LOGINELARA POVMy foot is tapping impatiently on the floor when Nero storms out from behind the wall. A cold rage is etched into his face with a foreign look so scary it makes my heart drop in my stomach.I inch forward. “Ner—” but stop myself calling from him in the public and opt to quickly going after him and into a secluded hallway that leads outside.“Nero,” I call, and my voice echoes, but for some reason he doesn’t answer me.I tilt my head, confused as to what is happening, but still following after him into the cold night air. I open my mouth to call out again, but a massive frame steps into my path, blocking the exit. When I raise my gaze it’s Luca, and I attempt to walk past him, but he doesn’t allow me until a car screeches past us with Nero clearly behind the wheel.My brows furrow, concerned more than annoyed. “What happened? Why is your boss leaving in a hurry?”“Emergency,” Luca says simply, not elaborating as he leads me to the waiting sedan car. “Let’s go. I’ll take you h
ELARA/NERO POVThe dinner is as I’ve expected. Suffocating. Painfully awkward. And with thick tension that can slide through steel. Everyone is seated on a long traditional dining table with various Italian delicacies in front in a thick silence that is hard to breath in.The silent is so thick that even the clattering of forks and spoon on the plates are barely making a sound as if everyone is being intentional careful to make minimal noise.“I made dinner worse,” Nero says casually while taking a bite of a meat.A round of awkward chuckles explodes in the air before it withers down very fast.“Not at all,” a young man clears his throat. “We love you here, Don Nero. Though there’s a little truth in that. Everyone is very scared of—”Another low awkward chuckle comes from the man sitting beside him who looks like an older version of him. “That isn’t true. Dinner is always this awkward. I don’t understand why we do this.” he mutters the last part.“This is tradition, Elio. It has been
At around seven p.m., Nero and I get to our destination. He hasn’t told me anything in particular, except that it’s a family dinner, but considering the numbers of car lining the shimmering glass tower building of the venue for the said dinner. The Moretti family is quite large. Currently, we are walking down a path where everyone parts like the red sea for us to go through, some with disdain and some with nonchalance.My heart is beating so fast behind my ribcages and I’m this close to breaking out in cold sweat due to panic.As if Nero can sense my panic, his hand curls around my waist. “Relax, Uccellina.”“It’s hard.” I glance around nervously. “They all look like they will pounce on me at any moment.”His voice holds a note of chuckle. “Don’t worry. None can hurt you. Not with me here,” he says confidently, his hand pulling closer as we step into the building.Unlike the exterior of the restaurant, the interior gives a regal and vintage décor that screams the nostalgia of the 80s
NERO POVI carry the marks of two people under my skin. Donna Nera, my step mother, who bought my soul for the price of a warm meal, and Felix, the man she hired to mold my soul into something useful.I was twelve when she found me at the East End gutters, and gave me a gun to take a life. Not out of pure intent to save the fragile boy with a perverted homeless man on his tail. No. She intended to raise a machine gun, which she did. Thanks to her lapdog, Felix, who instead of letting me burn from the inside out, taught me I could just let people burn or better still, I could burn the world. And all that came with vigorous, inhumane training no twelve-year old should go through. I wasn’t raised to be a leader, I was raised to be a shield, my place was supposed to be in the shadow, a silent protector standing two paces behind the Moretti’s throne. But Marco was too dim-witted and cowardly, the only way they could revive the dead Moretti family was to put me on the throne, which
NERO POV I watch her through hooded eyes, my breath hitching as she takes me into her mouth. I reach down, and tangle my fingers in her hair to guide her, helping her tuck the strands away so I can see every inch of her face.“God, baby. Have you done this before?”She pulls back just enough to look at me, her tongue tracing the curve of the tip in a deliberate, agonizingly slow move that made my muscles lock. She offers me a small, nervous smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.“Actually,” she whispers. “I haven’t. Not really.”I rub my thumb sensually over her exposed neck and watch the way her skin pebbled with goosebumps. “Then you shouldn’t be doing this, Elara,” I murmur, though my voice lacks real conviction. I want nothing more than her mouth around my cock, but I don’t want her to get hurt while trying to please me. “I want to,” she counters, biting her lip. “I won’t be awful at it. I… I watched the videos on your phone.”“Videos?” A half-smirk tugs at my lips.Her
Nero POVI kiss Elara passionately, letting the action communicate what I won’t allow myself to say. All this started with a simple kidnapping, and the daughter of a traitor has become so much more. She has become everything.And god do I desperately want her to feel a quarter of what I feel too as unconventional as it is.I finally break away, fighting the overwhelming urge to keep devouring her. Her sage green eyes are dazzling, blinking up at me with a twinkle I want to capture and keep forever.I scoop her into my arms and she releases a soft “oh,” relaxing against my chest. A smirk touches my lips. Good. She doesn’t tense up in my presence anymore. I don’t want her to fear the monster. I want her to love him.Carrying her across the office to the hidden door leading to my bedroom, I push it open and head straight for the en-suite. “I didn’t know that was there,” Elara murmurs against my neck, and I just hum in response. Inside the bathroom, I set her on her feet and star







