Chapter 63

Chapter 63
L A N A

“Ezio, please, don’t hurt him,” I say quickly, my voice shaking more than I want it to as I reach out and wrap my fingers around his arm, my grip instinctive and desperate because I know exactly what he is capable of when he feels challenged...

The fabric of his suit is smooth beneath my palm, warm from his body, and the moment I touch him, he pauses mid-step, his entire frame going still as he slowly turns his head to look down at me. For a second, the intensity in him changes, not disappearing but softening at the edges, and I feel the change ripple through him as if my touch alone is enough to pull him back from whatever line he was about to cross.

“He is the one causing you pain,” he says, his gaze moving over my face again, lingering on the redness of my eyes, the tear tracks down my cheeks, the slight tremble in my lips. “I cannot allow that.”

The way he says it makes my stomach tighten, because it does not sound like a suggestion or even concern in the ordinary sense; it sounds like a rule he lives by, a code that places me under his protection whether I asked for it or not. There is a possessiveness in it that feels less like care and more like ownership, and I do not know whether to feel grateful or alarmed.

“Please,” I whisper again, stepping closer without thinking, my fingers tightening slightly into his sleeve as I tilt my face up to meet his eyes. I am close enough to see the faint tension in his jaw, the slight flare of his nostrils as he breathes in, and I hate that even now, with fear twisting inside me, I am still aware of how drawn I am to him, how his presence fills the room, making everything else feel small...

He studies me for a long moment, his eyes searching mine as if trying to decide whether my request is worth honouring, and I can see the struggle there, the instinct to protect and dominate colliding with the fact that I am asking him not to act.

“If that’s what you wish,” he finally says, his voice quieter now, and the fact that he yields to me at all leaves me breathless for a different reason.

Behind us, Tyler lets out a harsh laugh that is more defensive than amused.

“So that’s where you were this whole time, you already found someone else?” he snaps, his bitterness thick as he gestures between us.

I turn toward him, anger flaring again despite the fear still crawling under my skin.

“Seriously?” I shoot back, wiping at my cheeks with the back of my hand. “You’re really going to say that?”

“He can never replace me, do you understand me?” Tyler blurts out, his voice rising as if he is trying to convince himself more than me.

I see Elizabeth shift uncomfortably beside him, her brows knitting together as she looks at him with disbelief.

“Tyler,” she says softly, clearly thrown by his words, and I almost laugh at the irony of her suddenly feeling unsettled.

“She does not intend to replace you,” Ezio says before I can respond, his tone cool and dismissive as he finally turns his attention toward Tyler again. “She intends to blot out your filth completely.”

The insult lands with a satisfying precision, and I see Tyler’s face flush with anger, his hands forming into fists at his sides, but I can see the hesitation in his demeanour, because he understands on some level that this is no longer a simple argument between ex-lovers...

Ezio does not wait for Tyler’s reaction, instead turning back to me as though he is the only person in the room who matters, his focus so razor-sharp that it almost makes me dizzy.

“Did he hurt you, Lana?” he asks, his voice shifting again into that softness that confuses me, because I have seen how quickly he can detach from empathy when it suits him.

“N-no,” I mumble automatically, even though my back aches and my pride feels bruised beyond repair.

He tilts his head slightly, his eyes narrowing just enough to let me know he does not believe me.

“You are lying to protect him...” he says quietly, and there is something almost amused in his expression, as though he finds my loyalty misplaced. “You still care for him.”

I feel heat rush to my face, not because he is entirely wrong, but because he is speaking about my emotions as if they are facts he has already sorted through. There is jealousy there too, the most clear out of his reaction, and I can see it through the tightening around his mouth that betrays how little he likes the idea of me caring for anyone else...

“Understandable,” he adds after a second, though the word sounds more like tolerance than acceptance.

“Both of you, get the hell out of my house,” Tyler shouts suddenly, his voice cracking slightly as he tries to reclaim authority in a room that no longer feels like his.

Before the tension can escalate further, the sound of multiple footsteps echoes down the hallway, firm and synchronised, and I turn toward the doorway just in time to see several of Ezio’s men step inside. They move with quiet efficiency, spreading out across the apartment without speaking, their presence alone enough to shift the atmosphere from heated argument to something far more dangerous.

My stomach drops as recognition hits me, because these are the same men who grabbed me at the lounge, who escorted me through the halls of his mansion, their faces burned into my memory as symbols of how easily my freedom was taken from me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa...” Tyler stammers, his earlier confidence evaporating as he takes in the sight of armed men filling his living room. Elizabeth backs away until her shoulders press against the wall, her eyes wide as she looks from one man to another, her earlier smugness completely gone.

I look back at Ezio and find him watching me instead of the chaos unfolding around us, his gaze steady and intent as if he is studying my reaction to all of this. It unnerves me that he seems so unaffected by the fear in the room, that he can stand there in his tailored black suit with his hands resting loosely at his sides while everything else feels on the verge of unravelling.

He steps closer again, reducing the distance between us until I can feel the warmth radiating from him, until the faint scent of his cologne wraps around me in a way that feels both comforting and suffocating. My heart pounds in my chest, not just from fear but from something far more complicated, because there is a pull in him that I cannot deny, a gravity that makes me want to lean into his protection even as my instincts scream at me to create space.

“You do not belong here,” he says softly, his eyes holding mine as if he is trying to anchor me to him. “You belong somewhere you are valued.”

The words crash over me in a way in a dangerously appealing manner, because after the humiliation of the engagement party, after being shoved to the floor by the man I loved, the idea of being valued feels like oxygen. I want to believe him, I want to step away from this apartment and never look back, to let him erase Tyler from my life completely...

But I also know what being valued by a man like Ezio might mean. It means protection that comes with strings, loyalty that is not optional, a life entangled with power and violence, whether I consent to it or not, and being his against my will...

His hand lifts again, brushing lightly against my jaw as if checking for injury, and I hate that the touch sends a shiver down my spine, that my body responds even while my mind lists all the reasons I should be afraid of him.

“You deserve better than this,” he murmurs, his thumb tracing just beneath my chin before dropping back to his side.

Behind him, Tyler’s breathing grows louder, uneven as he looks at the men surrounding him.

“Y-You can’t just barge in here and do whatever you want...” Tyler says, though the conviction in his voice is gone.

Ezio does not even look at him when he replies.

“I already have,” he says simply, and there is no arrogance in it, just certainty. "Now what are you going to do about it?"

I stand there between two men who represent two different kinds of danger, one who broke my heart and humiliated me in front of everyone I know, and another who would burn the world down if he believed it served his interests. And somehow, standing this close to Ezio, feeling the tension radiating from him, I understand that the greater threat is also the one making me feel safest in this moment...