𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 79 : 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝

𝐌𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚’𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬°°°

Antonio didn’t say much after that.

He pried away, cleaned the broken glass, wiped the blood from the floor, and left.

No explanations or goodbye. Just the sound of the door closing.

-----

𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭'𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 {𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠}

Morning came with sunlight stabbing through his curtains—far too bright for the dull ache behind his eyes.

Antonio blinked awake with the click of his door, disoriented… Grinch walked in without asking and just laid a file on the nightstand.

His gaze followed Grinch all through the process until he turned to leave.

His expression quickly went from detached to lethal.

“Why did you let me sink into this filth?” he asked quietly.

Grinch stopped.

“You wanted control,” his reply was grim.

That was it.

Antonio pushed himself upright, heartbeat picking as he approached Grinch. “I only wanted control over my heart, not your damn responsibility.”

“And keeping you alive was my job,” Grinch shot back. “Even from yourself. But you shoved it away for one dry pussy.”

Antonio laughed once. Short and broken. “Just this once after six years, I chose feeling,” he said quietly.

“I wanted to live a fairytale memory and you let it bury me.”

Seconds ticked and none said a thing further.

“Don wants to see you?” Grinch finally broke the silence.

Antonio's jaw flexed — a small twitch, barely visible, but violent to the trained eye. “You’ve changed a lot”

Grinch met his eyes. “I learned from you.”

He rolled his eyes, then padded away.

Antonio stared after him, astonished. He was usually the one who left first. Not explaining or using extra words but Grinch just dished it out to him.

He stood there longer than he should, and when he eventually checked his phone, it was exactly where he left it last night — except now it had eight missed calls.

All from Nevena and Lucas.

He sank onto the mattress, and returned only Nevena's call.

“Did you get home safe?” She answered at the first ring.

“Yes”

“I made breakfast, stop and eat” she whispered softly after a void of silence.

He gave no reply, but she pressed on determinedly. “Are you busy?”

“Yes”

“Okay—sorry for disturbing” He heard the disappointment breathe through the line.

“I love you” she sputtered and he blinked hard.

He couldn't even give her that reassurance that he loved her too.

“See you later.” He managed, ending the call.

Nevena's stomach knotted as she lowered the phone slowly.

Cracking through Antonio's emotions was hard. Hope was the last currency she had— disappointedly it was thinning.

----

Antonio didn't leave his room the whole day, glass after glass of spirit. The ache dulled but never vanished.

By evening, Grinch knocked and reminded him of the appointment with Lucas.

“Don's waiting— alcohol won't solve a thing.”

He got ready slowly, heavy-limbed.

With each buttoning of his shirt, he pulled his drowsiness away forcing clarity back into his bones.

-----

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐬' 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐩

Lucas studied Antonio from behind his desk as he walked in.

A weapon laid out for inspection.

“What have you been up to lately?” The inevitable question landed like a sledgehammer.

“Work” he snarled in response, settling into an empty chair.

The Don smiled thinly and reached for the drawer.

“You don't seem to get enough time for yourself — I guess, considering the hollowness of your skin.”

Antonio gave a brassy nod and cowered tiredly. “Grinch said you wanted to meet.”

“Yes” Lucas stood, approaching him. “I needed to be sure that my Blade is still sharp”

“Okay” Antonio throated, pulling out his buzzing phone. “If you're done— can I go back to work?”

“Son you came home after a long time” Lucas prowled as he typed on his phone shamelessly. “Have dinner atleast”

“I would love to — but it will crash my engagements”

“Okay” Lucas bellowed, throwing a fat envelope at him. “That’s a new obstacle, look at it and tell me what you think.”

“Carlos should handle it,” Antonio said tightly, “my schedule is not the nicest these days.”

“Okay… if you say so” Lucas recoiled back to his armchair, while the latter straightened to leave. “But I will always be here, that's if you change your mind about dinner.”

He gave a curt nod and matched out.

Grinch met him outside, and they left. They barely made it to shore when he ripped open the envelope.

Pictures of him with Nevena filled everywhere.

Their kiss from the first time to the hot intimacy in her bathroom, the date, rooftop closeness to her cleaning his bruise last night. Every damn detail.

“Holy shit" he cussed, dialing Lucas' number immediately.

Every frantic ring ended with no answer, that cold gesture alone plummeted his pulse level.

“Turn around” he snapped at Grinch who obeyed without questioning.

Unable to withstand the mounting pressure, he grabbed the wheel himself and blazed off.

Grinch settled back on the seat and looked at the pictures. “He sure dug well”

Antonio didn't answer, all his focus was on stopping Carlos.

Getting back to Lucas' ship was chaos, Carlos' name blasted everywhere the two men went.

Giving up on finding Carlos, he crashed Lucas' dinner.

Dishes laid out on the table while Lucas sat and dined with a villain's grace— a king untouched by war.

“Where is Car—”

“Eat first" he gestured sharply, cutting him off as though unaware of the chaos he'd caused.

Without questioning, Antonio slumped into the only seat at the rear end.

“It was me” he muttered after some dripping seconds, looking at his hands. “I convinced her — she knows nothing about all this”

“Carlos already left,”Lucas dabbed his mouth. “Sober up— it's late now”

“You can still stop it”

“I’m afraid I can't.” Lucas' chair scraped as he stood up. “Her fate is already sealed”

-----

Meanwhile back at her guest house, Nevena paced to the uneasy sense of being watched, Antonio had texted that he was coming over but he was yet to make it.

As the night deepened, her apartment grew more silent, the food went cold but… her hope bar was still full.

She felt eyes on her — not inside the room, but outside, just beyond the window and she approached the curtains slowly, two fingers lifting the edge just enough—

A black SUV sat across the street, engine running.

She dropped the curtain immediately, and made to unlock the entrance door.