Please Divorce Me, Alpha! {BL}

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Then I caught a whiff of his scent. Without any distance between us. Without the smoke and mirrors.

His scent...cold, clean, expensive, and stronger without the usual distance or any blockers, filled the darkness until every breath carried it.

I became hyper-aware of every small shift of the mattress, every quiet inhalation from the other side, the way the expensive sheets whispered against skin whenever either of us moved even slightly.

Lorenzo, by contrast, seemed completely relaxed, breathing even and unhurried, which only agitated me more.

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I pulled the blanket up a bit higher. This was awful. I needed sleep. I closed my eyes, opened them again, closed them again. Nothing.

After what felt like forever, I finally asked, ”How long is this supposed to last?”

”Until you stop trying to run,” Lorenzo replied almost instantly.

”So, never?”

”That depends on you.”

I stared into the dark. ”I don’t like this.”

Then he pushed further, voice low enough that it felt like it was meant only for the space between us.

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‎”Feeling trapped can’t be the only reason. Tell me the real one, why do you want to leave so badly? Are you really that scared of me?”

I hesitated. The easy answer would have been that he broke our deal. It was true, but not the full truth.

Taking a deep breath, I said, ”I’m not scared of you.nI’m scared of everything around you,” I went on. ”Your world. Your family. The people you work with. The folks walking around this house carrying guns like they’re just umbrellas.”

Lorenzo was silent.

”I don’t belong here,” I said. ”I never did.”

”You’re my husband.”

”That doesn’t magically make me immune to bullets.”

”You don’t have to worry about that, you have my protection.”

A soft breath of laughter slipped from him. I pressed on before I lost my nerve.

”Everyone says they’ll protect you when they want you to stick around. They promise you the world, say you’ll be safe, that everything’s under control.”

My fingers tightened around the blanket. ”Then something happens, and suddenly, you’re just inconvenient.”

The room fell silent again. I swallowed hard. ”I know what it feels like to be convenient until you’re not.”

Lorenzo didn’t interrupt, and that made it somehow easier to keep talking. ”And you broke our deal.”

There it was, the real wound.

”You promised me seventy million and a divorce. I agreed because I thought I could hang on for a while and then be free to disappear. Then your father died, and suddenly, our agreement didn’t mean anything to you anymore. I value loyalty. You don’t get to betray someone and then simply keep everything while I lose the freedom I worked for. I’ll keep trying to escape. Or force the divorce. Whichever comes first.””

I let out a bitter laugh. ”You got everything you wanted. You became Don, you kept your stupid organization, you got the perfect little Omega husband just for show.”

I turned to look at him. ”And I got nothing.”

Lorenzo stayed quiet for so long that I wondered if he’d fallen asleep. Finally, he spoke. ”You’re right.”

I blinked. That wasn’t what I expected. ”What?”

”You’re right.” His voice was low. ”I broke the agreement.”

I stared into the darkness. ”And?”

”And I understand why you don’t trust me.”

I was at a loss for words. After a moment, Lorenzo continued. ”I won’t force you the way I did before.”

My chest tightened.

”But I’m not letting you leave.”

I sighed. ”Of course.”

”I’ll give you time.” His voice softened. ”And I’ll do everything I can to earn your trust again.”

I fell silent. Then he added, almost casually, ”I still plan to make you want to be with me.”

I turned to him sharply. ”What?”

”You heard me.”

I scoffed. ”That’s never happening.”

”Is that so?”

”I’ve lived my entire life without falling in love with anyone.”

Technically, that was true; mostly because I’d spent most of my life shut away from people and treated like furniture. But details didn’t matter.

”I will never fall for you.”

A quiet chuckle came from his side of the bed. ”What?”

”Nothing.”

”No, say it.”

”I was just thinking that you’re very confident.”

”I am.”

”Then I guess I’ll have to do my best.”

I rolled my eyes. ”Your best will never be enough, Dracula.”

I turned my back to him again. That should’ve been the end of it. But my brain clearly thought sleep was optional. Minutes turned into more minutes. I shifted.

The mattress moved beneath me. I shifted again, but Lorenzo stayed still. I pulled the blanket tighter and tried lying on my back, then my stomach, and finally on my side. Nothing worked.

Eventually, I started to wonder if I could quietly slip off the bed without him noticing. I moved an inch. Then another.

Suddenly, a hand wrapped around my waist. I froze. Before I could react, Lorenzo pulled me gently but firmly back against him.

My back hit his chest, and every single thought in my head vanished. His arm rested around my waist, warm and solid, holding me in place without crushing me. .

I stared straight ahead, my body tense as a wire.

”What in the everliving fuck are you doing this time?”

”Sleep, my love.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. He was annoyingly correct.

I started to notice his forearm pressing against me, the faint warmth of his skin, the steady rhythm of his breathing behind me.

I felt the rise and fall of his chest against my back. My breathing slowly matched his, and I noticed. I pulled back. No way. I was not syncing my breathing with Lorenzo Castelli.

That was how people ended up in romantic novels, and I had no interest in becoming a cliché.

His voice whispered close to my ear. ”Sleep, tesoro.”

I swallowed. ”Don’t call me that.”

”I’ll think about it.”

”That means you won’t stop.”

”You’re catching on.”

I closed my eyes, convincing myself this changed nothing. The deal was still broken. My freedom still lay beyond these walls.

I still intended to leave. I still didn’t trust him. And I certainly wasn’t going to fall in love with him. Those were facts. Very important facts.

I kept repeating them silently as exhaustion finally began to pull me under.

Behind me, Lorenzo’s breathing remained steady. For reasons I refused to examine, I stopped trying to move away.

Tomorrow, I’d come up with another escape plan. For tonight, apparently, I was sleeping with the enemy.

Marriage was wonderful.