This chapter is unedited and I practically had to rush it between breaks. Please, ignore the errors, I’ll take time to fix it later. Xoxo 😘
Chapter 12⟿❂⟾Sylvia⟿❂⟾I fucking hate change. No matter how good it is.Three days since we moved, three days since Nikolai disappeared from my room like he’d never existed. Three days, and he was now just a ghost, a shadow haunting the corners of my thoughts. I barely knew him, hell, I didn’t know him, but somehow my life now practically revolved around him. He was in these walls, his hands were on me when I shut my eyes, and his lips were in my ears when I listened just enough, saying the dirtiest things. And that was really terrible, because I was cheating. On God, on my faith, and on my body. “Your body is the temple of God.” I felt so seen that sometimes I just cringe.It was that feeling of someone watching you. When your skin prickles, and the back of your neck feels cold, but no one’s there. Yeah, that. Only this time, I swear I could feel eyes on me—no matter how empty the space was.Maybe I should’ve expected it. I mean, you’d know that men like him don’t linger and ce
Chapter 13 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ I needed something to do. So I came downstairs for coffee—something strong to burn the mess in my head. But as soon as I walked into the parlour, I realized I wasn’t alone. Hand on my gun, I quietly made my way to the sitting room. Sure enough, there they were. Manuel and the rest of the guys were sprawled out lazily. Feet up, vodka bottles scattered, cigarette smoke curling toward the ceiling in lazy spirals. Cards lay spread across the table, a game in progress, though from the looks of it, they were just killing time the only way they knew how. None of us wanted to be here, but no one was leaving unless I said so. I took a slow sip of my coffee, adjusted the gun at my waist, then cleared my throat. They all snapped their heads toward me. Then, almost by some unspoken command, they shot to their feet like schoolboys caught screwing around in class. The last time I caught them playing cards, Stacy had been in the mix—Vincenzo’s vixen, t
Chapter 14 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ I hate the smell of new wood. Or new shit in general—except pussy. I leaned against the bar in the half-finished club, too tired to even reach for a drink. For the last week, I’d been inhaling fresh wood, sawdust, and lingering cigar smoke so much that I made a mental note to book an appointment with the family doctor to check if my lungs were still intact. We were setting up a base here in Albany, something solid. Permanent. A place to move product, handle meetings, and make money. If I was going to be stuck in this city for the next few months, I needed an actual reason—besides the more obvious one: pussy. The place wasn’t ready yet—far from it. No neon lights, no polished floors, and it still smelled like a fucking lumberyard. Another thing to handle. “Nacho,” I called out, flicking a glance at the broad-shouldered man standing near the entrance. “Get that guy to fix the damn stench of this place.” “Boss?” Nacho was our newly recruited
Chapter 15 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ “Can you just hold still for a second, sweetie?” I cooed in a very soft voice. I moved over and knelt beside a squirming little boy, his wide eyes full of panic. “It’s just for a minute.” “I don’t want it, Sylvia!” he whined, kicking his legs in protest. I sighed, then looked up at Sister Anne, who was standing a few feet away, watching me with a knowing expression. “How do you make it look so easy with them?” She chuckled, then pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s all about distraction. Kids don’t like needles, but they love sweets.” I raised an eyebrow. “Sweets? Are you bribing them with candy now?” Sister Anne winked. “If it works, I don’t see the problem. What do you think?” The little boy gave me a frantic look, still clutching his arm tightly. “Please, no vaccine!” “Alright, alright,” I let out a breath, then reached into my pocket and pulled out a lollipop, the colorful wrapper caught the light—and the boy’s eyes, apparently. I unw
Chapter 16 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ The soft hum of the heater filled the bathroom, but the chill still clung to my skin like a second layer. I rubbed my arms, standing in front of the big mirror nailed to the wall, and gave myself a long, hard look. My gaze landed on the woman staring back at me. I blinked. She blinked. I tilted my head. She did the same. But something felt… wrong. Off. Like the person in the glass was someone I was meeting for the first time. My fingers rose, brushing my cheek, tracing the hollow beneath my eyes, the curve of my lips. “Who the hell are you?” I whispered to the reflection. Silence. The question echoed inside me, hollow and unanswered. My skin felt too tight, my body unfamiliar. It was absurd—I was me. But… who was me? I pressed my palm against the cold glass, half-expecting it to ripple like water. “How do I not know you?” I said softly. The harder I tried to remember myself—myself—the more the memories slipped like sand through my fingers. There wa
Hey everyone, I’m so sorry for the delayed updates. Unfortunately, my health didn’t improve as expected, and I’ve been advised to take some time off to rest and finish my medications. (It’s just all the stress catching up, I’ll be up in no time.) I truly appreciate your patience and understanding. The moment I’m back on my feet, I’ll be jumping straight behind my keyboard! I know, I miss Nikolai and Sylvia as well. 🥺 Thank you for sticking with me and for understanding. Take care of yourselves too. xoxo 💋
