◆ MILES ◆
[ Nice, France ]
"Been friends with Archambault a long time?""A while," the short-haired man in the collared shirt replied. He gave me and Ricchar a grin that didn't narrow his pale green eyes.
Or were they gray? Whatever. Who gives a shit. I only checked to see if he and Kel shared any other physical resemblance aside from their height, slim build, and dark hair.
This rich businessman—slash firstborn son of a wealthier drug lord—also looked like a regular at the gym. He must be 6'4" at least. Taller than me, Nicco, and Ricchar. The guy's overall appearance somewhat intimidated me when I shook his hand earlier. Then we sat down with his wife and ordered some food.
"You trust him with your life kind of friend?" Ricchar chuckled as he kept staring at our company of one.
"Excuse me. Phone call." Niccolo got
◆ MILES◆Cousins?Did he mean my father and Mykaela's real dad? Related by blood?What the fuck's he talking about?"Are you kidding?""No. Ask Nicco." Magnus regarded me with a dead-eyed stare as he tilted his glass closer to his mouth. "His friend did some real digging when I paid them to find out what really went down, before Ilya and Stefano scrapped that port deal in Idstrom.""Where's that again?" Ricchar asked."In the Black Sea."Niccolo's friend? Another hacker? "What're you talking about? Cousins?" I scoffed as Ricchar sat still beside me.He was almost glaring at the other guy, his wine glass about to go empty. "Go on.""Ilya and Sofija— Pardon. I meant Mykaela..." Magnus muttered with a tight grin. For someone who grew up in another cou
◆ MILES ◆The entire universe must be having a laugh right now. Just having absolute fun playing the biggest practical joke on me. Weirdly appropriate explanation. I wasn't even the superstitious type. Nor was I religious. But after all the shit that got thrown my way, there couldn't be another explanation for all this. Someone or something —a supreme being, they would all say—had been messing with my life ever since my mother brought me into this world. This hateful, messy, disease-ridden world run by soulless power-drunk scumbags with too much influence and wealth at their disposal. In the grand scheme of things, I could just be lacking the foresight or m
◆ MILES ◆1 new messageFrom: Ricchar"Ignazio called to ask if I'll be there at his party tomorrow. Zio still ghosting you? My calls still can't get through"Today 01:29AMShit. He's asking again if I'd heard from Pappa. Meaning: my father's been MIA for about two days now. What the shit's he up to now?With a sigh, I curbed the painful urge to smash my useless phone onto the nightstand while the naked brunette on top of me kept stroking my hair like I was a baby she had to put to sleep.The girl wasn't totally naked under the covers, though. Her bra still covered her heaving chest—even after she'd screwed me twice. Maybe she was a tad insecure about her rack. Or maybe she just liked to keep them on during sex.I didn't really care—I just needed some distraction. A willing and very attractive distraction. Even though I doubted her at fir
◇ KEL ◇ [ New York ] "The new consultant's here. We're doing ward rounds all day. Please be here first thing. Dr. Z's been up our asses before I could even grab coffee." "Yeah. Okay." I held back a sigh as I stared at my long to-do list for today. It was my classmate on the other line, basically begging me to cover for her tomorrow and forget about my supposed last off-day for the month. "I'll be in before seven. Just gotta do laundry and get some sleep." "Yay! Really, thank you, Kel. See you tomorrow." "Yep. See ya." I hung up and placed my phone on the table before getting up from the dining chair. I stretched my back and limbs. All morning, the piles of laundry kept me busy while I updated my to-do list as best as I could on five hours of sleep. The dizziness eventually passed. Not to mention a dozen distracti
Valle Astra, Italy ◆ MILES ◆ She didn't block me. Yet. An hour and a half later and the sickening feeling in my gut still threatened my self-restraint. My fist had been itching to hit something since she hung up on me. All my fault. Fuck. I didn't mean to hurt her. I'd prepared that stupid speech in my head last night. I'd chosen my words carefully. And I'd apologized over and over. Still, it wasn't enough. It felt like someone stabbed me in the chest the second I heard her sniveling, just trying her best to restrain the tears while staying on the phone with me. But it's for her own good. I only did it for her. And her family. I had to push her away. Or Kel would end up dangerously tangled into my family's mess. Again. It always made me feel like shit to think that meeting me only complicated her life. But if we didn't put a stop to it now, I'd only keep hurting her, lying to her, cheating on her, disappointing her... And then I'd hate myself even more for pretending
◆ MILES ◆ "He won't even answer my texts." "Don't bother." "Did you try calling him again?" "No." Right. Fine. Clearly in no mood to talk to anyone. "You okay?" I crouched closer to my mother when she stayed motionless on the bed, the gun stuck in my back pocket now. Loaded. But the safety was still on. I almost had a heart attack barely a minute ago. Thankfully the gun hadn't been used. She was okay. For the most part she seemed fine. The reddish marks on her cheek and swollen eyes told me a different story, though. "No." "Tsk." Of course she wasn't okay. "Sorry. I should've been here earlier." "It's fine." "Sorry." I stared at her, just wa
◇ KEL ◇ After another busy day at the hospital, I went straight home after my shift. I didn't want to hang around especially after pissing off our new consultant—on his very first day of training us. Sheesh. I blamed the mind-numbing daze after that awful phone call with Miles. I went through my day feeling like a zombie on weed. Not that I liked to smoke weed. I tried it once with him and Paul, his best friend. Trippy night with lots of nausea and forgotten banters. Never tried it again. I checked my phone. Ugh. No new notifications. I told my best friend about my last conversation with Miles. I tried calling her but Gaia wouldn't answer. Probably too busy with another case. She sent a short text an hour ago, though: 1 messagefrom: Gaia"Good riddance! It's his loss. You're better off without his toxic bullshit."Today 18:24
◆ MILES ◆ "She looks knackered. Stressed." Well, "stressed" would be downplaying it, considering the things Mamma Eleana went through. For someone who'd been married to that sonuvabitch she called her husband for decades, it's impressive she's still sane. "Does she know? The things I told you and Ricchar?" "She knows enough." I glanced at Enzo as we approached the outdoor table facing my mother's beloved garden. "Why?" "Just asking," he murmured amid a shrug. He hiked up the sleeves of his dark button-down and watched Mamma from afar. She wasn't pleasantly surprised upon seeing Enzo on her doorstep, but now she's gladly cooking lunch for us in the spacious kitchen. Her idea of a distraction...apart from Enzo showing up today for a private one-on-one I scheduled. The large bulletproof windows and the nice weather gave us a clear view of the kitchen, including the dinin