Chapter 91: AftershocksAurora’s POVI couldn’t sleep.Not because of guilt.Not because of Damian.Because of him.Dominique.His eyes haunted me more than the kiss I gave his brother. That look, cold, unreadable, empty but behind it was pain. Raw, blistering pain. He didn’t need to say anything. That gaze screamed louder than any words could.I thought I was prepared for heartbreak.But I never imagined I’d be the one dealing it.The storm outside had slowed to a drizzle, yet the storm inside me was unrelenting. I lay awake in my room, staring at the ceiling, trying to piece together what the hell I was doing. What I wanted. Who I was. I felt like a traitor in my own skin.I couldn’t take it anymore.Silently, I slipped out of bed and tiptoed down the hallways of Blackwood Manor. I didn't want to run into Damian, and I didn't even know if Dominique was back. My heart was reckless. My body moved before my mind caught up. I found myself standing at the door to Dominique’s wing.The l
Chapter 90: The Devil's ChoiceDominique’s POVSomething didn’t sit right, I don't know why I felt like that but it didn't just feel right. I stood by the window of the estate, the rain still smearing streaks across the glass like tears too proud to fall. The silence of the mansion was unsettling. Cold. Like a storm was brewing, not just outside, but inside me.I hadn’t seen Aurora in over an hour, which made my heart worry. She’d vanished with nothing but the echo of her footsteps. A ghost in my house. A phantom in my chest.A maid walked by, and I stopped her with a glance.“Where did Aurora go?”“She said she was visiting her mother’s grave.”Her mother’s grave.Of course.A surge of something I didn’t recognize twisted in my stomach. Not anger. Not jealousy. Something deeper. Something closer to dread. I turned to head for the door when the flash of headlights caught my eye. Another car. Leaving the estate.Damian’s.Every instinct in me snapped to attention.It wasn’t coinciden
Chapter 89Torn VeinsAurora’s POVThe kiss was raw.Fierce.Like years of silence had finally ruptured and spilled between our mouths. Dominique kissed like a man with nothing left to lose, his hands cradled my face, trembling slightly, like he feared I’d disappear if he let go.I didn’t want to disappear.Not right now.His mouth moved against mine with growing hunger, his fingers trailing down my arms, then slipping around my waist. I melted into him without thinking. My hands found his chest solid, warm, familiar. Our breaths came in gasps between kisses, ragged and desperate.He pressed me gently against the wall, his hand brushing the hem of my shirt. I felt my pulse thunder in my throat as his lips traced a line down my jaw to the sensitive skin beneath my ear.I arched.His hands traveled lower, exploring. My shirt lifted.His hands roamed my breast, igniting a fire as his hands trailed through my body. I wanted this.God, I wanted him.But then, like a wave of cold water cra
Chapter 88: Tainted Hearts Tiffany's POVI used to believe I knew everything. That being born into the underworld gave me an edge. Power. Control. But the moment I read the report laid before me, my world tilted sideways.Aurora knows.She’s digging. Hard. And worse? She’s getting closer to the truth.Aurora won't stop until she finds what she wants. She wss never like this, but staying in the backwoods mansion has given her bigger balls than she could carry. Who does she think she is?, That has always made me hate her. She thinks because she's beautiful and would turn head around that she could get what she want. She doesn't know that even the sun shines on both the good and the bad. No matter what she finds, it wouldn't stop me from my plans. My men did investigation, but the results of the investigation made my fingers tremble over the page, it was the final line, underlined in red, almost like a threat:"Confirmed: Your father ordered the hit on Aurora's mother."I read it
Chapter 87: The Gathering StormAurora’s POVThe sky over San Andreas churned in muted shades of gray, as if it, too, sensed what was coming. A strange hush settled over the city, the kind that made your chest tighten, like the whole world was holding its breath.But my mind wasn’t on the weather.“It was Tiffany’s father.”Dominique’s words still rang in my head, echoing like a bell I couldn’t unring. I didn’t understand, what did Tiffany’s father have to do with this mess? Why hadn’t I heard his name before? Why was he surfacing now, when everything was already falling apart?I needed answers. And as much as I hated to admit it, there was only one person who might give them to me.My father.I stood by the window in my hotel suite, arms crossed tightly against my chest. The skyline outside was a jagged silhouette, softened only by a thin drizzle clinging to the glass. My heart pounded with a chaotic rhythm, one beat fear, the other stubborn resolve.I wasn’t running anymore. Not fr
Chapter 86 The ReckoningAurora’s POVThe night air burned in my lungs as I stepped through the gates of San Giovanni. The old city looked different now, colder, sharper like it had been waiting for me to return. Cobblestone streets gleamed beneath streetlights, shadows spilling from alleyways like secrets whispered by ghosts. Every step I took echoed with purpose. This wasn’t a homecoming. It was a declaration.I wasn’t here to ask for peace.I was here to end a war.My boots clicked as I strode past the sleeping city, the weight of my gun heavy beneath my coat. I’d made calls. I’d reconnected with old allies, those who had stayed hidden in the years since my mother’s death. Some thought I was insane. Some warned me to forget it. But they didn’t know what it meant to have your soul carved out by grief, to walk every day with the phantom scent of your mother’s perfume trailing your steps like a ghost.I could still remember the way Don Vito had smirked when I was dragged from her