تسجيل الدخولCellie’s povLa Perle Noire was the type of restaurant you could only dream of visiting. Most people live their entire life not knowing what it’s like to see the inside of the Victorian style building.But here I was, sitting in a limo parked right in front of the magnificent place. My head spun to Demetrio. “Are we really going to have dinner here?”His smile was warm and amused. “Yes, bambina.”“Oh my God!” I gasped aloud, whirling back to the window.Demetrio got out and opened my side of the door. I took his proffered hand and stepped out onto the pebbled stoned path excitedly, suppressing the squeal in my throat.The opulent double doors with gold engravings opened up the second we got to it and my jaw dropped as we stepped onto the blood red carpeting.The place was a literal castle– the cream and gold wall paneling were adorned with endless rows of Renaissance paintings that somehow didn’t end up looking garish.Two glimmering giant chandeliers hung from a mediumly high ceiling
Cellie’s povThe following week went in a blur. No bomb scare, no reports of mangled bodies… the whole toxic mafia rivalry shebang. Life was back to normal, for now that is.Brushing my hair at my vanity mirror, I watched my reflection. I looked… fine. I no longer had dark circles from the stress of worrying and my chapped lips were back to being moisturized. I side eyed Demetrio’s distant reflection in the mirror as he got dressed. He, too, was losing the haunted look that day had left him with.We were back to our ordinary lives. The only difference now was that Rico’s has been temporarily closed. And I’d sweet talked–or in this case, sweet fucked–Demetrio into setting up Diana and the rest of the waitresses that didn’t flee for the hills, in his other establishments. The fairly legal ones of course.Diana now works as a waitress in Salato’s and she was in love with the place. Even has a little thing going on for the sous chef.The whole point was, things had gone back to its oriGeo
Demetrio’s povMake a sound in the east, then strike in the west.While I’d wrongly predicted what west Alexei Mikhalov was referring to, the bastard had done exactly what he’d so subtly hinted at. Faking a bomb in my bar and keeping me occupied with stressing about Cellie while he killed off my business partner and blew off his factory containing billions worth of drugs.A factory that’d just been newly repaired after the fire attack it suffered in the same hands of Alexei fucking Mikhalov.“This is one fucking mess.” Dominic commented near me. He was probably still glowering at the TV like it was the pakhan himself.He was right though, it was indeed a fucking mess. I’d just lost a valued dealer and part of my cargo had been torched up, again.But a huge part of me was relieved that it was Fernando Cruz and not Cellie. I felt sorry for his innocent family but not sorry enough to be sad that it had been them instead.I remembered how I’d felt when I was been certain the Russian basta
Cellie’s povIt’s been three hours. One hundred and eighty minutes of waiting for a safe Demetrio to show up and ease me out of my state of anxiety.I paced Demetrio’s large living room, taking laps around the room. I gnawed at my cuticles, I stayed counting. The smart TV droned somewhere behind the ticking of numbers in my head.For three fucking hours, this was all I’ve been doing.I was losing my fucking mind.“We have to call him.” I whirled around to a tired Nino. Sergio had taken the other guys to keep watch in other areas.Nino puffed a heavy breath. “For the sixth time, no. He’s obviously going to be too busy to pick up.”His words would have gone completely ignored by me if it wasn’t his phone I’d been begging to use. I’d forgotten mine back at the whorehouse, Demetrio had somehow evicted it from my pocket during our desperate scramble to get him inside me. All of that, yet we hadn’t gotten what we wanted.And now I didn’t even know if he was alive or not. I gulped down a lum
Double povCellieFear splintered through my veins as I unconsciously got up from the bed. My mind was foggy and confused. “Demetrio, what is it?”Demetrio dragged me to him, deftly fixing my halter in a matter of seconds then dropped to pick up my discarded panties. He doesn’t answer my question.I could hear noises traveling through the slightly open door of the soundproof room. Noise that sounded nothing like pleasure.“Demetrio?” I prodded, staring down at him as he hooked my legs into the thong and wrenched it up. “What the hell is going on?”Demetrio spared me an irritated look of impatience. A darkness brewing in his eyes. I hadn’t seen him like this since the shootout at Georgiana’s wedding. It worried the fuck out of me.He shot to his feet, gripped my shoulders and steered me out of the room. Dominic was waiting outside with a few other men, all of them having the same dark expression Demetrio had and they were all armed.Something cold and unsettling washed over me.Shouts
Cellie’s pov“What’s the secret?” Diana asked as we settled in the room Demetrio had renovated into a mini staff lounge. A project he admitted he was only propelled to do after noticing I and Diana sat on upside down crates in the supply room during our lunch break.“What secret?” I asked, watching as Diana bit into the homemade churros I’d made this morning after breakfast with Demetrio. Even though he had practiCellie walked me all through the process.I’d been learning how to cook from him and so far, it’s been an uneventful journey and that’s only because we usually forget the cooking and jump each other halfway.I’d tried to be serious one time and put my foot down by confessing that I felt bad that he and Salma, his part time cook, did all the cooking while I just lazed around the house like a bum.His response was, “You feed me just fine, bambina.” And I hadn’t missed the way his eyes had roved up and down my body.I’d moved in for a kiss and the rest was history.That was how







