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Chapter 73: First blood
publish date:
2026-05-23 21:56:31
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bound to the ruthless mafia king Chapter 74: The gathering
ISABELLAS POVThe day of the gathering unfolded with quiet purpose. I had been preparing since morning, moving through each step with deliberate calm. I knew Caruso would try to weaponize the motel. I had already decided I would not let him. I dressed alone. The deep red dress clung to my frame with quiet strength. I stood before the mirror and studied the woman reflected there. She was no longer the frightened girl pulled from her apartment in the night. She was no longer the one carried out in a silk robe, shattered. She existed somewhere beyond both versions, tempered by everything that had happened. A knock sounded. My mother entered. She looked at me for a long moment, her expression softening. "You look like your grandfather," she said. "He walked into rooms like he already owned the outcome." She left without waiting for a reply. I picked up the notebook from the nightstand, read the last line I had written, and set it down again. Luca waited in the hallway when I stepped
bound to the ruthless mafia king Chapter 73: First blood
LUCAS POVI had not slept since the call came in. The vault guard was dead. The Lions Heart remained untouched. Caruso was not stealing it yet. He was sending a message. This is only the beginning. He wanted me to understand that he could reach anything I valued whenever he chose.The war room smelled of stale coffee and tension. Ferrante and two of my senior men stood around the long table covered in maps and glowing screens. It was three in the morning, and we were tearing apart Caruso's network piece by piece.Ferrante pointed to several red lines on the digital map. "Caruso and the Vanchis have been coordinating longer than we thought. Possibly since Silvio first started making promises. He was never just an elder sitting on the fence. He was building toward this."I sat with that information in silence. I had misread him. I rarely misread people. The fact that Caruso had played his hand so quietly for this long sat like a stone in my gut. A mistake like that could cost ever
bound to the ruthless mafia king Chapter 72: Caruso's move
I had barely slept when the knock came at dawn. I threw on yesterday’s clothes and followed one of Luca’s men down a hallway I had never seen before, toward what he simply called the war room.The room lived up to its name. A long black table dominated the space, covered with maps and open laptops. Ferrante stood at one end with three senior men I recognized from before. Luca was at the window, phone pressed to his ear, his sleeves rolled up and his jaw tight. The moment I stepped inside, he ended the call.He looked at me. I looked at him.“Why am I here?” I asked.“Because Caruso’s move involves you directly,” he said.Ferrante took over. His voice was flat and efficient. “Caruso went public within the families overnight. He’s spoken to three heads already. He’s telling them Luca is holding you against your will. That the marriage was coerced from the start. That the exile was punishment. He’s painting himself as the man trying to free you.”I stared at him. “He’s using me as the re
bound to the ruthless mafia king Chapter 71: Back in his world.
The cars slowed as we approached the new compound. Not the elegant estate I once knew, that was gone. This was a large, fortified property outside the city, all clean lines and deliberate function. High walls, guards at every gate, cameras sweeping the perimeter. It felt like a command center, not a home.I stepped out of the car and stood there for a long moment, bag heavy on my shoulder. The last time Luca brought me into his world, I had been blindfolded and terrified. I wasn’t that girl anymore. Yet the echo still moved through me as I stared at the building. Another cage. Maybe a better one. Maybe not.Luca’s men escorted my parents away to their wing. I didn’t look back. Luca walked me down a long hallway himself and stopped in front of a door.“This one’s yours,” he said quietly.Large window overlooking the grounds. No lock on the outside. A small mercy I noticed immediately. I set my bag down. He lingered in the doorway, but I didn’t invite him in and he didn’t ask. After a m
bound to the ruthless mafia king Chapter 70: The Return
Lucas POVThe diamond was back in Moretti hands by three in the morning.I sat alone at the cheap motel desk, the velvet pouch resting on the scarred wood like a sleeping predator. Two of my best men had taken a storage facility forty minutes outside the city. Clean. Surgical. No bodies, no sirens, no complications. Exactly how I preferred my violence.I didn’t touch the pouch at first. I simply stared at it. Sixty years of blood, betrayal, and obsession reduced to a small bag that looked almost innocent under the weak yellow lamp.Finally, I loosened the drawstring.The Lions Heart spilled into my palm.It was heavier than I expected. Bigger. Not some delicate gem you could hide in a watch pocket. It was the size of a man’s thumb, deep oceanic blue with a fiery core that caught the pathetic motel lighting and somehow multiplied it. The stone felt ancient — not just old, but *knowing*. As if it had watched my grandfather clutch it with greedy hands. As if it had seen my father try to
bound to the ruthless mafia king Chapter 69: The Offer
My mother left at ten in the morning. Luca's man had knocked at nine thirty, handed her a folded note, and left without saying anything. She read it standing in the hallway with her back half turned to me and I watched her face do the thing it did when she was processing something she'd already half prepared for. She folded it and put it in her pocket. I said "what does it say." "He wants to meet," she said. "Just me." "I'm coming." I said. "He asked for just me Isabella." I looked at her. I knew that look. I'd been on the receiving end of it my whole life. Decision already made, being carefully managed before it was revealed, the patience of someone who believed they knew best and was giving you time to arrive at the same conclusion before they told you they'd already decided. I said "what are you not telling me." "Nothing yet," she said. "Let me go and come back and then I'll tell you everything." I looked at her for a long moment. "Everything. You come back and you tell
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