•CECILIA•"I'll call Camilla about the board meeting tomorrow morning. Once she's voted out, we will get everything done then." That's the plan, Daniel. But I think we might have a problem with Paxton as well. I think he knows something he's not supposed to know, and that makes me a bit edgy. I don't want things to go wrong once Camilla gets to Chicago. If he knows something about our plan and warns her sister, you and I will be in trouble." "Don't worry, I'll talk with the boy. He's my son, and I don't want us to hurt him. He won't be a problem anymore." "If you say so." I hung up the call and sighed when I heard a knock on the door.I dragged my feet to the door, and it was Paxton. My heart kind of jumped when I saw him. I hoped he didn't hear me when I mentioned his name on the phone. I felt bad that after I warmed up to the boy and thought I could rely on him just like I did with his brother, he just became too shady for my liking.Paxton and I had a good relationship, and if
•CAMILLA•“Oh, baby. You’re home.”“Yes, I’m home.”I popped my eyes open, and Santino’s arms were around me. I was sleeping, and it occurred to me later that we officially broke up.I jumped out of bed and scolded him. “What are you doing in my room?!”“I thought this was our room.”“Yes, before we broke up. You’re not supposed to sneak up on me and cuddle me as if nothing happened.”“I wanted to protect you and Nico. That’s why I broke up with you. I didn’t want the people who shot at us to come after you. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself.”“That’s funny because Gia was there, wasn’t she? I don’t think Mario broke up with her and told her their marriage wasn’t working anymore just because he wanted to protect her from the inevitable.”“They shot me, Camilla!” He got off the bed and leaned toward me. “I almost died and lost you and Nico. You don’t know how hard it was for me to think I would die before making things right with you.”“You didn’t
•CAMILLA•“Mommy, why are we leaving Daddy behind?” Nico asked when we got inside the car.I looked at Santino as the car drove off and breathed. He didn’t deserve this after so many years he had been there in raising Nico, but I needed to do this.“We will find Daddy when we come back, honey, okay?” I kissed his cheeks.“Alright, Mom. I hope to show him my drawing when we come back.”“You’ll show him anything you want to show him.”I sent Lucius a text about the meeting location, hoping he had arrived.I took Nico’s hand and headed inside the restaurant when we arrived. The restaurant was fully booked to prevent the paparazzi from taking pictures and posting immature content.“Camilla.”“Afternoon, Lucius.”“Hi.” Nico waved his hand and smiled at him.He directed us to our table and helped me sit before he took Nico and sat him down next to me.“Good boy. My name is Lucius. I hope you still remember me.”“Yes. You’re Mommy’s friend.”Lucius smiled as he leaned back and sat down in fr
•SASHA•“Well done, Sasha. The jeweler had been pronounced dead by homicide. Reports say one of the delivery guys shot him and stole everything in his store. Though I’m not sure if that news might excite you after sucking his dick.”“Am I free now?” I questioned Mateo on the phone.I was back from seeing Lucius and signing the transfer papers of Airbyte when he called me.“You’re never free, sweetheart. You thought you could play a game with me, and now I’m putting all the cards on the table. Don’t pull out yet. We haven’t had the winner.”“If you want to tell Dario who and where I am, tell him, Mateo, because I won’t be your mule anymore. I can’t let you involve me in your murderers.”“Are you sure you want me to tell Dario where you are?”I froze and gulped. If Dario found me, I would be as good as dead, and he would make sure I paid for all the years he had been searching for me.“What if I gave you information in exchange for my freedom?”“What information?”“Your brother.” I took
•SANTINO•I parked my car outside a pawnshop, adjusting my cap to hide my face so that Vin’s son wouldn’t see me when he came out of the store.It was a good and stupid thing that he didn’t assign any bodyguards for his son when he recently sent us a threatening text.My pistol was ready in the backseat to get the job done.I didn’t mind how long he took inside the shop, and when he finally came out and got inside his car, which was parked across the street, I followed him.His car stopped outside a house, and I hopped out when the front door closed behind him.I took my gun and headed to the door, gently pressing my feet on the wooden floor so that they wouldn’t make a creaking noise.The door was slightly closed when I opened it and went inside. The house was enormous, and it was less likely that anyone would hear even the slightest sound.“Oh, Flint. You brought all this money for me?” A woman’s hoarse voice asked in the living room, and when I peeked through, Flint was sitting nex
•CAMILLA•I released a long sigh as I took off my shoes while on the phone with Lucius.“Do you know how illegal this is? Nico is my son and Santino’s. If you want to see him, as you state, you haven’t signed away your parental rights–which you never had. You must call him as well.”“His name is Nico?” he asked, and I exhaled.“Yes, but that’s not the point. He’s Santino’s child as well, and this is disrespectful to him to put a claim on the head of his child.”“I will call him and tell him I want my family back. I don’t want this to get to court or get ugly, so I would appreciate it if he got out of my way.”“It doesn’t work like that, Lucius.” I walked to my bedroom and sat on the couch. “You can’t expect everything to stop because you had an epiphany that you want your family back.”“I love you, Camilla, and I loved you before finding out you’re not Alisha. I had been trying to find you before you came back to New York. Do you think I would’ve let you go if I found out you were car