chapter 15
The summer vacation are over, and now again I'm getting ready for school. It's 7 Am and Lorenzo is still sleeping while looking so handsome.
After admiring him for so long , i finally re check my bag and lean down to kiss Lorenzo's forehead and step out from the house.
The streets were still quiet as I walked toward school, the morning sun barely warm against my skin. The air smelled of fresh bread from the nearby bakery, and for a moment everything felt peaceful ordinary.
Halfway down the lane, I noticed an old man struggling to pick up the walking stick he had dropped. His back was bent with age, his movements slow, and people just passed him by without offering help. My steps slowed instinctively.
“Excuse me, let me help you,” I said softly, bending down to pick up the cane. I placed it carefully back into his trembling hand.
The man looked up at me, his eyes sharp despite the wrinkles lining his face. There was something about his gaze authoritative, commanding, yet oddly softened as it rested on me.
“You are kind,” he said in a deep, gravelly voice, his Italian accent faint but unmistakable. “Not many would stop.”
I smiled politely, brushing it off. “It’s nothing. My mother says helping someone in need is never wasted.”
His lips curved, not quite into a smile, more like…interest. “What is your name, ragazza?”
“Ruhi,” I replied without thinking, adjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder. “I’m getting late for school. Take care of yourself.”
As I walked away, I felt his gaze on my back, heavy and unreadable, sending an unexpected shiver down my spine. I shook it off quickly, blaming my imagination. He was just an old man. Nothing more.
As I reached the school, the students were there and greetings me good morning with their cute smiley faces. As I make my way to the teachers office room's I saw Kartik there.
He was talking to the students, maybe about the PT period. As I reached the office room Kartik turn around to face me.
He didn't say anything, just stare at me. Reminding me how i rejected him , telling him he deserves better and then He saw Lorenzo picking me up from school as my Husband.
I'm married now...in their eyes. I hate how my one lie has become many. But I don't hate the fact that one lie has make me encounter with Lorenzo.
"Ruhi.... how's your marriage life? " Kartik ask with a hint of sadness in his voice.
I force a smile and nodded "it's...great "
Kartik smile as he enter the teacher office room without saying anything. I didn't like kartik , I still don't. But he is a good friend and a good person.
At the grand old mansion in India, silence weighed heavy inside the study, broken only by the slow ticking of the antique clock on the wall.
Don Romano sat at the head of the long mahogany table, his sharp eyes glinting beneath the dim chandelier.
Around him, his most trusted men waited, tense and alert, their expressions mirroring the gravity of the moment.
He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping lightly against his cane the same cane that a certain girl had so kindly picked up for him that morning. His lips curved, not with warmth, but with the satisfaction of discovery.
“I’ve found him,” his grandfather voice was deep, commanding. Every man in the room stiffened. “My grandson thinks he is clever, hiding himself from me. But fate… fate has always been on my side.”
He paused, remembering Ruhi’s soft voice, her innocent eyes, the way she helped him without hesitation. Pure. Unaware. And yet, her very name had burned itself into his mind.
“Ruhi,” he whispered, almost to himself, before his gaze sharpened. “She is the reason he refuses to return. The reason he dares to disobey me. His weakness.”
One of the men, tall and scarred, leaned forward. “Don Romano , do you wish for us to take her? To use her as leverage?”
The old man’s expression hardened, though he did not immediately answer. He wasn’t ruthless without reason; he was calculating, deliberate. “No… not yet. If we strike too soon, Lorenzo will run further. He is like me when cornered, he becomes dangerous.”
The men exchanged uneasy glances. They had seen Lorenzo’s fury before, the blood he spilled when provoked.
He gripped his cane tighter, eyes burning with determination.
“We will not harm the girl. Not now. Instead, we will watch her. Follow her. Learn everything about her. And when the time is right…” He paused, his voice lowering to a dangerous edge.
“She will bring Lorenzo back to me. One way or another.”
The room filled with the murmurs of loyalty and agreement, but beneath it all lay a thick, unspoken tension because everyone knew this wasn’t just about control. This was war between love and legacy.
“She kissed me…” I mumbled again into the pillow, unable to stop the small, foolish smile tugging at my lips. My Ruhi. She thought I was asleep, but I wasn’t. I felt the warmth of her lips on my forehead, so soft, so delicate, and yet it burned into my skin like a mark I never wanted to fade.
I turned onto my back, staring at the ceiling as my hand brushed over the spot she had kissed.
My heart damn it was racing like I was some teenage boy instead of the Lorenzo De Romano.
Me, blushing like an idiot because of one small kiss.
If my men ever saw me like this, they’d never let me live it down.
But Ruhi wasn’t just anyone. She was the only one who could make me feel this… weak, but in a way that I didn’t hate.
I dragged a hand down my face, laughing under my breath. “What the hell are you doing to me, amore?”
For a moment, everything felt perfect. Her kiss, her smile, the way she looked at me like I wasn’t a monster, like I wasn’t a man built from blood and violence. She made me believe I could actually belong in a world outside the shadows.
But then something stirred inside me. A prickling at the back of my neck, sharp and cold, cutting through the haze of warmth she left me with. My smile faltered. I knew this feeling. I’d lived with it all my life.
Danger.
I sat up slowly, my jaw tightening, eyes narrowing as I stared out the window. The morning light spilled into the room, soft and harmless, but my instincts screamed otherwise.
Something wasn’t right.
I didn’t know what it was yet, but the peace I had been living in the fragile bubble Ruhi and I had created it felt like it was cracking. And when it broke… I feared it wouldn’t just be me caught in the storm. It would be her.
My Ruhi. My wife. My weakness.
I clenched my fists, forcing the unease down, but it lingered, heavy in my chest. Whatever it was, I had to be ready. Because if anyone dared to touch her… I would burn the whole world down.