LOGIN"No," he looked directly at me, a mocking expression on his face, "But I don't need forever. I need enough time." "For what?" "For Raphael." My stomach dropped to my feet. Leone smiled, "The moment his feet touch Philadelphia soil, we take him." "No," the word came out before I could stop it,
Leone glanced at him. Dad turned his phone's screen toward Leone, "Tell me it doesn't mean what I..." Leone's eyes moved over the message and the color drained from his face. I watched the change happen. His eyes moved across the screen again. His mouth tightened, "The Council. They've called a
"You were always going to inherit everything," he said, "You and Gio Jr. Fifty-fifty. The Syndicate. The businesses. The territory. Every alliance and every piece of power I've built. And the organ trade." "You wanted me to run this." "Yes." I stared at him as if I were seeing a stranger, "After
Dad's shoulders sank slightly. He closed his eyes for a moment, then let out a slow breath, "Yes," he said quietly. "Unfortunately... it was all a lie." There was remorse in his eyes, but it wasn't for the lives he'd destroyed. It was for the fact that his precious research had failed. The anger c
My throat tightened, "So this was your care?" I gestured around the room, "This?" "I wanted you to have every advantage." "Are you serious?" I looked at the broken phone in my hand, "You call this an advantage?" "I wanted you to be better prepared than I was." I stared at him in disbelief, "You
Gianna ━⊰ ❦ ⊱━ I lunged for my phone again, "Give it to me!" Leone moved it out of reach. I grabbed his sleeve with both hands and pulled, "Leone, give me my fucking phone!" He didn't answer, his eyes were still on the screen, on Raphael's messages, on the hundreds of photographs I had sent. M
Gianna ━⊰ ❦ ⊱━ I tugged at the scrap of black lace riding up my hip. This outfit wasn’t clothes, it was a prayer. A tiny, see-through prayer. I caught my reflection in the cracked dressing room mirror and barely recognized the girl staring back. The silver wig was cold and synthetic against my
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
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
"You're even hotter than they said." "Please!" I sobbed, my face half-buried in the leaves, "Please, let me go! I didn't know... I didn't agree to this!" I tried to crawl forward, my fingers clawing at the mud, but he just laughed. It was a dark, mean sound. He grabbed the back of my black top and







