Elena didn't run.
Not this time.
She walked away from Alessio with her head high, her pulse pounding, her body still burning from his touch.
She didn't look back.
Not when she stepped out of the warehouse.
Not when she slipped into the waiting car.
Not even when the driver—a man loyal to the De Lucas, not the Valentis—pulled onto the dark streets of Rome.
But as the city lights flickered past, she felt it.
The weight of a kingdom she didn't know she was born to rule.
And the shadow of a man who would never let her do it alone.
Days Later
The first thing she did was find the survivors.
Dante had spoken of the De Lucas as if they were already dead, but he had been wrong.
She found them—the men who had sworn loyalty to her father.
The ones who had scattered when the Valentis took over.
The ones who still whispered her name like a ghost story.
They didn't trust her at first.
She was too young. Too inexperienced.
Too tainted by Alessio.
But she didn't flinch.
She met them head-on.
She told them who she was.
And when they challenged her—she proved it.
One by one, the old guards kneeled.
One by one, they pledged themselves to her.
And just like that—
The De Lucas were reborn.
But Alessio Was Waiting
She should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
She should have known he would come for her.
Because he always did.
It was in the middle of the night, when she was alone in the study of the old De Luca estate, maps and plans spread before her, her mind racing with how to reclaim the power stolen from her bloodline.
A flicker of movement.
A whisper of danger.
Then—a hand clamped over her mouth.
A rough arm yanked her against a hard chest.
She thrashed, but she already knew.
The scent of gunpowder and leather. The crushing force of his hold.
The deep, lethal voice at her ear.
"Did you really think I'd let you go, Elena?"
Her stomach twisted, but she forced her voice steady. "You said you'd let me try."
Alessio's grip tightened. "And I did."
He turned her in his arms, his eyes like ice and fire. Dangerous. Devouring.
"You made your move, bambolina." His fingers trailed down her throat, sending a shudder through her. "Now it's my turn."
She swallowed hard, her heart hammering.
She had come too far to surrender now.
She had built too much to let him tear it down.
But as Alessio pressed her back against the desk, caging her in with his body—
She realized something.
This was never just her war.
It was theirs.
And the battle was far from over.