The Mafia Boss Watched Me Resign—Then Said, “You Don’t Work For Me… You Belong To Me.

Back at the lake estate, the master wing had been converted into a surgical suite. The family doctor stitched Luca’s shoulder without anesthesia while Luca sat stoically on the edge of the leather chaise, refusing pain medication.

I refused to leave the room.

My emerald gown was stained with his blood, my makeup smeared, but I stood by his side until the doctor packed his instruments and bowed his way out.

“You should be resting,” I said softly, the silence in the room suddenly unbearable.

Luca looked up, his face pale beneath the tan, dark circles bruising his eyes. He reached out with his uninjured arm and caught my wrist, pulling me gently until I was standing between his parted knees.

“You look at me like you’re afraid,” he said, his voice husky with exhaustion.

“I was terrified, Luca. You almost died tonight. And you said… in that ballroom, you told Coretti…” My words evaporated, heat rushing to my cheeks.

“I told him I love you,” Luca finished the sentence without a trace of hesitation. “Did you think it was a tactic?”

“Wasn't it?” I whispered, searching his eyes. “You’re the head of the Ferrante family. You calculate everything. You balance ledgers of blood and money.”

Luca pulled me closer, his hand sliding up my hip, pressing me flush against his chest. I could feel the furious, steady beat of his heart right beneath his bandages.

“For two years, I watched you sit in that office,” he confessed, his voice rough and vulnerable in a way that made my breath catch. “I watched you organize my life, protect my secrets, and never once flinch at the darkness around you. When the Brescia hit happened eight months ago, I realized that if anything happened to you, this entire empire would mean nothing to me. So I put guards on your sister. I kept you in my sight. And when you tried to hand me that resignation letter today, I knew I would tear this city apart before I let you walk away from me.”

Tears blurred my vision again, but this time they weren't born of fear.

“You’re insane,” I breathed, resting my forehead against his uninjured shoulder. “You’re ruthless, overbearing, and completely insane.”

“Probably,” Luca whispered, his lips brushing the curve of my neck. “Tell me you don’t feel it, Nora. Tell me to let you go, and I swear I will give you a new passport, a new identity, and never look for you again. Say the words.”

I looked down into the hazel depths of his eyes—at the king who ruled a criminal underworld, kneeling before me in everything but posture.