本棚
検索
ホーム / Mafia / The War Between Us / Chapter 61: The Distance That Failed

共有

Chapter 61: The Distance That Failed

作者: Elizabeta Koritnik
last update 最終更新日: 2026-02-01 20:42:13

Alexander Li Chen

I saw him before she did.

That was the problem with knowing what to look for…you stopped believing in coincidence entirely.

The problem with Milena was that, unlike most living things in this city, she didn’t operate on the assumption that the universe would one day decide to eat her alive. She believed, genuinely, that risk was a thing you measured and put away. That the monsters in the basement would knock before coming up the stairs.

In some ways, it was exactly what I like
この本を無料で読み続ける
コードをスキャンしてアプリをダウンロード
前のチャプター 次のチャプター
ロックされたチャプター

最新チャプター

  • The War Between Us   Chapter 68: The Line of Succession

    Milena DragovicThe toast was echoed around the table.“To family,” Nikolai said quietly, lifting his glass a second too late.“To endurance,” Marko said, eyes fixed on me as though he could strip me to the bone with a glance alone.The glasses clinked again and the moment was swallowed whole.Conversation resumed, lighter now, as if something essential had already been decided and the rest was performance. My father asked about shipments, tariffs, volatility; Marko answered with the slippery confidence of a man who knew the deal had already been signed. I was not invited to share. I was just an afterthought, a tradition, necessary for the scene but not the story. No one asked for my opinion.I answered when spoken to. I smiled when required. I kept my posture. But my thoughts were elsewhere.Then I lost track of them because Marko’s knee had slid against mine beneath the table again. I kept my hands folded in my lap and my breathing shallow. I didn’t want to cause a scene.When the c

  • The War Between Us   Chapter 67: The Line Between Courtesy and Possession

    Milena DragovicThe first thing I noticed when I entered the dining room was the way my father had the chairs arranged and the way the warm light fell and lit up the place.In this dining room, no one was allowed to slouch, and no one dared to look away from the host until the proper courtesies had been performed. That was how things had always been in this house.My father was at the head of the table, my brother Nikolai at his right hand, and the guest seated on the left. A place that implied both trust and the expectation of tribute.Tonight, the guest was Marko.He wasn't a friend, but he wasn't just business either. My father only brought men like him home to show strength or play at civility.Marko had the kind of power my father admired most: quiet, calculated, and dangerous. His black suit seemed to swallow light. When he stood, his back straight as a knife, shoulders perfectly level, you could tell he knew exactly where he belonged in any room.Though I’d known Marko a decade

  • The War Between Us   Chapter 66: The Line Drawn For Me

    Milena DragovicI fled the gym like it was on fire.I showered fast, water scalding, then lukewarm, then cold as if my body couldn't decide what it needed to survive. I dressed without thought, hands moving on muscle memory. Dark clothes, clean lines, nothing that invited comment. When I caught my reflection in the locker-room mirror, I paused.My mouth still felt different.Like it remembered something my mind was trying very hard not to replay.His thumb, brushing across my lower lip. The heat of his breath. The way my body had betrayed me, leaning in when I should have pulled away.I refused to linger on it. Lingering gave dangerous things room to grow.By the time I stepped outside, night had settled into the city like a held breath. The streetlights hummed. Traffic moved with purpose. Everything looked normal in the way it always did right before it wasn’t.My phone buzzed once in my pocket.I didn’t check it.I already knew what it would say. Or what it wouldn't say. What part o

  • The War Between Us   Chapter 65: The Line of Sight

    Alexander Li ChenI didn’t leave because I wanted to.I left because the line I’d sworn never to cross was behind me now, and I couldn’t let myself linger on the wrong side of it. The air outside the gym felt colder, harsher, like the city itself had been waiting for me to slip. Everything I thought I had under control… a careful plan, a rigid code, even my goddamn pulse, was suddenly up for grabs.I wasn’t stupid. There were more people keeping an eye on Milena than she’d ever imagine, and none of them looked like the kind who’d be satisfied snapping a few photos and moving on. The numbers crept higher every afternoon I kept watch. What was worse, she didn’t even seem to notice. Milena’s defenses were all pointed inward, against her own ghosts. Out here, among people like me, that kind of blindness wasn’t innocence. It was a countdown.So I did what I always did: I built a file. Rayven and I spent nights tracing back the unfamiliar faces, the strange cars, the out-of-town plates. The

  • The War Between Us   Chapter 64: No Safe Distance

    Milena DragovicAlexander didn’t let go of my wrist right away.I registered the tremor beneath his skin, the same barely-restrained violence that made him so dangerous, but now it seemed forcibly redirected, spent not on intimidation or force but on keeping himself from flying apart. He stood directly in front of me,. Towering over me. His gaze locked to mine, and I felt, before he said a word, that whatever came next would change everything.He raised his free hand, not touching, just hovering an inch from my cheek. The gesture was careful. He wanted to say something; he was holding back a thousand things.His breathing was so controlled it was almost silent, but I could see the effort it cost him.Shoulders set, jaw flexed, the pulse at his temple.When he finally spoke, it was so quiet I had to strain to hear.“I’m not good at this.”The words landed wrong at first. Too simple. Too human.Now he stood in front of me, hands shaking, admitting the one thing I’d never thought possibl

  • The War Between Us   Chapter 63: The Distance Between Control

    Milena Dragovic“That all you’ve got?”I froze. The voice came from behind me. The rest of the gym was empty, but I didn’t need to look behind me to know who it was.“I thought you weren’t training today,” I said, the words coming out with a bite I hadn’t intended. He moved closer, footsteps slow, deliberate. I could hear the faint drag of his shoes on the mat.I’d once seen him break a man’s nose in less than a second.I’d also seen him spend thirty minutes coaxing a trembling rookie back onto the ring apron after a panic attack.He was a study in contradictions, and I hated that he was the only person who’d ever really noticed the contradictions in me, too.“I finished early,” he said. “Coach told me I could use the weights, but you’ve got the floor. Didn’t want to interrupt.” The words were perfectly neutral, but I knew better. I finally turned. He was standing by the edge of the mat, arms folded loosely across that ridiculous chest, face unreadable.He was dressed in black. The ki

続きを読む

あなたも気に入るかもしれません

無料で面白い小説を探して読んでみましょう
GoodNovel アプリで人気小説に無料で！お好きな本をダウンロードして、いつでもどこでも読みましょう！
アプリで無料で本を読む
コードをスキャンしてアプリで読む
DMCA.com Protection Status