Days turned into nights, and nights turned into new mornings. It had been one week since the Romano couples attended that grand dinner. In this one week, everything had been going smoothly.

Donato and Kiara's relationship had changed - not suddenly, not dramatically, but slowly, quietly. They had become more comfortable with each other, more used to each other's presence, more... close. They now went to the office together almost every morning. Sometimes they returned together in the evening, sometimes Kiara came home earlier while Donato stayed back for meetings.

And many nights, Donato came home very late.

Sometimes at midnight.
Sometimes at 2 AM.
Sometimes even 3 AM.

And sometimes, in the middle of the afternoon, he would suddenly leave the office without explanation. On those days, Kiara and Albert handled the meetings and office work. Alessandro and Aravi managed their second branch of the business.

Kiara wasn't stupid. She knew where Donato went when he suddenly disappeared. Mafia work. Dangerous work. Work she never asked about. She had made a decision - she would not interfere in his mafia world. She would not ask questions. She would not demand answers.

As long as he came back to her safely. Without a single scratch. and tonight he again, came back late. Very late. Kiara was already in the bedroom when the door opened quietly and Donato walked in, loosening his tie, looking tired. She was about to say something when her eyes fell on his hand.

There was a scratch. Not very big. But enough to bleed. She immediately sat up straight. "Ro," she said coldly.

He looked at her. "Hmm?"

She pointed at his hand. "What is that?"

He looked at the scratch and said casually, "It's nothing. Just a small-"

Before he could finish, she stood up from the bed. Her expression changed completely. "Mr. Romano," she said in a dangerously calm voice, "this is your first and last time coming into my bedroom with a wounded hand."

Donato blinked. He was not shocked because his wife was threatening him. He was shocked because of what she said next.

"If you have a scratch on your body," she continued, "you are not allowed to enter my bedroom."

He stared at her for a few seconds, processing what she just said. Not enter the bedroom? Then where would he sleep? Because recently, Mr. Donato Romano had developed a habit - a very dangerous habit - of sleeping while holding his wife. If he didn't hug her, he couldn't sleep properly anymore.

So this rule was a serious problem. "But darling," he said slowly, "if I don't come to this room, then where will I sleep?"

She crossed her arms and looked at him without any sympathy. "You can sleep anywhere in this mansion except this room," she said calmly. "I don't care."

He stared at her in disbelief.

"If you come with wounds on your body," she continued, "I will not let you enter this room. So, Mr. Romano, it's better you do whatever you want in your dangerous world, but make sure this body does not have a single scratch..." She stepped closer to him and looked straight into his eyes. "...if you want to sleep in this room, on this bed, with me."

For a moment, Donato just looked at her. Then slowly, very slowly, a smile appeared on his face. Not a normal smile. A soft, helpless smile. Because this was not a threat. This was fear.

She was not angry that he was hurt. She was scared that one day he might not come back at all. He stepped closer to her and said softly, "You are trying to control a mafia man with bedroom rules."

She replied immediately, "I am not controlling a mafia man. I am controlling my husband."

He looked at her for a long moment. Then he gently held her hand-the same hand that was pointing rules at him a minute ago. "And what if I come wounded again?" he asked quietly.

She looked straight into his eyes and said, "Then you will sleep alone."

The room was quiet. The lights were dim. Outside, the night was deep and silent, but inside the room, there was tension - not angry tension, but something warmer, something more personal. He took a step closer.

"So now I need permission to enter my own bedroom?" he asked softly, a teasing tone in his voice.

"Yes," she replied immediately. "If you come injured, entry is not allowed."

"You are very cruel, Mrs. Romano," he said. "Do you know that?"

Kiara crossed her arms and leaned against the table. "I am not cruel. I am strict."

"With me only," he replied.

"Yes," she said immediately. "Only with you."

He walked closer to her slowly. "People are scared of me outside."

She didn't move. "Good. They should be."

"But at home," he continued, stopping right in front of her, "my own wife is threatening to throw me out of the bedroom."

"You are not thrown out," she corrected. "You are banned if you come injured."

He sighed dramatically. "This is dictatorship."

"This is marriage," she said.

He shook his head slightly, then lifted his scratched hand and looked at it. "This small scratch is separating a husband from his wife. Very tragic story."

Kiara didn't even react. She turned, took the first aid box from the drawer, and put it on the table. "Sit," she ordered.

He chuckled under his breath and walked past her, removing his watch and placing it on the table like he owned the place - which technically he did.

