Novels by hamicable008

Nora’s POV,I woke to the soft, familiar click of Luca’s shoes on the marble and the low vibration of his voice in the corridor. For a second I lay there, eyes closed, pretending not to hear. My body wanted to pretend like last night had been a bad dream like a terrible, overlong play that I’d finally walked out of. But with the few days ice spent here, I realised that this villa never let you walk out of things. It stored them and handed them back to you in stranger ways.“Mrs Luna,” Luca said, and there was a quiet in his tone that made my heart knot. He didn’t say more. He never wasted words.I swung my legs out of bed and sat up. My head still throbbed a little from the night, and exhaustion had a weight to it that coffee couldn’t lift. I didn’t answer immediately. The house was an organism that moved in commands; if I spoke without listening first I might say something permanent. So I waited for him to speak.“Boss wants you downstairs in twenty. Training starts after,” he said f

Leo’s POV;They brought them to me trembling. The head maid and the chief of security, two people whose faces I’d seen for years —the kind of familiarity that usually meant loyalty was already bought — were shoved into the center of the banquet hall like animals exposed under a light. The blood on the table still shone where they’d dragged it; the room smelled of copper and perfume and a noise like a hive of bees that hadn’t yet been swatted.I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t need to. I walked straight to them, every man in the room suddenly aware of the shape I cut. They expected fury. They expected spectacle. They expected something loud and messy. What they got was cold.“Lock them up,” I said. The words were flat, but they ricocheted around the chandeliers. “Take them to the underground bunker and secure them.”Hands moved. Men grabbed the two by the arms and dragged them away, their protests swallowed by the distance to the service stair. I watched them go, watched their shoulder

Nora’s POV;Luca’s voice was the only thing tethering me to movement. “This way, Nora. Keep walking.” His hand hovered close to my back, steady but not intrusive, guiding me toward the garage.The air outside was cooler, sharper, as though the night itself had been cut open. My legs felt wooden as we approached the SUV. It was black, sleek, the kind of vehicle that screamed power and danger at the same time. Luca opened the back door for me, and I climbed in without a word.Inside, was a lady whose face was completely glued to her phone screen so though everything that went down didn’t really bother her, her presence startled me. She looked so young, barely older than me—if older at all. Her hair framed her face in soft waves, her eyes steady and piercing. She had the kind of beauty that seemed carved out of stone: delicate yet intimidating.“You must be Nora”“Hi, I’m Luna…….Leo’s sister” she finally looked up at me chuckling while introducing herself “Hi” I forced a smile Two SUVs

Nora’s POV;There is nothing more peaceful than enjoying my own company… just me, curled on my bed, lost in the pages of the novels Luca had brought for me. Books had become my safe escape, my only way of detaching from reality and embracing a world where I had control, where I could dream. But peace, I was learning, never lasted long in this house.It felt like I had been in this room forever but the reality was that it had only been hours yet not even a glimpse of him, the only information that was delivered from Luca was that I had to prepare for the swearing-in program, and Leo No further details I didn’t understand yet I didn’t press further *****************Within what felt like the blink of an eye, the bedroom door opened and the quiet was gone. The stylist arrived first, arms full of shimmering gowns that looked like they belonged in a museum rather than on a human body. Jewelry cases clicked open one after another, diamonds catching the light lik

Leonardo’s POV;The jet’s door swallowed us and the cabin went quiet except for the hush of the engines. The flight smelled like leather and something metallic, expensive, and exact. She moved like someone who didn’t belong in this world: small, awkward in the fabric, the dress loose at the shoulders as if it had been chosen because it looked pretty under lights, not because it fit. Up close she was younger than I’d expected. Twenty at most. Her skin had that pale, stubborn quality that held heat in the neck; her hair was pinned back in a messy compromise between ceremony and haste.Getting married had never been on my top one hundred things to do. I had no desire for vows or a parade of faces. But this was not about desires. This was about the house, the name, the balance of power, and the debt. Marriages were tools. They sealed alliances, quieted disputes, and kept enemies honest. In my world, there was no room for sentiment when the cost was an entire family’s livelihood.There wa

Nora’s POV:“Do you Miss Nora Romano take Leonardo Mancini to be your lawfully wedded husband”“I……I do” my heartbeat pacing fast as though it would break free from my chestThe church was quiet, not like a regular happy wedding that was usually magically mixed with a feeling of joy and nervousness but mine was the opposite, no laughter or even whispers of joy, but rather a heavy silence.The only people I knew were my parent, everyone else was strange men dressed in dark suits with straight faces carrying an unreadable expression.“I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Mancini.”That was it. One sentence, and everything I thought I knew about my life collapsed. Why me? Why now? All I knew was that my father had insisted and who was I to disobey him?Only weeks ago, I was still in New York, fresh out of college, ready to take the LSAT and start law school. My dreams had been so clear. Who could have guessed I’d be standing here instead, in front of a priest, being handed over to a stranger