LOGIN~ Williams POV ~The last thing I remembered was the world turning upside down, the screech of metal on asphalt, the smell of burning rubber, and a pain so sharp it felt like my very soul was being shredded to pieces. I had fought to stay conscious, my mind screaming only one name, “Dante, Dante, Dante,” like he would magically appear now and save me from this pain, but the darkness was a predator, and eventually, it swallowed me whole.Then, there was nothing. No pain, no weight. Just a vast, cold, endless void.I just kept floating between the limbo, till suddenly, the void shifted. The smell of nothingness was replaced by the scent of cheap perfume, stale cigarettes, and floor wax. It was a smell I recognised very well. I was back. I was home. Not my home now, but the home of way before. I was in our cramped, third-floor walk-up. The wallpaper was peeling, and the radiator hissed like a dying snake. I looked up and saw my sister standing in front of the cracked vanity mirror, fas
The ticking of the wall clock was the only thing keeping me sane at the moment and reminding me I was still bound to reality. It had been over twenty four hours now and the silence in this VIP suite was becoming unbearable. I hadn’t moved from the chair beside Liam’s bed since I was allowed to finally see him. My suit was all wrinkled, and my tie discarded hours ago. My eyes felt like they were filled with glass every single time I blinked. He still hadn't woken up and all the doctors had to say was,“Wait.” But how long do I keep waiting? What if he never wakes up? That thought scared the shit out of me.I stared at his face, it was too still. The vivid purple bruises on his forehead and the various cuts from the shattered windshield looked like insults against his fair skin. Every time his chest rose and fell with the mechanical assist of the monitors, my own heart gave a painful thud. My brain, the one that supposedly couldn't process normal human attachment, was screaming at me.
I stared at Marco, the silence between us heavy enough to crush diamond into powder. But I didn't explode. I didn't even growl. I just sat there, feeling the cold weight of his words sink in."My fault?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper, devoid of its usual predatory edge. "How is it my fault that Antonio became a traitor? That he conspired with a pig like Raymond?" My gaze narrowed as I stared him down. “I didn't tell him to ambush the car and I definitely didn't tell him to pick the greenest guards we have and send them to their death.” my voice held a dangerous edge.Marco didn't flinch. He just sighed as he leaned back against the wall. "I agree that what Antonio did was a sin against the family," Marco said, his voice level. "He was out of line and was reckless. But Dante... he had a point. One we’ve all been too afraid to say to your face."I looked up, my eyes narrowing but I didn't say anything as I wanted to hear what he had to say. "Forget Antonio’s jealousy for a second,
The minutes I had to wait patiently had bled into hours, and the hours had become a slow, agonizing torture that was eating at my insides. I sat in a secluded corner of the waiting wing, my bulk form hunched over, elbows resting on my knees and hands clasped so tightly my knuckles were white as snow, if that was possible. I kept my eyes tightly shut, forcing the world out from my mind. The low hum of the hospital's ventilation, the distant squeak of rubber soles on linoleum, the muffled pages over the intercom or the different patients calling for a nurse…it was all noise I wanted to crush from my mind. It was distracting and annoyingly disgusting.The only thing I allowed to occupy the void of my mind was Liam.I pictured his face in my mind, not the bruised version I had seen earlier, but the way he looked when he was pouting over work or the way his eyes sparked when he was trying to outsmart me…which he usually never could anyway. The fear I felt was cold and sharp, it was like
~ Dante's POV ~Before I could even process the movement of my body, I lunged forward, my fist connecting with Antonio’s jaw with a sickening crack. The force sent him flying, before his body slammed into the cold hard hospital floor. Blood bloomed instantly from his split lip, staining the tiles as his eyes widened in shock.I was on him in an instant, my shadow looming over his crumpled form and all I could see was red at this point. I reached down to hoist him up by his collar, ready to dismantle the stupid face of a man I had trusted all these years."Dante stop! You’re going to kill him!" Rocco’s voice broke through the haze as he grabbed my arm, trying to haul me back.I snarled, a sound more animal than human, and flung Rocco aside with a violent shove. "Fuck! Get off me!" I hissed as I turned to continue with this maddened craze I was about to unleash on this traitor.Marco stepped between us immediately, his massive frame like a wall, blocking me from my plan. "Boss please,
From the very moment Liam walked into Dante’s life, everything I had painstakingly built for myself began to crumble little by little.I knew from the start that he was definitely trouble. He was too smooth, too curious, too loveable. I hate to admit it but he really was a likeable and cute person. But he was a cop, an enemy to people like us and I hated the way Dante dismissed my concerns even though they were valid. He was playing along, letting Liam sink his roots deep into our lives when they should have been cut off from the start.Dante had always had sexual partners in the past and I never worried about any of them, including Eve. She had her moments, but he never stuck to one person. Because of his condition, his taste was peculiar, leaning toward the transactional or the violently submissive type, but they were never attachments. They were just sex, earned, paid for or intimidated into silence, and then they were sent away. But with Liam, the change in Dante's eyes was unde







