Chapter 62 Chapter 62

Chapter 62 Chapter 62
\[ IRIS’S POV \]

I had expected a house. What I found was a kingdom. One the Russos can never get in the years to come, no wonder my father was bent on making his daughter a member of the Morettis ’ household.

Now it was so obvious that the maid who took me to the library yesterday intentionally took me through another route. And here I am a silly girl thinking I have the fortress lines at the back of my head. I’m naive just like how Sofia would call me.

After the chilling text message about my mother's death.  Salvatore led me out of the master suite. For sightseeing stating if I’m going to leave as a Moretti then I need to know things about the household.

"Welcome to the heart of the Moretti line," Salvatore said, his voice echoing through the vast, black-marble hallway.

As we descended the grand staircase, the house seemed to breathe. This wasn't a home,  it was a fortress carved into the very spine of the mountain. Every window was bulletproof glass, every door reinforced steel disguised by expensive veneers.

"This is the North Wing," he gestured to a series of rooms filled with servers and flickering blue lights. "My intelligence hub. From here, I can see every ship in the Atlantic and every transaction your father makes before he even clicks 'confirm.'"

We passed a glass-walled gym where men who looked like carved granite stopped their training to bow their heads. They didn't look at me with the hungry eyes of the Rossi guards. They looked at me with a terrifying reverence, as if I were a holy relic Salvatore had brought home from a crusade.

"They work for me," Salvatoresaid, sensing my unease. "But they live for you. Their only job is to ensure that no one, not the police, not the Irish, and certainly not your father, ever sets foot on this peak."

He led me deeper, into a sub-level that felt like a museum. The walls were lined with oil paintings of Moretti ancestors, men with the same obsidian eyes and predatory smiles as the man beside me.

"My empire isn't just built on blood, Iris. It’s built on silence," he said, stopping in front of a heavy vault door. He pressed his thumb to a scanner. The door hissed open.

Inside was a room that made the "Secret Room" back at the Russos’ estate look like a hobby. It was a private archive. Files, ledgers, and digital drives.

"You want to know why I’m the only one who can keep you?" He walked to a central desk and opened a folder. "Because I know the price of every soul in New York. Your father thinks he’s powerful, but I own the debt on his very house. I own the judge who would sign your 'missing person' report. I own the shadows he's afraid of."

He turned to me, his expression softening into that dark, possessive heat. "In the Russo world, you were a shadow. Here, you are the center. Every cent I earn, every life I take, it is all to maintain this, this sanctuary for you."

He walked me to a terrace that overlooked the valley. Below us, hidden by the treeline, I could see a private airstrip and a fleet of black vehicles. It was a private army, all for one girl.

"Look at it, Iris," he whispered, standing behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. He rested his chin on my shoulder, his breath hot against my ear. "This is the Moretti Empire. And it’s yours. Every guard, every dollar, every secret. I’ve built this cage out of gold and steel just to make sure the world can never hurt you again."

I looked out over the vast, beautiful, and terrifying expanse. It was breathtaking. It was magnificent. And it was a tomb for the girl I used to be.

"Why?" I asked, my voice trembling. "Why all of this for me?"

Salvatore turned me around in his arms, his eyes burning with a feverish intensity. "Because you are the only part of me that isn't broken. Without you, I’m just a killer. With you... I’m a King."

He leaned down, his lips hovering an inch from mine. "Now tell me. Do you still want to run back to the father who tried to sell you? Or are you ready to rule this empire by my side?"

I looked into his eyes and saw the truth, Salvatore Moretti didn't just want a wife. He wanted a reason to exist. And he had decided that reason was me.

I didn't answer. I couldn't. But as he pulled me into a kiss that tasted of power and dark promises, I realized the text message was still burning a hole in my mind. If he had killed my mother to get to me, then this empire wasn't a sanctuary. It was a crime.

I pulled away from him sharply, the friction of the movement leaving my skin tingling. Salvatore let out a low, frustrated groan, his dark eyes searching mine.

“What is it, Iris? Are you tired of my kiss already?”

“It’s not about the kiss,” I countered, my voice breathless as I tried to steady my racing heart. “I’m just... I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of this. The fortress, me leaving home. My father, all of it.”

I was still speaking when a shadow detached itself from the men who were training. My words died in my throat as I watched a familiar figure stroll toward us with a calm, practiced ease. My blood ran cold. I had always suspected her, my gut had screamed that she was a plant, a pair of eyes watching my every move.

“What is she doing here?” I blurted out, pointing a trembling finger.

“Oh, her?” Salvatore said, his tone entirely too nonchalant. He didn't even look back at the newcomer. “She works for me.”

I felt the air leave my lungs. “From the beginning? All this time?”

“Yes, Iris,” he replied, finally meeting my gaze with a terrifyingly calm stare. “From the very moment she set foot into the Russo estate. She was mine before she ever knew you existed.”