Novel-novel oleh Odessa Blue

GABRIELLANice.I turn the word over in my head the entire ride home, sitting in the back seat with my arms crossed and my jaw tight.‘I was nice enough to, but don’t expect it all the time.’I scoff internally. If this is him being nice, then I genuinely don't want to know what the alternative looks like. My mind drifts, unhelpfully, to the other night. To his voice dropping an octave, to the warm press of his hand against my throat. Be very careful about the things you say to me. You wouldn't want to see me truly angry.If that wasn't anger, then what was his anger truly like?What is he actually capable of when he stops holding back?And why does my curiosity about him grow by the second?I shift in my seat and look out the window, watching the city blur past. My neck still feels warm. It's been days. Days since he touched me, days since I stood there like an idiot with nothing to say, and my skin still remembers it like a fresh burn. I reach up and press two fingers to the side o

LEONMy hand won't stop shaking.The tremor is faint, but I feel it all the way up my arm and down the rest of my body.I had her throat in my hand.Two thoughts hit me at once, and they've been circling my head ever since I walked away from her.The first: how easy it would have been to kill her.The second: how impossible it would have been to kill her.Fuck! I couldn't even press hard enough to leave a mark. The thought of choking her, of actually hurting her, felt like trying to breathe underwater. My hand just… refused. My whole body refused. And that terrifies me more than anything else about tonight.I immediately drop to the floor and start doing push-ups. There is an inbuilt gym in the penthouse beside Gabriella’s studio, but I don’t feel like leaving the room right now. If I mistakenly stumble across her, I don’t know how I’ll react. I move to the weights I keep in the corner of my bed, lifting them and going at them until my muscles burn, my lungs ache, and there's nothing

GABRIELLAThe air outside does nothing to cool the heat and embarrassment crawling up my neck.I can feel him behind me as I storm toward the car. As usual, his annoying presence is like a shadow I can't outrun no matter how fast I move. My shoes click against the pavement in sharp, angry bursts. I don't look back. I refuse to, because I know if I do, I’ll lose my temper completely.When I get to the car door, my hand finds the handle, but something makes me hesitate. Maybe it’s my pride. It’s been barely three hours since my escape attempt, and he still managed to find me. Getting into this car feels like I’m just giving up. Like I’m helpless.But Leon immediately appears beside me, leans in close enough that I catch a whiff of his cologne, and lets out a sharp hiss. "Get in."I've heard him use a lot of tones with me. Cold. Flat. Bored. Even mildly irritated. But this? This is different. He’s angry.And I don’t know if I should be pleased or upset at that. "Don't talk to me like t

LEONTwo Hours EarlierFor a second, I think I’m seeing wrong. That she’s missing. That she actually slipped away from me. But the longer I stand there, the more it sinks in.For a brief moment, I panic. My brain whirls in a million directions. But I force myself to remain calm. To assess my surroundings. To think.Her phone. There’s a tracker in her phone. I never thought I’d have to use the built-in dashboard Tomaso had installed in my work phone, which is connected to the tracker on Gabriella’s phone. When Tomaso told me about it, I thought it was a little overboard. Now, I’ve seen why. The man knows his daughter more than I do.The screen pulls up a map, and the blinking red dot where her phone is located is…close to where I’m standing. She’s not far. Maybe she couldn’t run away and now she’s hiding somewhere. I let that hope linger in my chest as I follow the dot which leads me to the side of the clinic, not too far from the front door. I get closer to the wall and take a few s

GABRIELLAMy heart pounds so hard it almost drowns out the sound of the city outside the taxi. I rattle off the address to the driver, trying to keep my voice steady, but my fingers tremble slightly where they rest on my lap. I’ve memorized the place by heart, Lisa’s instructions from earlier still echoing in my head.When Leon revealed I had physiotherapy at the clinic, I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to slip away. I didn’t know how I would do it, but the desire and determination burned in my veins throughout the drive there. I quickly texted Lisa and told her my situation. She revealed they were having a hangout at Nicole’s mom’s restaurant. Apparently, it was the same hangout Jack invited me to. More reasons to go.Lisa gave me various escape options, including pretending to go to the bathroom and taking a second exit and causing a scene at the clinic so I could slip away. Throughout my session with the doctor, I kept thinking about how I would execute that plan. But I d

LEONEverything about her gets under my skin and lingers there, from the hair on her head to the tips of her painted toes. She’s the physical, present embodiment of everything I’ve spent my whole life hating, wrapped in a pretty package. I can’t decide what I hate more: her, for existing, or myself, for letting her little acts of mischief get to me.The past few days have been a distraction I can’t afford. Every second I waste watching her, tolerating her excesses, and holding myself back from acting on my anger is a second lost from the mission. But I can’t lose sight of the game plan. Tomaso still doesn’t trust me, and I know better than to rush it. I haven’t worked that long for him to gain his trust. And trust takes time. Trust makes people let their guard down. It makes them sloppy. And when Tomaso becomes sloppy, I’ll strike.My goal is to serve justice, and that doesn’t come cheap. It demands patience. I replay the reminder in my head every time Gabriella opens her mouth.I c

CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDEPILOGUE (Eight Months Later)ARIA“Maximo,” Dr. Marini said, adjusting her glasses as she peered at him from across the table. “We’ve talked about this. You can’t solve everything with threats.”Maximo, sitting beside me in a perfectly tailored suit, crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t threaten,” he said smoothly. “I give options. It’s not my fault people don’t like the consequences of the second one.”I stifled a laugh, earning a sharp look from Dr. Marini. She was one hell of a woman. Soft when she needed to be, but also scary nonetheless. It was why she was the only woman in the Cosa Nostra who could call my husband by his first name. I still wasn’t sure how I should feel about that.“Aria,” she turned her attention to me, “how do you feel when Maximo behaves this way?”“Honestly?” I said, tilting my head. “It depends. Sometimes, it can be infuriating..."“I didn’t even do anything,” Maximo grumbled beside me. “Do you know what other dons do

CHAPTER NINETY-NINEARIAThe sting in my hand was nothing compared to the ache in my chest. Maximo stood frozen for a moment, his cheek reddening from where my palm had connected. And then, to my utter disbelief, he laughed—a low, bitter sound that rumbled deep in his chest.“Wow. And here I was thinking you would be happy I’m offering you an easy way out,” he murmured.An angry snarl slipped past my lips as my hand shot up again, ready to slap him a second time. But before I could bring my hand down on his cheek again, he caught my wrist in midair. His grip was firm but not rough, and despite everything, a small, pathetic part of me was happy that he was touching me again.Piercing, grey eyes bored into mine with a mix of frustration and something else I couldn’t quite place.“Aria,” he said sharply, his voice edged with irritation, “I thought you’d be pleased.”“Pleased?” I yelled, my voice rising as tears burned in my eyes. I wrenched my hand free from his grasp, glaring at him th

CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHTARIAIt had been five days. Five days since Maximo killed Lorenzo. Five days since Maximo last spoke to me or looked at me.The house felt colder than usual, and the silence pressed down on me like a suffocating blanket. I’d spent the entire day trying to distract myself from the ache in my chest, but nothing worked.I had tried cleaning the kitchen even though everything was already spotless, scrubbing every surface until my hands were raw. Maria panicked when she saw me, and when she tried to shoo me away from the kitchen, I reminded her that I was her boss’s wife. I did it a little too harshly, I’ll admit, but I’ve been on an uncomfortable edge ever since.I prepared lunch with the rest of the kitchen staff. At first, there was an uncomfortable silence due to my presence in the room. But after I urged them to ignore my presence, a soft conversation amongst the maids followed, and I drowned myself in the city gossip I never knew could distract me.By mid-afterno

CHAPTER NINETY-SEVENMAXIMOA sharp scream pierced the room as Aria crouched to the floor. My heartbeat thudded in my ears as Lorenzo’s head snapped back, crimson blood staining the wall behind him as his body crumpled to the floor.Silence followed, but it was so loud that it felt like a roar.I stared at the lifeless heap on the ground, at the way his blood—my blood—pooled beneath him. My hand stayed clenched around my gun, trembling as I tried to make sense of what was in front of me. The pure rage that had driven me seconds ago evaporated. It was now replaced by a hollowness that spread through my chest like poison.I did it. I killed my brother.The realization ripped through my chest, leaving behind a void so vast that it threatened to swallow me whole. Lorenzo’s face was frozen in a blank state. I stared at his once-sharp features—features that were almost identical to mine—and the slack and lifeless face stared back at me. His eyes—eyes that used to glint with mischief, love,

CHAPTER NINETY-SIXMAXIMOI stood there, gun in hand, staring at my brother as his smirk spread and his mocking laughter echoed around the room. It wasn’t the laugh of someone remorseful or regretful. It was the sound of someone who had nothing left to lose.“You’ll have to be more specific,” I said through clenched teeth. “What exactly did you mean when you said you’ve been behind everything?”Lorenzo tilted his head, his smirk widening. “Do you really want me to go into detail? Are you sure your heart would be able to handle it?” He asked with a mocking pout.My anger burned hotter in my chest, and I tightened my grip on my gun. “Start talking.”“Fine,” he huffed, but then his eyes glinted with malice as he began to speak. “Do you remember when we were boys? How I did everything right? I trained harder, studied more, followed all the rules of the Cosa Nostra, and yet..." He waved a hand as his voice took on a bitter edge. “Yet you—the reckless, weak son—were chosen to lead.”“Yo

CHAPTER NINETY-FIVEMAXIMOI couldn’t wrap my mind around what Aria had just said. Her words echoed in my mind, loud and jarring like a bullet through the air. It didn’t make sense. It couldn’t be true.“I don’t believe you,” I finally said, and I saw the way her eyes fell.“I’m telling the truth, Maximo. What will I gain by lying about this?”I gritted my teeth and stepped away from her, needing to clear my head. The woman I loved just told me that my own blood brother, whom I’ve known my whole life, is planning to have us killed. What the fuck was I supposed to make of that?She took a step towards me, and I raised my head to look at her again. My eyes narrowed at her as I tried to understand if she was lying, if she had misheard something, if this was some kind of sick joke. “Have I ever done anything to break your trust?” She asked, and I could hear the hurt in her voice. The fear in her eyes and the slight wavering in her voice were too raw to be fake.“Are you sure?” My voice