Alessio POV
Alessio hasn't slept in three days.
He paces his penthouse like a man waiting for execution. The floor-to-ceiling windows show a city that doesn't care about his insomnia. Cars move below. People walk streets. The world continues while he counts the hours until Diana becomes his wife and moves into his space.
Four AM. Marco finds him in the office, standing over documents that have nothing to do with business.
"You look like hell," Marco says. His cousin leans against the doorframe in jeans and a wrinkled shirt, looking concerned in the way only someone who's known you since childhood can manage.
"I'm about to marry the woman I've wanted for four years," Alessio says flatly. "Hell is appropriate."
Marco walks in and closes the door. He's the only person in the organization who knows the full depth of what Alessio's done. The only person Alessio trusts with this part of himself.
"Still terrified she'll realize what you've orchestrated?" Marco asks, sitting in the leather chair like he owns it.
"Not terrified," Alessio corrects. "Realistic. She's brilliant. She'll figure it out eventually."
"She already knows you've been following her," Marco says. "She found the folder."
"The public folder with photographs from courthouses," Alessio says. "That's calculated transparency. That's me showing her I'm interested. Not the same thing as showing her everything."
Marco pulls out a phone and slides it across the desk. On the screen: a photograph of Diana at a restaurant. From last night. "You need to tell her about me. About how much information I've been feeding you. About how coordinated this actually was."
Alessio stares at the image. Diana sits at a table with James Park, her friend. She's not smiling. Her hands are wrapped around a coffee cup like it's the only thing keeping her grounded. She looks haunted.
"Not yet," Alessio says. "First she needs to move into the penthouse. First she needs to understand that proximity is about more than access."
"You're hoping she falls in love with you before she realizes how deeply you've manipulated her," Marco observes. It's not a question.
"Yes."
"That's dangerous."
"Everything worth having is dangerous," Alessio replies. He stands and walks to the window. The city glitters below like something dying beautifully. "If I tell her now, she'll bolt. The wedding won't happen. The peace won't hold. And I'll lose her before I ever really had her."
Marco is quiet for a long moment. Then: "The other thing you need to know. I've been getting messages from someone inside the Russo family. Someone who's angry about the marriage."
Alessio's entire body goes still. "What kind of messages?"
"Threats. Not direct. But the implication is clear. Someone doesn't want Diana married into our family. Someone sees her as a problem."
Alessio turns from the window. "Who?"
"I don't know yet. But they know things. Details about Diana's movements. Details about when she'll be vulnerable." Marco pauses. "Someone in the Russo organization is planning something, and it's pointed directly at her."
The information hits Alessio like a physical blow. He's spent four years constructing this moment perfectly. He's calculated every move. And now there's a variable he can't control. Someone who sees Diana as a threat instead of a binding agent.
"Has she received anything?" Alessio asks urgently.
"I don't know. But you need to be prepared for the possibility that your marriage ceremony is going to be complicated in ways you haven't planned for."
Alessio walks to his desk and opens a drawer. Inside: the folder he keeps hidden from everyone except Marco. Photographs of Diana. Not the ones she saw. Different ones. Older ones. From four years of attention. Restaurant receipts. Flight records. Details about her routines that took months to map. Notes about her cases. Observations about how her mind works.
Marco watches him look through it. "You need to destroy that," Marco says quietly.
"I need to remember why I did this," Alessio corrects. He pulls out a photograph from two years ago. Diana at the courthouse, rain streaming down her face, her expression fierce and focused. She looks untouchable. Perfect. Completely alone.
"That's the woman you're actually in love with," Marco says, pointing at the photograph. "Not the one you've built this trap for."
"They're the same woman," Alessio says.
"No," Marco insists. "The woman in that photograph doesn't know you exist. The woman getting married to you tomorrow knows you're obsessed. Those are two different versions of Diana. You're marrying one and trying to keep the other alive in your head."
Alessio closes the folder without responding. He can't argue with Marco's logic. He can only push forward.
"When did you find out about the threats?" Alessio asks.
"Two days ago. I've been trying to trace them. But whoever's sending them is careful. They know how to stay invisible inside the organization."
