LOGIN155EmiliaThere are days that feel like a stray bullet.Today was one of them."Emi—""Not now, Raf." I sniffed, refusing to look at him while the doctor laid out every secret my husband had been buried under.I had already texted Doctor Olsen for the details Raffael wouldn't disclose, but it seemed the universe had a more violent way of catching me up.Now, everything made sense.The watch.His sudden detachment from the business.The way he stayed on the sidelines.What if the accident hadn't happened? Would he have kept lying to me until his heart just...stopped?"Thank you, doctor. That will be all," I said. My voice was a ghost of itself. I gripped the wall, the cold plaster the only thing keeping my legs from giving out as the news sank in.My husband was a mortal man. If we weren't careful, the love of my life was going to be taken from me by a failing rhythm in his chest."I was going to tell you, Tempesta," he said, his voice smaller than I’d ever heard it.I scoffed, rippin
154NoraThere are no heroes in this world, just villains with better disguise.It starts with my father. He’s the Mafia’s most trusted lawyer, the man who saves monsters from cages for a fee.He buys protection with technicalities, and I used to think that was the height of deception.Then there’s me.I’m supposed to be the one who breaks the "tough nuts" for Emilia until they cough up every secret they’re hiding.But as I descended the basement stairs, the heavy weight of the weapon in my hand felt like a prop in a play I was tired of performing.I was keeping him alive longer than I should. Because even in this darkness, I knew the truth.I wanted him alive. He had grown on me, like a beautiful, poisonous vine."Hi, baby," I smiled at Luca, the lights overhead flickering against the sweat on his brow.He was strapped to the chair, his eyes wide and tracking the steel blade in my hand. He looked at me with a mixture of terror and something raw and honest that I didn't find anywhere
153EmiliaRaffael wouldn't let go of me. I mean that literally.Not that I was complaining. After the weeks of distance and the sterile walls of the hospital, I craved the weight of him."Raf," I hissed as his fingers found my nipples again. He twisted and tugged, the sharp sting melting into waves of heat that crashed straight into my core."Can we go again, baby? Please?" he whispered against my skin. His breath was a hot against my neck as he rocked his hips, the hard, familiar length of his cock pressing into the small of my back.We had fallen asleep less than three hours ago with him still buried deep inside me, and yet here he was."Raf, I have to be up early," I moaned, my protest dying in my throat as his hand slipped under the covers. His fingers found my wetness, circling my clit in slow, torturous ways that made my toes curl.I needed my sleep. I was so close to breaking Luca, finally forcing him to cough up Gustavo’s main coordinates.The kid was a tough nut to crack and
152RaffaelI was finally home.The scent of gunpowder and tobacco clung to the air, a sharp reminder of the world I had just stepped back into.But the frantic hammering in my chest was the louder warning.Be careful.Three. Five. Three.Three. Five. Three.I thought I’d kicked the habit once Emilia entered my life. Apparently, the lie I’d been living regarding my health was enough to make the tapping resurface."Raffael!" Nora squealed. The sound startled the twins into a chorus of cries as she rushed forward to throw her arms around me."Easy now," I chuckled, pulling her into a tight embrace."Basement?" Emilia’s voice was calm as she looked at Nora.Nora nodded. "He’s on a hunger strike. I had the men pry his mouth open while I poured blended breakfast down his throat." She shrugged as if describing a mundane chore.My skin itched to take over. Any sane boss would have demanded the file and headed downstairs to finish the job, but I was forced to settle for a question."Do I need
151RonanI hated the fact that the thought even crossed my mind.Of course I won’t do it. I won’t.I shouldn’t.But will the pain in my chest lessen if I did?Would it quiet this thing clawing at my ribs, begging for something to make it stop? Or would it just rot me from the inside out, the way grief already was?I wanted to hurt Emilia for Oscar’s death.Because blaming her felt easier than accepting that I couldn’t protect him.“Would you like to see the body now?” the coroner asked, his voice too gentle for a world this cruel.I nodded, blinking back tears that burned behind my eyes, stubborn and heavy. Like even they didn’t want to fall and make this real.He moved to one of the drawers and pulled it open and I didn’t even try or even pretend to hold it in.The sob tore out of me the second I saw him.Oscar.His body was pale.Not the warm golden brown I had memorised, not the colour that used to glow under sunlight and stupid laughter.Just… empty. Drained.His eyes were shut.
150EmiliaI’d felt terrible lying to Raffael about everything I’d been doing.Because it wasn’t just small omissions anymore, it was layers of silence, carefully stacked on top of each other.Down to the fact that I’d found some twisted sort of refuge in the same Professor that had been the cause of our problems a while back.“Try this, Mrs. De Luca,” Professor Coleman said, holding a strawberry dipped in what looked like Nutella to my mouth.The gesture was too familiar, too close to something that didn’t belong to us. For a second, I just stared at it, caught between amusement and discomfort before I laughed.I took the strawberry from his hand instead, placing it into my mouth myself, refusing to let us cross that quiet line of intimacy.“Didn’t mean to overstep there, Mrs. De Luca.”He raised his hands in mock surrender, a small smile tugging at his lips.He dipped another strawberry in chocolate, this time holding it out at a dramatic distance so I could reach for it myself.It
49EmiliaI’m so stupid.Fucking utterly stupid.Who says something like that in the middle of… God.I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I could rewind time the whole of yesterday and swallow the words before they ever left my mouth.“Fuck,” I cursed when a streak of red paint slashed violently acros
46RaffaelNo one understands the violence it takes to become this gentle.That was one of my father’s favorite quotes.He used it whenever my brother and I fought, right before he forced us into an awkward hug or when people questioned why he let certain mishaps slide.I never understood it.Not
42NoraI grew up learning two truths.The law protects the guilty and my father protects the dangerous.A shot rang out from downstairs, but I didn’t even flinch. I lit my blunt and let the smoke curl up lazily.“Put that shit out, Eleanora,” my mother snapped from behind me.“Leave me alone, Mom,
43EmiliaIt would’ve been a lot easier to stay mad at Raffaele if he wasn’t buried between my legs at three in the morning. “You feel so good, Tempesta,” he moaned from behind me, biting into my earlobe.The alcohol had worn off, but the questions remained. He still wouldn’t tell me whose blood w







