Mag-log inShare
The box
Huling Na-update:
2025-12-06 19:21:05NICO POV
What in the ever-loving fuck was that?
I stood in front of the door long after the lock had sealed, my palm still resting against the cold metal like I might tear it open again. My pulse thundered violently in my ears, but it wasn’t just rage driving it. It was interference.
That wasn’t how liars reacted, at first, I’d been certain she was playing me. Falcone blood didn’t produce fragile women. A man like her father would have drilled survival into her from childhood and how to lie convincingly, how to cry without cracking, how to hold eye contact when threatened but when I told her Nikolai was dead that look had gutted her.
Shock had emptied her lungs and grief had hollowed her eyes so fast it startled even me. There was no calculation there, no delay and no mask slipping. It either she was telling the truth or she was dangerous in a way I hadn’t anticipated. I adjusted my suit jacket with unnecessary force and turned toward Damon, who stood at the surveillance wall, his reflection fractured across a dozen monitors.
“She’s lying,” he said instantly. Too fast and too sure. “I know.”
“Romano,” he scoffed, shaking his head. “That’s bullshit, you think a Falcone didn’t know who she was fucking? He was a Moretti and our name isn’t exactly subtle.”
“Maybe it was to her,” I said, though I didn’t know why I bothered. Damon laughed harshly. “Come on. Falcone Resources owns half the fucking East Coast. You don’t grow up in that family without knowing who the major players are.”
I stared at the screen instead of him, our families hadn’t crossed paths before Nikolai’s death. Not in business, not in territory, not in blood and that had never sat right with me. Power like ours always brushed shoulders eventually.
Unless someone made sure it didn’t. “They underestimated us,” Damon continued. “Thought money made them untouchable.”
Money did make people careless but being Mafia wasn’t about throwing weight around or scaring civilians. It was about order, about rules that had been written in blood and enforced the same way. Loyalty wasn’t optional and family wasn’t negotiable.
The Falcones played at legitimacy. We lived in consequence. “Falcone thought he could hide behind his boardrooms,” Damon growled. “Now his daughter’s paying for it.”
That word again, paying but why her?
Because it started with her, if she hadn’t clawed her way into Nikolai’s life, he’d still be breathing and my father would still be alive and I wouldn’t be wearing a crown I never asked for. “Enough,” I snapped.
The sound cracked across the room like a gunshot. Damon fell silent, staring at me.
“We don’t know what happened yet,” I said, slower now, forcing control back into my voice. “All we know is Nikolai is dead and someone wanted it to look like the Falcones did it.”
I stepped closer to the monitors, Lila sat curled in on herself, knees drawn up, palms pressed to her face. Her shoulders shook, but not violently. It was restrained like she was holding herself together by sheer will.
That detail bothered me because most people broke louder. “She’s acting,” Damon muttered. “Look at her. Playing the victim.”
I watched her fingers tighten briefly against her temples and I knew that wasn’t acting. That was someone trying not to drown, I dragged my hand down my face, frustration coiling tight in my chest. “I’ll get the truth out of her,” I said. “One way or another.”
As if summoned by the vow, my gaze drifted away from the screen to the desk beneath it.
A folder lay half-hidden under a stack of financial reports. It hadn’t been there earlier or maybe it had, and I hadn’t been looking for it yet. I frowned and pulled it free there where photocopies of shipping manifest, shell cmpanies, offshore transfers routed through three countries before circling back to New York and one familiar name. My mother, just once no context and no explanation. A single transaction buried so deep it would’ve gone unnoticed by anyone not trained to hunt patterns.
My jaw clenched, coincidence was for idiots.
I closed the folder carefully and slid it back exactly where I’d found it, aligning the edges, erasing any sign it had been touched.
If this meant something, I needed it clean. Quiet. “Man,” Damon said suddenly, snapping me back. “You left the box in there.”
I looked up, “I know.”
On the monitor, Lila’s hands fell from her face. Her gaze lifted, unfocused at first then it landed on the plain brown box at the foot of the bed and her entire body went still. Fear sharpened into awareness, I folded my arms across my chest.
I’d planned to make her open it while I was still in the room to watch her reaction and to measure how deep the damage went but her mention of Romano had shoved me too close to losing control. Now patience would be the weapon, “She won’t touch it,” Damon said. “She’s terrified.”
“Everyone touches it,” I replied calmly. “Curiosity always wins.”
On the screen, she wiped her face with the sleeve of the threadbare nightgown. She shifted, folding her legs beneath her, posture guarded but alert.
She wasn’t praying, she was thinking as she reached for the box shen stopped suddenly.
A faint smile tugged at my mouth. “There it is.”
Damon leaned forward. “How long?”
“As long as it takes.”
She stared at the box like it might explode. Like it might confirm every fear clawing at her chest. Her fingers twitched and she pulled back again. When Damon brought her in, she’d looked like a spoiled rich girl polished, expensive, insulated. Now she looked stripped of illusion and smaller, yes but not broken.
Nikolai had always preferred women who folded easily as quiet, agreeable and safe but I never had. I preferred complexity, resistance and fire but watching her now, calculating, afraid and not collapsing, I realized something unsettled me more than any lie ever could.
If Lila Falcone was innocent then someone else was very guilty and whoever that was had played all of us.