"It's Victor Russo," Alessio says suddenly. The realization lands like certainty. "He's the only one who benefits from this marriage failing. If Diana is destroyed or if she leaves, the peace falls apart."
"You need to tell her," Marco says urgently. "Diana needs to know she's not safe. She needs to know that someone in the Russo family might try to use her."
"And if I tell her, she'll realize this marriage isn't about peace. It's about me wanting her badly enough to put her in danger," Alessio says. "She'll leave."
"She's going to figure it out regardless," Marco says. "Better that she hears it from you than discovers it the hard way."
Alessio paces the office. His mind moves through scenarios. If Victor is orchestrating something, then the wedding is bait. Diana will be the most visible target in the city. Married to a Moretti. Protected by Moretti security. But vulnerable in ways that matter.
"I need you to find out exactly what Victor's planning," Alessio says. "I need security details for tomorrow. I need to know every person coming into that cathedral and why they're there."
"Already working on it," Marco says. "But Alessio, you need to think about something. If Victor is making moves against Diana, that means the war between the families isn't actually over. It's just evolving."
The implication lands hard.
Alessio's entire plan has been built around marrying Diana and then having time to convince her to stay. He's calculated every move. Every manipulation. Every moment where she might choose to leave.
He hasn't calculated for someone trying to kill her.
"Tell me everything you know," Alessio says.
Marco pulls out a folder of his own. Inside: intercepted messages. Photographs of men meeting in dark places. Financial records showing money moving in suspicious patterns. The evidence of something much larger happening underneath the peace that Diana negotiated.
"Someone's profiting from the war between the families," Marco says. "Someone who doesn't want the peace to hold. Someone who'll do anything to restart the violence."
"Victor," Alessio repeats.
"Or someone working for Victor. Someone inside the Russo family with enough power to orchestrate this. Someone who'll use Diana as leverage to restart everything."
Alessio sits down hard. For four years, he's controlled every variable. He's orchestrated Diana's marriage to him. He's manipulated both families. He's positioned himself as the victor in a game no one else knew they were playing.
And now someone else has been playing a deeper game.
His phone buzzes.
A message from an unknown number. A photograph attached.
The photograph shows Diana walking into a building. The timestamp is from four hours ago. The message reads: "She knows something's wrong. She's investigating. Don't say I didn't warn you. The woman you're marrying is going to destroy the peace you built. Unless we stop her first."
Alessio's hands go cold.
He shows Marco the message without speaking.
Marco's face goes white. "That's a threat. That's someone telling you they're going to move against Diana."
"It's a warning," Alessio corrects. "Someone telling me that Diana is asking questions. Someone telling me that she's not as trapped as I thought. Someone telling me that my careful plan is falling apart."
Alessio stands. He walks to the window and looks out at the city. Somewhere down there, Diana is asking questions. Somewhere down there, she's trying to understand what's really happening. Somewhere down there, she's realizing that the marriage she agreed to is far more dangerous than she calculated.
And in less than twenty-four hours, she's going to walk down an aisle toward him while someone plans to use her as a weapon.
"I need to see her before the wedding," Alessio says.
"You can't," Marco says. "Bad luck. Bad timing. It could spook her."
"She's already spooked," Alessio says. "Someone's threatening to kill her, and she doesn't even know it. Someone's using her as leverage in a game she doesn't understand."
Alessio looks at the photograph again. Diana walking into a building. Investigating. Looking for truth. Looking for a reason to trust him.
And he's lied to her about everything.
"Call her," Alessio says. "Tell her I need to see her. Tell her it's about security for the wedding. Tell her whatever it takes to get her to the penthouse in the next hour."
"If you see her now, it breaks every superstition about—" Marco starts.
"Superstitions don't matter," Alessio interrupts. "What matters is that Diana is walking into danger tomorrow, and she doesn't know who's hunting her. What matters is that I've orchestrated this situation so carefully that I've put her directly in the path of someone who wants her destroyed."
Marco pulls out his phone and makes a call.
Alessio waits by the window.
In his mind, he's already revising everything. The wedding. The marriage. The careful plan to make Diana fall in love with him gradually.
All of it needs to change.
Because the only thing that matters now is keeping Diana alive long enough to choose him freely.
And that might be something he can't control.