LOGINLilith POV Two weeks in Florence had taught me where the floorboards sounded different in the hallway outside my room, which maid preferred roses over lilies in the breakfast room, and how long Leo took to answer a question when he was deciding whether I needed comfort or honesty. I knew the staff now, or at least enough to recognize the rhythm of them. I knew which doors opened onto family rooms and which ones opened onto offices where men lowered their voices when I passed. I knew which gardens got sun in the morning and which ones stayed cool until late afternoon. I knew that if I asked for coffee, someone would bring it stronger than I was used to, and if I asked for tea, three women would immediately disagree over the correct kind. I knew, too, that everyone in this house feared Leo a little. Not visibly. They just straightened when he entered a room and listened when he spoke. Men who carried guns for him lowered their eyes by a fraction. Staff moved faster without makin
Lucian POV By the time the third call came in, I stopped asking for details. Not because I didn’t care, but because I already understood the pattern. “Capo, the south warehouse—” “I know,” I cut in, stepping out of the car before Enzo could even come around to open my door. The line went quiet for half a second. “…two men down,” the voice continued. “Shipment intercepted before we could reroute.” “Send me the footage,” I said. “And get the rest of the inventory out of any exposed location. I don’t want to hear about another loss today.” “Yes, Capo.” I ended the call and walked straight into the building, my mind already moving ahead of the situation. Phones rang somewhere in the background. Men spoke too quickly, passing information that overlapped, contradicted, then corrected itself.
Lilith POV He said my name like it belonged in his mouth. “Antonella…” I turned fully this time. I did not pull my hand away when he took it. That surprised me more than anything else. His grip was careful, not loose, not firm enough to feel like control. Just there, waiting to see what I would do with it. For a moment, neither of us spoke. The room held too much of someone else’s life for easy conversation. The bed behind him, the soft light falling across the old wood, the faint scent of something floral that had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the woman who used to sleep here. Leo did not look away. “I’m sorry I came late.” He said it without hesitation. No buildup. No excuse wrapped around it. I watched him. There were a dozen ways I could have answered that. None of them felt simple enough to say out loud
Lilith POV I did not go back to sleep after the balcony. I went back inside because there was nowhere else to go, because standing out there any longer would have made it obvious that Matteo had unsettled me more than I wanted to admit. He had introduced himself as Matteo. He had joked about Leo, I could tell they were friends. He was older than me by a few years, maybe early thirties, with sharp features and dark hair combed back from his forehead. Nothing about him was loud. He did not need loud. Men who grew up inside power rarely did. His accent had been thick enough to remind me this was not New York. Matteo had looked at me as though he already knew where I had come from, what I had lost, and how little of it I trusted. That was what stayed with me. I crossed the hallway quietly, arms folded around myself, still wearing the night on my skin, and nearly walked into Leo. He
Damien POV The door closed behind Lucian, but the damage he left behind stayed in the room. For a few seconds, we were rooted to the same position. The house was quiet again, though not in the way it had been before he walked in. Rafe still had his gun raised. Maleek did too, both of them angled toward the doorway as if Lucian might decide halfway down the path that restraint no longer suited him and come back shooting. I stood where I was, tasting blood in the back of my mouth that was not mine, my hand still warm from the strike. My knuckles stung. Lucian’s blood had dried in a dark smear across my skin. Maleek lowered his weapon first. Rafe followed a second later, slower about it, his eyes still on me rather than the door. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said. I did not answer him. I walked to the sideboard, picked up a clean cloth, and wiped my knuckles carefully, workin
Lucian POV My office had not been quiet for hours. The calls kept coming, one after the other, all of them carrying some version of the same message. Something had gone wrong. A shipment had gone missing. A warehouse had been hit. Two men were dead. Another route had stalled because someone higher up suddenly wanted reassurance I had no patience to provide. I stood behind the desk, phone pressed to my ear, listening to a man in New Jersey explain why a delay that should never have happened had somehow become unavoidable. “I am not interested in the story,” I said. “Correct it immediately.” He started apologizing. I ended the call before he could finish. Another one came in immediately. Then another. Then Sophie. Her name flashed across the screen, disappeared, and came back again less than a minute later. I watched it long enough to feel annoyed, then turned the phone face down on the desk and reached for the other line. There was no room for her tonight. Not for questions, no
Lilith’s POVThe first thing I felt was warmth.Not the kind that comes from a blanket or a heater, but from a body. A real body. Somewhere behind me, a slow, steady breath touched the back of my neck. An arm lay across my waist, heavy but gentle, holding me like someone afraid I would disappear if
Damien’s POVThe feed opened and there she was, framed in the hallway like an object I had left lying around for her to find.Lilith stood with her face tipped up at the molding, eyes fixed on the small red blink I had installed. She did not move when she noticed the camera; instead she looked dire
Lilith POVI still can’t explain exactly how I got here.All I know is that one moment I was standing in front of Damien’s door, and the next, his mouth was glued to mine, tongues mixing up like we had been starving for years.I wasn’t even sure if I kissed him back first, or if he simply pulled so
Lilith’s POVSophie’s hand didn’t just grab mine, she practically yanked me forward.Her face was pale, her breathing uneven, but it wasn’t anger in her eyes, not suspicion, It was fear.A real fear.“Lilith, we need to go inside,” she whispered harshly, glancing over her shoulder as if someone mig
![Fallen From Grace [Married to the Mafia Novel]](https://www.goodnovel.com/pcdist/src/assets/images/book/43949cad-default_cover.png)