Chapter 17 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ “Teach me how to sin?” The words felt strange on my tongue, like reciting a verse that wasn’t in the Bible. “I’m a nun.” I even made the sign of the cross for good measure. But then—oh, Lord forgive me—my gaze traitorously dropped to his lips. “You’re a nun in the making.” Nikolai’s grin was pure wickedness, I could have sworn that was the same kind of smirk that got Eve into trouble. “I could show you that there are much better things in this life than depriving that sweet pu—” “You will not blaspheme in my presence, Nikolai!” I cut him off, nearly making the sign of the cross again just to be safe. He had the audacity to roll his eyes. “Alright, Sister.” The way he said it made me feel like I’d just scolded a schoolboy, but then his gaze dragged down, first to my bare shoulders, then lower, to the towel I was clutching like a lifeline. A sinful smirk touched his lips. “I could take you to the promised land in those novels you sneak under
Chapter 18 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ There’s something fundamentally wrong with this man. I started to push him away because my senses were slowly coming back and my cheeks were doing a good job betraying my embarrassment when my towel chose that exact moment to betray me—like Eve's apple, tempting and treacherous. But before it could complete its sinful descent, Nikolai's hand shot out, catching it just below my cleavage. My breath hitched when his knuckles involuntarily brushed against the very sensitive, hardened flesh of my nipples. "You're not a gentleman," I pointed out, just to distract him from the fact that his fingers made my pulse skip like a guilty altar boy. He frowned, amusement dancing in his dark eyes. "How'd you figure that out? Because I'm a Made Man?" Somehow, even through my mortification and the fact that I was one slip of cotton away from giving him an anatomy lesson that definitely wasn't in the Bible, I laughed. "You're in a shelter, snuck into a nun's room, a
Chapter 85⟿❂⟾Nikolai⟿❂⟾I could feel Sylvia's eyes burning into my back as I left the medical suite, but there was no time for further arguments. The situation had escalated beyond what I'd anticipated, and so had my headache.I pulled out my phone and dialed Viktor’s number as soon as I entered my study and closed the door behind me.He answered on the first ring. "I heard there were complications.""Word travels fast," I remarked dryly, pouring myself a glass of whiskey. It was too early for a drink, but fuck it. "The girl nearly died.""Is that why you're calling at four in the morning?""No." I took a sip and let the burn steady my thoughts against the better judgment of my headache. "I need you to bring Maria over."A long pause. "Over there, like there?”“Yes.” I replied. “Here.”“Are you being serious?""What do you think?” I scoffed."What does this have to do with the girl?" Viktor's voice was cautious, probing."Everything." I moved to the window and distracted myself by
Chapter 84 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ The shrill ring of my phone yanked me from a dreamless sleep. Fuck. "What is it?" I hissed, voice rough with sleep as I fumbled for the device on the nightstand. Beside me, Sylvia stirred but didn't wake. "Thank God you’re up." Luigi's voice was tight with barely controlled panic, something I barely heard from the unflappable man. I was instantly alert, sliding from the bed and moving to the window, I kept my voice low. "I thought I told you not to disturb me until—" "It's the girl," he cut me off. "She's convulsing. The doctors can't stabilize her." Every trace of slumber fell off my eyes. "What the hell happened? Kade said she had no serious complications." "They missed something. Cerebral edema, they're saying now. Pressure building in her skull." "Where is she?" I demanded, already pulling on yesterday's pants. "Medical suite, east wing. Dr. Weiss says if we don't get her to a hospital—" "No hospitals," I snapped. "Too exposed. Kaine will
Chapter 83⟿❂⟾Sylvia⟿❂⟾Nikolai rewarded me by thrusting forward in one powerful stroke, filling me completely to the hilt. I cried out, both in blissful pain and pleasure, then braced myself against the tiles as he pulled out and thrusted in again. “Oh, God—it hurts so fucking…!”His response was to push my head down and jut my hip up to meet the next thrust, then he set a punishing rhythm, each thrust pushing me slightly up the wall before his grip on my hips pulled me back to meet the next one."You feel so good," he growled, one hand slid around to massage my breast, pinching the nipple just hard enough to make me gasp. "So fucking tight."That was accompanied by a single slap to my ass cheeks. Then he squeezed roughly. Three more slaps followed. Rest assured his palm would be marked there, but the vibration. Fuck—the sensation made me want to combust."You deserve this," he hissed. “You sound so good, so fucking good, Sister."His words, crude as they were, only heightened m
