Page 96 of Dark Mafia Bride

I laugh. “No you don’t, Bella.” I pull her close, and for a moment, our gazes lock, the space between us charged with an electricity that never fades. We’re so close. It’d only take a slight lean to bridge the gap, to kiss her like I always want to. Just then, some voices from farther down the beach break our trance, and we step apart.

This stretch of beach is supposed to be private, at least for us. Renting a cabin here includes a small section of beach to ourselves, but I went out of my way to reserve an extra buffer, an entire five-cabin width on each side. I wanted space—a place where we could roam freely with no interruptions. For now, we’re alone, though not completely; it’d take someone at least five minutes to cross over from the nearest cabins.

She sighs, kicking some sand with her toes. “But seriously, you’d go crazy here,” she says, a note of certainty in her voice. “The Wi-Fi is practically non-existent, and let’s face it, Ettore—you’re a workaholic.”

I place a hand on my chest, feigning offense. “Me? A workaholic?” I snort, and she rolls her eyes.

“You literally brought work with you on vacation.”

“It was just a couple of emails,” I say, shrugging. “And I was willing to leave it all behind in New York, just like I left my private security. You’re the one who said I didn’t have to…”

She laughs, shaking her head. “Because I knew you wouldn’t leave it all behind, obviously. I was just trying to make you happy.”

As we reach the shade of a nearby palm tree, I take her hand, feeling its warmth in mine. I hesitate, the words pressing at the back of my mind, forming before I can stop them.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” I admit, reluctantly letting the words slip out.

Mirabella frowns, her eyes searching mine. “Oh? About what?”

I swallow, the bitterness sharp in my mouth. “About what’s going to happen...a few months from now.” I pause, the weight of it sinking in. “It’s already been a few month, you know that, right? Our contract...”

A flicker of something—hurt, maybe—crosses her face, and she looks away. “Yeah. I know.”

I take a deep breath, my voice lowering. “I don’t think I can go back to being the same person I was before I met you.”

A tense silence settles between us, heavy and uncertain, as she turns back to meet my gaze.

“Ettore.” She sighs, her expression is unreadable, and my heart twists painfully. Fear? Hurt? I haven’t even thought about how relieved she might feel when this ends. She’ll be free—free from my family’s scrutiny, from the threats and the chaos of my life. And with the financial settlement, she’ll be set up to do anything she wants.

Maybe her life would be better, easier without me.

But that look…it’s still there, lingering in her eyes, and I can’t bear it any longer.

“Bella,” I murmur, turning to face her fully. “You know you can tell me what’s on your mind. You look like you’ve been pondering about something since we got here. Just talk to me.”

She gives me a quick, strained smile, but it fades almost instantly. She turns to look out at the waves crashing against the shoreline, as though she’s waiting for them to give her the right words.

After a long moment, she exhales deeply, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Try me.” My hand moves up to gently cradle her cheek, my thumb brushing the soft skin there. She leans into the touch, just a little, before pulling away, creating an unbearable distance between us.

Pain explodes in my chest as she folds her arms tightly across her body, shielding herself from me like she’s trying to protect her heart from something—me.

“This...us...it was never supposed to be real,” she whispers, her eyes darting anywhere but at me. Her voice cracks, and the words pierce through me like shards of glass. “Yet somehow...I don’t know when it happened, but it became real for me.”

Her words drop into the space between us, and I feel the weight of them settle in my chest, suffocating me. I can’t speak—not yet. Not until I understand exactly what she’s trying to tell me. I wait, my heart pounding in my ears, my hands trembling at my sides.

She finally glances up at me, and the look in her eyes—raw and vulnerable, yet somehow defiant—makes my chest tighten even more.

“I tried to fight it,” she continues, her voice low and broken. “I told myself this was just...pretend. But the truth is, Ettore…” She pauses, and I watch her throat bob as she swallows hard, her voice trembling now. “I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Her confession hangs in the air like a weight I can’t lift, and the blood rushes to my ears, drowning out everything but the sound of my heart hammering in my chest. For a moment, I can’t breathe, can’t think.

I take a step closer, reaching for her hand, and when she doesn’t pull away, I lace our fingers together. “You think you’re the only one?” I murmur, my voice tight with emotion. “You think I haven’t been fighting this, too?”

She looks at me, her eyes wide with surprise, and I see her walls start to crack. “I thought...I thought you were just sexually attracted to me,” she says, her words coming out in a rush, like she can’t stop herself. “Not that it’s a bad thing, I’m sexually attracted to you, as well.” She shuts her eyes, trying to steady herself. “I didn’t think…”

“That I’m in love with you?” I ask softly, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, my fingers lingering on her skin. “I’ve wanted you...wantedthis...from the moment I laid eyes on you that night. Why do you think I searched for you? Looked for you when my lawyer suggested I needed to get married for my company’s expansion?”

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