Pinakabagong kabanata
Forbidden Flame Pregnant
Lila POVI cupped water in my hands and splashed it over my face again and again, as if cold water could wake me from this nightmare. I wanted no, needed this to be a hallucination. A stress dream. Just like the one where Nico had looked at me and said he loved me.That dream had felt real too but what the hell was happening to me?I brushed my teeth until my gums ached, trying to scrub away the sour taste of fear and bile clinging to the back of my throat. My stomach stayed twisted tight, anxiety curling deep in my gut. Even standing under steaming water, letting it beat against my skin, didn’t help. I couldn’t shake the dread.No matter how I twisted it, no matter how hard I searched for some hidden upside, I couldn’t find a single silver lining. The mess between Nico and me was too violent, too complicated, too soaked in blood and power. There was no version of this where pregnancy fit.“Miss Lila?”My heart dropped straight into my s
Forbidden Flame It can't be
Lila POVHe bent over me suddenly, his presence blotting out the light, and he pressed his mouth firmly against my forehead. It wasn’t gentle and It wasn’t soft. It was desperate.“You scared the living hell out of me,” he muttered against my skin, his breath uneven. “For a second, I thought I maybe.. but he stopped himself".A small, weak smile curved my lips despite the pounding in my head. “What?” I teased quietly. “Don’t tell me you were actually worried about me sir?”He straightened so fast it was like I’d snapped a wire. “That’s not funny,” he snapped, already reaching for his jacket. In seconds, the man hovering over me was gone and replaced by Nico Fattore, sharp, controlled and untouchable. “I’m having food brought up. And you are not moving from this bed. Not an inch. Am I clear?”Just the mention of food made my stomach roll violently. “I’m not hungry,” I whispered.He shot me a look that brooked no argument. “You’ll
Forbidden Flame Fainting
Nico POVShe stared at me with her blue eyes, and the brilliance that used to sparkle within those irises were back. “How?” she whispered softly.I stopped right in front of her, my gaze never leaving hers. “Because I was there. I had that same need inside me once.”Her eyes searched mine, her mouth parted slightly. “Nikolai. You needed revenge for Nikolai death.”I didn’t reply. I didn’t have to. The answer was already there, filling the space between us like thick smoke.She slanted her head to the side, her beautiful streaks of golden hair falling around her shoulder. “You needed revenge for your brother’s death, and that’s why you had me kidnapped. That’s why you plotted against my family because it was the only way you could break through the wall of grief. Grief that had the power to destroy you.”There was no judgement in her eyes while she spoke every word, no hostility or hatred as she figured out the motive behind the decisions I made in the past. The way she looked at me wa
Forbidden Flame Trust You
Lila POV“Tell me do you still believe that death can atone for nothing?”Over and over, I imagined my father’s lifeless body. Every night that exact image was the last thing I saw when I closed my eyes. It was also the first thing I saw when I woke up. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop my mind from reliving those few seconds over, and over, and over again.But now, as I stood in front of a man that played such an important part in the nightmare I was forced to relive every day, the thought of him dying actually felt like it had the strength to numb the pain. Slowly, I started to replace the images of my dead father with images of a dead Doc and it made me feel stronger.“It’s time for your final verdict.” Nico pressed the nozzle of the gun against Doc forehead and he closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face, as snot spat from his nostrils.Nico released the safety of his gun, and Doc sobbed while he pissed himself. My heart hammered, but it wasn’t because of fear. It
Forbidden Flame Another Surprise
LILA POVOh yes,” Nico started before turning back to Doc, holding his phone out toward him. “There is this issue of you being photographed collecting your payment from one of Damon men.”I narrowed my eyes and stepped slightly closer to try and see the picture Nico was referring to. Doc stared at the phone for ten seconds then started to fight against his restraints. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Nico. It won’t happen again. I needed the money to pay off some debts but it was a one-time deal, I fucking swear.”Oh God, Nico put his phone back in his jacket pocket, seemingly unaffected by Doc confession and begging. “Nico, please. I swear to God it won’t happen again”Nico swung his fist straight into Doc face, and I heard the distinct sound of bone breaking. I flinched, closing my eyes for two seconds. When I opened them, his face was covered in blood from a cut just above his left eye and by the way Nico jaw clenched, I knew the monster was about to come out. “Did you not lay down the oa
Forbidden Flame Surprise Scene
Lila POVAs we walked down the hall, I couldn’t help but wonder what Nico meant by saying he knew exactly what I needed. It wasn’t the first time he said it, but I’d been under the impression he meant it sexually. That he knew what I needed when it came to sex. But after he said it again this morning, I got the feeling I was wrong. He meant something else and I just couldn’t figure out what.I glanced up at him. He had that tick in his jaw again, hard lines forming across his face. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was feeling nervous. “Where are we going?” I looked down, staring at the wooden floors.He pulled his hand down his face, looking a little unsettled. “My father used to say it’s always better to pull the plaster right off.”Now I was getting nervous. “Okay?”He stopped in front of a door, and his intense gaze pinned me on the spot. “If you’re going to become a part of my world, I need to prepare you the best I can.”“Prepare me for what?”His eyes searched all aroun
Maaari mong magustuhan
Dom and little Academy
Cendrillon1996129.7K viewsThe Mafia's Nurse
Astrid.O125.0K viewsThe Beautiful Carnage
KATHLEEN HAYAT97.5K viewsObsession
Laila_Ali313175.8K viewsMarked, Broken and Carrying his Heir
Eden Jeweledwolf198 viewsClaimed by My Rival
Queen Adams413 viewsMAFIA'S RUNAWAY HEIRESS
Sara E324 viewsI Became The Don's Prima Donna
Sparky Sparks225 views