Chapter 82⟿❂⟾Sylvia⟿❂⟾“Oh—fuck!”My back arched off the bed as pleasure shot through me. My hands fisted in the sheets, then in his hair, unsure whether to pull him closer or push him away from the overwhelming sensation.Nikolai groaned against me, the vibration adding another layer to the pleasure building low in my abdomen. His hands gripped my thighs to hold them apart as he worked me with his mouth, alternating between broad strokes of his tongue and focused attention to the spot that made me see stars."Nikolai, please," I gasped, not even sure what I was begging for.He seemed to understand, though. He slipped one finger inside me, then another, curling them upward as his mouth continued its relentless attention. The dual sensation was too much—I shattered with a cry, my thighs closing involuntarily around his fingers as waves of pleasure exploded my senses.Before I could fully recover, Nikolai was moving up my body, shedding his underwear as he went. "I need to be inside
Chapter 81⟿❂⟾Sylvia⟿❂⟾I'd been sitting on the same plush sofa for over three hours, Fur's heavy head resting on my lap as I absently stroked behind his ears. The dog had been my only constant companion since we returned from the clinic.Luigi had barely spoken two words to me before disappearing into his makeshift workstation, hunched over his laptop with such intense focus that I hadn't dared interrupt. Whatever ‘a lot’ entailed had transformed the normally composed man into a bundle of tense energy.And Nikolai... he hadn't come home at all. "He said he'd be back yesterday," I whispered to Fur, who looked up at me with soulful eyes. "What do you think happened?"The dog whined softly, like he understood my concern.My arm still ached dully where the implant had been inserted, a small reality check to how thoroughly I'd committed to this new life. I'd chosen long-term contraception because I believed in a long-term future with Nikolai. The irony of that. Fur’s head suddenly l
Chapter 80⟿❂⟾Nikolai⟿❂⟾Three seconds of freefall was all she had left. Three seconds between life and death.I lunged forward, firing twice more as I did. That was the only way to leave without taking a shot myself, taking down the biggest threat. One bullet caught the pockmarked bastard in the throat, the other missing Kaine as he scrambled for cover. The pockmarked man collapsed, gurgling blood onto the concrete floor.But I wasn't focused on him. I rushed to the window, my mind calculating possibilities in cold, rapid-fire succession. "Oren!" I roared into my comm. "South side! Deploy the net! NOW!"I'd planned for this. Not specifically this, but something like it. When you've been in this business as long as I have, you learn to anticipate the worst-case scenarios.Fifteen floors. Terminal velocity in approximately 3 seconds.From the roof of the building across the street, four of my men were already activating the pneumatic launchers. The high-tension net shot outward from
Chapter 79⟿❂⟾Sylvia⟿❂⟾For some reason, I was very nervous today. Luigi had driven me here in relative silence, his eyes occasionally flicking to mine in the rearview mirror with an expression I couldn't quite read. Concern? Fear? Whatever it was, he kept it to himself."I'll wait outside," Luigi said as we approached the entrance to the women's health clinic. "Nikolai instructed me to stay close, but..." he trailed off, clearly uncomfortable with the nature of my appointment."It's fine," I assured him. "I shouldn't be long."The waiting room was half-full, women of various ages flipping through outdated magazines or staring at their phones. I approached the reception desk and gave my name in a low voice."Ah, yes, Miss Sylvia," the receptionist said, typing something into her computer. "First time visit for contraceptive consultation, correct?"I nodded, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. This whole situation was weirdly embarrassing—discussing birth control options when I was supp
Trigger Warning⚠️ Chapter 78⟿❂⟾Nikolai⟿❂⟾Inside the building was a ghost town of half-demolished office spaces. Exposed wiring hung from the ceiling like dead vines. The floor was littered with construction debris, and plastic sheeting waved gently in the air from the building's struggling ventilation system.I moved silently up the stairs, with the tactical gear Russel provided making me practically invisible. The signal jammer was active in my pocket, blocking any remote detonations within range. My earpiece remained silent. I'd instructed Oren and his team to maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary.According to thermal imaging, there should have been twelve bodies on this floor. So far, I'd counted none.Of course, I wasn’t expecting them to be completely stupid and let everything go according to my plan, so I knew something was off. The silence was too complete, the emptiness too perfect.I rounded a corner into what had once been a conference room and froze.A
Chapter 77 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ The kid looked up, and her eyes widened at the sight of me. There was surprise there, certainly, but not the relief I would expect from a child who had called me in terror just hours before. "Mr. Gianni?" she said, her voice small but steady. I studied her carefully. No visible signs of distress or injury. Her hair was neatly braided, her clothes clean. She looked exactly like a child who had been sitting quietly, reading. "Hello, Maeve," I said gently. "How are you?" She glanced at Mother Beatrice, then back to me. "I'm fine. Just doing my readings." "She has quite a bit of scripture to review," Mother Beatrice interjected. "Part of her penance." I crouched down to Maeve's eye level. "I got a call from you this morning. You sounded frightened." The girl's brow furrowed in what appeared to be genuine confusion. "I didn't call you, Mr. Gianni." "You can talk to me, Kid. Alright?" She shook her head. "We're not allowed phones here." I reached in