LOGIN“LIES TELL ME LIES BABY TELL ME HOW YOU HATE ME.”NICO.Something was wrong before I even opened my eyes.That awareness — the kind that lives in the body before the brain catches up — came the way it always comes after years of training yourself to notice small things. The shift of a curtain. An unfamiliar scent. The absence of a sound that should have been there. This morning it was none of those things specifically. It was simpler than that.The apartment felt empty.Too empty. I reached across the bed instinctively. Cold sheets. Vivian's side had been empty long enough for the warmth to leave completely. A small frown crossed my face and I told myself she was probably making coffee, or standing in my kitchen criticizing how little food I kept in the fridge. I could almost hear her voice doing it. I almost smiled at the thought. Almost.I sat up, rubbed a hand over my face, and walked toward the kitchen. "Vivian?"No answer.The living room was empty. The balcony too. I checked the
THE KEY THAT WASN'T ENOUGHVIVIAN.The drive to Dante's mansion felt longer than it actually was.I kept both hands on the steering wheel, eyes fixed on the empty road ahead, while the weight of Nico's keys sat in my jacket pocket like a stone. Not heavy in the physical sense. Heavy in the way things are heavy when they mean something you can't take back. This was it. Years of blood, lies, missions, and waiting had all been building toward tonight.I parked two streets away, killed the engine, and sat in the dark for exactly ten seconds. Then I got out. The mansion was almost eerily quiet without Dante and Sofia home. The place felt different — less alive, like a house holding its breath. The remaining guards followed their usual patrol routes exactly as I had memorized them over the last three months.Left corner. East gate. Rotate every ninety seconds.I counted under my breath. "Eighty-eight... eighty-nine... ninety."The guard turned. I moved.I slipped through the blind spot, vau
“THE LAST NIGHT I'LL EVER LIE TO YOU”VIVIAN.The soldiers were already celebrating before we even left the docks. Months of chasing a ghost had finally come to an end — or so they believed. Someone had produced a bottle of whiskey from nowhere, and another man was laughing loudly enough for the sound to carry across the water. For the first time in a long time, the tension hanging over Dante's organization had lifted. It felt like air coming back into a room that hadn't had any.I smiled when they smiled. Accepted congratulations that weren't meant for me. Played my part the way I'd been playing every part for four years.From the corner of my eye, I watched Nico.He hadn't moved. Everyone else had drifted back from the cliff where Shadow had supposedly fallen — the adrenaline worn off, replaced by relief and exhaustion. But Nico still stood exactly where he'd been standing when Xander went over, hands in his pockets, staring down at the black water below.He wasn't celebrating.He w
"The worst lies are the ones you tell people who would never expect them from you."VIVIANThe SUVs pull up without headlights..Nico gets out first. He steps out and the space immediately reorganises itself around him — soldiers reading the shift, already adjusting their positioning, the way a room adjusts when the person who is actually in charge arrives.I get out behind him.Xander is already there. Standing with three of Dante's men near the warehouse entrance, arms loose at his sides, looking at the ground with the posture of someone waiting to be briefed. He does not look at me. We agreed he would not look at me and he does not and the professionalism of it is the thing I respect most about him.One of the soldiers moves toward Nico."Boss?"Just that one word. Not a question about what to do. Just the word that means we are ready and we are looking at you. Nico looks at the building. At the dock. At the roofline. The assessment takes about four seconds."Perimeter," he says. "
"Some mornings are gifts you don't deserve and can't keep."VIVIANI woke up immediately recurring the events of last night —what I said, the regret that came faster than I expected it to, the twelve-minute drive to his building, the door, the kiss he let happen before he pulled back with his forehead against mine and said what he said.The rest of it.I turn my head slowly.He is asleep.I have seen Nico Barbieri in most of the states a person can be in. Operational, where he is the most focused thing in any room. Arguing with Luca, where he acquires a specific brand of patient exasperation. Across tables and in corridors and in my kitchen and in that basement shooting range.I have not seen him like this.Asleep.His hair is messy in a way that would clearly horrify him awake — the controlled quality of it completely abandoned, one piece falling across his forehead. He is lying on his side facing me with one hand loosely open on the pillow between us and his breathing is slow and ev
VIVIAN“Fuck, princess—strip.”The command lands like a slap and a caress at the same time. My pulse is still racing from the kiss, from the way he pulled back and looked at me like he was deciding whether to throw me out or fuck me senseless. I don’t move fast enough for him. Nico’s eyes darken.“I said strip.” His voice is low, rough. “Every piece. Now. Or I do it for you and you won’t like how I do it.”I hold his gaze for three stubborn heartbeats, then start unbuttoning my blouse with deliberate slowness. His jaw tightens. When the fabric slides off my shoulders he steps in, fists the material of my bra and yanks it down so my breasts spill free. The cool air hits my skin a second before his hands do—rough palms, thumbs dragging over my nipples until they harden under his touch.“Already so responsive,” he mutters, almost to himself. “And you still tried to tell me you’re just a good time.” He pinches one nipple hard enough to make me gasp. “Liar.”I open my mouth to snap back, b
“I WANT HIM TO KNOW THAT I AM HERE FOR HIM WITH OPEN HEART, OPEN MOUTH AND OPEN LEGS.”SOFIADante didn’t waste a second.He dragged me across the seat and into his lap, one big hand cupping the back of my neck as his mouth crashed down on mine. The kiss was deep, hungry, seven years of pent-up nee
"She walked in and the whole world forgot to breathe. So did I."DANTEI'm standing at the bottom of the staircase checking my cufflinks when I hear her.Not footsteps exactly. More like the air in the house changes. The way a room shifts when something significant enters it.I look up.And I forge
“I HATE THAT I AM STILL HOPING.”SOFIA.The car ride was suffocating.I sit in the passenger seat of Marco's Mercedes, my hands folded in my lap, staring out the window at the city lights blurring past. He's driving in silence, both hands on the wheel, his jaw tight. The only sound is the low hum o
“IF I CAN’T BEND HEAVEN, I WILL RAISE HELL.”DANTE."The Arena?" Rico sounded intrigued. "That place is legendary. Heard stories about it even down here.""Yeah, well, it's where the old guard goes to pretend they're still relevant. Perfect place for politics." I finish my whiskey and pour another.







![AFTER DIVORCE: MR. LORENZO SEDUCE HIS EX-WIFE [ENGLISH]](https://www.goodnovel.com/pcdist/src/assets/images/book/43949cad-default_cover.png)