You never imagined the person who would ruin you and rescue you would be him, the boy you grew up swearing you hated, the one who never left your side no matter how much you fought him.

You two were opposites in every possible way, yet somehow always tangled in each other’s lives.

He was the rich heir born into a family the whole city watched, and you were simply his mother’s best friend’s daughter—well off, but nowhere near his world.

Still, your families never treated you differently. Loyalty tied them together, and his father, a man feared in the mafia world, adored you as if you were his own.

But comfort outside didn’t erase the chaos inside your home. Sheltered yet scarred, you grew up watching your father cheat on your mother, then turn his temper on you when you dared to speak.

Your mother stayed for “love,” and you learned to swallow heartbreak until it stopped shocking you. No one knew what you carried, no one except him, even when you pretended he didn’t.

In college he was everything at once. Your bully. Your comfort. Your troublemaker and your shield. The way he growled at any guy who tried to talk to you… the way he fought them without thinking and the way his eyes darkened when someone else touched you, made you feel as though, this wasn’t friendship.

Friends and enemies didn’t look at each other like they were one mistake away from losing control. You just refused to see it.

Until tonight.

His family’s gala glimmered around you, music soft, people watching, you showed up in a long, backless red dress that made even the elite girls stare and men's gaze linger. For once, you felt powerful and seen.

He saw you too, but not the way everyone else did. Dressed in black and silver, jaw tight, his eyes cut straight through the crowd and pinned you. It wasn’t admiration. It was anger. A warning you didn’t understand.

Not until one of his enemies lingered too close, fingers trying to slide where they never belonged.

That was the moment something inside him snapped.

His punch landed first. Then another. And another. His family froze in shock gasped and your wine glass slipped from your hand, shattering at your feet.

His voice, rough and furious, echoed through the hall. “Learn to respect a woman. No means no. You don’t get to touch her because you think you can just to satisfy your male ego.”

Your flinched at his tone, but before you could speak or his family could calm him down. He grabbed you, lifted you off the ground like you weighed nothing and walked straight out, ignoring the whispers rising behind you.

You hit his back with your fists. “What is wrong with you? You just ruined your father’s night! Put me down!”

He didn’t. He kicked open his bedroom door and threw you onto the couch, knocking the air out of your lungs. You stared at the streak of crimson on his face, the wild look in his eyes.

“You never get it,” he snapped. “Since when have we been just friends? Since when were we ever something that simple? Are you that bloody dense or do you not to see what's going on here?!!"

You froze. Tears stung your eyes because you had never seen him unguarded like this, shaking with something that wasn’t anger alone.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two rings. Both engraved with your initials. Your heart dropped and your face flushed.

“I can’t pretend anymore,” he said quietly, almost broken. “I can’t be your friend. That’s why I was your enemy too. Because you were always more."

He touched your cheek gently, too gently for the chaos in him. “If you can’t be anything else… then get rid of me. Because loving you like this is tearing me apart. But if you can…”

He placed your hand on his throat. The other held the rings.

“…then choose me, let's exchange rings, I cannot let anyone take you from me.”

For the first time, you saw exactly what he had been holding back… and exactly how dangerous loving him would be, yet you couldn't move.