Riley:
My phone won't stop buzzing.
I wake up to the sound of notifications exploding one after another. Ding ding ding ding ding. Like someone is machine gunning my phone with messages.
My heart races. For a second I think it's Marcus. Think he found a way past the security. Think this whole escape was a dream and I'm about to wake up locked in our bedroom again.
Then I grab my phone and see the screen.
Hundreds of notifications. Twitter. Instagram. News alerts. Text messages from numbers I don't recognize. All saying the same thing in different ways.
Dante Salvatore got married.
My stomach drops straight through the floor.
I open the first news article with shaking hands. There's a photo of Dante and me leaving his building yesterday. I didn't even notice the cameras. But someone was watching. Someone caught us.
The headline screams: BILLIONAIRE HEIR SECRETLY MARRIES MYSTERY WOMAN.
Mystery woman. That's me.
I scroll through the article. Dante Salvatore, ruthless CEO, notoriously private, never been serious with anyone. Now suddenly married to Riley Monroe, 26, former nobody, recently divorced from prosecutor Marcus Hale.
Recently divorced.
They know about Marcus. Of course they know. Reporters dig up everything.
I keep scrolling. More articles. More photos. Someone found my old social media accounts from before Marcus made me delete everything. Photos of me in college smiling and happy. Photos I forgot existed.
Who is Riley Monroe? Where did she come from? How did she catch the most eligible bachelor in New York?
The comments are worse.
Gold digger. Social climber. She's just using him for money. She's not even pretty. What does he see in her?
My hands shake so hard I almost drop the phone.
This is exactly what I was afraid of. The media turning me into a villain. People analyzing every piece of my life. Strangers deciding I'm not good enough for Dante.
Another notification pops up. A voicemail from a blocked number.
My blood turns to ice.
Marcus.
I should delete it without listening. Should pretend it doesn't exist. But my finger hits play before my brain can stop it.
His voice fills my bedroom. Smooth and cold and promising violence.
"Hello Riley. Or should I say Mrs. Salvatore now? Saw the news this morning. Quite a surprise. You really thought you could run from me? Thought you could embarrass me like this?"
A pause. I can hear him breathing.
"You belong to me. Not him. Me. And I will make you regret this. I promise you that. Dante Salvatore can't protect you forever. Eventually you'll be alone. And when you are, I'll be waiting."
The message ends.
I sit frozen on my bed staring at nothing. Marcus's voice echoes in my head. The same voice that used to whisper sweet things before the wedding. The same voice that turned cruel after.
My phone buzzes again. Another blocked number. Another voicemail.
I don't want to listen but I can't stop myself.
"Do you really think a piece of paper makes you free? Do you think dissolving our marriage means you're not mine anymore? You'll always be mine, Riley. Always. No matter how far you run."
Delete. Another blocked number. Another message.
"He'll get tired of you. Realize you're broken and used up. Then what? You'll come crawling back and I'll make you beg for forgiveness."
Delete. Another. Another. Another.
Six voicemails. All from Marcus. All blocked numbers so I can't stop them. All saying the same thing in different ways.
You're mine. You can't escape. I'll destroy you.
My whole body shakes. The phone slips from my hands and clatters on the floor. I wrap my arms around myself trying to stop the trembling but it doesn't work.
Marcus found me through the media. Now he knows where I am. Knows I'm with Dante. Knows everything.
I'm not safe. I was never safe.
A knock on my bedroom door makes me jump so hard I nearly scream.
"Riley? You awake?"
Dante's voice. Not Marcus. Just Dante.
I try to answer but my throat won't work.
The door opens slowly. Dante steps in wearing a suit like he's ready for work. His eyes find me immediately. Find me sitting on my bed shaking and pale and clearly falling apart.
His expression shifts from neutral to concerned in half a second.
"What happened?"
I point at my phone on the floor. Can't make words come out.
Dante picks it up. Sees the screen full of notifications and voicemails. His jaw tightens.
"The media found out," I manage to whisper. "About us. It's everywhere."
"I know. My PR team is handling it." He scrolls through my phone. Sees the blocked numbers. "What are these?"
"Marcus. He's been calling. Leaving messages."
