Masuk2.
Luca Mariani POV
"Oh God," I stammered, my face heating.
"That's not— I mean, you have every right to be upset, and I... I couldn't help being attracted to you, okay? But this isn't right. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean—"
Alessandro's breath hitched, but instead of pulling away, he searched my face, tears still tracking down his cheeks. As I stared into his eyes, scared of his next line of action. However, something shifted in them; desperation, maybe, or defiance.
Then he leaned in closer, hand deliberately pressing against me now, feeling the heat through the fabric.
"What are you doing—"
"Don't explain. Just... take me. Make him disappear."
"Alessandro, you don't—"
Before I could protest, his lips crashed into mine, fierce and salty from tears. I groaned, resistance crumbling as I kissed him back, tongue sliding against his in a hungry tangle. My hands roamed his body, gripping his shoulders, his waist, pulling him closer while he fumbled with my zipper, freeing my cock which was already thick and throbbing, pre-cum slicking the tip.
"Fuck, Luca," he whispered, stroking me firmly, base to head. I hissed, hips bucking into his grip.
He climbed over the console, straddling me, thighs bracketing mine. His hands braced against my chest as he guided me to his entrance, slowly sinking down, taking me inch by inch with a sharp exhale. "God... you're—"
I gripped his hips hard, jaw clenched, thrusting up to meet him. The car rocked with our rhythm, windows steaming as rain drummed harder outside. My mouth found his neck, teeth grazing his skin, one hand sliding between us.
"Move," I growled, voice rough.
He did with his head dropping back, moving fast, moans spilling out between ragged breaths. His hands clawed at my shirt, desperate and urgent, the sounds of rain and us filling the small space entirely.
His body tightened around me, shuddering. I drove deeper, the wet heat of him pulling me over the edge with a guttural groan as I spilled inside him, forehead dropping to his shoulder.
Panting, he collapsed against my chest, body limp. I held him, heart pounding, until his breathing evened out into sleep. Gently, I eased him back to the seat, straightening his clothes, then drove to my apartment.
We arrived at my apartment by 11pm. A modest second-floor walk-up in a quiet neighborhood, its bricks weathered by years of Midwest winters.
I carried him inside, clicking the door shut behind us. My living room was sparse: a worn leather couch, a coffee table stacked with auto magazines, a window overlooking the street where leaves rustled in the breeze. I laid him in my bed, pulling the quilt over him, and crashed on the couch, mind racing with the night's whirlwind.
{—}
I woke up very early, as early as when morning light filtered through the blinds and birds were chirping outside. My head was a bit fuzzy but determined, I made for the kitchen with its scuffed linoleum floors and the old coffee maker on the counter.
I brewed coffee, scrambled eggs with peppers and toasted sourdough. The sizzle of bacon filled the air, savory and comforting as steam rose from the pan.
Alessandro stirred when the smell reached him, padding out in my oversized t-shirt, hair tousled from yesterday, eyes puffy but clearer. He leaned against the doorframe, watching me plate the food with quiet focus.
"Good morning. Didn't notice you were there." I said, but all he could manage was a small smile.
I set the coffee on the small table by the window, where a potted fern caught the rays, and poured his coffee black.
"Eat," I said softly, sliding a chair out for him. He sat, fork piercing the eggs, the first bite bringing a quiet sigh. We ate without words at first, only the clink of utensils making a gentle rhythm while sunlight played across his face as he relaxed inch by inch.
After, as he pushed his plate away, I rubbed my neck, gaze dropping. "About last night... in the car. I took advantage. You were hurting. I'm sorry."
He reached across, fingers light on my wrist. "No. It was me who started it. And... It helped. You saved me, Luca. From those guys, from drowning in it all."
His eyes held mine, soft with unspoken thanks, a faint smile curving his lips as he squeezed my hand. "Friends? I don't know… I could use someone real right now."
“Friends?”
I nodded, warmth spreading through me at the trust in his touch. "Friends. Whatever you need."
