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CHAPTER EIGHTY NINE (ELI'S POV)
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2025-05-07 08:07:26They fought, flesh on flesh, fists colliding with bone. Ricci drew a blade. Matteo grabbed it barehanded and twisted until metal bent. Ricci punched him in the jaw. Matteo didn’t even flinch.
Then he bit him.Bit him.Ricci screamed as Matteo tore into his shoulder like a rabid dog, then drove his elbow into his gut so hard I heard ribs crack.Blood pooled around their feet.“Stop him!” one of Ricci’s guards yelled.But no one moved.Not the Circle.Not the dancers.Not even Luca.Because they wanted this.They wanted blood.Ricci was not just some crime lord wrapped in arrogance he moved like a trained assassin. His elbow struck against Matteo’s temple and the younger man reeled.They exchanged blows, Matteo’s knife slashing, Ricci fighting with another jagged blade drawn from his belt. They were teeth and fury and violence wrapped in designer suits.Blood s
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The car ride home was quiet.Too quiet.Except for the slow ragged breathing sounds coming from Luca.The silence was thick and suffocating, holding on to every word we wanted to say and not letting it go.Luca was slumped against Matteo, unconscious and bleeding despite the pressure we tried to keep on the wound. The car smelled of blood and antiseptic wipes. I couldn’t stop staring at the red on my hands.It wasn’t just blood anymore. It was a memory of everything that had transpired today. What hurt the most? It was all because of me.The moment Matteo carved his name into his chest played in my head on a loop. The ferocity in his movements. The way he looked at Ricci like he was something to destroy, to dominate, to ruin. And he did. He almost killed him.And then Ricci’s words…“I must say, this wasn't planned me but I'll take the honors since the mastermind won't sho
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The first thing I felt when I woke up was pain. Not the dull, numbing kind that fades under morphine and good intentions, but the sharp, punishing kind that feels like it’s chewing through your bones. My chest was wrapped in tight bandages, soaked with something I didn’t want to think about. My breathing was shallow, forced, like every inhale came with a knife to the ribs.I opened my eyes slowly. My room was dark, the only source of light was the moon coming in through the half-open curtains, casting silver lines across the floor and ceiling. I stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours, letting the pain wash over me. My mouth was dry. My body felt like it had been steamrolled and set on fire. But I was alive.Somehow.With a slow, agonizing turn of my head, I glanced toward the balcony.And froze.A figure sat in the chair by the doors, still as a statue.My breath caught. My instincts screamed
Last Updated : 2025-05-09Bound by blood and lies PROLOGUE
Pain.It wasn't the kind that faded with time.It was a deep, raw and utterly ripping kind. The type that seeped so deep into your skin then settled in your bones. The kind that alters your brain chemistry and makes you question your own sanity.That was how I felt right now, shackled in the cold, hard dimly lit basement. I had expected this, planned for this.But nothing had prepared me for them.The door creaked open and the thick scent of colony and gunpowder that could only belong to one man filtered into the room. Slow deliberate footsteps echoed against the stone floor. I didn't lift my head, I didn't need to because I already knew who it was..Luca Rossi.The man I had been sent to destroy.The man who now owned me.“Still breathing?” His voice was as smooth as silk yet as sharp as steel as it carried authority.The metal cuffs dug into my wrists, it kept digging further into my already raw wrist, blood dripping lazily down my arm. My shirt was gone as well— it had been ripped
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Blood.The smell of blood and sweat was thick in the air. I was at the underground auction house which was hot due to the packed bodies. Low murmurs could be heard coming from the dimly lit chamber outside as their victims were being paraded to be auctioned off.I was one of them.Standing there, bruised, shackled, thirsty and shirtless.My wrists were bound in thick iron cuffs that dug into my skin. There was a cut on my lip that bled and made it painful for me to lick it, a victory mark from the handler I had fought because he thought he could try to break me before that auction.A slow smirk crept up my face but I quickly wiped it away, casting my eyes down as I focused on the mission. The crowd outside were cheering. Predators, all of them.My heart pounded as it got to my turn. The auctioneer silenced the crowd with a wave of his hand then began, "Up next, we have something...special." He grinned. "Eli. He's ex-military. Disgraced, abandoned, left to rot by his own family after p
Last Updated : 2025-03-07Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER TWO (ELIAS'S POV)
