It was already afternoon when I stirred. The sun slipped past the curtains in golden streaks, slow and quiet, like it didn’t want to wake us.
My body… hurt. Every inch of it. Skin rubbed raw in places, bruises blooming like ghosted violets down my ribs, my thighs, my wrists. A dull ache pulsed at the base of my spine, between my legs, like proof that I had been conquered again, and again, and again. I didn’t move at first. I waited, like I always did. Waited to feel the cold. Waited to be alone. Waited for him to be gone. But I wasn’t alone. His arm was draped over my waist, heavy, still warm. His chest pressed into my back, breath slow, shallow. I could feel it, he was awake. And he hadn’t left. That realization hit harder than the pain. I blinked up, lashes brushing against the edge of the pillow. Then slowly, I turned, just enough to see him.DANTE'S PERSPECTIVE LUCCHESE ESTATE - HOME OFFICE I shouldn’t have said her name. But I did. La Rosa Nera. It came out raw, tangled in a groan, spilled from my lips like a fucking confession. And Catalina, my wife, my silent, soft little wife, heard it. Took it. Let me take her like a goddamn madman, and didn’t flinch. But now? Now I see her curled up near the tub, the door half-open like a trap. She’s crying. Not trembling from pain. Not crying out from the bruises I left on her hips or the way I used her like she wasn’t her own. No, she’s breaking. And it’s not the kind of break that comes with noise. It’s the kind that shatters something delicate. Something I never thought I’d see. Catalina never cries. She never asks. Never demands. She’s just... there. Always fucking there. Obedient. Warm.
CATALINA'S PERSPECTIVE LUCCHESE ESTATE I sat there, still warm from his touch, my thighs trembling as the last of him slipped from me. The scent of sex lingered thick in the air, but I didn’t move, not at first. I waited, waited until I heard his breath catch, the way it always did when guilt began to creep through his bloodstream like venom. Then I sat up slowly, my muscles sore, my body raw, not from pain, but from the way he gripped something he thought he couldn't have. I cupped his face, gently, reverently, as if he hadn’t just used me as a vessel for his confusion. I smiled. A smile meant for me. Not him. He didn’t even see it, didn’t realize that behind the curve of my lips was triumph. Behind my wide, innocent eyes was a wildfire. Dante Lucchese, my husband, my captor, my obsession, was now d
DANTE’S PERSPECTIVE LUCCHESE ESTATE – AFTER THE PRIVATE GATHERING She’s fucking draped over him. And I can’t stop watching. Can’t fucking breathe. Crimson red. That goddamn veil. That body. That silence. Every click of her heel on marble sounded like a gunshot in my skull. She moved like she was sculpted to command. Measured, slow, deliberate, every step screaming ownership. And the bastard she chose to sit on, Nico fucking Mareni, had his hands on her like he earned the right to breathe her in. His lips brushed her neck. I should’ve snapped his fucking jaw right there. But I didn’t. I stood there. Watching. Burning. The world narrowed to her silhouette and that fucking name, La Rosa Nera. A name that used to mean fire, fear, death. A title no man dared speak too loud. Now it belongs to a woman. Her. And the chaos she carries
CATALINA'S PERSPECTIVE AS - LA ROSA NERA His knuckles were white. I noticed it the moment his hand curled into a fist on the table, tight, trembling at the edge. No one else probably saw it. But I did. Every time Nico’s fingers drew idle, thoughtless circles across the fabric of my dress, my waist, my stomach, Dante’s gaze narrowed. His jaw clenched. His nostrils flared like a bull just before the kill. And I knew. La Rosa Nera isn’t just a name to him anymore. She’s becoming an obsession. He doesn’t realize it yet. But I do. Because I’ve seen that look in his eyes before, when he stands over bloodied men asking for names, when he owns the room without ever raising his voice. When something dares to exist beyond his control. He craves power. Always has. And now, it’s wearing heels, silk gloves, and crimson. It’s sitting on a
DANTE'S PERSPECTIVE "Spit it out, Nico."My voice cut through the room like a blade, flat and cold."You think this is a fucking joke?"They all watched him, every suit around this table, every snake in polished shoes puffing cigars like the smoke would hide their fear. Carlos Moretti leaned back like he was above the rest of us. Bullshit. Even he had sweat behind his ears.And Mareni?He sat there like a smug little bastard, fingers laced over his gut, chin lifted like we weren’t even in the same food chain."I said I don’t talk about her," he said.He fucking smirked.A gun clicked beside him.He didn’t blink.“Who is she?” I asked again, quieter this time. Deadlier. “Who’s La Rosa Nera?”Nico just looked at me. No fear. No twitch. Nothing but that calm, fuck-you confidence he wears like a second skin."Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand," he said.
DANTE'S PERSPECTIVEPRIVATE MAFIA GATHERINGLucchese Underground Hall, MidnightThey showed up like vultures. All of them. Dons from old bloodlines, cocky bastards from new syndicates, even the washed-up leeches who should’ve died five years ago. Everyone wanted to talk about her.La Rosa Nera.I lit a cigarette as the room filled. Sat at the head, polished leather shoes crossed at the ankle, watching every arrogant piece of shit file in like they owned something. This was still my city. My table. My goddamn war.Carlos Moretti sat with that stiff spine like he ran something outside his wife’s purse strings. Nico Mareni came in last, smirking like a bastard with a loaded secret. His silence pissed me off before the meeting even started.“I’ll get straight to the point,” I said, voice flat. “We’ve all had interference.”Whispers. Shifting eyes. No one wanted to admit it. But I could smell the fear. And that made me grin.