Page 35 of Tower of Temptations

Before I could talk myself out of it, I was heading to Giuliano's study. Bad idea? Probably. But I'd built my empire on calculated risks and knowing exactly what strings to pull.

"Absolutely not." Giuliano didn't look up from his paperwork.

"Just hear me out," I said, settling on the edge of his desk because I knew it drove him crazy—old habits die hard and all that. "Look, we've got the whole private beach locked down with clear sight lines and multiple vantage points. I'm talking two hours, tops."

"Since when do you volunteer for guard duty?" His eyes were sharp enough to cut glass. "Unless... ah. I see."

"Think about it strategically," I pressed, switching to the voice I used to convince investors to back my first club. "Three weeks she's been here. No escape attempts, no contact with Vittorio. Hell, she's given us more intel on his operation than we've gotten in years."

"And?"

"And she's an asset, you said it yourself. That mind for business, everything she knows about Vittorio's empire? We need to protect that. But if we keep her caged up just like hedid..." I leaned forward, dropping my voice. "You want her real cooperation? Then we need to show her we're different. Give her something that bastard never would."

"She's still leverage," Giuliano reminded me, but I caught the slight shift in his tone.

"Exactly. And what's more valuable—a hostage who hates us, or an ally who trusts us?"

"Since when did you become an expert on trust?" He leaned back, studying me like I was one of his security risks. "I've seen how you watch her in meetings. The way you linger after delivering reports. She's not one of your club conquests, Costa."

The accusation stung, probably because he wasn't entirely wrong. I'd built my reputation on reading people, on knowing precisely what they wanted before they did. But Pearl? She was something else entirely.

"You think that's what this is?" I kept my voice steady despite the anger building in my chest. "Christ, Giuliano, have you seen her up there every night? Staring at stars she can barely see through our security lights? We're no better than him if we-"

"Careful." His voice went quiet. Dangerous. "Don't compare us to Vittorio."

"Then why not prove it? Why don't we let her see we're different?" I met his gaze steadily. "Give her small freedoms, keep it controlled, show her she's more than just leverage to us."

The muscle in his jaw ticked, and I waited through the longest damn silence of my life until he finally sighed. "The beach for two hours," he said, his eyes hardening as he looked at me. "And Enzo? Don't forget what's at stake here."

I foundmyself standing at her door, heart pounding like some nervous kid at his first club. Fucking ridiculous. I'd talked my way into and out of more beds than I could count, charmed every type of woman there was, but here I was getting worked up over knocking on a goddamn door.

When she opened it, every smooth line I'd practiced went right out the window. She looked different here in the quiet—softer somehow, stripped of all that careful control she usually wore like armor, just loose waves falling around her face and some sweater that shouldn't have been sexy but was. But it was those eyes that really got me, the way they studied me like she was trying to figure out if I was a threat or maybe something else entirely.

"Enzo?" The way she said my name shouldn't have affected me like that. "I thought you were at the club."

"Change of plans." I tried for my usual swagger but probably missed by a mile. "Got a proposition for you."

She raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"

"Depends. How do you feel about stars? As in looking at them in the night sky?"

The way her whole face lit up knocked the breath right out of me. No calculated seduction, no practiced pose—just pure, unguarded joy. Something in my chest cracked open at the sight.

"You mean..." She caught herself, trying to look composed. "We can go outside?"

"We've got the beach for two hours," I said, grinning as I watched her practically bounce with excitement, my chest tight with something I didn't want to name. "Better grab something warm."

She launched herself at me in a spontaneous hug that caught us both off guard. The scent of her hair, the warmth of her body pressed against mine—fuck, this was dangerous territory. Because suddenly, I didn't want just her body. I wanted her joy, her trust, her real smiles that made my heart stop. Wanted things I had no business wanting.

"Thank you," she whispered against my chest before stepping back, cheeks flushed.

"Don't thank me yet, princess." My voice came out a little harder than I'd meant it to be. Perhaps I was just trying to cover up my unexpected feelings. "Give me fifteen to set things up, then I'll come get you."

I spent those fifteen minutes mapping the safest route and running security checks that would keep Giuliano from murdering me. Hard to focus on protocols when all I could think about was how she'd felt pressed against me, or how her eyes had lit up at just the mention of stars.

When I got back to her room, she was waiting in an oversized sweater and what looked like borrowed sweatpants, but somehow she still managed to look like something out of a dream. The way she moved through the dark halls beside me, trying to contain her excitement but practically vibrating with it—Christ, it was doing things to my head I couldn't afford.

Every few steps she'd glance over at me like she was making sure this was real, and each time it hit me harder than the last. By thetime we reached the beach entrance, my heart was doing shit it hadn't done in years, just from watching her try to act calm while her whole body thrummed with anticipation.

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