I'm yours

☆chains within, shadows without☆

Elena POV

Naples didn’t look the same anymore. Every corner felt sharper, every stranger’s glance lingered too long. Since that morning with Matteo, I hadn’t slept without the lights on. His voice still curled in my head like smoke.

Forget her.

As if I ever could.

I sat at the back of a small café, notebook open, though my pen hadn’t touched the page in an hour. Instead, I sketched lines, circles, half-formed plans that all ended in dead ends.

I’d heard rumors. Everyone in Naples had. The Vitale villa—the fortress where no one entered unless they belonged to them. That was where she was. I didn’t need proof; I knew it.

And if Isabella was there, she was alive.

Alive… but for how long?

My hand shook as I scribbled another note: Find a way in.

No one could help me. No police, no family, no friends. Talking was dangerous. But silence was worse.

So I kept writing, even if it killed me. Because the only thing more terrifying than Matteo’s shadow was the thought of Isabella believing I had abandoned her.

I hadn’t.
And I wouldn’t.

Alessandro POV

Inside the villa, silence had become a weapon.

Isabella barely spoke to me anymore. She kept her distance at meals, her eyes locked on her plate as though lifting them might cost her something. Rosa said she slept poorly, but she never complained. She bore her misery like armor, polished and heavy.

And yet, I could feel the cracks.

Last night’s panic still clung to her skin. She thought I hadn’t noticed, but I always noticed. The smallest tremors in her hands, the way she drew the blanket higher even in the warmth.

Part of me wanted to push, to demand her truths until she broke them open at my feet. But another part—darker, quieter—wanted to wait. To watch. To let her burn herself out and come to me.

That patience was unraveling.

Matteo’s smirk had told me everything when he returned from the city days ago. He had seen someone. Someone who mattered. I didn’t need his words to know it was Elena.

If Isabella had a thread tying her to the world beyond these walls, it would only make her fight harder.

And fight she would.

I stood on the balcony that overlooked the gardens, cigar smoke curling around me. The guards patrolled below, shadows among shadows. Beyond the iron gates, the city pulsed with secrets I could almost taste.

Somewhere out there, Elena Romano was planning something foolish. And when she made her move, I would be ready.

Because Isabella was mine now—whether she admitted it or not.

And I didn’t share.

♡♡♡

Vote ⭐️
Comment 💬
Add to your library 📚
Hope you enjoy 💛