Alessandro lay on the cold bed of the guest suite, eyes open, fixed on the ceiling, unmoving.
Sleep had become a stranger.
He'd chosen not to sleep in the master bedroom tonight. He couldn’t—not with her scent still on the pillows, not with the image of her trembling earlier, her skin wet and glistening, flashing relentlessly behind his closed lids.
Rose.
He turned onto his side, jaw clenched. He should’ve never brought her into this house. Into his world. She was supposed to be a pawn, a way to settle her father’s debt. That was all.
But something shifted.
Something inside him was beginning to fracture.
He wasn’t supposed to want her like this.
He wasn’t supposed to care.
Alessandro sat up abruptly and ran a hand through his tousled black hair. A low sigh escaped him as his thou
