LOGINDenton Time was playing tricks on me. Too fast. Too slow. Both at once.I stood upstairs, staring out at nothing in particular, jaw tight as the seconds dragged and yet slipped through my fingers all the same. Every lead, every call, every move—we were chasing shadows while the clock kept ticking louder in my head.No sleep. Not really. Every time I closed my eyes—Her screams. Over and over. Raw. Broken. Pleading.I let out a humourless breath, dragging a hand down my face. Irony was a vicious bastard. I had thrown those words at Adriano in anger—that he would live with her screams for the rest of his life.And now? That was all I heard. The cruellest joke of all.I forced myself back to the present. There was still work to do. Always work. I had just wrapped up the last of the arrangements—Manhattan apartment being packed up, everything redirected. Calls made to have the family house in the Cotswolds fully readied.It had always been maintained. But I had rarely lived there. That wo
MariaIt was driving me crazy. Standing on the patio on a Tuesday afternoon, and slowly losing my mind.The thought circled my mind over and over, like a word on the tip of my tongue that refused to form. Every piece was there—every clue, every instinct—but it wouldn’t *click*.And the quiet made it worse.When Luca and Adriano left early Monday morning—to check in on their businesses, to warn their captains, to prepare for what might come—the house lost its noise. Its life. Too much silence. Too much space to think. A full house had been a blessing in disguise. Distraction. Movement. Purpose.Now… it was just me and my thoughts. And Liam. He had become my saving grace without even knowing it.The more time I spent with him, the more I saw Adriano in him. That restless energy. The way a half-smile would tug at his lips before breaking into something warmer, fuller. The way he tried to appear composed but couldn’t quite hide the storm beneath.He was running his operations from here,
LiamThe universe had clearly decided this was *mess with Liam* week.Everything I thought I knew—everything I had built myself on—had been ripped out from under me.My siblings feared me. I had wanted—lusted and *obsessed over*—my own sister without knowing who she was to me.My entire life had been shaped by truths that weren’t truths at all. And now? Now I was sitting with a traitor that was posing as my best friend and second, who had murdered my father and was chasing power...mine.I let out a slow breath, staring out the window for a second before turning back into the room.My father…Seamus. He had a blood son. Remi. That I had resented, envied. Been encouraged and coached from behind the scenes to do so. And yet he had trained me, groomed me and above all else... he chose *me*.I didn’t deserve that. Didn’t deserve the loyalty he had given me… the love… the trust.But he hadn’t raised me to fold under pressure. He hadn’t raised me to *quit*. And I would be damned if the same
DentonA storm was rolling in.I could see it on the horizon—the sky bruising over in deep greys, the wind picking up, dragging the salt-heavy air across the deck. The ocean had turned restless, waves rising higher, crashing harder against the shoreline.Violent. Unpredictable.This time of year the Hampton beachline was mostly empty. Just a few locals—someone jogging with their hood up, a man throwing a ball for his dog, both of them fighting against the wind.Normal life. It felt far removed from mine. I rested my forearms on the railing, staring out at the water, but my mind wasn’t on the storm.It was on her. And on *that* call. Maria.I huffed out a breath, shaking my head slightly. Arianna would have liked her. Hell… I liked her.Good woman. Strong in that quiet way that didn’t need to announce itself. The kind of person people underestimated—until it was too late.And she had come close. Closer than anyone so far. “She is probably safest wherever she is…” My own words echoed ba
Maria The table had been cleared, but no one moved.They lingered—men who commanded empires, reduced to silence by uncertainty. By a girl. By what had been done to her… and what had been done *because* of her.I let my gaze move over each of them. Adriano—restless, unraveling, guilt etched into every line of his face. Luca—watchful, thinking, trying to piece together what didn’t quite fit. Liam—quiet, contained, but I could see the storm beneath. He carried too much for someone so young.Luigi and Stefano—burdened. Not just by the situation, but by what it meant for the family… for everything we stood for.They were all waiting. Not for answers. For direction. Adriano was the one who broke the silence. “Zia…” he said, voice rough. “I think you should call Denton.”I saw Luigi shift beside me immediately, ready to object. I placed my hand gently over his. “Let him speak, Luigi.”Adriano continued, more certain now. “He quit, Zia. I don’t think he’ll take a call from any of us… but you
AdrianoBreakfast should’ve felt normal. It didn’t.Not with everything sitting between us—unspoken, unresolved, and urgent. I filled them in quickly. The government contact. The shutdown. The call with Mason. The fact that whatever we were dealing with had reach—real reach.That alone darkened the mood at the table. Then my phone rang. Every head turned. I glanced at the screen. “Mason.”Silence fell instantly. I answered and put it on speaker. “Morning, Mace…”“When we spoke last night,” he started, voice tight but charged, “we said maybe we’ve been looking at this wrong.I leaned forward slightly.“We were chasing the kidnapper,” he continued, “but he’s got enough clout to stay hidden. What we *do* know is the blood got handed off to the ambulance. And that ambulance tracked to the truck stop.”My pulse picked up. “So that’s where I focussed.”There was something in his voice. Energy. Excitement. “Spit it out, Mace,” I cut in. “You’re killing us here.”A breath. Then—“I’ve got it.
Liam The message came through just as I was still holding my father’s letter. Unknown number again...but I already knew, this was not like the message before… I could feel it…My gut tightened before I even opened it. The image loaded first.Her. Arianna. Sleeping. Peaceful.My eyes smarted…to se
Adriano The alcohol burned going down. The vial of RageKill hit harder. Faster. It lit something inside me—something volatile, coiled tight for too long—and now it was unraveling in all the worst ways. My pulse thundered in my ears. Every movement felt sharper. Every emotion—magnified. And righ
Liana/AriannaThat sense of foreboding never really left me. It lingered…quiet, persistent… like a shadow just out of sight.But at least I wasn’t completely in the dark. Denton had stopped by earlier.I hadn’t expected him, and the moment I saw him walk through that door, something inside me loose
LucaMason had informed me of Arianna being orphaned at four years old and already I sensed that this was just the opening volley. “I need to warn you,” he said quietly. “This next part…” I sat forward. “Just say it.” He nodded once. “She had an older brother.” A strange feeling crept up my spin