Dante's expression goes from concerned to absolutely deadly. The temperature in the room drops about twenty degrees.
He hits play on the first voicemail. Listens to Marcus's threats with a face that could be carved from ice. Then the second message. The third.
By the sixth message Dante's knuckles are white around my phone.
"How long has this been happening?"
"Since I woke up. He must have seen the news."
Dante's eyes meet mine. I've never seen him look so furious. Not when he talked about his father. Not when he mentioned Leo's kidnappers. This is something beyond anger.
This is rage wrapped in ice and barely contained violence.
"Wait here."
He leaves my room. I hear him in the hallway making a phone call. His voice is too quiet to make out words but the tone is unmistakable. Cold. Commanding. Absolutely final.
Ten minutes later he's back.
"My lawyers are on the way. We're filing restraining orders. Harassment charges. Everything possible."
"Marcus has connections. Judges. Politicians. They won't—"
"I have more." Dante's voice cuts through my panic like a knife. "And unlike Marcus, mine aren't corrupt. They'll listen."
I want to believe him. Want to think this nightmare can actually end.
But Marcus has been untouchable for so long. What makes this time different?
"He said you can't protect me forever," I whisper.
"Watch me."
The words are simple but the way Dante says them makes me actually believe it's possible.
My phone rings. Blocked number again.
Dante looks at the screen then at me. "May I?"
I nod.
He answers on speaker. "This is Dante Salvatore. Who is this?"
Silence. Then Marcus's voice comes through. Colder than I've ever heard it.
"Give me my wife back."
"She was never your wife. She was your prisoner. But that's over now."
Marcus laughs. The sound makes my skin crawl. "You think a piece of paper changes anything? You think your money makes you powerful? I'm a prosecutor, Salvatore. I have the law on my side."
"You have corruption on your side. There's a difference." Dante's voice is pure ice. "And I have enough evidence to bury you. Witness tampering. Evidence manipulation. Abuse. Every dirty trick you've pulled for the last five years."
More silence. I can practically hear Marcus calculating.
"You're bluffing."
"Try me. Make one more call to Riley. Send one more message. Come within five hundred feet of her. Give me one excuse and I will destroy your career, your reputation, and your freedom. You'll spend the next twenty years in the same prisons you used to prosecute."
"Big words from a man who murdered three people and got away with it."
My blood runs cold. How does Marcus know about the kidnappers?
Dante doesn't even flinch. "The difference between us is I killed men who deserved it. You hurt an innocent woman for two years. Who do you think a jury will sympathize with?"
"This isn't over, Salvatore."
"Yes it is. Riley is under my protection now. You lost. Accept it."
"I never lose."
"You just did."
Dante's about to hang up when Marcus's voice comes through one more time. Quieter now. More dangerous.
"You have no idea who you're messing with. No idea what I'm capable of. But you'll find out soon enough."
The line goes dead.
Dante stares at my phone for a long moment. Then he looks at me and I see something in his eyes that makes my heart race.
Not fear. Determination.
"He's going to escalate," Dante says quietly. "Men like Marcus don't accept losing. He'll try something."
"What do we do?"
"We fight back harder." Dante hands me my phone. "My lawyers will be here in twenty minutes. We're getting that restraining order today. And I'm assigning you a security detail. Someone with you at all times."
"Dante, that's too much—"
"It's not enough." He steps closer. Close enough that I have to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. "I made you a promise. On Leo's grave. That I wouldn't let anyone hurt you. I meant it."
The intensity in his voice steals my breath.
"Why do you care so much? This is just a contract."
The question hangs between us. Dante's expression shifts. Softens slightly.
"Because you asked me about Leo yesterday. Because you touched my hand with kindness. Because you're brave and strong and you deserve better than Marcus Hale." He pauses. "And because somewhere along the way this stopped being just a contract."
My heart stops. "What?"
Before Dante can answer, his phone rings. He looks at the screen and his expression goes deadly again.
"It's my head of security. Something's wrong."
He answers. Listens. His face goes pale.
"When? How did he get past—" Dante cuts himself off. Looks at me. "Lock down the building. Now."
He hangs up.
"What happened?" My voice shakes.
"Marcus was just spotted in our lobby."