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Three seconds later, I cranked the wheel hard, cut straight across the double yellow in the no-turn zone. Tires shrieked through an aggressive U-turn.

Fuck reason.

If tonight ended like this, I wouldn't sleep for a goddamn minute.

❦ ❦ ❦

Ruby

The apartment was cold as a freezer.

I didn't even turn on the overhead light. Just kicked off those torturous heels and collapsed into the narrow fabric sofa.

The wool of my dress still carried faint rosemary from that little restaurant, but my nose was full of rust and iron.

The scene kept replaying—

Shattered glass. Blood spray. Marcelo's eyes, cold to the bone. That threat in a language I couldn't understand.

"Docks." "Shipment." "DeLuca."

These words were hands pushing my mind back to safe ground.

I hugged my knees, buried my face in my arms.

Who the hell was he?

On the surface, a polished CEO. Underneath, tangled with leather-jacket thugs who cursed like sailors. He could shift from tender lover to cold-blooded killer in a second without blinking.

I thought I knew him.

I thought we had a real connection.

But now I wasn't even sure if the man who'd sat across from me tonight, sharing his past, was real.

My phone vibrated violently on the coffee table, screen flashing white light that stung my eyes.

Caller ID: Mary.

I stared at that name for a long time before finally answering.

"Ruby?" Mary's voice came tentative, testing. "You're still up?"

"Yeah." My voice was wrecked.

Silence on the other end.

"What's wrong? You sound awful." Mary's tone went tight with worry. "Is it work? Or—"

Mom's concern was a sharp needle that burst the dam I'd been holding.

Tonight's terror, the bloody confrontation at the restaurant, the crushing uncertainty about the future—everything flooded out at once. I couldn't hold the mask anymore. Tears streamed down, voice breaking completely.

"Mom... I think I'm really in love with someone."

Dead silence on the line.

I sniffled, voice small and almost pleading. "But I'm scared. He's so much older than me, has his own past, even has a daughter... I know it sounds crazy, but he's good to me, he respects my designs, and tonight we even... but I just found out his world is complicated, he does big business, the people around him are dangerous, I can't see through him at all... Mom, I don't know what to do anymore, I'm so confused..."