"Mr. Santego." She nods respectfully. "Welcome home. Your rooms are prepared."
"Thank you, Margareta. This is Aurora. She'll be staying in the main house. The east wing suite."
Margareta's eyes flick to Aurora, taking in her rumpled clothes, her pale face, the way she's gripping my hand like a lifeline. If she's surprised or judgmental, she doesn't show it.
"Of course. I'll have it ready within the hour. Does the young lady require anything immediately?"
"Food," I say, because Aurora hasn't eaten since this morning. "Something light. And tea, if she wants it."
"I'll see to it personally." Margareta gestures to two younger staff members. "Martin, Claire, please assist with the luggage."
We enter through massive oak doors into a foyer that makes Aurora stop in her tracks.
The ceiling soars two stories above us, crowned by a chandelier that could light a ballroom. The floor is white marble veined with gold. A grand staircase curves upward, the banister polished mahogany. Artwork lines the walls, pieces I've collected over decades. Some legal, some not.
"This is insane," Aurora breathes. "Axel, this is actually insane."
"It's excessive," I admit. "But in this world, appearances matter. Power matters. This house tells everyone who sees it that I'm not someone to fuck with."
"It's working."
Viktor appears at my elbow. "Boss, I need five minutes. Security protocols for the new situation."
Right. The new situation where I've kidnapped Don Luca's daughter. Well, not kidnapped. She came willingly. But that's not how he'll see it.
"Give me ten to get Aurora settled."
I guide her up the staircase, down a hallway lined with more art and antiques. The east wing is my favorite part of the house. Quieter, away from the main operations. The suite I'm putting her in has its own sitting room, bedroom, bathroom the size of most apartments.
I open the door.
Aurora steps inside and just stares.
The sitting room is decorated in soft creams and golds. A fireplace dominates one wall, already lit and crackling. Comfortable furniture arranged for conversation or reading. Windows overlooking the gardens, currently dark but beautiful in daylight.
"Through there is the bedroom," I point. "Bathroom beyond that. Everything you need should be here, but if it's not, just ask Margareta."
She walks to the windows, looks out at the grounds. I can see her reflection in the glass, her face exhausted and overwhelmed.
"You built all this," she says quietly. "While my father was raising me and running his territory, you were building an empire."
"I had nothing else. No family, no life outside the organization. So I poured everything into it."
"And now?"
"Now I have you."
She turns, and there are tears in her eyes again. "Do you? Have me? Because I don't even know what I am anymore. I'm not Luca's daughter. Not Leo's fiancée. Just... this person who destroyed everything."
"You didn't destroy anything. I did that."
"We both did." She wraps her arms around herself. "I should have stayed away from you at that club. Should have asked your last name. Should have..."
"Should have what? Not fallen into bed with me? Not gotten pregnant with my child?" I cross to her. "Aurora, if you could go back, would you change it?"
She's quiet for a long moment. "I don't know. Everything's such a mess now."
Well. Shit.
