His innocent wife is a dangerous hacker.-Chapter 651 Disgusting

"Sleep with me."

He stared at her. His hand was still around her throat. His breathing was fast, uneven.

"Sleep with me," she repeated, softer now, her eyes tracing his face. Those gray eyes, cold and ruthless and so, so beautiful. His lips, pressed tight, sensual even in anger. The line of his jaw, the hollow of his throat, the broad span of his shoulders. The body she had wanted for years. The man she had wanted for years.

She didn’t know anymore if she hated him or loved him. Didn’t know if she wanted to kill him or be consumed by him.

"One night," she breathed. "That’s all I ever wanted. One night. You owe me that much."

His grip loosened. Just a fraction. Just enough for her to draw a thin, rattling breath.

She smiled up at him, blood on her lips, tears on her cheeks. "Don’t you want to know what it would feel like? To let go? To stop being the perfect husband, the perfect mafia boss, the perfect monster?" She tilted her head, leaning into his hand. "Just once. Just for a night. No one would know. No one would tell her."

His eyes were burning. His breath was uneven.

She could see him thinking about it. She could see him wanting something. Revenge? Release? She didn’t care what it was, as long as he gave in.

"You want me," she whispered. "I know you do. You’ve always wanted me. That’s why you hate me. That’s why you can’t let me go."

His hand tightened again, cutting off her air. But his face was something else. Something she’d never seen. Not anger. Not disgust. Something else entirely.

"You’re wrong," he said. His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. "I never wanted you. I never wanted anything from you."

He let go.

She fell back against the wall, gasping, coughing, her throat on fire. He stepped away, his hands shaking, his chest heaving.

"You want to know what I see when I look at you?" His voice was flat, dead, like he was speaking from somewhere far away. "I see a woman who was given everything and threw it away. A husband who loved her. A son who needed her. A life that millions would kill for. And she chose hate. She chose to destroy herself."

Alexa’s face twisted. Her eyes burned with something ugly. Jealousy, rage, desperation, all tangled together.

"How come you’re not tired of her?" Her voice rose, cracking. "Isn’t she just like me? A woman with two eyes, a nose, lips. What do you see in her that you don’t see in me?"

Leo’s expression didn’t change. It remained cold and unmoved.

"I’m not saying you have to love me." Her voice dropped, raw and broken. "I’m saying, even if you caged me as your mistress, I would be happy. Just let me be near you. No one will tell her. No one has to know. Leo, come to me. Just once."

He said nothing.

"Do you know," she whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks, "that day when I slept with Archer, I was thinking about you. Your face. Your body. Your hands." She laughed, hollow and desperate. "I closed my eyes and imagined it was you."

Leo’s jaw tightened. His stomach turned. The thought of her imagining him, using him, made something dark and violent curl in his chest. He would erase his image from her mind. He would burn it out if he had to.

Disgusting.

"You’re wrong," he said, his voice low, controlled. "Bella isn’t a toy. She isn’t a thing I grow tired of. She is my person."

His eyes flashed, dark and stormy.

"And she is mine."

Alexa laughed, bitter and sharp. "You’ve fallen in love with her?" She stared at him, searching his face. "I thought you were just using her. I thought she was just someone to pass the time, someone you would grow tired of."

Leo didn’t answer. But his silence was answer enough.

Alexa’s face crumpled. Jealousy burned through her, hot and ugly. That bitch. That little abused bitch had done what she never could. She had made Leonardo Moretti fall in love.

"How?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "How can you love her? She’s nothing special. She’s just—" She stopped, her breath catching. "She was abused. Is that it? Do you pity her?" She shook her head, her chains rattling. "That’s not love. Love makes you feel wild. Love makes your heartbeat race. And my heart beats wild every time I even think of you."

Leo chuckled. Low. Cold. Ruthless.

"You’re so wrong," he said, looking her dead in the eyes. "Her circumstances didn’t make me fall in love with her."

He stepped closer, his voice dropping, almost gentle. But the gentleness was for Bella, not for Alexa. It was the gentleness of a man who had found something precious and would burn the world to keep it.

"The way she overcame her circumstances," he said. "The way darkness tried to consume her, tried to break her, tried to turn her hard and cold, and yet she stayed bright. She stayed soft. She stayed shining, no matter what they did to her."

His eyes grew distant, warm, lost in memory.

"Have you seen her smile? Her real smile. Not the one she gives strangers, but the one she gives me when she thinks I’m not looking." His lips curved, just slightly. "It could melt the coldest heart."

Alexa stared at him, frozen.

"Her innocence," he continued, his voice softer now, almost reverent. "Her care. Her intelligence. The way she sees things no one else notices. The way she loves, without holding back, without fear, without conditions."

He looked at Alexa, and his eyes hardened again.

"She is perfect. Not because she’s flawless, but because she’s real. Because she fights. Because she gets knocked down and gets back up and keeps fighting. Every single time."

He took a breath.

"If I could time travel, I would go back. I would find little Bella. The one who was hurt, who was scared, who was alone. And I would save her. I would keep her safe. I would preserve her happiness, her innocence, her light." His voice dropped. "I would give her the childhood she deserved."

The room was silent. Alexa’s chains had stopped rattling. She was staring at him like she’d never seen him before. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"The more time I spend with her," Leo said quietly, "the more I realize how deep she is. She’s emotional, fiercely emotional. She feels everything. But she’s also intelligent. Sharp. She sees through lies. She recognized that imposter in the mall wasn’t you, just by looking at her face."

He smiled.

"Meanwhile, Archer sleeps next to an imposter every night and has no idea."

Alexa flinched.