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Chapter 40

Penulis: Leah Al
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-11-12 19:15:19

*Bianca's POV*

Night fell with the ease of someone who had the right to order the dark. The Mercanti house lit its corridors like a watchtower; lamps burned in careful intervals and corridors gleamed with a deliberate sterility that tried — and failed — to look innocent.

I found the manifest copies in a back office tucked behind a library of ledgers. A man named Salvo — an archivist, or perhaps a librarian with a gun — had cleared a small table. He moved with the shy pride of someone entrusted with secrets; his fingers trembled when he placed the paper in front of me, like I had handed him a verdict rather than a request.

“Last twelve months,” he murmured. “Every Trapani docket. Cross-checked with Ajaccio entries. We flagged inconsistencies.”

I skimmed the pages. Rows of stamped dates, vessel names, fake consignors. One series of entries repeated like a heartbeat: Romano Exports Ltd. — crates listed as ‘Textiles’ at 02:00, ‘Ceramics’ at 03:00, nothing after midnight. Somewhere in the
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  • Blood and Loyalty   Chapter 56

    *Erico's POV*People always think I’m the quiet one because I prefer silence.They’re wrong.Silence isn’t a preference.It’s an instinct.A shield.A survival mechanism that’s kept me alive longer than I deserve.But around her…Silence becomes a battlefield.I watched Bianca across the training yard, sweat beading down the side of her neck as she rested between drills. Paolo barked instructions, Mario offered commentary he didn’t need, Giovanni tried to demonstrate a move she had already mastered, and Vincenzo observed her like she was a threat and an asset at the same time.I stood a few meters away.Arms folded.Eyes locked on her.Jaw tight enough to crack stone.And for the first time in my life, I understood exactly what it felt like to lose control.She shouldn’t fight this well.She shouldn’t move like that.She shouldn’t know how to disappear inside a strike, how to pivot instinctively, how to fight dirty when cornered.She shouldn’t be anything like me.And yet she was.God

  • Blood and Loyalty   Chapter 55

    *Bianca's POV*Paolo nodded once. A gesture of respect.“Alright,” he said, stepping back. “You pass the basics.”Giovanni leaned over the railing. “Basics? Paolo, she just kicked your ass.”“It was light sparring,” Paolo snapped.“You’re still breathless,” Mario pointed out.“I’m fine,” Paolo growled.“You’re sweating,” Giovanni added.Paolo flipped him off.They laughed.But Erico wasn’t laughing.He was now standing in the ring.Eyes locked on me.“I want to see her form,” he said calmly, but his voice vibrated with something deeper.Paolo’s brows lifted. “Erico. No. You’re too-”“I said form,” Erico repeated.Mario whispered loudly, “You’re too emotionally compromised to spar her, man.”“I am not emotionally compromised,” Erico snapped.Giovanni cackled. “That’s exactly what someone emotionally compromised would say.”Vincenzo finally cut in. “Let him.”“But-”“Paolo,” Vincenzo said calmly. “If Bianca can handle him, she can handle anyone.”Paolo reluctantly stepped back.My pulse

  • Blood and Loyalty   Chapter 54

    *Bianca's POV*The Mercanti training yard wasn’t what I expected.I thought it would be loud, chaotic, filled with shouting and clashing metal. Instead, it was quiet-an open concrete courtyard lined with old stone walls, a rack of weapons on one side, sandbag stations on the other. Morning light spilled across the ground, sharp and cold.Vincenzo stood in the center like a commander surveying a battlefield.Paolo rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, looking stern already.Mario lounged on a crate with a grin that promised trouble.Giovanni leaned on the railing above, ready to witness every moment of potential humiliation.Erico stood slightly behind me, tense in a way I could feel without even looking.“Alright,” Paolo said, clapping his hands once. “Let’s start with something simple. Stance.”I stepped forward.Paolo crossed his arms. “Feet shoulder-width apart.”I adjusted.“No, that’s too narrow. You’ll get knocked-”Before he finished the sentence, I shifted again-this time into

  • Blood and Loyalty   Chapter 53

    *Bianca's POV*If the silence in my room had been intimate, the silence in the strategy room was its opposite-buzzing with tension, curiosity, and barely concealed male judgment.Vincenzo stood at the head of the table, flipping through manifest pages with surgical precision. Paolo leaned against the wall with crossed arms. Mario sat backwards on a chair, chin resting on the top. Giovanni sprawled on the couch like a cat waiting for drama.Erico entered before me, calm but cold-like a man ready for war.Then I stepped in.Five heads turned.Immediately, I felt it:the shift.The eyes.The unspoken suspicion.The weight of what they saw by the simple fact I walked in seconds behind Erico.“Finally,” Giovanni said under his breath. “The dynamic duo.”Paolo shot him a glare but didn’t disagree.Vincenzo didn’t look up immediately. He finished reviewing one last paper, set it down, and only then lifted his eyes.He studied me.Then Erico.Then both of us together.Something like resigned

  • Blood and Loyalty   Chapter 52

    *Bianca's POV*The morning after.The first thing I felt was warmth.Not sunlight, not blankets-him.A steady heat at my side, the slow rise and fall of breath, the faint scent of cedar and gunpowder. My lashes fluttered before my mind even caught up, and for a moment I forgot where I was. Forgot the danger, forgot Trapani, forgot Antonio, forgot everything but the quiet surrounding me.Then the memory returned:Erico lying beside me… because he refused to leave.Because he said he wouldn’t lose me.My eyes opened fully.He was still asleep.For the first time, I saw him without the armor. Without the tension. Without the harsh edges the world carved into him. He lay on his side, one arm tucked under the pillow, the other resting near my waist but not touching-like even unconscious, he kept himself disciplined.His hair was tousled from sleep, a dark strand falling over his brow.His jaw, usually locked tight with restraint, looked soften now.Younger.Vulnerable in a way I didn’t kno

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