LOGINShare
128
Last Updated:
2026-01-29 08:47:25
Latest chapter
CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride 129
THE GHOST OF MARBELLA~CESAR POV~(Twelve months.)Three hundred and sixty-five days since I felt the cold bite of glass in my side. Fifty-two weeks since the woman I branded as mine walked out into the night and became a ghost.I sat in my study, the only light coming from the bank of monitors that never slept. My empire was a hollow shell. I had liquidated three major shipping ports in the last month just to fund the private intelligence teams scouring the continent. I had spent fifty million euros to find a woman who was probably living on bread and water, and I had nothing to show for it but a stack of digital dead ends.I knew she was here. Somewhere.My teams had tracked her prenatal records up to the fifth month—a clinic in Seville, a midwife in Faro. She had been careful, but she had been visible. And then, at the five-month mark, the trail had gone cold. Flat. As if she and my heir had simply dissolved into the Atlantic air.The door creaked open. I didn't reach for my gun
CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride 128
18 HOURS~ANYA POV~The lunch rush was a blur of clicking heels and the high-pitched whistle of the espresso machine. I was balancing a tray of three pastéis de nata and two double shots of coffee, my lower back feeling like it was being squeezed by a vice. Marcello was heavy today, riding low, his weight making every step an exercise in gauzy willpower.I was three weeks early, but I told myself I just needed to make it through the weekend. I needed that extra forty euros in tips.I reached for the edge of table six, and then, the world shook.It wasn't a sharp pain. It was a dull, heavy pop deep inside my pelvis. For a second, I thought I had just strained a muscle. Then I felt the warmth.A sudden, hot rush of liquid hit the floor, soaking through my sensible black trousers and splashing onto the worn tiles of the café.Clatter.The tray slipped. Porcelain shattered. Dark espresso bled into the puddle at my feet. The conversation in the café died instantly."Maria?" Jorge, my bos
CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride 127
THE DECAY~CESAR POV~SIX MONTH LATER The bright numbers on the big screens in my office used to feel like music. I could watch a green ticker move and imagine the busy activity of a whole continent—the transport of goods in the Mediterranean, the smooth transfer of information through my computers, and the growing wealth of Navarro.Now, the screens were nothing but a collection of jagged, red wounds."Patrón, the Valencia port authorities have frozen our primary loading dock. We're losing four hundred thousand euros an hour in stagnant cargo," Iñigo's voice came from the shadows by the door.I didn't turn around. I didn't even blink. I was staring at a high-resolution satellite image of a small village in the Pyrenees. A place where a woman matching her height had been spotted three days ago. It had turned out to be a dead end—a hiker with the wrong color hair."Let it freeze," I said. My voice was a dry rasp, the sound of wind over old bones."The board of directors is calling f
CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride 126
THE SECOND TRIMESTER~ANYA POV ~The air in Lisbon during the day feels different from the chilly night air I was used to. It is thick and smells like roasted coffee and the wet air from the trams.By my seventh month, the night-cleaning shifts became a physical impossibility. My center of gravity had shifted, and my lower back felt like it was being chewed by a dull saw every time I leaned over a scrub brush.So, Maria Santos found a new mask to wear: a waitress at Café do Mar, a bustling tourist trap near the Praça do Comércio.The uniform was simple—unforgiving black trousers that I had to leave unbuttoned at the top, a crisp white shirt that strained against my belly, and a green apron tied high. In the chaos of lunch rushes, I was invisible. To the Germans, I was "the girl with the espresso." To the Americans, I was "the one with the water." I was a moving part in a machine, and for once, anonymity was a luxury I enjoyed."Maria! Table four needs their galão!" my boss, Jorge,
CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride 125
THE DOG KENNELS(César POV)(ONE MONTH LATER )The scar on my side is a puckered, angry ridge of purple flesh. It itches when the weather is wet and burns when I move too fast. I don't cover it with expensive creams or seek out plastic surgeons to erase it. I want it there. I want to feel the ghost of her hand every time I button my shirt.It has been one month since she put me in the dirt. One month since my "Siren" turned into a shark.I walk toward the back of the estate, past the manicured roses that Anya once tended, toward the sound of barking. The Dobermans are restless today. They smell the rot in the air."Patrón," Iñigo says, falling into step beside me. He looks tired. "He hasn't eaten in two days. He's begging for water.""Begging is a start," I say.We reach the kennels. The smell is overpowering—raw meat, dog waste, and the copper tang of fear. In the furthest run, tucked away from the light, is a man slumped against the concrete.Marco.He thought he was a hero. He th
CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride 124
THE FLUTTER~ANYA POV~The sun was just rising, making the Tagus River look like shiny gold as I walked home from work.It was that strange, quiet time in Lisbon when the party people had gone to sleep and the fish sellers were starting to put ice on their fish.My back was killing me. Being five months pregnant and spending eight hours a day scrubbing the baseboards of a tech firm wasn't exactly what a doctor would call "optimal prenatal care," but it was my life. Maria Santos didn't have the luxury of maternity leave.I was crossing the street toward the shelter, my head down, counting the cobblestones to keep my mind off the dull ache in my hips, when I heard it.The slow, steady sound of a big engine.I didn't need to see it to know it was a large car. A strong one. My heart, which had been calm, suddenly raced like a trapped bird.I kept my eyes on my feet, my pace quickening. Don't look. Just keep walking, Maria.The car slowed down. I could feel the heat spreading out off the
You may also like
The President's Accidental Wife
Blue Fruity1.0M viewsWild Epic Desires
F. Prince 578.1K viewsShe Accepted Divorce, He Panicked
Nyx Rai610.1K viewsThe Divorced Billionaire Heiress
I Wanna Eat Meat16.2M viewsIN THE LIGHT OF FORTUNE
Drey Skye204 viewsRun From the Fraud and Into True Love's Arms
Dewy Sheep530 viewsCraving you: Locked Desires
Blessingurielle 115 viewsSinful session with my therapist
Star love332 views
