Bianca's POV The shot burned through my hand before I even realized what had happened. My body dropped to the ground, a scream swallowed by the night. Blood gushed hot and fast, painting the earth crimson.Her aim was terrible, otherwise I wouldn’t still be breathing. Bad aiming. Amateur. She had a lot to learn.I clutched my wrist, the pain tearing through me in waves. Crawling, stumbling, I dragged myself toward the bushes. My lungs were screaming, my heartbeat pounding like war drums. I pressed my back against the rough bark of a tree, gasping.“I can’t… lay open like this. Not to them.” My voice cracked as I whispered to myself.I bit my lip until I tasted iron. This wasn’t the life I dreamed of. I wanted classrooms, not battlegrounds. White coats, not blood-soaked dresses. I wanted to heal lives, not watch them slip away. Yet here I was...carrying a cross I never built.Tears burned down my cheeks as I tried to wrap the wound with my torn dress, but the blood wouldn’t stop. My v
Bianca’s POV The smell of burning wood was choking me, wrapping around my lungs like a chain. The flames cracked above us, and the chandelier, half melted, swinging loose ....finally gave way.I watched it fall, slow motion, like death itself choosing a victim.And Dante… he didn’t hesitate. He pushed me out of the way, his arm curling protectively around me before the flames swallowed him.My heart froze.“Dante!”The fire planks crashed against his back. He gritted his teeth, muffling his pain, and still...still...he kept his hand outstretched toward me. His lips moved, voice broken by smoke.“…Bianca…”Hearing him call my name like that nearly split me in two. I crawled toward him, the heat searing my skin, and caught his trembling hand. His palm was rough, his fingers weak, but I held on like my life depended on it.“Stay with me, Dante. Stay the hell with me!” My voice cracked as I dragged myself closer, pressing my forehead to his chest.His eyelids fluttered. The strength in
Dante's POV The hallways reeked of smoke and betrayal.I stepped out of the room with my gun firm in my hand, the chaos around me roaring like an angry beast. Flames licked the walls from somewhere in the distance. People screamed, bullets cracked, the ceiling groaned as if the whole place was ready to collapse on itself.I didn’t walk fast. In the mafia world, fast steps get you killed. I walked slowly, careful, every muscle tense, finger ready on the trigger. My eyes scanned corners, shadows, doors half-open. This wasn’t just chaos, it was a graveyard waiting to swallow names.Then a hand gripped my shoulder.In an instant, I spun around, gun raised, the barrel a breath away from a skull. My eyes locked with Mordecai’s cold grin.“Calm down, boy Dante,” he said, voice slick as oil. “I ain’t here for you.”I didn’t lower the gun right away. My breath was steady, but my pulse raced. Mordecai was no ordinary man. If he showed up in smoke and bullets, he didn’t come empty.“What the he
Bianca’s POV“What is going on?” I asked, my voice shaky as my lace slipped halfway down my arm. My hands were trembling too much to fix it.Dante sat up from the bed and slammed his fist against the wall. His jaw tightened as his eyes darted toward the ceiling, like he could already hear the chaos above us.“It’s mafia war,” he said finally. “But they call it a game.”I blinked at him. “A game?” My voice cracked. “There are gunshots outside, Dante! What kind of game is that?”His lips curved into the kind of smirk that didn’t belong in a night like this. Dark, dangerous, detached. “They call it hide and seek. If you’ve got enemies, tonight is the night you hunt them down. And if they find you first.....” he lifted his hand like a gun and pulled the trigger in the air. “Boom. You’re dead.”My mouth fell open. I stared at him, disgust curling inside my chest. “So they kill each other like animals....and call it a game?”He shrugged, too casual for a man explaining slaughter. “That’s ho
Dante's POV“Leave my wife.”The words tore out of me before I could stop myself, low and venomous, like the crack of a whip. I didn’t care that the room smelled of another man’s cologne. I didn’t care that Bianca’s bare shoulder glistened in the dim lamplight, or that her fingers had been tangled in that bastard’s hair just a moment before.I stalked forward, heat raging in my chest, and dragged her off the bed. My fingers closed tight around her wrist, and she yanked it free, eyes blazing like wildfire.“What the hell is wrong with you, Dante?” she spat, chin tilted high.“What’s wrong with me?” I stepped closer, voice trembling with fury. “What’s wrong with you, Bianca? How the fuck can you be so cheap...just going all out with a man you met tonight?”Her lips curled into the kind of smile that made my blood boil and my cock throb all at once.“First of all,” she hissed, “I’m not your wife. Secondly…” She leaned forward, her breath warm against my jaw. “…I’m only learning from the
Bianca's POV The night held a strange weight, thick with promises and peril, and the city lights outside my window shimmered like embers in a firestorm. Tonight wasn’t just any gala, it was the night the mafia world unveiled its power, its beauty, its chaos. And I had to walk into it, alone, the only woman in this arena who wasn’t just a concubine but a boss in my own right.I waved my maid off, a faint smile on my lips, and picked up my phone. The clock read past nine, and Andreina hadn’t arrived. My gaze drifted to the bed as I sank onto it, letting the silence stretch, filling me with anticipation. Then the soft click of the door brought me back.“Bibi, why aren’t you always home?” my little sister asked, eyes wide with curiosity and innocence.I smiled, the edges of my mouth curling with warmth. “Because I have to work for our future, baby girl.”.Her eyes sparkled. “I want to follow you when I grow up.”I chuckled, ruffling her hair. “When you’re big, you’ll follow me.”She nodd