, Isabella Romano."
"I love you too."
He stands and walks to the door and his hand is on the lock when I speak.
"Enzo."
He stops. Doesn't turn.
"Come back to me," I say, my voice breaking. "However long it takes. Whatever you have to do. Come back to me."
"I will." His voice is rough and certain. "I promise."
Then he's gone.
The lock clicks softly behind him and I'm alone.
I lie back down and the crying starts again, harder this time, the kind that shakes my whole body.
I cry until I hear voices downstairs, Matteo's voice raised and commanding, then the front door opens and closes with finality.
I go to my window and look down.
Enzo is walking to his car with a bag over his shoulder, and Matteo is standing on the front steps watching him leave.
Enzo doesn't look back.
He gets in his car, drives through the gates and then he's gone, disappearing down the road.
I stand at my window crying helplessly while the man I love leaves and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
Nothing except hold onto his promise.
I will come back to you.
It's all I have left.