The penthouse was eerily still. Kyle had retreated to his private wing to "prepare the board," leaving me under the watch of four guards. He thought the Sofia stunt would break me—that my pride was wounded enough to make me stay put.
forgetting that I didn't come to Milan for his heart. I came for the Diamond.
While the guards were focused on the hallway, I was in the master suite, moving with the silent, liquid grace that had kept me alive in Rome. I wasn't looking for an exit this time. I was looking for the safe.
I found it behind a faux-Renaissance painting in his dressing room. It was a biometric lock—top of the line. But Kyle was arrogant; he was the type of man who believed no one would ever dare touch his things. He hadn't wiped the keypad.
Using a dusting of charcoal from my eyebrow pencil, I lifted his prints from the glass desk where he'd been drinking scotch earlier. I didn't need a high-tech lab. I just needed a piece of clear tape and a steady hand.
Click.
The heavy steel door swung open. Inside weren't just stacks of Euros and deeds to Italian villas. There was a black leather ledger. I flipped it open, and my breath hitched. It wasn't business. But a timeline of my life.
Photos of me in Marseille. A bus ticket from Berlin. A list of every person I'd hit in the last three years. He hadn't just "found" me at the gala. He had been tracking my shadow across Europe, waiting for the perfect moment to trap me.
"Looking for a way to pay off the debt, Val?"
I didn't flinch but turned around slowly closing the ledger and leaned against the safe, my mouth curling into a cold, sharp smile.
"I'm looking for the reason a billionaire spent three years stalking a thief," I said, finally locking eyes with him
He was standing in the doorway, his tie gone, his shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal the dark ink of a tattoo on his forearm I'd never seen before. He looked tired, but the arrogance was still there, burning in his eyes like a dying star.
"I wasn't stalking you," he rasped, walking into the room. He didn't look angry that I'd cracked his safe. He looked almost impressed. "I was protecting an investment. I knew Moretti was six months behind you. If I hadn't stepped in, you wouldn't be in a penthouse right now. You'd be in a hole in the Roman countryside."
"And you just happened to want the same girl he did?" I challenged, stepping away from the safe. I walked right up to him, my chest nearly touching his. "You're a liar, Kyle. You didn't do this to save me. You did this because you wanted to win a war that started five years ago."
Kyle's hand shot out, his fingers tangling in my hair, pulling me close until I could taste the peppermint and scotch on his breath. "Maybe I did. But here's the difference, Val. He wants to break you to prove he's a god. I want to keep you because you're the only thing in this world I can't buy."
He leaned down, his forehead resting against mine. The physical tension was like a thick, suffocating fog. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, silver key. He pressed it into my palm, his hand closing over mine.
"That opens the sea-door at the dock-house," he whispered. "The guards have been told to let you pass. If you want to run, Valentina... if you truly think you're better off as a ghost... go. The car is waiting downstairs. No chase. No debt. You're free."
I looked at the key, then back at his eyes. This was the ultimate cocky move. He was betting his entire obsession on the fact that I wouldn't leave. He was handing me the cage key just to see if I'd stay for the master.
"You think I won't do it?" I asked, my voice trembling.
"I think you're a thief," Kyle said, his thumb brushing my lower lip. "And a thief always knows when they've found the most valuable thing in the room. Now, make your choice. Because Moretti is at the gate, and I'm about to go out there to finish this."
He let go of me and walked toward the door, grabbing his jacket. He didn't look back. He left the safe open, the ledger exposed, and a key to freedom in my hand.