Page 119 of King Of Order

This wasn’t the man I was acquainted with. Nor the man who held me close at night kissed my forehead, bumped me to sleep, and grunted into my ear as he fucked me.

This was someone else.

His gaze landed on me, intense and calculating, and a chill crawled down my spine.

I didn’t move, couldn’t budge. My breath caught in my throat as he walked toward me, slow and deliberate.

He didn’t say anything at first; he stared at me, his eyes dark and unreadable, like he was sizing me up.

Like he was deciding what to do with me.

‘Rio,’ I whispered, my utterance shaking. ‘What’s going on?’

He stood in front of me, towering, imposing.

His face was stern, all the softness I once saw in him gone.

‘You shouldn’t try to leave, Chiara,’ he said, his rumble deep, controlled, but with an edge that sent a shiver down my spine. ‘It’s not safe out there.’

‘I’m not safe in here either,’ I shot back, forcing myself to hold his gaze. ‘You’ve been lying to me. Aldo told me—he revealed to me who you are. But not what you are and why you’re in my life.’

His jaw tightened, a flicker of something crossing his face, but he buried it. He didn’t deny it. He didn’t try to reassure me like I wanted him to.

Instead, he stepped closer, invading my space, his eyes locked on mine. ‘You don’t have the full picture,’ he rasped, his voice a cold warning. ‘But you will. Soon.’

I took a step back, but the counter stopped me. My heart pounded, a rising tide of fear I couldn’t control. ‘Why are you doing this? Who are you really?’

He didn’t answer right away.

He eyed me, his expression cutting and icy.

Then, at last, he spoke, his growl full of menace. ‘I’m the only one standing between you and people who want to hurt you. You need to trust me, Chiara.’

Trust.The word was a slap to the face. How could I have faith in him when everything I thought I understood was unraveling?

I was spiraling. Losing touch with the one anchor I’d come to rely on over these past few weeks.

I sensed the storm brewing in my core.

The cold sensation coming over me was familiar in the worst way possible.

All I could think of was that it couldn’t happen again.

It’d be too humiliating.

I flicked a glance at him again.

This wasn’t the Rio I thought I knew.

The man I’d fallen for had a quiet strength, an intense loyalty, and an unwavering tenderness hidden under his rugged exterior.

This was different. He was different. This man could do things that no one could come back from—a man who held no mercy in his heart, no boundaries, only brutal resolve.

A shiver ran down my spine. The certainty I’d once felt with him, the strange, intoxicating allure—it all felt so thin now like glass threatening to crack beneath my weight.

I saw him as he was for the first time, not the version I’d built up in my head.

Standing in the aftermath of his unrestrained menace, I realized that I didn’t honestly know him. It’s what I had no clue about when it came to him that terrified me.

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