Mag-log inOn Thursday, I stood at the window longer than I had in days, watching a pair of guards cross the open space and disappear under the far end. Then I turned from the window to watch Killian for a moment. Killian was in the small kitchen unit cleaning the knife he had used to cut fruit. He had been doing small things like that all week, like keeping the space orderly, keeping food available, making sure this quietness does not become complete isolation. “I want to try walking longer corridors today,” I said. He set the knife down and looked at me carefully. “The nurse said only short distances for now.” “I know. I want to try.” He did not argue. He only nodded, dried his hands, and came to walk beside me. We left the suite and moved slowly along the residential corridor. The wound in my side pulled with each step, a dull reminder rather than sharp pain. I counted doorways. I focused on the feel of the floor under my feet. Halfway to the turn I had to stop and rest one hand against
On the twelfth day after the shooting, I found Killian in the small kitchen attached to the suite. He was cooking. Not heating something sent up from the main kitchen but actually cooking. The smell of garlic and tomatoes filled the space. He glanced over when I appeared in the doorway, then returned to the pan. “You need real food,” he said. “You're not eating much of what they keep sending.” I sat on the stool and watched him work. Chopping, stirring, tasting. It felt almost unreal after so many days of quietness between us. He moved calmly. You can tell he is doing it out of care. When he set the plate in front of me the portion was small and simple. I ate slowly. For the first time in days the food had a taste I could accept. Killian did not watch me. He simply ate his own portion and let the quiet exist. I looked down at the plate. “The doctors still do not know if I can carry a child again.” “I know.” He set his fork down. “If the answer is no, then the answer is no. It doe
On the eighth day they moved me out of the medical wing. The wound had closed enough for the doctors to clear a return to private quarters under continued monitoring. A nurse would check on me twice daily. Pain medication would continue on a tapering schedule. The larger questions, about scarring, about future pregnancies, were left for later appointments. There was nothing more they could do for the part of me that had gone empty. Killian walked beside the wheelchair the entire way. He did not speak unless I did. When we reached the suite, he unlocked the door and stepped in first, scanning the space out of long habit before helping me stand and move to the bed. The room looked the same. The same reinforced windows. The same order. But everything felt altered. The chair by the window where I had sat with both hands on my stomach feeling the baby move. The path we had cleared in the room so I could move more easily as the pregnancy advanced. The small stack of soft clothes that no
The words dropped into the quiet room and stayed there. Killian shifted his weight but did not speak. I felt the air leave my lungs in a slow exhale. “I was angry,” Bianca continued. Her voice stayed low and steady, as if she had practiced the sentences until they could be delivered without breaking. “Angry about my position that that was limited. Angry about watching you and Killian build something the family had to accept. Angry about being useful only when it suited everyone else. I contacted a Valenti intermediary I still knew from years ago. I did not ask them to kill you. I told them where the family would be and when. I told them the dinner was important. I wanted disruption. I wanted Father and Dante to feel the cost of treating me like a tool they could pick up and put down.” She finally looked directly at me. “I did not know they would send shooters into the room. I did not know you would put yourself in front of me. When the gun was set towards me and you moved, I unders
The first days after surgery passed quietly. I stayed in the medical wing under continuous monitoring. The wound in my side hurt with every breath and every small movement. The physical pain was manageable. The other pain was not. Every time my hand drifted to my stomach out of habit, but emptiness answered. No movement. No answering push. Only my healing body that had failed to keep the child safe. Killian barely left the room. He slept in short intervals in the chair beside the bed, woke up whenever I shifted, and handled the nurses and security updates so I would not have to speak more than necessary. He did not force conversation. He did not offer false hope about the fertility questions the doctors had raised. He simply stayed present, while my grief did its slow work. Father came once. He stood at the foot of the bed, looked at the bandages and the IV lines, and said the only thing he seemed able to manage. “You lived. The people who did this will not.” Then he left. Dante fo
I woke up to the low hum of medical equipment and the feel of Killian’s hand wrapped around mine. The light was soft. The room was private and heavily secured. I felt a dull pain on the lower part of my left side, held back by whatever they were feeding into the IV. For a few seconds I only breathed and tried to place myself. Then memory returned in a single flash. The restaurant, the men coming from the service door, the gun tracking toward Bianca, the impact, the sudden terrible stillness inside me. My free hand moved to my stomach. The curve was still there, but it felt different. It felt wrong. Killian’s grip tightened. I turned my head on the pillow and found him sitting in the chair against the bed. He looked like he had not slept. The black suit was gone, replaced by a dark shirt with the sleeves pushed up. His eyes were red rimmed. He cried. “You’re awake,” he said. His voice was rough. “The baby.” The two words left me before I could stop them. Killian’s face did not h
Killian’s groans vibrated against my neck as I kept grinding on his lap. The thick bulge of his cock pressed right against my soaked pussy through our clothes. Every roll of my hips made the leather of my dress ride higher and sent sparks shooting through my clit. I was dripping wet, my black lace
The booth felt too small, too hot. Killian’s body pressed against mine, hard and unyielding. His hand was still tangled in my hair, his grey eyes burning down at me like he was one second from breaking. The tequila from earlier gave me the courage I needed. I pushed him back until his legs hit the
He dragged me through the crowd toward the back of the club. People moved out of his way fast. Sofia caught my eye from the dance floor and smirked, giving me a little wave like she knew exactly what was happening. My heels clicked fast on the floor as I stumbled to keep up with his long strides. T
I woke up on my 21st birthday with my heart already racing. Sunlight poured into my bedroom in the Vance mansion, lighting up the furniture and the silk sheets. This was the day everything changed. Or at least I hoped it would. A firm knock hit my door. “Alessia, downstairs. Now.” Dante’s voice, d