MasukShe watched as his face pulled instantly into silent anger. At the thought of the possibility of him not being able to lay his hands on her. Muscles worked in his jaw .āNothing is getting past me this time, dove.ā He murmured. āAnd no one in my way would be spared either. If she doesnāt take the bait, I will find her myself. And I will gut her. I donāt care if she can help us pull Rafael out. I am so killing that bitch.āAria swallowed against the sheer intensity of his words and the sourness in it. Her gaze drifted to the ceiling. She turned it over in her mindāMariaās voice at breakfast, her warm hands in Lianaās hair.She couldnāt believe she blindly trusted that.āLucian.ā She returned her gaze to him.He finally turned to look at her.āIām sorry about Vittoria.ā She held his gaze. āI didnāt know her. But I know what she did, how she fought to keep Liana breathing . And I know that youāā Her throat moved silently, carefully choosing her words.āI know youāve been carrying tha
(Later that night.)Aria sat on the edge of Lianaās small bed and waited, her hand moving in slow circles on the childās back, sheād been fighting sleep for twenty minutes.Her eyes kept cracking open, checking each time, that Aria was still there, and each time Aria would press her lips together in a small smile and stay still.Hoping her eyes would fall shut again.The fourth time they didnāt reopen. Aria stayed for another minute, her hand still moving, before she carefully lifted it and rose from the bed. She crossed to the door without making a sound and pulled it shut behind her.Her eyes squeezed shut in a small exhale. Sister Maria would have been the one to do this, and Liana, despite her age had managed to notice something was off. Thatās why tonight was different.Why she couldnāt sleep.Sheād asked about Sister Maria but Aria wasnāt able to give her a tangible excuse.She was a child after all, would she understand that her long time nanny, that she trusted, was the one wh
"We both missed it." Domenico's voice scraped out of him roughly, like the words caught on the way. He wasn't looking at Lucian when he said it. He was looking at the table, at the flat of his own hands on it, the split knuckles. āSo we get to carry all of that together.ā Ariaās gaze dropped to her feet for a split second. This was it, what Lucian was so sure of. The brother hood they had that couldnāt be broken. She lifted her head to look at him, his eyes had changed, they held so much rage, so much that he was starting to look like Domenico and she couldnāt even blame him for it. Sister Maria?? Who would have thought. She still couldnāt wrap her head around it, but even worse she couldnāt figure out why she would hurt them like that. The room was silent for a moment⦠Then Lucian straightened. He pulled his shoulders back and his voice came back sharper nowābecause there was nowhere left for the grief to go except into action. "I guess now I have to bury that traitorous cu
The room stilled like everyoneās breath had been sucked out all at once. Domenicoās eyes didnāt leave his brother. Lucian hadnāt made a single move, even his expression refused to change. Sister Paula did the holy trinity on herself before covering her mouth with her rosary hand. Ariaās voice shattered the stillness with a sharp gasp, like air had been knocked out from between her ribs. Lucianās hands pressed flatly on the table, both palms, fingers spread wide and they dug into the wood. āSheās been the one feeding Rafael our movements.ā Domenico continued, his voice still the same. It was unusual for him because normally heād be blinded by rage, and his voice would be through the roof. āOur schedules, our menās rotations andāā He paused, swallowing hard like the next words might cost him something. āAnd the night Vittoria died. She knew weād both be out of the house. She sent the tip about the northern port. She made sureāā He gazed down to control his voice, as they were startin
āYouāve been at this for twenty minutes.ā Ariaās voice came from the doorway behind him. Her gaze raked over him cautiously, with her shoulder rested against the frame. Lucianās hands were buried in his pockets, his shirt still from last night, with two open buttons at the collar. His footsteps echoed silently as he crossed the villaās main roomāback and forth across the long stretch of old stone floor. Aria stepped inside fully. She had changed into a loose shirt tucked at the waist, and her hair falling down her shoulders but her eyes looked like she hadnāt closed them all night. She stood just few steps from him, her arms folded under her breasts. āLucian.ā She exhaled through her nose, already getting agitated by his repeated movements. Aria had thought all she had to worry about were his words, his jealousy that he couldnāt openly admit. How sheād live not knowing what she was to him. But the look on his face suggested that there were much bigger things to deal with than her e
āAnd so the ladybird spread her wings for the very last timeāā Lucianās voice echoed softly through the low light of the room, one ankle crossed over his knee and a small book open against his thigh.His collar sat open at the throat, āShe flew so high the whole world fell small beneath her, and no one, not ever again, could tell her where to land.āHe turned the page. Liana hadnāt closed her eyes. She lay flat on her back with her hands folded on top of the blanket, and her gaze fixed somewhere on the ceiling above her as she fought sleep while losing silently.āThe lady bird looked down at all the world below her,ā He continued, āAnd thoughtāat last. Iām finally free.āāUncle.āLucianās gaze were still set on the book. āMm.āāDo you think we could ever be free?ā She said thoughtfully. āLike the ladybird.āLucian finally lifted his head, his thumb held the page where it was. His eyes came up slowly from the book and rested on her. Her brows furrowed slightly in curiosity, her lips p
āNext time, I want your mouth here. And I want your eyes on mine when you do it.ā He huffed, Laceās tongue darted out, wetting her lips, and then she leaned forward, her mouth closed around Lucianās cock. Ariaās breath caught, her body betrayed her as a core throbbed. She huffed slight, tugging s
The next morning Lucian could barely keep his eyes shut. All through the night, he had been pacing around the room, stealing glances at Aria sprawled across his bed with no sense of the danger ahead.What could he do with her? What was he even doing with her? He had Camilla now, he could just end
In a fluid, powerful motion, he pulled his finger out and straightened up. He fumbled with his belt, unzipping nonchalantly. He shoved his trousers and boxers down just enough, and his cock sprang free, already leaking at the tip.Lucian didnāt give her time to look, to think. His hands went to her
She opened her mouth."Iā¦āThe word broke before it formed. She tried again. "I wantā¦āHer gaze moved before she could stop it. Back to Camilla. Back to the pillar, the baby, the soft obsessive way her sister's mouth moved against the child's forehead.Something tightened at the sight, and she tore