She followed him with her eyes. "Don't ignore me, Ro. I am serious."

"I know you are serious," he said calmly, loosening the buttons of his shirt. "You always are when it comes to me getting hurt." He smiled slightly and sat on the edge of the bed like an obedient child while she cleaned his scratch carefully. But she was not quiet. She was rambling.

She crossed her arms. "Because you disappear in the middle of the day, come home at 2 AM, sometimes 3 AM, don't answer calls, don't tell anything, and then you come back with scratches like it's nothing. Do you think I am stupid? I know where you go."

He didn't reply. He just listened. But she continued talking - more like rambling now. "You leave meetings in between, Albert and I handle everything, Mom and Dad handle the second branch, and you just disappear. Do you even realize how much work you leave behind? And then you come back like nothing happened. And what if something happens? What if one day-"

She stopped herself. But he understood what she didn't say.

What if one day you don't come back.

He was just looking at her face - the way her eyebrows frowned when she was angry, the way she held his hand carefully while still scolding him, the way she kept talking without stopping.

He had seen enemies shout at him, businessmen argue with him, mafia men threaten him - but nothing looked more intense than Kiara when she was worried and angry at the same time.

She continued, you come like this with scratches like it's nothing. For you it's nothing, but for me-" "I am talking to you, Donato. Don't just seat there. You need to be careful. You can't just-"

She was still talking when suddenly he pulled her closer by her wrist and And then he did the same thing he had done the first time when she was talking non-stop. He kissed her. Suddenly. Without warning.

He held her face gently but firmly and pulled her into a deep kiss, cutting off all her words mid-sentence. She froze for a second, completely shocked, her hands still in the air from all the talking she was doing. But he didn't pull away.

The kiss was not soft at first - it was intense, like he was trying to stop her thoughts, her worries, her fears, all at once. His hand moved from her face to the back of her neck, pulling her slightly closer. After a few seconds, the intensity softened. The kiss became slower, deeper, less like an interruption and more like something he had wanted to do for a long time.

Her hands, which were previously moving angrily while she was scolding him, slowly moved and held his shirt. The room went silent. No more complaints. No more rules. No more mafia. No more business. Just the two of them. When he finally pulled back slightly, their foreheads were still touching, and she was still holding his shirt.

For a second she froze, completely shocked.

"You talk too much when you are worried," he said softly.

She was breathing slightly faster, "You..." she started, still trying to process what just happened. Her eyes widened. "You kissed me to stop me from talking?"

"Yes," he said simply. "Very effective method."

She pushed him lightly on the shoulder. "You are unbelievable."

He caught her hand before she could move away and pulled her slightly closer again.
She tried to look angry again, but it didn't work properly now. "You are not changing the topic," she said. "The rule still stands."

He sighed softly. "You are very strict."

"Yes i am."

He looked at her for a second, then said softly, "But you are worried for me."

She didn't reply. She didn't need to.

He gently touched the small bandage on his hand and then said quietly, "Fine. I will try not to get hurt."

"Not try," she said. "Make sure."

He nodded slightly.

"Kiara," he said quietly, "you are the only person in this world who can threaten Donato Romano and then clean his wounds like nothing happened."

She didn't reply.

He gently pulled her more closer and wrapped his arms around her slowly. "And now," he said near her ear, "please remove this rule that I cannot enter my own bedroom."

She immediately replied, "Rule will not change."

He sighed. "Very stubborn wife."

"Very careless husband," she replied.

He rested his chin lightly on her head and said softly, "Fine. Then I will just have to make sure I don't get hurt."

"Yes," she said quietly. "Do that." After a moment, she added in a softer voice, "Because I don't like seeing you hurt."

He didn't reply. He just held her a little tighter."And if I come without scratches," he asked softly, "then I can sleep here?"

She stayed quiet for a second, then slowly wrapped her arms around him too. "Yes," she said quietly. "Then you can sleep here."

He smiled slightly. Because Mr. Donato Romano could negotiate million-dollar deals, control mafia territories, and run business empires... But the most difficult negotiation of his life was clearly with his wife.

____

The Romano mansion was as lively as always-staff moving around, Sofi arguing with Albert about something stupid, Nonna complaining about food, Aravi on a call, Alessandro reading documents-everything was normal.

Everything except Elena. For the past week, she had been unusually quiet.

Where everyone was energetic and loud, she was silent. She spoke less, stayed more in her room, ate quickly, and left the table; didn't argue with Sofi; didn't tease Albert; didn't even fight with Enzo when he visited.

