INICIAR SESIÓNAlessia's POV The Great Hall was filled with the smell of roasted meat and expensive perfume but all I could taste was the copper of the blood I had washed off my hands an hour ago, and I stood by the long oak table in a dress of dark silk that felt like a suit of armor while the wives of the other Dons watched me with eyes like glass. My father was sitting at the head of the table and he looked like a king from an old story while he toasted to the new era of the Syndicate, and Lucien was standing by the door with the other enforcers and he looked at me every few seconds with a gaze that told me he was ready to move the moment I gave him the signal."You look a bit pale for a bride who is about to inherit half of Europe, so perhaps you should drink more of this wine and stop staring at the guards like you're waiting for an execution," Donna Vitale said as she leaned toward me and her diamond necklace caught the light of the chandeliers."I'm just tired from the travel and the salt a
Matteo's POVThe walls of my bedroom in the fortress were moving in a slow and sickening rhythm and the blue light in my eyes made the shadows look like they were crawling with insects, and I could feel the heat in my blood rising until my skin felt too tight for my bones. I tried to stand up but my legs were shaking and the sound of the ocean hitting the rocks outside was like a hammer beating against my brain, and I just slumped back against the headboard while I gripped the sheets until I heard the heavy click of the door opening. My father stepped into the room and he wasn't wearing his formal jacket anymore but he just looked at me with a calm and steady gaze that made the buzzing in my ears go quiet for a second."The sickness is just the old part of you fighting against the new and you have to embrace the change because it’s the only thing that’s going to make you strong enough to lead this family when the others are gone," Francesco said as he sat on the edge of my bed and pla
Lucien's POVThe iron transport finally screeched to a halt and the heavy doors groaned open to reveal the jagged black cliffs of San Marco, and the fortress was a massive pile of ancient stone that looked like it had grown out of the salt spray and the shadows of the Sicilian coast. The air was thick with the smell of the sea and the exhaust from the armored motorcade waiting for us on the pier, and I could see the flags of the other families flying from the battlements which meant the Commission had already arrived for the summit. Francesco stepped off the train first and he didn't even look back at us as he was greeted by a line of soldiers in formal black uniforms, and I gripped Alessia’s hand one last time before the guards stepped between us and signaled that we were to be separated for the afternoon briefing."Just stay quiet and keep your eyes on the exits and I’ll find you the second I can get away from my father’s handlers," I whispered to her as they led her toward the hig
Alessia's POVThe elevator ride down felt like we were being lowered into a grave and the air turned stale and metallic as the doors opened to reveal not a sleek train station but a dark, concrete tunnel where a massive armored transport sat idling on the tracks, and the vehicle looked like a jagged block of iron with narrow slits for windows and heavy rivets along the sides that made it look more like a submarine than a luxury maglev. Lucien held my hand so tight it hurt but I didn't pull away because the sight of that iron beast made my skin crawl and I could see the guards in Valenti black standing along the platform with their hands on their holsters and their eyes hidden behind dark visors."He called it a maglev to make it sound like a miracle but it’s just a cage on wheels and we’re being shipped off to Sicily like cattle for the slaughter," I whispered as we walked up the metal ramp and the heavy hydraulic door hissed shut behind us with a sound that felt very permanent."It's
Lucien’s POVThe barrel of my rifle was steady but my heart was doing a frantic dance against my ribs as I stared at Francesco Moretti, and he just sat there behind that massive desk like he was waiting for us to ask for an allowance instead of holding him at gunpoint. The screens behind him were glowing with maps of the coastline and I could see the green mist spreading across the digital terrain, and Francesco just tapped a pen against his chin and looked at me with a bored expression that made me want to pull the trigger just to see if he would finally blink."You can put the gun down, Lucien, because if you fire a single shot the pressure sensors in this room will seal the vents and you’ll be breathing a pure concentration of the agent before the shell even hits the floor," Francesco said as he gestured toward the ceiling where several small nozzles were tucked into the corners."We didn't come here to listen to your threats or your science lectures, Francesco, so just tell us how
Lucien’s POVThe heavy doors of the ballroom hissed shut behind us and cut off the sound of the orchestra in a single second, and we were left standing in a corridor that was so white and sterile it made my eyes ache after the dim red light of the alcove. I adjusted the weight of my rifle and looked at Alessia who was still smoothing down her hair but her expression had shifted back into that cold and focused mask she wore when she was ready to kill, and we started walking down the hall but we didn't get far before the walls began to change. Instead of plain metal panels there were glass displays built into the sides of the corridor and I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the air conditioning when I saw a wooden toy horse that I had played with when I was five years old sitting right next to a photo of my mother from the summer she spent in Capri."He’s trying to get inside our heads before we even reach the door and he’s using our own memories as a way to distract us from th
Alessia’s POVThe white dust of the marble quarry was everywhere and it coated the windshield of the stolen car as I drove toward the service entrance, and I felt a strange sense of calm as I pulled on the white lab coat I had taken from the palace medical wing.I had pinned the ID badge of a woman
Alessia’s POVThe old tractor finally groaned to a halt in the yard of a secluded farmhouse tucked away in the Tuscan hills and the silence that followed was so heavy that I could hear the engine ticking as it cooled down in the morning mist. I helped Lucien off the fender and he was so weak that
Lucien’s POVThe world was starting to tilt and spin in a way that made the burning palace look like it was melting into the lake, and I could feel the hot blood running down my arm and soaking into my sleeve until my fingers felt slippery and useless against the grip of my pistol. I knew that I w
Lucien’s POVI was standing near the shadows of the heavy velvet curtains when the waltz ended and I saw Alessia’s hand slip from the railing as she took a step toward the terrace, and her face was so pale that it looked like the white marble of the statues surrounding her. I didn't need to be a d







