Page 54 of Brutal Union
After the shower, I don't reach for the robe. Don't cover myself as I walk naked through the penthouse, leaving wet footprints on marble floors. The morning sun streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows, painting everything gold, including my skin still flushed from his touch.
Marco watches me move through his space, our space, with something like awe. I'm not hiding anymore, not pretending to be modest or shy. This body is mine, marked by him, filled with him, and I've chosen to display it completely. The power in that choice makes me feel invincible.
"You're different," he observes again from the doorway.
"I'm the same," I correct, turning to face him fully. "It's the universe that's changed."
He crosses to me in three strides, hands framing my face with that dangerous gentleness that undoes me. "Tell me it won't change back."
"Never," I say simply. "The universe can only evolve, never go back."
"You're getting philosophical again, principessa."
The kiss that follows tastes sweet. Like toothpaste and coffee and gentle mornings.
"What happens now?" I ask.
"Now?" His thumb traces my cheekbone. "Now you're not just my wife, principessa. You're my queen. And God help anyone who forgets it."
19 - Marco
Peace never lasts in my world—it’s just the held breath before someone pulls a trigger. So when Valentina captures my queen with a move I didn’t see coming, her satisfied smile lighting up the morning, I know something’s about to shatter.
"Checkmate in three moves," she announces, leaning back in my desk chair, wearing nothing but my dress shirt. Morning light streams through the study windows, catching the gold threads in her dark hair.
Three days since she brought me to my knees in my own penthouse. Three mornings of waking with her taste on my tongue, her scent in my sheets. And now she's decimating me at chess with the same ruthless efficiency she applies to dismantling rival family strategies.
"You sacrificed your bishop four moves ago," I observe, studying the board. "I didn't see the trap."
"You never sacrifice anything without calculating the cost." She moves her rook. "That's your weakness, Marco. Sometimes the sacrifice is worth more than the piece."
The words hit deeper than she knows. I've been calculating costs my whole life, ever since—
"Tell me," she says suddenly, reading something in my face. "Whatever you're thinking about. The ghost that just walked across your eyes."
I could deflect, but she deserves this truth. "Few years ago, I trusted someone's strategic advice. My cousin Tony. Brilliant mind, saw angles others missed."
She stays quiet, letting me find the words.
"The Serbians were moving on our warehouse district. Tony said we should let them take the bait warehouse, then trap them inside. Perfect strategy on paper." I move a pawn, not really seeing the board anymore. "Except Tony was already turned. The Serbians knew our real warehouses' locations. My youngest cousin, Sergio—seventeen, just learning the business—was doing inventory that night."
"Marco…"
"They burned it down with him inside. Because I trusted the wrong strategic mind." I meet her eyes. "I haven't taken anyone's tactical advice since. Not even Dante's. I plan alone, succeed alone, fail alone."
She reaches across the board, her fingers covering mine. "But you're trusting me. With territory analysis, family strategies."
"You're different."
"How?"
"Because you have no reason to betray me. You hate this world as much as you're learning to rule it. And because…" I turn my hand over, interlacing our fingers. "Because for the first time in years, being alone feels more dangerous than trusting someone."
She squeezes my hand, then returns to the game. "The Torrelli family is overextending in Chinatown. Hit their Fullerton warehouse first—their whole supply chain collapses."
"Already done. Luca handled it last night while we were occupied."
The flush on her cheeks at the memory makes me want to clear the chess board with my arm and take her across the desk. But that unease still crawls up my spine. This domestic perfection, her brilliant mind working in tandem with mine—it's everything I never thought I'd have after Tony. Which means it's everything that can be taken away.