I knew a test when I saw one.And right now? I was being tested.The underground auction was successful but Luca and Matteo weren't fools. They might have bought me but they sure as hell didn't trust me.Not yet.Matteo leaves against the wall of the indoor gym, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing his toned, tattooed muscular arm and a silver bracelet that gleamed under the light.“Like what you see?” He asked, teasing.I ignored him, my eyes sliding over to Luca who sat on a sleek leather chair at the aft end of the room, watching us like a king on his throne. A glass of whiskey held in his hand as he swirled it lazily, he acted like he wasn't interested in what we were doing but I wasn't stupid.He was studying me.They both were."Fight me," Matteo said simply, cracking his knuckles.I didn’t rise to the bait. I knew what this was. A way to gauge my strength, to see if I was as dangerous as my fake backstory claimed.They thought I was a former soldier—a man who had been
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This game. I was losing.My days usually started with brutal training. Matteo wasn't going easy on me— not that I expected him to. His strikes were always fast, powerful and relentless, designed to bruise skin and break bones.I took it all.I had to.But what I didn’t expect was the way he pushed boundaries. Teasing touch on my exposed body, brushing his hand against my member, sliding his knee between my legs and brushing his lips against my skin while Luca watches from the sidelines with a drink in hand, always.He was always watching.For what? I didn't know.And I didn’t know if I was passing.***After training one day, I was shoved into a shower but not alone.Matteo, who was drenched in sweat, stepped in after me like he owned the place.No. Like he owned me.Peeling his shirt off his body and looking amused by my reaction.“What are you doing here?"You’re stiff," he said, ignoring my question, his eyes flicking over my body.No shit."There's a lot of tension in his muscles,
Last Updated : 2025-03-07
Latest chapter
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER NINETY THREE (RICCI'S POV)
The first thing I felt when I woke up was pain. Not the dull, numbing kind that fades under morphine and good intentions, but the sharp, punishing kind that feels like it’s chewing through your bones. My chest was wrapped in tight bandages, soaked with something I didn’t want to think about. My breathing was shallow, forced, like every inhale came with a knife to the ribs.I opened my eyes slowly. My room was dark, the only source of light was the moon coming in through the half-open curtains, casting silver lines across the floor and ceiling. I stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours, letting the pain wash over me. My mouth was dry. My body felt like it had been steamrolled and set on fire. But I was alive.Somehow.With a slow, agonizing turn of my head, I glanced toward the balcony.And froze.A figure sat in the chair by the doors, still as a statue.My breath caught. My instincts screamed
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER NINETY TWO (MATTEO'S POV)
The night air clung to my skin like a blanket, thick and heavy, laced with the smell of gasoline, blood, and ash. My steps were slow as I walked across the blood-slick pavement, boots grinding broken glass and shattered bones beneath them without a care.Three hours.That’s how long it took me to reduce The Garrison to a graveyard.And it still wasn’t enough.It would never be enough.My knuckles were torn open, my knife slick with blood but there was a dangerous calm in my movements, like a wolf after a kill, already scenting the next sign of weakness.I wasn’t the strategist tonight. Not the brother, not the shadow at Luca’s side.Tonight, I was the beast beneath the suit. The one they whispered about when they spoke of retribution. The one the Circle watched from the corner of their eyes, wondering if they’d ever be able to leash me.And now?They had ever
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER NINETY ONE (ELI'S POV)
The car ride home was quiet.Too quiet.Except for the slow ragged breathing sounds coming from Luca.The silence was thick and suffocating, holding on to every word we wanted to say and not letting it go.Luca was slumped against Matteo, unconscious and bleeding despite the pressure we tried to keep on the wound. The car smelled of blood and antiseptic wipes. I couldn’t stop staring at the red on my hands.It wasn’t just blood anymore. It was a memory of everything that had transpired today. What hurt the most? It was all because of me.The moment Matteo carved his name into his chest played in my head on a loop. The ferocity in his movements. The way he looked at Ricci like he was something to destroy, to dominate, to ruin. And he did. He almost killed him.And then Ricci’s words…“I must say, this wasn't planned me but I'll take the honors since the mastermind won't sho
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER NINETY (RICCI'S POV)
