Chapter 9

Curvy Fate in Velvet Chains
Chapter 9: The Arrangement

The safe house living room glowed with the soft flicker of candlelight. Rain still tapped against the windows in a steady rhythm that matched the uneasy beat of my heart. The brothers sat scattered around the room but the air felt heavier than before. Leo’s revelation hung between us like smoke. He had refused to say another word about his wife. His face had gone hard and closed. Then he stood up abruptly and slammed the door behind him as he left the room.

I started to follow. My bare feet moved toward the hallway before I could think. Dante caught my wrist gently but firmly. “Let him go Serena. He needs time. That wound has never healed.”

I turned back to him. The candle flames danced across his sharp features. “Who killed her Dante? Tell me the truth.”

His jaw tightened. He stared into the flames for a long moment. “We never found out for sure. It was a rival hit. We assumed it was Marchetti at the time. But if it was someone else…”

“Someone inside the Voss family,” I finished quietly. The silence that followed was answer enough. Dante did not deny it. He simply pulled me closer and rested his chin on top of my head. His arms felt like the only solid thing left in this storm.

Nico found me later in the kitchen. The others had gone to check security feeds. He leaned against the counter with that familiar charming smile but I saw the cracks now. The anxiety hidden beneath the easy grin. His eyes looked tired. Haunted.

“Marcus contacted me again,” he admitted after a long pause. His voice was lower than usual. “He has information about my daughter. Isabella. She has been spotted in Milan.”

My heart squeezed. I stepped closer and took his hand. His fingers were warm but tense. “Are you going to go after her?”

“I cannot leave here. Not with you in danger. Not with the mole still loose in our ranks.” He squeezed my hand back. The vulnerability in his eyes made something shift inside me. This man who teased and seduced with such skill carried heavy guilt.

I held his gaze. “Then we find her together. You me Dante and Leo. We are a unit now. Whether you like it or not.”

Nico looked at me like I had just handed him salvation. His eyes softened. The charming mask slipped completely away for a moment. “You really mean that don’t you Serena? Even after everything we have put you through.”

“I mean it,” I whispered.

He kissed me then. Soft and reverent at first. No games. No teasing. Just pure need. His hands roamed over my curves with slow worship. He traced the soft swell of my stomach and the generous width of my hips like they were sacred. “You are so beautiful,” he murmured against my lips. “Every inch of you saves me a little more each day.”

He lifted me onto the kitchen counter. The cool surface contrasted with the heat of his body. He spread my thick thighs wide and dropped to his knees in front of me. His mouth found me immediately. Hot and hungry. He feasted like a man starved. His tongue circled and sucked until my legs trembled around his shoulders.

I gripped the edge of the counter. “Nico… oh god.” My hips rocked against his face. I rode his tongue shamelessly moaning his name as pleasure built fast and intense. He did not stop. He devoured every reaction like it was oxygen. When I came it crashed over me hard. My thighs shook and I cried out into the quiet kitchen.

He stood up quickly. His eyes were dark with need. He lifted me again pressing my back against the fridge. The metal was cold but his body was burning. He freed himself and sank into me slow and deep. Every thrust felt deliberate. Claiming. “You are saving me Serena,” he whispered against my throat. “This beautiful body. This strong heart. I do not deserve you but I will never let you go.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and took every inch. Our bodies moved together in a rhythm that felt both desperate and healing. I came again clenching around him as he followed with a groan burying himself deep inside me.

We stayed like that for a while. Breathing together. His forehead rested against mine. “I have carried this guilt for so long. Thinking I failed her. Failed Isabella. But with you here it feels possible to fix things.”

The emotional weight of his words settled over me. Nico was not just the smooth talker. He was a man convinced he was damned. And somehow I had become the light he reached for.

Nico’s phone buzzed on the counter. He picked it up slowly. His face went pale as he opened the message. He turned the screen toward me. It was a photo of a young woman. Isabella. She was smiling at a café table with the Milan skyline behind her. The caption underneath was simple and terrifying.

She is beautiful. It would be a shame if something happened to her. Call me Nico. Or I will call her for you.

The phone slipped slightly in his hand. I gripped his arm tighter. Marcus was not done playing games. He had found the perfect weapon against each of us. And now he was using Nico’s daughter to force our hand.

The candles in the living room flickered lower. The rain continued outside. We were running out of time. And the secrets inside this house were becoming as dangerous as the enemies outside.