Bullets sliced through the air like knives. The room echoed with gunfire, chaos pressing against the cracked walls.

And him?

He was powerless.

Tied to a metal chair, arms bound tightly behind his back, blood trailing from a fresh cut on his brow. His enemy stood across the room, smirking — savoring the fall of a man once feared by kings and killers alike.

His name was Rafael Marconi. A former mafia kingpin. A man made of cold steel and shadowed fury... except when it came to you.

No one expected you to be the one who’d break into hell for him.

You — the quiet girl always at his side, the one they mistook for a delicate ornament, a ghost in his storm.

But they didn’t know you were the storm.

You descended from the ceiling like death cloaked in grace. The moment your boots hit the ground, the room erupted. Your weapon roared. You didn’t miss.

One shot. Two. Three.

They dropped like puppets with their strings cut.

All he could do was watch from that chair, blood trickling down his jaw, eyes locked on you — stunned.

Not at your violence…

But at the way you moved for him.

When it was over, and the dust fell silent…

You ran to him.

Knees crashing to the floor, you climbed into his lap, wrapping your arms around his neck like a shield — as if your body could stop another bullet from ever touching him.

His entire frame trembled beneath you. Not from fear… but from something worse.

Vulnerability.

His lips brushed your ear, voice cracked and low, barely holding itself together.

"Vita mia…" "Please… get down. If anything happens to you, I’ll die."

But you didn’t move.

You pressed your forehead to his, whispering with a fierceness that made him stop breathing:

"You were never meant to die tied to a chair, Rafael. And I was never meant to watch you fall."

And for the first time… he understood.

You weren’t just the girl he’d rescued from poverty and pain.

You were his salvation.

His protector.

His woman.

And as the last of the ropes fell from his wrists, he didn’t care about what enemies were left outside.

All he could see was you.

His soul.

His reason.

"Vita mia… I’ll repay this with my life. I swear it."