And that was exactly what felt wrong. Because Elena Romano being quiet was unnatural. This all started after that dinner night-the night she heard Enzo say he was going with a blind date arranged by his mother... and later she heard that they were still meeting.

That they were still going on dates. That his mother liked the girl. That things might move forward. Since then, Elena had gone silent.

She didn't know what to do.
She didn't know who to talk to.
She didn't know how to stop feeling what she was feeling.

Enzo noticed first. He visited the Romano mansion almost daily, as usual, but now every time he came, Elena either left the room, ignored him, or spoke only one-word answers.

Aravi and Nonna also noticed. One afternoon, Aravi finally asked her gently, "Elena, what happened? You are very quiet these days."

Elena didn't even look nervous. She had already prepared an excuse. "Mom, my exams are coming soon," she said calmly. "I am just busy with exam preparation. I am a little tired, that's all."

Aravi immediately believed her and smiled. "Don't stress too much."

Nonna also nodded. "Yes, study but also eat properly."

But Kiara...

Kiara did not believe it. She had noticed the tension between Enzo and Elena. She had noticed how Enzo tried to talk to her, and Elena ignored him. She had noticed how Elena left the room whenever Enzo entered. She understood something was wrong.

Enzo tried calling Elena many times. But she blocked his number. That hurt him more than he expected. One day, he finally went to her college to pick her up himself. Elena came out of the college gate and froze when she saw him standing near the car. He walked toward her slowly.

"Eli," he said softly, "please talk to me. What happened? Tell me."

She immediately got angry. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?" she snapped. "Just go from here. Go to your girlfriend. Don't disturb me."

He frowned. "Eli-"

"I HATE YOU, ENZO," she said loudly, her eyes filled with anger and unshed tears. "I hate you. Just go from here and don't-don't ever try to talk to me again."

Those words hit him harder than anything. He just stood there for a few seconds, looking at her. He didn't get angry. He didn't shout. He just looked... hurt. Because she was his little Eli. The little girl who used to hold his finger while walking to school.

The girl who used to refuse to go to school unless he dropped her. The girl who used to call him first whenever she had any problem. She was the only peaceful part of his life. And now she was saying she hated him.

She turned and started walking away quickly before he could see the tears in her eyes. Enzo stood there near the car, not moving. He closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, then got into the car . For the first time in many years, Enzo felt helpless.

Enzo drove away from the college, but he didn't really see the road in front of him. His hands were on the steering wheel, but his mind was still standing outside the college gate, looking at Elena walking away from him with tears in her eyes.

I hate you, Enzo.

Those words kept repeating in his head.

He had been threatened, insulted, shot at, betrayed - none of that had ever affected him the way those four words did. Because they came from her.

His little Eli.

He drove for almost twenty minutes before he realized he wasn't even going toward the office or home. He stopped the car on a quiet road, leaned back in the seat, and rubbed his face with both hands.

"How do I make you understand?" he whispered to himself. "The thing you want... I can't give you that." a single helpless tear scape from his eyes."

____

Elena reached home and went straight to her room. She closed the door, locked it, and leaned against it for a few seconds. She was trying very hard not to cry. But the moment she remembered his face - the way he didn't shout, didn't argue, just looked hurt - her eyes filled with tears.

"Why do you have to be so good?" she whispered angrily to herself. "Why can't you just be a bad person so I can hate you easily?"

She threw her bag on the bed and sat down, covering her face with her hands. "I hate you," she whispered again, but this time her voice broke. "I hate you because I love you."

And then she finally cried. Not loudly. Not dramatically. Just quietly, sitting on the bed, like someone who was tired of fighting their own heart.

____

That evening, Kiara found Elena sitting in the garden alone, staring at nothing. She walked over and sat beside her without saying anything. For a few minutes, they both stayed silent. Then Kiara said casually, "You know, when someone talks too much, it's annoying."

Elena looked at her, confused. Kiara continued, "But when someone who always talks suddenly becomes quiet... it's scary."

Elena looked away again. "I told Mom. Exams."

Kiara nodded. "Yes. And I told no one that I don't believe you."

Elena didn't reply.

Kiara looked at her carefully, then said softly, "You love him, don't you?"

Elena froze. Her fingers tightened slightly on her dress, but she didn't look at Kiara. Kiara didn't push immediately. She just said quietly, "You don't have to tell me. I already know."

After a long silence, Elena finally spoke in a very low voice. "He is going on dates with another girl." Kiara sighed quietly. She had expected that. "He says I am like his little sister," Elena continued, her voice shaking slightly. "But I am not. I am not his sister. I never was. I never felt like that."

