MasukEver since Nero expressed his concerns regarding Lily’s behavior, I had been avoiding her. I didn’t have it in me to lie to her face or pretend my husband wasn’t looking into her. I felt guilty that she was helping plan my wedding.Now that my fashion line was taking off, Nero was thriving, Viktor was getting cornered, and everything was in place, I wanted to marry the man of my dreams. While Lily and I didn’t meet in person, we still talked on the phone.She helped me pick out flowers, a venue, and hire a DJ. I knew I was taking advantage of her when I already suspected her, but suddenly telling her not to help me would only make everything look suspicious.“Do you think she’s suspicious?” I asked Luca for the fifth time since Nero told me his concerns. He and I started making sure we spoke at least once every two days. Sometimes we spoke every day over the phone."No, and your fiancé is paranoid. Lily acts weird from time to time, but she was your age when our parents died. Her only
At first, we thought the Sovereign justice was giving us an allowance of hours, but then days passed, and Nero’s whole world didn’t implode. The suspense of knowing why people who specialized in taking down unholy, powerful men—all of them—didn’t seize the opportunity to do it to Nero was greater than ever.Nero thought they were waiting to get his hopes up and then crush them when he thought he was safe. However, according to everything Luca has said about them, they didn’t seem like the kind to go back on their word.It was on the third day that they sent a text to Nero telling him that he was in the clear at the moment, and that they still had evidence against him, and they were going to come and collect their debt one day.They also said they would make him pay for not following their orders and surrendering when they had asked him to.Nero was, of course, mad at this because he didn’t like something like that hanging over his head for the foreseeable future. But he was happy the
The deadline was near, and Emma Beck was dead. The news hit the news a few hours after we discovered her existence. It was obvious someone knew we were looking for her and decided to shut her up for good.We didn’t know what to do, and we only had two hours left. Luca was trying for the hundredth time to hack into the first video message Nero received, but it was proving to be an impossible task.We didn’t have the luxury of sitting around doing nothing because we didn’t know Nero’s fate. All of us, minus Dominic and Lily, convened in the living room of Nero’s house. Everyone was racking their brain for a plan.Nero was drinking his whiskey as he held me close to his chest.“Maybe we should give them what they want—” I started to say.“No. I will not be a pawn in someone’s games. Today it’s the demand, and tomorrow, they take so much more. I’d rather crash and burn than allow people to control the DeLuca family.” Nero said.Tally was standing in a corner, sipping her wine as she glanc
When Nero said he was preparing a special night for both of us, I didn’t expect the show that I got. Nero took me to the freaking Met Gala. He wanted to show me that everything was possible and my work would end up there someday.He technically didn’t take me to the Met Gala. He took me inside the fashion wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was full of iconic, visually rich, and storytelling pieces of fashion.He curated a private viewing pulled from the archives just for me, and he could do this because he was a major donor for the institute. There were many pieces there for me to see, like the Charles James Ball gown from 1953, the Dior Bar Suit from 1947, the Alexander McQueen Avant-Garde piece, the Valentino Red Evening Gown, the Chanel Haute Couture suit, and many others. I was in awe as he led me through for me to see all the pieces I had only ever seen in pictures. The moment was more than special for me. Nero had just made my dreams come true. I never thought I would
Within an hour of launching the website and my clothing brand, 80% of my clothes sold out. Emily and I squealed in joy and hugged each other. It was our combined effort that made us make masterpieces.People were praising the clothes. They were a combination of business and casual. Emily brought her amazing casual clothing expertise, and I brought my formal clothing expertise.We merged ideas and came up with a line of unique office wear that was fun and fashionable. It made people feel confident, and the clothes could also be worn to a semi-casual occasion.It had been more of a success than we imagined. Maybe it was all the publicity from the trial with Viktor. All I knew was that all that publicity wouldn’t have helped if Emily and I hadn’t made amazing clothes.The moment felt surreal. I had always dreamt of seeing people wear my clothes on the runway. I wasn’t there yet, but I wouldn’t stop until I achieved my dreams.Emily and I popped champagne together and celebrated our wins
Nero and I hadn’t spoken since he revealed what he did to Dante. I had remained silent and allowed him to walk out and disappear for the rest of the night. I hadn’t seen him the next morning, and it was the afternoon.I was busy making calls to my publicist and the event planner for the day my fashion line would drop, so I was busy. That didn’t mean I didn’t think about Nero every second of it.I wasn’t mad at him for what he had done because all he had known all his life was violence, but at the same time, I felt sorry for Dante. I wondered how he was doing. I’d tried calling him, but his line was out of service.Of course, he had changed his number. Nero did that every few weeks as well.The other people on my mind were Tally and Lily. Tally was obviously hiding something, judging by how defensive she was, and she claimed Lily was hiding something too. I wanted to dismiss these claims as false, but I couldn’t deny how weird she was acting as well.She was always reasonable and under
“We need to talk about what Lorenzo knows and how he knows what he knows,” Nico said in the family meeting. We had a family meeting every single time something went wrong in the family. Like how Lorenzo knew we were looking for Eric Bale. That information was supposed to be known by the people in t
“Do you see this? This is the allure of bondage. If I gag you, I can take you out of this bedroom and fuck you on the stairs, in the living room, in the kitchen, in the garage, and outside, and there is nothing you can do to stop me.”“And you would let me because you trust me more than anything. I
“I would like to talk to you without this man looming over us,” Lorenzo said without addressing Nico.Nico laughed, like he wanted to rile Lorenzo up. It was working based on the angry vein protruding from his forehead. It was almost funny to see how little it took for Lorenzo to get angry.“You wi
We spent the next day in each other’s arms, having endless sex and laughing. We barely came out of the bedroom. The only time we came out was when Nero was making me lunch and dinner.He set up a cute little dinner in the garden with flowers that he picked out himself and served me like I was a pri







