LOGINHe looked toward the cemetery for a brief moment before looking back at me. "One day all of it was meant to become yours." I blinked. "You were raised to understand this life," he smiled faintly, "When Gio Junior was born. I listened to tradition. My advisers. The old men who think a son must alw
I did. I understood exactly what I was doing. I just didn't know how to stop. ──━⊰ 𓆙 ⊱━── I saw him before he saw me. He was sitting alone on one of the stone benches at the edge of the Capone cemetery. His black coat blended into the gray afternoon. His hat rested beside him. His hands were
Yet... Raphael had gone to them anyway. He watched me carefully, "There are conditions." I nodded almost immediately. "The meeting will take place in the Capone cemetery." I blinked, "The cemetery?" He nodded, "Your mother will be there. I wanted the first meeting to happen where Hazel rests.
Claire watched us without speaking. Jules handed Aurelia half of her sandwich as if sharing it were the most important thing in the world. I opened my mouth but no words came out. Vincenzo didn't push. He simply nodded once, as though silence was an answer too. "We're here whenever you're ready."
Why? Why was she being kind to me? I hadn't earned it. The thought settled into my chest so naturally that it didn't even feel like a thought anymore. It felt like a fact. Mom was gone. Mama D was gone. Brianna. Emma. Morgan. One after another. Everyone I loved either left or disappeared.
Gianna ━⊰ ❦ ⊱━ Everyone had gone to bed hours ago. I stood alone in the kitchen, one hand resting against the cold marble countertop. The lights above the island were the only ones still on. I stared at the knife block. I didn't move. I just... stared. My fingers slowly curled against the edge
"Exactly." His accent wrapped around every word, "You dance from here," he tapped his temple,."You need to dance from here," he pressed a hand over his chest, "Again." I wanted to throw myself into the fountain. Instead I walked back to my starting mark. The music floated softly from the portabl
Waiting. For heartbreak. For regret. For grief. Nothing came. Only relief. And for the first time since his name had appeared on my screen... I smiled. ──━⊰ 𓆙 ⊱━── The office floor hummed around me. Monitors glowed from every direction. Lines of code scrolled endlessly across screens. Pho
Raphael ━━ ⛓ ━━ Six monitors cast a cold blue glow across the room. Lines of code crawled across two screens. Financial records occupied another. Security feeds filled a fourth. The remaining monitors displayed data I had been collecting for the last three hours. My fingers moved across the key
DISCLAIMER This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is purely coincidental and unintentional. This book, including all i







