LOGINI told Matteo first. It was late, past midnight. The penthouse was dark and quiet behind us. Nico had fallen asleep hours earlier, one arm still stretched across the space where I had been lying. I found Matteo in the living room standing near the windows, staring out at the city like his mind was somewhere else. When I said, “Come with me,” he turned and followed without asking a single question. That was one of the things about him. He trusted me enough to move first and ask later. We took the stairs up to the rooftop terrace. The night air was cold and sharp. The city stretched out below us in every direction, lights glittering like nothing in the world had ever gone wrong. Wind pulled at my jacket and my hair. I walked to the far railing and stopped. Matteo came up beside me and waited, quiet, watching my face in the dark. I didn’t waste time with soft lead-ins. I unlocked my phone, opened the secure file, and held the screen out to him. “Read it,” I said. Matteo took the ph
I carried the proof for three days.The kill order sat locked on my phone behind every layer of security I had, and the weight of it lived under my ribs the entire time. Dante’s authorization. My father’s full name. The final piece that made everything undeniable. I didn’t open the file again after that first night in the study. I didn’t need to. The words were already burned into me... the careful language, the date, the cold decision that had turned my father into a problem that needed removing.The twins felt something closed in me through the bond. I could tell from the first morning. Nico watched me a little longer than usual over breakfast, eyes searching my face like he was trying to read past the surface. Matteo’s gaze lingered when he thought I wasn’t looking, quiet and steady and worried in that way he got when something felt off but he couldn’t name it. They both reached for me more often, like physical contact might open whatever door I had shut. But they couldn’t identify
The message came in just after midnight.I was alone in the study, the rest of the penthouse quiet. Nico and Matteo were both asleep down the hall. The bond hummed low and steady between us, soft enough that I could keep my walls up without them noticing the shift. My phone buzzed once on the desk. The secure channel from the small network I had been using for months. The one that never showed up on regular logs.I unlocked it and opened the file.There it was.The final piece.The kill order.Dante’s authorization, clear and dated. My father’s full name listed like he was just another item on a list. The language was careful but unmistakable. Instructions to make it look like an accident. Timing. Confirmation that the problem needed to be removed permanently. Dante’s digital signature at the bottom. Voss’s acknowledgment right under it.I held the phone in both hands and read it once.Then I read it a second time, slower.Then a third time, forcing myself to take in every word, every
The penthouse was quiet when Nico came home later than usual. Matteo had already left for the gym—maybe to clear his head after catching the edge of my anxiety through the bond, or maybe just giving us space. I was waiting in the bedroom, trying to anchor my thoughts, when Nico walked in. He still had his work shirt on with the sleeves rolled up, looking exhausted and razor-sharp all at once.He stopped in the doorway, eyeing me closely. “You’ve been quiet all evening.”“Just thinking,” I said softly.He crossed the room without another word, cupped my face in both hands, and kissed me. It started slow and deep, like he was trying to read everything I was keeping hidden. I kissed him back, and for the first time, I stopped calculating. I didn't measure the distance or weigh what this intimacy meant for the plan. I just focused on him...the warmth of his mouth, the gentle brush of his thumbs against my cheeks, and the low, rough sound he made when I gave in.The clothes came off in a h
I walked back into the penthouse with the folded paper still in my pocket and the full weight of Irina’s words sitting heavy in my chest. The place was quiet. Too quiet. I had hoped for a few minutes alone to breathe and put my face back into something normal, but Matteo was already there. He stood by the big windows in the living room, arms crossed loosely over his chest, watching the door like he had been waiting for a while. The second our eyes met I felt it through the bond... that cold, settled thing he had picked up on while I was gone. It was not sharp panic or hot anger. It was quieter than that. Heavier. Like something inside me had locked into place and he had felt the click from across the city. He didn’t smile. He didn’t move toward me right away. He just looked at me with that quiet, knowing expression that always saw more than I wanted anyone to see. “You’re back,” he said. His voice was calm, but there was a question underneath it. “Yeah.” I set my keys down on the s
I met her in a quiet café three neighborhoods away from the penthouse. Not one of the shiny places the family used for meetings or appearances. Just a small corner spot with scratched wooden tables, faded posters on the walls, and windows that looked out onto a narrow side street where almost no one walked by. I got there early on purpose and chose a table with my back to the wall so I could see the door. My coffee sat untouched in front of me, growing cold. My phone stayed face down on the table. No one knew I was here. Not Nico. Not Matteo. Not even Maria. The whole walk over I kept checking behind me without making it obvious. The document from the study still sat heavy in my chest. The four words Irina had sent still echoed in my head. Now I was about to sit across from the woman who had somehow reached me through a channel that should not have existed. My hands stayed steady on the table, but my pulse was faster than I wanted it to be. Irina walked in ten minutes later. She loo
AURORA'S POV The laptop showed up at six-fifteen. Some staff girl I didn’t know...not Maria, dropped it on the corner desk and bounced without saying shit. I waited till her footsteps disappeared down the hall before I moved. Brand new, still wrapped in that plastic sleeve. Top-of-the-line shit,
Nico came back at noon. I knew because the entire penthouse seemed to tighten the moment he walked in... staff moving a little faster, voices dropping, the air itself feeling heavier. I was in the library pretending to read a book I hadn’t turned a page of when I heard his voice in the hallway, lo
I woke up alone in the middle of the enormous bed, sheets tangled around my waist, morning light cutting cold and white through the floor-to-ceiling windows. My body ached. Not just a little soreness...deep, throbbing reminders between my legs, on my hips where fingers had gripped too hard, on my
Nobody moved for what felt like forever. Matteo kept walking toward us, slow and quiet, like he owned the air in the room. I stood there clutching the front of my half-undone dress, heart hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat. “Okay,” I managed, my voice shaking more than I wanted. “Some







