ログインElena POV I stood at the top of the stairs, my hand gripping the railing so tight my knuckles hurt, and felt a chill crawl up my spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. I was halfway down when Luca appeared at the bottom. He didn’t say anything, and that was what scared me most. Luca always had something to say, even if it was a simple order or a warning. But now he just stood there, looking up at me with an expression that made my stomach do a slow, sick roll. “What is it?” I asked. My chest tightened until it hurt to breathe. He didn’t answer right away. His eyes flicked over me like he was trying to figure out how hard this was going to hit before he let it go. “Elena,” he said finally. The way he said my name made my blood turn to ice. It wasn’t an order. It was a warning. “What happened?” I asked again, my voice echoing off the high ceilings. I didn’t want the silence anymore, but I was terrified of what would br
Third Person POV Joseph Rossi didn’t have a hard time finding the place. That was the first thing that made his stomach twist into knots. He stood outside the old building for a long moment, just breathing in the damp night air. His chest felt tight, like something heavy was sitting on his ribs and refusing to move. It wasn’t the walk that made him feel tired, It was the feeling that his body already knew what was coming. This was the end of the road he had been running from for years. He took one last slow breath, pushed the door open, and stepped inside. It was too quiet. Not the peaceful kind of quiet, but the kind where you know someone is watching you from the shadows, waiting. Every step he took echoed back at him, loud and accusing. He didn’t call out her name. He didn’t have to. She was already there. Isabella was leaning against a table at the back of the room, arms loosely crossed, looking bored. Like she had all the time in the world and nowhere better to be. Jose
Elena POV I didn’t mean to find it. That’s the thing about this house — it’s designed to keep secrets, but secrets have a way of breathing through the vents when you least expect it. I wasn’t even looking for anything, i just couldn’t stay still after everything that happened. Ever since the basement training room, the air in my own room had felt too thin, and too heavy at the same time. The mansion was too quiet again. Not the peaceful kind of quiet you find in a library, but the suffocating kind that makes your thoughts louder than they should be. Every step I took echoed back at me like I wasn’t alone in my own head. I walked past the main hallway, past the stairs, past doors I already knew. And then I stopped. There was a door at the far end of the west wing. I had seen it before, but I’d never paid much attention to it. It wasn’t guarded, and in this house, that was the first thing that felt wrong. Everything important had eyes on it. But this didn’t. It just sat there. C
Dante POV The room smelled like old money, cold ash, and that suffocating kind of control that always made me want to burn the whole damn building down. Nothing ever changed in here. Same heavy table that had signed a hundred death warrants over the decades. Same high-backed leather chairs that creaked under the weight of egos. Same old men sitting like they were gods, even though most of them couldn’t pull a trigger anymore without their hands shaking like leaves. I stood at the head of the table. I didn’t sit. In this room, sitting meant you were waiting for orders. Standing meant you were the one giving them — or ready to take what was yours by force if necessary. Ricci sat directly across from me, a thin, ugly smile stretching across his face. He looked at me like I was a punchline he’d been saving for a special occasion. Beside him, Cavallo stayed silent, eyes flat and unreadable. And then there was Vincenzo — the man who had spent the last three years staring at my chai
Elena POV I couldn’t sleep. I was tired as hell, but every time I closed my eyes the same images kept playing — the cold wood under my knees, the gun against my head, Dante bleeding on that dock. I lay there staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, my mind spinning too fast to settle. Eventually I gave up. I pulled on one of Dante’s shirts, the hem hitting mid-thigh, and it still smelled like him — cedar and something sharp. It was the only thing that made me feel a little less alone. The house was too quiet. I wandered through the dark halls until I saw a thin strip of light under the basement door. The training room. I pushed it open without thinking. Dante was there, sitting on a bench cleaning a black handgun. He was shirtless, the fresh white bandage around his ribs standing out against his skin. He looked exhausted, shadows under his eyes, but his hands were steady and focused. He didn’t look up. “You should be asleep.” “You too,” I said, leaning against the doorfra
Elena POV The mansion felt different when we finally pulled through the gates. Not in a good way. The lights were on like always, the grounds looked the same, but everything carried this heavy, leftover tension from the night. Like the place itself knew what had almost happened to us. I sat in the back of the car with Dante’s hand still loosely holding mine, his grip warm but weak. He didn’t say much the whole ride, and neither did I. By the time we got inside, Luca had already handled everything. A doctor was waiting. He stitched Dante up fast and wrapped him tight. When I saw him again later, he was standing in one of the smaller sitting rooms like nothing had happened. Like he hadn’t just bled all over a dirty dock for me. “You should be sitting,” I said quietly. “I’ve been sitting,” he replied with a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Then sit again.” He didn’t move. Typical Dante. I didn’t push it. I just walked past him and dropped my jacket on the table. My hands s
No one slept that night. Not really. The house was too quiet, too… watchful. It wasn’t the kind of silence that brought peace. It was the kind that made you feel like someone was always standing behind you—even when you were alone.I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the door. Dante’s words ech
By nightfall, it had transformed into something else…something alive in a way that made my chest feel tight every time I took a breath. Men moved with purpose, weapons I hadn’t noticed before were suddenly everywhere. Even the silence felt… strategic. Like every second mattered. Like something was
War. The word didn’t leave me even after he walked away. It stayed echoing in my head like something alive. Growing. Spreading. I stood there long after Dante disappeared down the hallway, my body still, but my mind racing. It didn't mean business. Not conflict. But war. Which meant enemies. Whi
Something had changed. I felt it before I understood it.The house looked the same—the same polished floors, the same quiet halls, the same guards stationed like statues in every corner, but the air… the air was different. Heavier.Like it was holding its breath.I stood in the middle of my room, s







