LOGINShare
chapter 206
publish date:
2026-08-30 17:11:41
Latest chapter
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 560
POV: Matteo"I am retired, Matteo. I am old, deaf in one ear, and I told the harbor I was finished. So explain why you have dragged two children and a cough all the way up my hill on the morning of my tomatoes."I am Matteo, and Salvatore stood among his rows of staked tomato vines, a battered straw hat on his head, a pair of garden shears in his gnarled hand. His villa clung to the cliffs above the sea, white walls and green shutters, and far below us the whole harbor sparkled like spilled coins. The wind smelled of salt, basil, and warm earth. He looked smaller than I remembered. His eyes had not changed at all."You said you would never leave your garden," I told him."And you said you would never retire. Look at us." He snipped a ripe tomato and tossed it to Renzo, who caught it clumsily. "Eat. It will calm your nerves. I have seen better nerves on a frightened goat."Sofia suppressed a laugh. Isabella took Salvatore's hands and kissed both his cheeks, and I saw him blink hard and
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 559
POV: Isabella"Isabella, with respect, I think we are all being very brave and very slow. If Don Matteo still held the chair, this problem would have ended by morning. Perhaps we are polishing a chair that needs a king."I am Isabella, and I felt every head at the long council table turn toward the man who said it. Ferrante Aurelio sat at the far end, tall and silver haired, his hands folded neatly. He spoke kindly, almost sadly, as if each word cost him something. It was evening. Lamps burned low along the walls. Outside, a thin rain tapped the windows. The air smelled of wet wool and beeswax, and the unspoken dread of a room full of people afraid to look at each other."Councilor Aurelio," Dario said sharply. "You are speaking of the first Don of this city as if he were a hammer.""I am speaking of what works." Ferrante spread his hands. "A woman sails a ship into our harbor, forges our stamps, and sneaks notes into our hall. And our answer is a committee. I mean no insult to the co
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 558
POV: Matteo"Don Matteo, I brought him here instead of the council hall. You may call it disobedience. I call it the only room in this city where nobody can slip a note under the door."I am Matteo, and Tomas stood in the doorway of my study with dust on his boots and a thin, trembling man at his side. It was dusk. The lamps were lit, and the smell of beeswax and old books hung in the air, as it had for thirty years. I sat in my armchair with a blanket over my knees and Dr. Fenn glaring at me from a stool in the corner. I had promised her I would not stand. I had promised Isabella I would stay out of council matters. I had not promised anyone I would not listen."Bring him in," I said.The man shuffled forward. I knew him, of course, as one knows the furniture of a city. Ottavio Brandt, the council recorder, gray hair, ink stained cuffs, a face that always seemed to be apologizing for something. Behind him, leaning on a short cane, came an old man humming softly under his breath. Teod
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 557
POV: Isabella"Do not sit in my study and lecture me about institutions, Isabella. Your council let a woman in gloves walk through my front door, and now my son is dead and my granddaughter has no ring."I am Isabella, and I took the words like a slap. Enzo Lorenzi stood behind his great desk with both fists on the blotter, his white hair wild, his eyes red. The study smelled of ink, cold tea, and old leather. The silver gull cushion still lay torn on the floor, its stuffing scattered like snow. It was late afternoon, and the light through the tall windows was thin and gold. Sofia stood beside me, still pale from the night on the water, her hand on my sleeve."Grandfather, please," she said."No. Let her hear it." His voice shook. "Every house in this harbor trusted that council. We gave you our names. And a forger has been sitting in your own hall for nine years."I wanted to defend us. The words rose in my throat, all the careful answers about process and vote and shared rule. Then
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 556
POV: Matteo"Do not argue with me, Matteo. Your heart skipped eleven beats on that boat, and I counted every one. If you stand up again before tomorrow, I will tie you to this bed with your own sword belt."I am Matteo, and Dr. Fenn said it with her arms crossed and her gray braid coming loose, standing at the foot of our bed like a small, furious storm. The afternoon sun poured through the windows, warm on the quilt. My whole body felt like wet sand. We had come home at noon, and I remember Tobias carrying me up the stairs, and I remember being too tired to be angry about it."You are a hard woman, Doctor," I said."I am a fair one. Rest, drink, and do not lie to your wife." She glanced at Isabella, who sat in the chair by the window, very still. "I will be downstairs. Shout if he turns blue."The door closed. For a while neither of us spoke. Dust floated in the light. A cart rattled past in the street below, and a child laughed somewhere, a bright thin sound that made my throat ache
The Don's Ruthless Empire chapter 555
POV: Isabella"Tomas, I know you hate me right now. You may. But please sit beside him for one hour before you decide, because I have waited thirty years to see your father's face, and I am not ready to lose it again."I am Isabella, and I said it quietly on the cutter's deck before dawn. The sky was a bruised purple. Flares still smoked in the water behind us, red and sullen. The brig was gone, slipped her cable in the dark and fled through the cliffs while the pilots' skiffs swarmed her sides like angry bees. Odile had escaped, but we had taken something better. Renzo sat on a crate with a blanket over his shoulders, shivering. Sofia knelt beside him, holding his wrist as if he might float away. And on a bench by the mast, wrapped in Dr. Fenn's coat, sat an old man with Tomas's eyes.Tomas stood three paces from him. His arms were folded so tightly I thought his ribs would crack."You are shorter than I imagined," Tomas said."I have been told so by the ocean." Teodoro's voice was t
You May Also Like
His Forbidden Goddaughter
NiMarie164.0K viewsThe Mafia's Nurse
Astrid.O126.9K viewsAlone
Sunshine422.8K viewsEntangled with the Mafia Don
Nicole Mariam129.7K viewsHis Exception
Exceluthor176 viewsSubstitute for Sin: Claimed By the Mafia Prince
Ella Jean Ross70 viewsRuined By Daddy
Chrysanthemum 84 viewsDeluca Brothers Forbidden Obsession- A Reverse harem mafia r
I.Q188 views
