The Don’s Favorite Lover Vanished

---- Chapter 22 Chiara's POV The next day, the entire North American underworld exploded. The Russo family empire was collapsing overnight. The capos were in turmoil, and the fires of rebellion were smoldering in the dark. I watched it all unfold calmly, continuing my restoration work. That afternoon, I was in the studio working on a massive 15th-century fresco. Istood on a three-meter-high scaffold, carefully cleaning an angel's wing with a small brush. Suddenly, I heard a dull snap of metal being cut. It was followed by the sharp crack of a rope breaking. "Miss!" Lucia screamed from below.

The entire scaffold lost its balance, lurching violently ---- toward the floor-to-ceiling window behind me. Thad no time to react. I could only watch as I fell from ten feet up, plummeting toward the massive pane of glass. But the expected crash and shattering pain never came. In that split second, a black blur shot from the shadows, tackling me, twisting in mid-air to shield me with his own body. CRASH! We smashed through the window together, tumbling onto the terrace outside. Shards of glass rained down on us. I was completely unharmed. But the man holding me...

his back was shredded by countless sharp fragments. Blood instantly soaked through his black coat. I looked up and saw Vincenzo's face, twisted in agony but filled with a terrifying relief. "You... what are you doing here?" I stared at him, stunned. ---- "T never left," he gasped, his voice hoarse. "My men have been watching you since I arrived in Florence. They saw someone go for the ropes." "Boss!" Marco rushed in with his men. Seeing the state of Vincenzo's back, he paled. "Get a doctor!" Vincenzo seemed to feel no pain. He just held me tightly, his hands checking me over and over.

"You're okay... you're okay..." he murmured, like a child who had found something precious he thought he'd lost. I stared at the blood pouring from his back, at the raw fear in his eyes, and a deeply complicated feeling stirred inside me. In my gallery, the family's private doctor was dressing Vincenzo's wounds. Dozens of glass shards, large and small, were pulled from his mangled back. He flinched with every one but never made a sound. I stood to the side, watching coldly. "Tt was an inside job. Russo men," Vincenzo said, his voice strained with pain as he lay face down on the sofa.

" ---- I shook their foundations. They wanted to kill you to destroy me completely." "So?" My voice was flat. "You took a few cuts for me. Are you expecting a thank you? Or do you think this erases the blood on your hands?" He didn't answer. After the doctor finished, he bowed and left. "Chiara," he tried to turn to look at me. "I know nothing I do can make up for..." "Then don't do anything," I cut him off. "Take your men and get out of Florence. I don't need your protection." "No." He shook his head stubbornly. "They failed once. They' ll try again.

I can't let you be in danger." "My danger? Isn't it all because of you?" I sneered. " Vincenzo, you still don't get it. You are the source of the danger." His face grew even paler. "You're not protecting me," I looked down at him, my voice devoid of pity. "You're protecting your own ---- absolution. You' re terrified that if I die, yowll lose your one chance to un-damn your soul." He looked at me, his eyes full of pain, but he couldn't deny it. "Listen to me, Vincenzo," I gave him my final ultimatum. "Pm giving you twenty-four hours. Leave Florence and never come back.

Or else..." I paused, picking up the forged Russo ancestral deed from the table and waving it in front of him. "Or else, tomorrow morning, I imagine the Petrovs would love to bleed you dry in the courts with this, hollowing out what's left of your empire." His pupils contracted. "You..." "Pm not negotiating, Vincenzo," I put the deed away, my voice hard as iron. "I'm informing you." I turned my back on him. Behind me, I could hear his breathing, heavy with anger and powerlessness. ---- Finally, he spoke, his voice a raw whisper.

Fine." The single word seemed to drain all the strength he had left.