× WARNING! ×× GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW NOT INTENDED FOR YOUNG READERS ×◇ KEL ◇It should be all over now. This eventful night dragged on long enough. My tolerance for all this mafia bullcrap was running out. Pretty much stretched to its limits.Pure exhaustion consumed me, depleting what's left of my energy, thinning out the little patience I had left. "Just please let this long, stressful night be over..." I repeatedly prayed in my head the past hour.As I sat on the bed alone, the lights stayed off and the room remained quiet and tense. Or it could just be me and my dear friend Anxiety again. Where the heck's Miles? Alessio pretty much dragged me back into this guest room after Mr. Falco left us in that cold basement. I already made sure Niccolo wasn't in serious trouble after the torture h
× WARNING! × GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW NOT INTENDED FOR YOUNG READERS ×◇ KEL ◇His hair was tied in a tight bun this time, not hiding any part of his face, making it easier for me to look him in the eye while admiring his features. Quiet seconds passed as I stared at him. He smiled faintly at me under the soft lighting that kept the room from being pitch-dark. A lustful look stayed in his beautiful hazel eyes while he gripped my wrist. For a breathtaking moment, I thought he was gonna bite my skin and cut me with his bare teeth to suck blood from my wrist. The surprise near made me smile when he gripped my hips to lift me off his lap.He pinned me on the thick covers without breaking eye contact. Now I could only feel his warmth and weight on me. His hands clasped mine on the pillows, and his hot mouth licked the side of
◇ KEL ◇ Seeing Miles holding a gun would never be something I would find amusing or comforting. Once, he showed off his special skill besides painting masterpieces I always admired. That time he took me to a shooting range for fun, I discovered he had a predilection for handling guns—but not for a second did I think he would be this comfortable carrying a deadly weapon. My nerves acted up again the second I saw him gripping the handgun with such familiarity. It seemed he didn't want to put it away despite the armed bodyguards surrounding the mansion day in day out. Ricchar and Cloe's well-guarded home didn't give Miles enough security, I supposed. With a sigh, I just watched him as he sat on the covers, his back facing me. We slept in the same bed for barely four hours. While I wished he would get rid of the gun and get some more sleep, nevertheless I
◇ KEL ◇ 5:59AM "Miles just told me. He said Leo beat you up but you won't go to the hospital." "Sto bene." [I'm fine.] I stared at the guy standing near the couch and avoiding my face. I frowned at his lie. When he didn't say anything else, I glanced around the dim guest room. Berto, his bodyguard, just stepped outside to give us privacy, which meant I could say whatever was on my mind. I had patched up Nicco hours ago, but when I'd heard about what happened to Enzo, my adrenaline just shot back up. The likelihood of seeing Leandro again didn't terrify me—what scared me way more was the possibility of Lorenzio sustaining some bone fractures, a concussion, or internal hemorrhage due to multiple physical injuries. His abrasions, grunts, reddish swollen nose and lips, slumped posture and frequent limping were e
◆ MILES ◆Kill or be killed.Law of their world. Inevitable. The very minute I decided to work for the family business, I knew it was how my life was going to be. I just knew.It sounded dramatic to the point of ridicule. But it was the reality for a Falco. It was the price to pay for being part of an influential clan trying to make it big in the trade. No—my logic was not flawed, and it was not a matter of choice. Being my father's only heir, it was my fate to get tangled into this web of hateful, colossal mess.My father didn't seem the least bit bothered by it, though. Pappa put on his coat and kept talking to the bastard on the other line, his wireless black headset stuck in his ear.Was he leaving? Just like that?It hadn't even been four hours since Pappa arrived with my exhausted mother. So he just wasted the long trip to get
◆ MILES ◆"Is the show over?""Of course not.""Why not?" I watched Ricchar sit by the paved stairs facing the old, wide garden. The place came with the six-foot high labyrinth and three-storey mansion Ricchar inherited from his deceased father, Valerius Falco."Barely the finale." Ricchar scoffed and dropped his phone onto the grass-covered ground, seeming pissed after he faked being the psycho's friend. The nutjob just left the estate with my father and their entourage.I glanced around the tall bushes and noticed there were more lamps around the stairs. "Cloe put up all these lights?""You know she hates being in the dark." Ricchar gazed at the quiet and dim maze. "Every sense of the word.""When's she coming back?" I sat next to my cousin, who more or less had been an older brother to me all my life.
◇ KEL ◇ Ospedale Santa Rossi ... The guilt had never felt this tangible. It crawled under my skin, heightened the shame, and worsened the regret that mixed with my confusion. Shame for just letting it all happen. Regret for not even trying to stop it. The dam just collapsed. Too full for inhibitions. Too full for second thoughts. Or was this a long time coming? The lights weren't bright at all, but something deep inside me just coiled at the thought of him seeing everything. If memory served me, he'd never seen me this unclothed. Not what bothered me most, though. I just wanted to make sure he's still comfortable being in the same room with me...sharing the same bed. Totally out of the blue. Totally didn't make a lick of sense. I didn't think it would go this far. Neither did he, as far as I could tell. This night was supposed to end with me dozing off over statistical discussion paragraphs, right as scheduled. Not with both of us in his new bed, undeniably naked, just awkwardl
× WARNING! × GRAPHIC NSFW CONTENT BELOW INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS × ◆ MAGNUS ◆ "Bad dreams again, dear?" "What's new..." "What about?" Evonne asked as I rubbed the stupor out of my face. Her murmured question made me sit up beside her half-naked and pale figure on the soft covers. The room stayed dim as I tried to decipher the strange images in my head. Images that the new dreams had planted into my consciousness. It was not a matter of "what" but a matter of "who". Again. Maybe the "where" bore a bigger significance this time, too. Maybe not. I didn't really care. "I'm not sure," I sighed after glancing at my wife's curious stare. The kind that studied every bit of my face to gauge my state of mind and the sincerity in my words. Like always, the visions came through in lengthy dreams. Sometimes they were hazy, short, and scrambled. But often complex and memorable. For someone who had been