LOGINChapter 99India's POVThe landing was a rough jolt, the reversal of the engine’s thrust an agonizing scream that cut through the cabin’s oppressive silence. We hadn’t talked since Fabiano had uttered that single, stunning word: “Russia.”We were on the ground, but I felt like I was still falling.As the plane came to a final, shuddering stop, Guillermo, who had been resting quietly against my chest, pulled back. His small, emerald eyes were wide with curiosity and a growing fear that mirrored my own.“Auntie India? Why is the plane so loud? Is this the adventure place? Is it snow?” he asked, his voice small and hesitant.I opened my mouth, but the words withered on my tongue. The lie was too heavy, the truth too sharp. All I could manage was a tight, shaky exhale. Silence.Fabiano, meanwhile, was all ruthless efficiency. The moment the plane was secured, he was on his feet. “Enzo. India. Let’s go. Now.”We descended the ramp into an air that hit me like a physical shock. It wasn't
Chapter 98 Roman's POV The residual ringing in my ears was a small price to pay for freedom.The chain on my right wrist, shorn by the blast from the suppressed muzzle pressed against it, swung loosely. Rory had simultaneously pulled a similar, albeit less elegant, maneuver on the bolt attaching her chains to the wall, a sharp, high-speed yank on the remaining fixed chain, timed with the gunshot. The rusty hardware had snapped, sending her sprawling, but freeing her hands.“Well, darling, that was certainly a bang for our buck,” Rory gasped, already rolling to her feet.I didn’t dignify the comment. The urgency was a cold blade in my gut. “Move. Now.”We scrambled away from the makeshift execution chamber, the cold, damp concrete floor slick beneath my boots. The tunnel leading out of the cistern was narrow and poorly lit, but we moved with the practiced synchronization of two people who had relied on each other in tight spa
Chapter 97India's POV The names Roman and Rory were a desperate, rhythmic drumbeat inside my skull, each beat a spike of pure, crystalline fear. The sheer, impossible reality of Fabiano’s terse report had landed like a mortar shell in the fragile sanctuary I had built around my heart.Hostages. Abducted. Mikhail’s signature. The violation of Roman’s dignity, of his power, was an unbearable source of fear.I was pressed into the thin, leather seat of the armored sedan, my hands clasped so tightly my knuckles were white. We were speeding through the dark, unrecognizable landscape, and I could barely breathe past the suffocating dread in my throat.“Fabiano,” I began, my voice a reedy whisper. “What exactly happened? The plan…Roman said… I thought it was flawless. The final move.”Fabiano, seated in the front, turned his head just enough for me to see his grim profile.“It failed, India. Catastrophically,” he stated, his voice flat and devoid of inflection.“How?” I demanded, gras
Chapter 96 Roman’s POVThe darkness was the first thing to greet me, followed closely by a pounding, skull-splitting ache that felt like my brain was trying to escape my cranium. My eyes flickered open, but there was little to see beyond the rough, damp concrete that seemed to swim into focus beneath me.Concrete.Not the polished teak of the Imperia. Not the silk sheets of my stateroom.A low, guttural sound escaped my throat, a mix of confusion and pain. I tried to move my arms, but a searing pressure immediately radiated from my shoulders down to my fingertips. My wrists were shackled, the cold, unforgiving metal biting into my skin, and the chains stretched taut above me, hoisting my weight until only the tips of my boots brushed the floor. I was dangling, crucified by circumstance and cheap industrial hardware.*The plan.* The memory hit me with the force of a physical blow, worse than the impact that had knocked me unconscious.The ambush. The attack. The chaos that erupted
Chapter 95 India's POV It was getting bright.Too bright for me to comprehend and I winced due to the intensity Everything felt like a blur It's almost as if the world was starting today.Wait….What happened?Where am I?These questions rang through my brain like a never ending question that I couldn't give answers to.Then slowly, everything began to make sense.One after another.I was in…I looked around to see the place in total catastrophe.Roman's yatch And Roman?He left!Yes, he did!I woke up and found him already gone.Then yesterday's events begin filling my mind slowly.Enzo.The Intruder Ethan.Shit!He was mad that I got married to Roman.But what was the reason for all of this.I sought to get up and find out what the heck is going on around me with immediate effect.I tried to move a little but the intensity of the pain dulled my reflex, making me realize that I was under a log that was pressed on
Chapter 94 Roman's POV The Gulfstream G650 touched down on the private airstrip in Teterboro with a jolt that rattled my teeth, a stark contrast to the fluid, dreamlike haze I had been living in for the past forty-eight hours.Rain lashed against the reinforced glass of the porthole. New York was weeping.Gray, miserable, and cold.It was a fitting welcome.I unbuckled my seatbelt, the click sounding like a gunshot in the pressurized silence of the cabin. My body was here, encased in a bespoke Italian suit, prepared for war. But my mind?My mind was still two thousand miles away, drifting on a turquoise tide in the Exumas.India.The name was a heavy stone in my gut. Leaving her had been the hardest thing I had ever done. Harder than building an empire from the ashes of my father’s failures. Harder than pulling the trigger the first time I had to kill a man to save my mother I checked my watch. 10:45 AM.She would be awake







