Chapter 25

Unspoken Desires - Chapter 25

Lessia

After my call with Cesare, I spent the rest of the day combing through every trade route deal between the Familia and the Camorra. Line by line. Shipment by shipment.

It didn’t take long for me to notice the specific pattern.

Only the shipments that veered off their original course were intercepted. And no driver ever changes course unless they’re told to.

I compiled every flagged shipment and cross-referenced the origins of the requests. The discrepancies were glaring. A handful of names kept popping up, again and again. All from the same faction within the Familia. This wasn’t accidental, it was carefully planned.

Which meant they weren’t just stealing, they were stockpiling and preparing for something bigger. All while keeping Mario and Luca in the dark.

I cleaned up the report, encrypted the files, and sent it directly to Luca, Mario, and Genaro. One message attached: Time to start weeding your own garden.

Just as I began locking Matteo’s system down, a knock hit the door. Shit.

I exited the Camorra archives, wiped my digital footprint, and shut the laptop. Then I finally took a deep breath, smoothed my hair, and walked to the door. Cesare.

He looked even better than I remembered; dangerously charming and annoyingly confident. The kind of perfect you forget… until he’s standing in front of you again. And for a moment… I remembered what it felt like to forget Vincent. What it felt like when Cesare made me feel wanted.

He leaned casually against the doorframe, a crooked smile playing on his lips. “Are you going to let me in?” he asked. “Or just stand there staring at me all night? I’m good with either.”

I rolled my eyes, mostly to hide the flicker in my chest. But I stepped back, letting him inside.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Cesare didn’t waste a second. He moved fast, one hand around my waist, pulling me closer to him and the other threading through my hair. Pulling me in for a hard, possessive kiss.

I didn’t stop him. For one, brief, reckless moment, I let him kiss me like he used to. Like nothing hadchanged.

His mouth moved against mine with urgency, his fingers gripping tighter as if afraid I’d vanish. “I missed you,” he whispered against my lips, then kissed me again.

“I never stopped thinking about you.” Another kiss. Slower this

time. More deliberate.

“I love you, Kay. Always have.”

I should’ve pulled away. I should’ve said something sharp, something cool. But all I could do was breathe through the firestorm in my chest. Because it was too much. Too sudden, and for a second, I wasn’t the girl in the middle of an undercover sting. I was just Karen. And this was the man who once made me believe I could have a normal life, have love.

“You still feel like mine,” Cesare murmured, brushing his lips down my jaw, over the place just beneath my ear. “I still dream about you. Every fucking night.”

I finally stepped back. Just an inch. Just enough to breathe.

“That was a long time ago,” I said quietly.

“But it doesn’t feel like it,” he shot back. “Tell me I’m wrong. Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t miss me, even a little.”

I didn’t answer. Because I knew the truth. And I wasn’t ready to say it out loud, not yet.

———-

Vincent

The room went dead silent. All eyes turned to me and I didn’t need to look to know what was on their faces. Pity. Maybe a little shock. But mostly pity. The kind that slices deeper than a blade.

Through Lessia’s comms, clear as fucking day, we were hearing her kiss him. Not even 24 hours after she’d looked me in the eye, begged me to claim her, and told me I was the only one she wanted.

And now? Now she was tangled up with a man who once owned her heart… and maybe still did.

The rage burned low in my gut. Like a fire with no air. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. I didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t hear me, anyways. She’d taken her damn earpiece out.

I clenched my fists, jaw locked. Everyone else looked away, pretending they hadn’t heard her breath hitch when he touched her.

Matteo was the first to speak. Always the soldier. He barked some instructions to Adriano and Davide, his tone sharp, no-nonsense. Then he walked over to me, steady as ever, and stopped a foot away.

“It’s not what you think,” he said quietly. “She’s undercover, and sometimes… you have to play the part.”

I didn’t look at him.

“If you go in rattled, you’ll blow everything. You’ll get both of you killed. You have to trust her, Vincent. She’s good. One of the best.”

I nodded once. But it didn’t matter. Because the sounds kept coming through the earpiece.

Low murmurs. Lips brushing skin. Her breath catching.

I ripped the comm out of my ear and slammed it down on the table.

“I need a minute,” I muttered, already turning toward the back hallway.

No one stopped me. No one dared. And maybe that was for the best, because right now, I wasn’t sure if I was going to scream…

…or break something.

————-

Matthew

It took a few hours to get everything, and everyone, organized.

I didn’t like how fast this was all moving. It felt like we were stitching together a parachute while already falling out of the damn plane. Too many variables. Too many moving parts. And no real time to breathe.

When it was time, Maximus and Gabriella would leave first, heading for the DeLuca house with Adriano and Davide. They all had the floor plans memorized. Adriano and Davide had spent years in and out of that house with Constance Cattaneo. Lets hope the DeLucas hadn’t done any recent renovations.

Vincent was a whole other story. The guy was trying, really trying, but rage was leaking out of him like sweat. Not explosive, but the quiet, internal kind. The kind that simmers. It came off him in waves.

But underneath all that fury was hurt. Lessia wasn’t just some girl to him. She was something more. And now, thanks to this mission, she was back in the arms of the man who once held her heart.

Over comms, we heard Cesare confirm he’d made a dinner reservation for 8 p.m. He’d be picking her up from the office at six to take “Karen” back to his penthouse to change. Said he still had all the clothes she left behind.

We all knew the truth, he just wanted to get her alone.

Everyone in the room exchanged a look. Unspoken understanding hung thick in the air. No one said it, but we were all thinking it. Lessia wasn’t just undercover anymore. She was walking a tightrope between two men—both of whom held pieces of her heart.

And Cesare? Right now, he was winning.

Trying to ignore the slow-burn rage pulsing off Vincent, we went back to work. We loaded the SUVs: night vision gear, suppressors, ammo, Kevlar, backup comms. No room for mistakes. No margin for missteps.

Sareena made a quick supply run to the medical shop she’d sourced earlier. Came back hauling two massive trauma kits; packed to the brim. Everything short of a portable ER. She wasn’t playing around and we were lucky to have a doctor with us.

By the time the sun dipped low and Vegas turned gold, we were nearly ready. Just before 7 p.m., Demetrius finally checked in.

Apparently, he’d been ‘occupied’ all day, with Maria DeLuca. He didn’t even spot Santino until just now, when the kid barged into the bathroom while Demetrius was in the shower. Said he’d just gotten his mic back online.

Santino was fine. Hiding. Waiting. Playing it smart. As for Maria, Demetrius said she’d invited him back onto her night shift schedule, because she trusted him again.

“Turns out trust is easier to rebuild after multiple orgasms,” he added, proud as hell. Weird flex. But hey, it worked.

Demetrius was all in.

The plan was simple: once the guards rotated out for the night, we’d cut the power. He’d take Maria down, locate Alessandro, and walk the three of them out through the kitchen exit.

Simple, in theory. But I’ve been doing this long enough to know… nothing ever goes that smooth.

Not when love, revenge, and betrayal are all playing on the same field. And tonight, we’re standing in the middle of all three.