MasukDomenico's POV If only she knew how close I had come to losing my goddamn mind three days ago.But she wouldn't.Because it was never gonna happen again."Was there something wrong?" I asked instead.I watched her carefully as the words left my mouth and caught a small release in her shoulders. The tension in her jaw eased and a breath slipped out quietly.Relief.It was subtle but I caught it anyway."No."It was my turn to feel relieved.My chest loosened so suddenly it irritated me."The baby's fine," she said. "Seven weeks." Forty-nine days.I nodded once and went back behind the desk. Without a word, I opened the drawer and pulled out a slim black box.Her brows pulled together. "What's that?" "A phone." I walked over to her. "It's encrypted." She stared at it, then at me. "I already have one." "Not anymore." "What do you mean, not anymore?" "It means yours is useless," I said evenly, pulling out my phone from my pocket. I opened the secure interface and shut it down. "Ef
Domenico's POV For a second, I just looked at her.She was standing in the middle of my office like she had run straight through the house. Her breathing was uneven and her fingers were locked so tightly around her bag I could see the strain in her knuckles.There was still a trace of panic in her face, in the tightness around her mouth, in the way her eyes kept moving over me carefully, as if she was making sure I was actually standing there in one piece.That did something small and unwelcome to the center of my chest.And I didn't care for it.I couldn't remember the last time anyone had looked at me like that. Not out of fear. Not because they wanted something. But because they thought something might have happened to me.The thought sat there for half a second, enough to irritate me. So I shut it down immediately."And why would you think that?" I asked at last, my voice even. "Planning to make another run for it because you thought I was bleeding out?" The worry vanished from
Marcelina's POV The sound was so sudden it seemed to rip through the corridor and lodge itself inside my chest.It had been muffled by the heavy doors, but I knew exactly what I had heard. If I hadn't been standing this close, I probably wouldn't have heard it at all.My eyes flew to the two men, expecting them to be on their heels, ready to barge into the room. But they didn't move, not even a flinch. They stood there like they had heard nothing at all.My mouth parted.What in the hell?I hurried toward them, my pulse climbing so fast it made me dizzy."Didn't you hear that?" One of them looked at me calmly. "It's nothing," "Nothing?" I half-yelled. "Someone could be bleeding to death in there. Someone could be dead." The second man gave me the same maddeningly calm look."It is not our place to interfere." I stared at him.That sounded fucking insane.What kind of people heard a gunshot and called it nothing?What kind of people stood outside a door and did absolutely nothing
Marcelina's POV Three days had passed since the bakery.And in those three days, I had done a lot of thinking.Lucia had also become impossible to miss.She was around more than usual now. Not in an obvious way, but enough for me to notice. If I came downstairs, she would appear. If I stepped outside for fresh air, she was never too far away. If I lingered too long anywhere, she somehow found a reason to pass by.She was being attentive and I knew exactly what it was.Domenico, on the other hand, hadn't said a word, but he had clearly made sure I wouldn't run off again.I understood that much—though, even without it, the thought of trying hadn't crossed my mind. Not after what I had seen that day.The drive back to the estate had ended in uncomfortable silence. After the last thing I said in the car, Domenico didn't speak again. Neither did I.At one point, I found myself stealing a glance at him, wondering what he was thinking. His face had given me nothing. Just the same hard expr
Marcelina's POV The tea in front of me had gone warm, but I barely noticed.My attention stayed on the medical book in my hands. I wasn't exactly reading anymore. I was just... there. Breathing. Existing. Letting the quiet settle into me.At some point, a middle-aged man who had noticed the medical book in my hands stopped by the table and asked if I worked in the medical field.There was something deeply Italian about him—in his accent, his face, even the way he moved his hands when he spoke. His English wasn't fluent, and neither of us said much, but after a while we settled into a mild conversation. That was until the man stopped mid-sentence, his eyes lifting over my shoulder. All the color drained from his face and he stood so abruptly."I... I'm sorry," he muttered, not even looking at me. He bowed once. Then again. "My apologies." Without another word, he hurried away.It was only then that I noticed the atmosphere had changed. Chairs scraped against the floor, voices lower
Domenico's POVFor a few minutes, there was nothing.No trace, no sighting, no fucking progress. Every call that came in sounded the same. And I was running out of patience.My phone stayed in my hand the entire time, useless too. I hadn't given her the phone I prepared and I hadn't given her the black Amex either. Now she was missing.And I couldn't reach her.That thought alone made my jaw tighten hard enough to hurt.The men who had taken her to the store were in front of me earlier. Now they were on the floor. Or whatever the fuck was left of them.My knuckles were split open with blood drying across my hands, but I didn't feel it. I barely felt anything except the rage burning through me and the need to destroy something else.The store she went into had cameras. That was the only reason I hadn't burned the place down yet. But even that was useless because they were under maintenance.I really should've inserted a fucking tracker in her flesh. I was fooled by the false sense of s
Marcelina's POVThe two men escorted me to the car just after nine in the morning.Corey has never left my side since that day. And as the only friend and family I had left, she slid into the backseat beside me and squeezed my hand, watching me with concern that she wasn't even trying to hide."Yo
Marcelina's POV Anger shot through me so quickly I almost laughed. "I'm sorry," I said slowly. "Did you just say I'm not permitted?" "Yes." I blinked, then I pointed at my own chest."This is my house." Silence."I have a job," I continued, my voice rising. "A life. You don't get to stand outs
Marcelina's POVI woke up with a stiff neck and a dull ache running down my back. And for a moment, I didn't remember where I was. But then the ceiling of my living room slowly came into focus, and I realized I was lying on the couch.Everything hurts.My body felt heavy, like I had run a marathon
Domenico's POV"Wait. What?" Her voice cut through the room, sharp with disbelief.I didn't answer immediately. Instead, I watched her.The shock on her face. The way her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag. The faint tremor in her shoulders that she was trying very hard to hide.She trul





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