Breaking the Silence ( chapt. 86)

Alessia’s POV

Sleep was nowhere close to being an option. Every time I shut my eyes, all I could picture were Arturo’s men at the door, smug and indifferent, bringing his shadow right into our home. The memory crawled on my skin like spiders, leaving me restless.

Nikolai was sprawled on the sofa across the room, his hand resting on his chest. He looked surprisingly gentle in the fading firelight, like he’d shed some heavy weight. But I knew better than to think it was peaceful; his silence was just a way of calculating. Even in sleep, his body buzzed with tension, always waiting for the next fight to begin.

I envied that steadiness.

I sat down at the desk, spreading out the papers he’d left behind—maps, notes, lists of names. It looked like a puzzle of death laid out before me. Every arrow pointed to a battlefield, every circled name belonged to a man who would either kill or get killed. And right in the middle of it all: Arturo De Luca.

My father.

Just his name made my