Kiara didn't interrupt. "I tried to stay normal," Elena said. "I tried to ignore it. I tried to think it's just a crush. But when I heard that his mother likes that girl and they are still meeting... I felt like someone punched me here."

She placed her hand on her chest. "I can't even tell him to stop," she continued. "Who am I to stop him? I am nothing."

Kiara looked at her seriously and said one sentence very slowly. "You are not nothing, Elena. You are just in helplessly in love with him and its not wrong."

Elena's eyes filled with tears again. "I know," she whispered. "That's the problem. I know."

Kiara put her arm around her shoulders gently. "Love is not always the problem," Kiara said softly. "Sometimes timing is the problem. Sometimes circumstances are the problem. Sometimes fear is the problem."

Elena leaned her head slightly on Kiara's shoulder. "But it hurts," she said quietly.

Kiara nodded. "Yes," she said. "It always does."

For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. The garden was quiet, only the sound of leaves moving in the evening breeze. From inside the mansion, faint voices and laughter could be heard, but here, it felt like a different world.

After a while, Kiara spoke again. "Did you ever tell him" she asked gently.

Elena shook her head immediately. "No." But he know." he knows what i feel about him."

"Did you ever try to tell how much you love him?" kiara asked."

"No" elana reply."

"Why?"

Elena laughed softly, but there was no happiness in that laugh. "Because I already know the answer."

"You don't know," Kiara said. "You are assuming."

"I am not assuming," Elena replied quietly. "I know Enzo. He will say I am like his little sister. He will say I deserve someone better. He will say his life is dangerous. He will say he can't give me a normal life. He will say he is older then me" He will say i cant betray donato he trusted me for you" He will say everything... except yes."

Kiara didn't interrupt, because she knew Elena was not wrong. "Elena," Kiara said softly, "sometimes men don't say no because they don't love. Sometimes they say no because they love too much and they are scared."

Elena looked up at her. "Scared of what?"

"Scared of ruining your life," Kiara said. "Scared that their world will destroy you. Scared that one day you will cry because of them. Scared that they will become the reason for your pain."

Elena looked down again, thinking about that. "He already is the reason," she said quietly.

Kiara sighed softly. "Love is very unfair sometimes." Elena was silent for a moment, then she asked the question she had been afraid to ask anyone.

"Ki... do you think he ever... even a little...?"

Kiara understood the unfinished question. "Do I think he loves you?" Kiara asked gently.

Elena didn't say anything, but her eyes answered.

Kiara thought for a few seconds before answering carefully. "I don't know if he allowed himself to love you," Kiara said slowly. "But I know one thing."

"What?" Elena asked.

"I have seen the way he looks at you when you are not looking," Kiara said. "And that is not how a man looks at his little sister."

Elena's breath caught slightly.

"He notices everything about you," Kiara continued. "If you eat or not. If you are quiet. If you are angry. If you are late. If someone talks loudly to you. He notices everything."

Elena's eyes filled with tears again, but this time she didn't cry. She just listened.

"But," Kiara continued softly, "Enzo is not a normal man, Elena. He lives in a dangerous world. Loyalty, enemies, violence, risk - this is his life. Men like him don't think about what they want. They think about what is safe for the people they love."

Elena whispered, "So loving me is not safe?"

Kiara replied quietly, "Loving you is probably the most dangerous thing for him. Because if someone wants to hurt him, they will hurt you."

Elena closed her eyes. "So what should I do?" she asked. "Forget him?"

Kiara was silent for a moment. Then she said something very honest. "If you can forget him, then it was not love."

Elena looked at her. "But if you can't forget him," Kiara continued, "then one day you will have to fight for him. Either with him... or against him."

Elena whispered, "I am ready for everything but i can't loose him."

Kiara pulled her into a side hug. "Love is war, Elena," she said softly. "And you fell in love with a soldier." Elena let out a small, broken laugh through her tears. "Romano family is very dangerous," she said quietly. "First Donato brother, now Enzo."

Kiara smiled slightly. "You are also Romano. Don't forget that."

Elena wiped her tears slowly and took a deep breath. "I hate him," she said again quietly.

Kiara smiled a little. "Yes. That is why you are crying for him."

Elena didn't deny it this time. They both sat there quietly in the garden as the evening slowly turned into night - one woman remembering how she fell in love with a dangerous man, and the other trying to figure out how to survive loving one.

Thank you love's 🫀 ✨