blood and vows

THE WOMAN THEY DIDN’T SEE COMING

The city noticed Isabella before it understood her.

At first, it was subtle—glances that lingered a second too long, conversations that paused when she entered a room, the faint shift in tone when her name was spoken aloud instead of whispered. People sensed change long before they could define it.

And change, in Lorenzo’s world, was dangerous.

The morning after the meeting at the theater, Isabella woke early. Sunlight slipped through the thin curtains, catching dust in the air like suspended breath. For a moment, she lay still, listening to the apartment—Lucio moving quietly in the kitchen, her mother breathing steadily down the hall, the city alive beyond the windows.

Lorenzo was already awake.

She found him standing at the balcony door, shirtless, scars visible in the pale light. He was watching the street below with the focus of a man who never truly rested.

“You didn’t sleep,” she said softly.

He didn’t turn. “I did.”

She walked closer, resting her forehead briefly against his sh