INICIAR SESIÓNVITO:Just as I thought, Dr. Alex was dirty. I looked over at Enzo."Enzo," I muttered, my voice cutting through the quiet room. "The plate number. The one I managed to scratch down before the warehouse doors slammed. I need you to run it right now. Look it up, and find out exactly whose name is on that registration."Before Enzo could even pull out his device to start the trace, the wooden door burst open with a loud, aggressive bang. Rico walked into the room, his clothes slightly disheveled and his breathing ragged, as if he had just run up the entire flight.He stopped dead in his tracks, looking directly at me, sitting up in the bed wrapped in white bandages.Rico balled his fists so tightly, his jaw clenching with pure frustration. "Boss," he rasped, his voice thick with guilt. "I am so sorry. I apologize with everything I have. I wasn't here when the ambush went down. Miss Ortensia... she is not here right now because I was late. If I had just been a few minutes faster, I coul
VITO:I opened my eyes, blinking hard against the stinging, aggressive glare of bulb directly above me. As the blurry shapes in the room began to settle, Dr. Alex’s face came into focus right above my bedside. She was smiling down at me, that perfectly calm smile that usually meant absolutely nothing good was about to follow."Alex," I croaked. My throat felt like it was coated in thick layer of dry sand, and my vocal cords scraped together painfully.Then, the fog in my brain cleared all at once, and the memories hit me. The flashing muzzle lights. The wet, hot pooling of blood. Ortensia’s desperate screams echoing through the dark warehouse right before the doors slammed shut. I looked up at the doctor, my chest heaving as pure adrenaline flooded my system."Alex... You did this?"Her smile faltered for a fraction of a second. How can she make me sleep for long knowing Ortensia was in danger?She adjusted the IV drip line connected to the back of my hand. "I had to, Vito. You were l
ORTENSIA How dare he say he is not my enemy when it seems like he is the exact definition of one?The words echoed like a joke in my mind as the heavy door clicked shut behind him. He had just orchestrated an ambush, left the man I belonged to bleeding out on a restaurant floor, dragged me across the city, and casually executed a woman right in front of me. Yet, he wanted me to believe he was my protector.Numbly, I moved toward the frosted glass door on the left side of the room. Every single step felt like I was walking through thick mud. I entered the bathroom, my breath catching at the luxury of the space, but I couldn't care less about the marble or the gold fixtures. I turned on the water, watching it steam, and began the agonizing process of peeling off my clothes.Bathing was pure torture. I had to keep my right arm elevated, cradling it against my torso while using my left hand to wash away the dirt, the sweat of my terror, and the dark, dried smears of Vito's blood. Seeing
The world seemed to tilt violently on its axis, spinning out of control until the room became a blur of walls and terrifying realities. My breathing stuttered, catching like broken shards of glass in my throat as I stared at the man standing in the doorway. The silence that followed his words was suffocating.It pressed down on my chest, making it completely impossible to draw a full breath of air into my lungs.I must have seen wrong. Or maybe I had heard wrong. The trauma of the ambush at the restaurant, the blinding pain radiating from my arm, and the gut-wrenching terror of watching Vito collapse had finally driven me insane.My mind had to be playing tricks on me. It was twisting his voice, distorting the words because my psyche was fracturing under the weight of too much grief and horror. It had to be a hallucination. There was simply no other logical explanation.Mr. Valentino.He had just used a word that did not belong to me. A word that completely shattered the foundation of
ORTENSIA I wept. The tears were hot, thick, and unending, blurring my vision until the entire interior of the moving car became nothing but a chaotic smear of passing streetlights and dark, looming shadows.Everything hurt. Every single inch of my body was trembling with a terrifying mix of physical shock and pure fear. The adrenaline that had flooded my system during the ambush was finally starting to recede, leaving behind a raw, localized agony in my arm that made it completely impossible to draw a full breath.I had tried to fight them. When they first threw me into the back seat of the vehicle, I had reacted on pure survival instinct. I screamed until my throat burned, kicked wildly at the seats, and clawed fiercely at the leather, absolutely refusing to just sit there and go quietly with whoever these people were.But my resistance didn't save me, it only made them angry. One of the captors… a woman with cold, dead eyes turned around from the front passenger seat and slapped me
VITO“No, doll.” The words came out as a harsh, ragged whisper, tearing at the back of my throat.The silence that followed the gunfire was suffocating. My heart hammered against my ribs. There was absolutely no way I was going to leave her. Not now, not ever. She was everything, and the thought of her in their hands sent a wave of pure terror through my veins.I tried to lift myself off the debris-covered floor, but my body refused to cooperate. A sudden, blinding fire flared up in the three distinct gunshots places. My leg buckled, my arm throbbed with a sickening numbness, and a deep, tearing ache in my side told me exactly where the third piece of bullet had found its home.Three fucking bullets.They had hit me three times, and the damp, hot sensation soaking through my ruined suit jacket confirmed that I was losing blood fast.I forced my eyes to focus, blinking away the dark spots dancing across my vision. I looked around the wreckage of the dining room, looking for my security
Vito walked back to the room and pushed the door open, expecting to find Ortensia where he had left her. The room was quiet, but something felt off. His eyes scanned quickly, taking in the bed, the floor, and every corner, yet she was nowhere to be seen. Confusion tightened in his chest. Where had
Otensia blinked her eyes open and tried to sit upright. Before she could, Vito’s strong, firm hands gripped her and forced her back down. A small groan escaped her lips as pain shot through her legs, burning beneath her feet. Her toes curled on instinct, but even that small movement made it worse.
Who wouldn’t know Saskia Venturi? Ortensia certainly did… which woman wouldn’t? Saskia was a fashion icon of Europe, the creative force and owner behind Venturi Casa. Every woman admired her, every magazine, every social event, and every runway whispered Saskia Venturi's name.Makeup, couture, perf
Ortensia was already crying inside, she squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see what was happening... three men against Vito. Then, the car door swung open and she screamed, “Please! Please don’t take me!”“Doll… it’s okay. It’s me,” Vito said softly, his voice grounding her like an anchor in a







