تسجيل الدخولVALENTINA “Are you sure about this?” I asked for what must’ve been the thousandth time, leaning closer to Adrian so the others wouldn’t overhear. I glanced back at the kids. Stefan was curled up against his grandmother, fast asleep. Sofia had her headphones on, lost in whatever she was watching. Gemma sat across from them with her own children, staring out the window with an expression I couldn’t quite read— relief mixed with apprehension, maybe. It had been two months since Stefan’s rescue and Rico’s death, as well as the death of Gemma and Adrian’s father. And Gemma had divorced her husband. She finally decided she’d had enough of his cheating and recklessness. So I could only imagine the fear she was currently feeling. “I can’t believe we’re really leaving,” I whispered. Adrian looked at me like he’d already had this conversation with himself a hundred times. “We’re sure,” he said softly. “I’m sure.” I placed a hand on my bump and sighed. I was a little over six months preg
VALENTINA “Where is he? Where are they?” I gasped as I barged through the hospital doors with my parents and Marco’s wife behind me, gripping the reception desk so hard my fingers ached. “My son… my brother, Stefan DeLuca and Marco Romano. My husband said he brought them here. Where… somebody tell me something—” I was struggling to make complete sentences, and my words collapsed into a sob. I didn’t care how loud or frantic I sounded. I didn’t care that people were staring. I didn’t care that my knees buckled and I almost fell to the floor. The nurse stood, alarmed by the wildness in my voice. “Ma’am, I need you to take a breath—” “My son was taken!” I cried. “He was— he— my brother was shot— please— just tell me where they are!” Behind me, my mother and Marco’s wife, Rosa wailed hysterically. Mom covered her mouth, choking on sobs as she leaned heavily into my father. He didn’t hold her. He was too busy pacing with clenched fists and a tight jaw, muttering curses under his bre
ADRIAN “Put the gun down Rico,” I said evenly, keeping my own gun trained squarely on his chest. My voice came out firm, but my heart was a wild animal caged inside me. “You don’t want to do this.” “Oh, trust me, I do.” Rico’s smile widened. “I mean, look at the boy. The eyes, the nose… he’s mine, Adrian. Anyone who looks closely enough can see that. You just played babysitter these eleven years.” He tilted his head, and that lazy arrogance twisted his features into something monstrous. “I suppose I should say thank you for raising my heir for me. But it’s all over now.” “Have you even sat to think about what you’re doing?” I asked. “You take him and then what? The entire brotherhood knows that he’s my son. Are you going to tell them that you committed adultery and betrayed one of your men? I’d like to see what everyone thinks about that.” For a second, Rico looked stumped, but that lazy grin appeared on his face almost immediately. “That… is not something you have to worry abou
ADRIAN Day five. The calendar on my desk says it was Tuesday, but the days seemed to have melted into one long, unending blur. I hadn’t changed clothes since Saturday. I hadn’t shaved, or eaten anything that didn’t come from a coffee cup. My reflection in the black computer screen looked like a stranger with hollow cheeks, eyes bloodshot and sunken. It was the face of a man who’s been living on rage and adrenaline and nothing else. Valentina was asleep upstairs, finally, after two melatonin pulls and three hours of me holding her while she cried into my chest until there was nothing left. Sofia was curled against her like a kitten, with her thumb in her mouth, something she hadn’t done since she was two. The house was so quiet I could hear the refrigerator humming two rooms away, mocking me with its normalcy. I was sitting in my office with every light off, and the glow of my phone was the only thing keeping the dark from swallowing me whole. Damien’s last text was still open.
VALENTINA Four days. It has been four days since Stefan was taken, and life had stopped making sense. Everything seemed to irritate me, and everytime a car slowed on the street, I ran to the window, heart in my throat, praying it was Adrian with our boy asleep in the back seat. And every time it drove past, something inside me cracked a little more. I couldn’t stay here another minute. Sofia was coloring at the kitchen island, and I couldn’t watch her tiny hand move across the page without remembering Stefan doing the same thing at her age. He was eleven now, and he was starting to not want to do things like coloring, but to me, he was still my baby. I scooped Sofia up, grabbed her little backpack with the bunny ears, and texted Gemma before I could talk myself out of it. [Can we come over? I need to leave this house.] She answered instantly. [of course. I’m sure Sofia would love to see her cousins.] An hour later I was sitting at Gemma’s kitchen table, sunlight pouring thro
ADRIAN The tires screamed against wet asphalt as I took the last corner too fast. It had started raining, and the headlights cut through it like knives, but everything beyond the windshield was a blur. My pulse hammered in my throat, in my temples, in my goddamn fingertips clutching the steering wheel. Rico’s last words still rang in my ears, louder than the engine. ‘I simply took what belongs to me.’ Stefan. My son. Taken. I slammed the brakes in front of the house. The car hadn’t even fully stopped when the front door flew open and Valentina came running barefoot across the gravel, coatless, hair plastered to her face by the rain. She looked like a ghost in the floodlights— pale, wild-eyed, and already breaking. “Adrian!” The scream tore out of her the second she reached me. She collided with my chest so hard I had to brace my legs to keep from falling backward. Her hands clawed at my jacket, my shirt, anything she could grab. “Tell me I heard wrong. Tell me you didn’t sa
VALENTINA The promise I’d made to Adrian that I wouldn’t move into another room no matter what happened between us echoed in my head like a cruel joke. I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep it anymore. For the first time since our marriage, fear sat heavy in my chest. I didn’t want to be afraid of my h
VALENTINA That afternoon, Stefan and I were on the floor of the living room. It had become our little ritual— quiet time together while Sofia took her nap upstairs. The soft hum of the baby monitor filled the background, and sunlight streamed through the wide windows, pooling in golden squares acr
VALENTINA The next day, I browsed party ideas for sixth birthdays. Stefan’s special day was in a week, and I wanted to surprise him with a cake and a themed birthday party. Clutching the edge of the sofa, Sofia pulled herself up to her legs beside me, grinning proudly.“Good,” I cooed while I kept
VALENTINA After Adrian left, I sank onto the sofa with my phone still in hand, feeling the echo of our earlier conversation in my chest. My heart hadn’t stopped racing since he’d told me about my uncles. In our world, a fall from grace almost always meant a bullet to the head, and that was exactly

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