Isabella didn't wait.
The moment Lorenzo walked out of the exhibition room, the air rushed back into her lungs, but it wasn't that of relief but panic.
Her hands trembled slightly as she gathered her tools, shoving them into her bag with far less care than usual because her every instinct kept screaming the same thing:
Leave. Now.
She knew she had made a mistake coming here, a very terrible one at that and if she didn't act fast, she would lose the one thing she had spent five years protecting; her son Matteo.
Isabella slipped out of the exhibition room, keeping her head down as she mixed into the crowd in the main ballroom. The music was louder now and the laughter brighter, but to her, everything felt distant, blurred by the pounding of her heart.
She moved quickly toward the nearest exit, the door leading to the side corridor because using the main doors would make it too obvious and too risky. She remembered it from earlier, she turned left as she walked straight ahead.
"Ma'am." a male voice rose behind her, stopping her dead in her tracks.
Isabella turned slowly as two men in black suits stood a few feet away. They had polite expressions and steady eyes that burned through her skin.
"Can we help you?" one of them asked.
"No," she said calmly. "I was just looking for the restroom."
"It's the other way." The man responded, smiling faintly.
" Of course it was.Thank you." Isabella said and forced a small nod.
She turned and walked back into the crowd, her breathing grew shallow. There has to be more than one exit and other ways out. She tried another corridor, it was blocked, the next door was surrounded by guards.
Every path she took led to the same result. There were extra men in suits, all watching and waiting. The realization hit her like ice down her spine, this wasn't a coincidence, it was control.
Lorenzo hadn't raised his voice or chased after her, because he didn't need to. He just sealed the entire building.
Isabella stopped walking and stood in the middle of the grand hallway, her chest rising and falling slowly as the truth settled in. She wasn't trying to leave, she was trying to escape a trap that had already been set.
"You're making this harder than it needs to be." A soft voice behind her confirmed it.
Isabella closed her eyes briefly and then turned.
Lorenzo stood at the far end of the hallway, his expression calm, his posture relaxed as if he had all the time in the world.
The guards around them stepped back subtly, creating space and giving him control of the moment.
"I told you," she said, Isabella lifted her chin slightly. "I'm working." her voice steady despite the storm inside her,
"And I told you, you're coming home" he replied, as he walked toward her in slowly, measured steps.
"I have a life, You don't get to just… she snapped.
"I get to do exactly what I want," he cut in quietly as he stopped in front of her.
His gaze dropped briefly taking in every detail of her face, as if confirming again that she was real.
Then he lifted his eyes back to hers.
" It's been five years," he said, with no anger in his tone and that made it worse.
"You disappear," he continued. " With no explanation or trace. And now you walk back into my world like nothing happened."
"I didn't walk back, I was invited."she said, her chest tightened.
A flicker of amusement passed through his eyes.
"Is that what you think this is?" he asked softly.
Her stomach dropped and before she could respond, Lorenzo turned his head slightly and gave a silent signal. The guards straightened immediately and then came the words that sealed her fate.
"Close the exits." he ordered making Isabella catch her breath.
"They're already closed, boss," one of the men replied.
"Good." Lorenzo replied, his gaze never leaving hers.
"This is insane, You can't just trap me here."Isabella said, taking a step back.
Lorenzo took steps forward, as she backed up until her back hit the cold marble wall till there was nowhere left to go.
"You ran away from me once,you would never get that chance again." His voice dropped, softer this time but far more dangerous.
"I'm not the same person you married," she whispered, her heart pounding so loudly she could barely think.
"I can see that." Lorenzo's lips curved slightly as he lifted his hands.
For a second, Isabella thought he was going to touch her but he didn't. Instead, he turned away. Then he spoke again to the men behind him.
"Bring my wife to me." The words echoed through the hallway.
Isabella's stomach dropped and before she could react, two guards stepped forward.
"Don't touch me!" She screamed as she tried to pull away.
But they already had her firmly. Her pulse raced as panic surged through her veins because that was exactly what she had feared, exactly what she had tried to avoid which was being pulled back into his world.
"No," she said, struggling now. "Lorenzo, listen to me…"
He didn't turn around or slow down, just simply walked away as if it was already done and she already belonged to him.
Isabella's resistance weakened for just a second as reality crashed over her. She wasn't leaving tonight or going back to her quiet life. She remembered Matteo and her chest tightened painfully, the one thing she had been trying to protect, the one secret she couldn't afford to expose was now closer to danger than ever before.
As the doors of the private elevator closed behind her, Isabella's eyes stung with tears, five years ago, she had escaped by a miracle. But this time, she had just walked straight back into the lion's den.
And Lorenzo De Luca had no intention of letting her out.