Don Marco gave him until dawn.
I had the ledger in my hands and nowhere to hide.
Enzo Romano: dark hair at his temple, a knuckle scar that looks like an old fight, cologne that smells like smoke and tailor's cotton. He is heir and enforcer. He walks into an archive and the air rearranges. He promises protection like a threat. He promises me like a vow.
He finds me in the stacks. He steadies my wrist with his thumb. He drapes a dark-green scarf over my shoulders. He kisses me in front of his father. He plants a pressed camellia in my ledger like a confession. He moves files, hires watchers, barks orders. He leaves to keep me safe. He returns and slips a plain band on my finger in a corridor that smells of dust and fear. Men in dark coats walk the quay. Anonymous messages blink: THEY'RE ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT YOU.
Now the council wants answers. His house gives an ultimatum. My name is the currency.
Choose me, he says. I choose him.
But promises are fragile. Dawn is a list of consequences. Will he stand in the light with me when it costs him everything—or will the ledger buy him an easy exit? We will fight. We will stay. Will that be enough?
I had the ledger in my hands and nowhere to hide.
Enzo Romano: dark hair at his temple, a knuckle scar that looks like an old fight, cologne that smells like smoke and tailor's cotton. He is heir and enforcer. He walks into an archive and the air rearranges. He promises protection like a threat. He promises me like a vow.
He finds me in the stacks. He steadies my wrist with his thumb. He drapes a dark-green scarf over my shoulders. He kisses me in front of his father. He plants a pressed camellia in my ledger like a confession. He moves files, hires watchers, barks orders. He leaves to keep me safe. He returns and slips a plain band on my finger in a corridor that smells of dust and fear. Men in dark coats walk the quay. Anonymous messages blink: THEY'RE ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT YOU.
Now the council wants answers. His house gives an ultimatum. My name is the currency.
Choose me, he says. I choose him.
But promises are fragile. Dawn is a list of consequences. Will he stand in the light with me when it costs him everything—or will the ledger buy him an easy exit? We will fight. We will stay. Will that be enough?