Matteo Rossi POVShe has rearranged the dining table.I notice it the moment I walk in. The chairs are slightly closer together than I keep them and there's a centrepiece I don't own — small yellow flowers in a glass of water — sitting in the middle like it grew there overnight.My mother does this. Arrives and quietly makes spaces hers without announcing it. By the end of two weeks the apartment will feel completely different and when she leaves it will feel wrong again for at least a month.I don't say anything about the flowers."You're late," she says from the kitchen."I said two.""It's four past.""That's not late.""In this family four minutes is late." She appears in the doorway with a dish towel over her shoulder. Looks at my jacket. "Take that off. You're not at the office."I take the jacket off.Alessandro is already at the table. He looks up when I sit and there's something in his face today that wasn't there yesterday. Something sitting behind his eyes that he's carryin
Matteo Rossi POV"Talk."Marco sets two folders on my desk without sitting down. He never sits down in my office unless I tell him to. Seven years and that hasn't changed."Luca Mariani returned to Milan yesterday morning," he says. "Met Alessandro for lunch at the apartment. Left at four."I look at the folder. Don't open it yet."And Alessandro.""He had a visitor this morning. Enzo Bianchi. Thirty minutes. Then he left for his office." A pause. "He also received a message from an unknown number two days ago. Same number that sent the photograph to Naples."I look up. "You've been tracking the number.""Since Naples yes." Marco's expression doesn't change. "It's a clean sim. Untraceable through normal channels. But the location pings put it in Milan's second district consistently." He opens the second folder. Slides it across. "Which is where this man has been staying since Tuesday."I look at the photograph.Young. Dark haired. The easy relaxed posture of someone who has spent year
22. Alessandro Rossi POV"He called you?""Texted." Enzo drops into the chair across from my desk without being invited which is standard Enzo. He has never once in the years I've known him waited to be invited anywhere. "This morning. Said he'd been trying to reach Luca but couldn't get through. Wanted to know if I had another number."I put my pen down. "What did you tell him.""That I didn't." He folds his arms. "Which is true. But Alessandro." He leans forward. "This guy knows things. When I met him at Settimo he knew about the engagement. About Nico. About the timing of everything. That's not casual knowledge.""People talk.""Not like that." Enzo shakes his head. "It was specific. The kind of specific that comes from research not gossip." He looks at me steadily. "I don't like him.""You don't like anyone new.""I don't like anyone new for good reason." He points at me. "Exhibit A sitting right behind that desk."I look at him."Luca said the same thing," I say. "That Damiano i
Luca Mariani POVMilan smells different from Naples.Naples smells like salt and old stone and something fried coming from somewhere always. Milan smells like money and rain and the particular ambition of a city that never fully sleeps and never fully wakes up either.I stand outside my apartment building with my bag and breathe it in and try to decide how I feel about being back.I feel nothing clean. That's the honest answer.I go inside.***The apartment is exactly how I left it. Which is obvious because nobody else has a key and I've been gone two weeks but there's still something strange about walking back into your own space and finding it waiting exactly where you put it.I drop the bag. Sit on the bed.Naples was real. My mother's hand on my face. Sofia's food container smell cutting through the ward air. My father's heavy breathing in that warehouse room while I changed his clothes and tried not to think too hard about what his life has become.That was real.This is also re
Damiano Romano POV"Talk to me about the brother.""Matteo Rossi." Lorenzo's voice comes through the phone even and unbothered. "What about him.""Everything in this file." I drop it on the hotel bed and walk to the window. Milan at night does what Milan always does — looks expensive and indifferent. "You told me Alessandro. You told me Luca. You didn't tell me the full weight of what Matteo Rossi actually means in this city.""Does it change anything.""It changes how carefully I move."A pause. Then: "Move carefully then."He hangs up.I stand at the window with the dead call in my hand and look at the city and think about the photograph in that file. Matteo Rossi at forty feet looking like he owns the air around him. Which he probably does.I've dealt with dangerous men before. Not this particular kind. The kind that has a name the city knows without needing to say it twice.I put the phone down and get dressed.***The bar Enzo drinks at after work is called Settimo. Ground floor
19. .Luca Mariani's Pov. The corridor outside the ward smells like every hospital corridor in every city. That particular mix of cleaning fluid and recycled air that I have apparently decided is just part of my life now.I lean against the wall. Phone to my ear.It rings twice."Luca."Alessandro's voice comes through immediately and something about hearing it after two weeks of avoiding it does something unexpected to my chest. Not guilt exactly. More complicated than guilt."Hey," I say.A pause. Short. He's deciding where to start."Where are you," he says."Naples. Hospital. My mother's session runs another forty minutes.""How is she.""Stable." I look at the window at the end of the corridor. Naples afternoon light sitting heavy and golden on the rooftops outside. "She's stable.""Good." Another pause. Longer this time. "Luca I went to your apartment."I close my eyes briefly. "I know.""The door—""I know Alessandro."Silence."Did he threaten you," he says. Quiet. Direct. N
Luca Mariani POVI feel the floor cold underneath me and because I've been sitting here long enough to feel it through my clothes.My hands have stopped shaking which is something. I press the back of my head against the wall and stare at the ceiling and breathe the way you breathe when your body i
Luca Mariani POVThe dialysis ward smells like antiseptic and I hate this smell. I've hated it for two years and I hate it the same amount every single time.My mother is in the third bed from the window. She looks smaller than last week. She always looks smaller than last week. Her eyes find me th
Matteo Rossi POVI go very still.It's Luca. No mistaking it. The curve of his neck, the way his dark hair falls just so over his forehead when he's focused. He's shirtless, skin pale under the vanity lights, muscles shifting as he adjusts something on the counter—a bottle of oil, maybe, or lotion.
Luca’s Pov.I sat at the edge of my bed drinking the bottle of Belvedere I found in the kitchen cabinet. I needed to calm myself from the afternoon indulgence, being a bit tipsy I could only think of the very simple fact that Matteo Rossi can go to hell.I pour two fingers. Drink it standing.Pour







