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“I’m coming with you,” she asserts, her voice cutting through the silent standoff between us.
“No, you’re not,” I reply, the edge in my voice sharper than I intend. Lucas and Matteo shift uncomfortably, sensing a change in the air.
Jess’s eyes flick to the guards and then back to me. “You’re different with them around. Colder,” she observes, her voice tinged with disappointment. “Ashamed to show emotion in front of your men, is that it?”
I glance at Lucas and Matteo, their expressions carefully neutral, yet I know they catch every nuance of our exchanges.
“This isn’t a discussion, Jess. It’s too dangerous, and that’s the end of it,” I state, my tone final, the boss speaking now, not just the man who loves her. “You’ve tried to tell me to stay here but you won’t say why. You are not in charge of my life. You don’t get to give me orders.”
She crosses her arms, her defiance clear. “I thought we were partners in this. Equals, remember?”
The reminder stings, echoing my own fears about becoming like my father, controlling and unyielding. “It’s not about equality. It’s about your safety. You know what’s at stake,” I counter, struggling to keep my voice even, to not let the worry bleed through.
She steps closer, her gaze softening as she looks up at me. “Leaving me behind won’t keep me safe. It’ll just leave me worried and alone. You’re going to face Garibaldi alone. You could die.”
I sigh, the cold façade crumbling a bit at her words. “I can’t put you in danger, Jess. I won’t.”
Her gaze hardens. “But you’re willing to put yourself in danger?”
“It’s different. I know how to handle the son of a bitch,” I say, though the assurance feels hollow even to me.
“So take some men with you when you meet up. Be safe, for my sake.”
I shake my head. “I do the planning for my life, Jess, not you.”
She scowls at me, the frustration evident. “And what if you don’t come back? What then?”
The question hangs between us, a stark reminder of the risks I’m taking. Before I can respond, she continues, softer now, “I just want to be there with you, please.”
I shake my head. “Not happening.”
“You’re acting just like him, you know,” she says abruptly, her voice laced with bitterness. “My father. Making decisions for me, thinking you know what’s best, lying to me.”
I flinch at the comparison, feeling the sting of her words like a physical blow. “I’m not lying to you, Jess.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me my father’s been to see Garibaldi?”
The surprise must show on my face because she smiles coldly at me. “Emma told me. Said Tony had told you. How dare you keep that from me.”
“I’m trying to protect you,” I defend, but my voice sounds hollow even to my ears.
“By controlling me?” Her challenge is a mirror to my deepest fear—that I am indeed becoming the man I vowed never to be. “By leaving me in the dark? How is that protection, Alessandro? How?”
I turn to her, the frustration and fear battling within me. “Because the world we’re up against, it’s cruel and unforgiving. I’ve seen what it does to people who aren’t prepared for it. I won’t let that happen to you.”
Jess’s eyes, usually so full of warmth and understanding, now hold a spark of defiance. “And what about what I want? Don’t I get a say in my own life? Who do you really want, Alessandro? Tell me that at least. Is it me, or my father?”
“I want you. That’s why you have to stay here where it’s safe.”
“Why? Because you think I’m not strong enough? Because you’re afraid to see that maybe, just maybe, I can handle your world too?” There’s a tremor in her voice, a mixture of anger and hurt.
The raw emotion in her words gives me pause. Is my need to protect her actually a disservice, undermining the strength I fell in love with? “It’s not that I don’t think you’re strong,” I admit, my resolve wavering. “It’s that I can’t bear the thought of you in harm’s way.”
She looks away, her shoulders slumping in resignation. “Just promise me you’ll come back,” she whispers, her voice barely audible. “You won’t kill my father, will you? You’re not doing all this to get to him, are you?”
I step closer, taking her hands in mine, feeling the coldness of her skin. “I promise, Jess. I’m doing this for us. And I will come back to you. I swear on everything I hold dear.”
Lucas and Matteo watch silently, their presence a somber reminder of the reality I face.
