LOGINChapter 80: EPILOGUEGiovanni’s POVWhen I went to find her, the house had already settled into the kind of quiet that only came after everything that could go wrong already had. It wasn’t peace, not really, just the absence of noise, the kind that made every small movement feel deliberate, every decision heavier because there was nothing left to distract from it.She was exactly where I expected her to be.Not in bed, not resting the way the doctor had insisted she should be, but standing near the far end of the room, her back partially turned, her hand resting lightly against the edge of the table. The light from the window caught against her skin in a way that made the healing visible if you looked closely enough, the careful way she carried herself, the tension she still held in her side, but none of it read as weakness.It hadn’t for days.I leaned against the doorframe for a second before stepping. Her head turned slightly before her body followed, her eyes finding mine with a
CHAPTER 79: Mirabella’s POVBy the time the door closed behind us, the quiet in the room no longer felt like recovery or rest. It felt heavier, saturated with everything that had just happened and everything that hadn’t been said, the air thick in a way that made it impossible to pretend we were the same as before we walked into that basement.I could still feel the echo of it in my hands, the steady calm that followed the pull of the trigger, but that wasn’t what held me in place now. It was him. The way his hand stayed firm at my side, not loosening, like the contact was the only thing keeping something far more volatile under control. The warmth of his palm seeped through the thin fabric between us, grounding and distracting all at once, pulling my attention away from the dull ache spreading through my ribs and toward something far more dangerous.He hadn’t said anything yet, but the way he looked at me said enough. There was no uncertainty in it, no question about what I had done
CHAPTER 78: Giovanni’s POVA week was enough time for the house to quiet down, but not enough for anything that mattered to disappear. Nothing about this was normal anymore, and the moment I stood outside her door and saw her through the slight opening, I knew exactly why.She wasn’t in bed.She stood by the window, one hand resting against the frame, her posture careful, like she had already decided she wasn’t going to let her body dictate how she carried herself. The light fell across her skin in a way that made everything sharper, more defined, and for a second I didn’t move, not because I was unsure, but because I was taking her in fully, the fact that she was standing, breathing, alive, settling somewhere deep in my chest in a way I hadn’t allowed myself to process all week.I pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside, closing it behind me without breaking my focus on her. She turned before I said anything, like she felt me, like she had gotten used to sensing me even when I
CHAPTER 77: Mirabella’s POVWaking this time felt different. There was no drifting, no slipping in and out of shadows that didn’t make sense. Pain followed immediately. It wasn’t sharp at first, just heavy, deep, like my body didn’t quite belong to me yet. Then it spread, blooming through my side, my chest tightening as I took a careful breath, the ache grounding me in a way nothing else could. I was alive.The room was dim, lit by soft, controlled lighting that didn’t hurt my eyes. A low, steady beeping filled the silence, rhythmic, anchoring everything around me. It took a second longer for the details to settle, for familiarity to click into place. This wasn’t a hospital. The ceiling was too high. The walls too carefully designed. Giovanni’s mansion. Of course it was.My gaze shifted slowly, taking in what I could without moving too much. The room had been transformed. Equipment lined one side, a chair pulled close to the bed. They’d made this into a place to keep me alive. The th
CHAPTER 76: Giovanni’s POVThe night didn’t end when the shooting stopped.It followed me home, clinging to my skin, soaking into my clothes, settling deep in my chest like something unfinished, something still breathing. By the time the gates opened and the car tore through the estate, my hands were slick with her blood, drying in some places, still warm in others, a reminder I couldn’t shake even if I tried.I didn’t wait for the car to come to a full stop. The moment it slowed, I was already out, carrying her inside like letting go for even a second might be the thing that killed her.“Move,” I snapped, my voice cutting through the chaos as staff scrambled out of the way. “Now.”The medical team was already rushing toward us, alerted the second we hit the gates, but it still wasn’t fast enough. Nothing felt fast enough. Their hands hovered, waiting for permission I wasn’t ready to give.“Sir, we need to take her—”“No.”The word came out sharp. A doctor stepped forward anyway, ste
CHAPTER 75: Mirabella’s POVThere was no pain at first, no light either, just something thick and endless, like being suspended in a place that had no beginning and no edge. It wasn’t darkness in the way I understood it, because darkness had shape and depth, while this felt heavier, like it pressed in from all sides without ever quite touching, like something waiting for me to notice it.For a long time, there was nothing else.Then something shifted.A sound filtered through the stillness, faint and distant, as though it didn’t belong to me. It came and went, slipping through whatever this place was, a low, steady rhythm that didn’t make sense yet, not loud enough to understand and not close enough to feel real. I didn’t reach for it, didn’t even question it, because questioning required effort and effort felt too far away.And then a door slammed.The sound cracked through everything, sharp and sudden, and just like that, the emptiness changed into something I recognized before I co
CHAPTER 68: Giovanni’s POVThe villa was lit like a fucking fortress when we pulled in.Floodlights carved the night apart, bleaching stone walls and wrought iron gates until there was nowhere left for shadows to hide. Men stood where darkness used to live—on balconies, by the outer walls, at every
CHAPTER 70: Giovanni’s POVThe room was quiet in the way only command centers ever were—screens humming, men breathing softly, coffee going cold where no one remembered to drink it.Mirabella was okay.That was the only thing keeping the walls from coming down.When Dominic came back from the Bellu
CHAPTER 67: Mirabella’s POV The morning sunlight filtered softly through the blinds, painting golden stripes across the bedroom. The city outside was waking up, but inside, it felt like the world had shrunk to just this room, just Giovanni, just me.I stirred carefully, not wanting to
CHAPTER 7: Mirabella's POV I thought about calling Marco and reporting that creep to him. But I brushed that thought right off. I didn't want Marco interfering in my new life.As I turned on the shower, I recalled how my body felt in close proximity to him. If he weren't such an ass