Pain wasn’t new to me. It was an old friend. A loyal companion that had clung to me like smoke ever since I learned what power tasted like. It whispered lullabies to me in the dead of night and screamed alongside me in the bloodiest moments of my reign. A familiar melody, haunting every empire I’d built, every blade I’d gripped tight enough to draw my own blood. I’d been stabbed, burned, broken. I’d survived car bombs and betrayal, seen death up close and laughed in its face. But this? This wasn’t pain I could laugh at. This was Matteo’s kind of pain. White-hot. Intimate in the way only lovers and executioners can manage. It wasn’t just an attack, it was a message. A message etched not in words, but in torn flesh and stolen breath. I lay sprawled on the cathedral floor, the blood pooling beneath me like an offe
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER EIGHTY NINE (ELI'S POV)
They fought, flesh on flesh, fists colliding with bone. Ricci drew a blade. Matteo grabbed it barehanded and twisted until metal bent. Ricci punched him in the jaw. Matteo didn’t even flinch.Then he bit him.Bit him.Ricci screamed as Matteo tore into his shoulder like a rabid dog, then drove his elbow into his gut so hard I heard ribs crack.Blood pooled around their feet.“Stop him!” one of Ricci’s guards yelled.But no one moved.Not the Circle.Not the dancers.Not even Luca.Because they wanted this.They wanted blood.Ricci was not just some crime lord wrapped in arrogance he moved like a trained assassin. His elbow struck against Matteo’s temple and the younger man reeled.They exchanged blows, Matteo’s knife slashing, Ricci fighting with another jagged blade drawn from his belt. They were teeth and fury and violence wrapped in designer suits.Blood s
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER EIGHTY EIGHT (ELI'S POV)
The world slowed.Sound dulled beneath the roar in my ears, and I couldn’t move, couldn’t think. Only watch.Rossi men and Ricci had broken the rules of the nocturne and were exchanging gunfire.Panic grew in me but it wasn’t the pain in his eyes or the way his knees buckled that sent me into panic, it was Matteo’s silence.Matteo had frozen after Luca went down. There was a second where his eyes scanned the crowd, wide and unblinking, taking in the chaos, the blood on his don’s shirt, the cracked marble under his feet. Then, something shifted in him. Something dark.I feared that for the first time, I was finally witnessing Matteo Marino. The devil the world feared.He straightened slowly, rolling his neck like a predator waking from a long slumber.A moment later, the gunfire stopped. No more screams. Just silence.He didn’t speak.His fists clenched at his
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER EIGHTY SEVEN (ELI'S POV)
The man led us deeper into the cathedral—past arches so high they disappeared into shadow, down a corridor that was filled with low, humming music. The walls changed here—old stone giving way to polished black marble with silver streaks that shimmered under the flickering torchlight. It felt like walking into the heart of a living thing, ancient and waiting. It was eerie. We reached a vast chamber lit only by a chandelier shaped like a web of daggers, and there they stood—five figures arranged in a half circle like the points of a crown. The Circle. I didn’t know what I expected. Perhaps cloaked wraiths, faceless judges? But no. They were human. Real. Terrifyingly so. An older woman stood at the far left, her gray hair twisted into an elegant coil, her eyes sharp and knowing. She wore a deep blue gown with shoulder armor carved from onyx. Beside her, a man with skin like aged copper and eyes so
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX (ELI'S POV)
The cathedral loomed like a ruin stolen from a dark god itself—gothic and towering, its obsidian towers piercing the sky, its stained glass windows glinting crimson under the moonlight. Ivy curled like dark veins over the stone, and iron torches flared with blue fire at its entrance, casting shadows that moved like spirits. It was truly something worthy of the dark underworld and the Rossi's had prepared it perfectly. My heartbeat thrummed in my ears as we stepped out of the car, cloaked in night and secrecy. The Rossi family arrived in style—because anything less would be a weakness. Matteo wore a black velvet coat lined with crimson at the edges, embroidered with subtle red that shimmered as he walked. His mask, slick and silver like the predator that he is, covered half his face, revealing a sharp jawline and lips made for sin. Luca’s suit was obsidian silk, tailored like a second
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER EIGHTY FOUR (ELI'S POV)
Luca wasn’t sleeping.He was usually calm and a man of few words but lately his tongue has been moving non stop as he barks orders and curses in Italian.I could tell by the way he paced through the study like a caged animal, sleeves rolled up, hair disheveled, tie discarded. Matteo sat in an armchair with a glass of scotch in his hand, but his usual sarcasm and charisma was gone. The war with Ricci was rattling them in ways I’d never seen before.I didn’t think gods could spiral.But these two? They were coming undone, quietly… dangerously.It didn’t help that Ricci’s move was still circulating across media and markets. Our victory yesterday was only temporary—he would retaliate. And deep down, we knew it.I leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. “We need to figure out his next move.”“We can’t predict it,” Luca muttered. “He’s not playing by the usual rules. He's emotional. Irrational.”“He’s in love,” Ma
