Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 211 - Chapitre 220

KillianBy December 30, Sera and her cohorts had decked the mansion out in gold, black, and silver, much to my mother’s horror when she drifted down from her floor. Dina and I had to drag her back upstairs before she tried to burn the place down for making it look “goddamn tacky as all hell.”Adrian was still trying to follow leads on Mattia. Tommaso, Alonzo, Reggie, and Patrick were still sorting through Andre’s shit.Caterina was playing therapist to Roxy, who Sera still didn’t know existed.And, apparently, my family home was sprouting relationships like weeds.I tucked Sera against me in our bed, our bodies still damp from our late-night shower, and snorted near her ear. “Sprouting?” I repeated.“Yes! Adrian and Penny are going to be a thing eventually, once Penny’s mourning is over. Patrick is head-over-heels for Olivia, and you can’t tell them that I told you, but they’re going to have their first kiss on New Year’s! And no doubt Dustin is going to ask Callie out sooner or later

SeraWhen I finally surfaced from my trance, I made sure to take stock of all my friends.Patrick was slow-dancing with Olivia with a look of disbelief, like he couldn’t believe he was dancing with a beautiful woman who couldn’t stop blushing.Penny and Adrian were a pair, too. Adrian was too shy to keep his hands on her hips even though she kept placing them there.Pepper and Rosemary were dancing as if an Irish jig was playing. Rosemary’s joyous laugh echoed through the ballroom.Dustin had mustered the courage to ask Callie to partner up, and she had happily agreed, but my brother was still too self-conscious to initiate touch. Like Penny with Adrian, Callie had to put Dustin’s hands on her waist and guide him along the dance floor. He flushed redder than a tomato.Meanwhile, Joyce and her husband watched from afar, protective of their daughter even though Dustin was no sort of threat.No person was left out. Killian’s guys paired up with other staff, and even Mom found a fun partn

Sera“I love you more than I thought I could ever love someone. You are more than I’ll ever deserve.”I thought men who spoke like that could only be found in romance books. Real-life men were hardly poetic, especially the ones in my vicinity. More often than not, romance was not in their wheelhouse.I never thought I would be so lucky to find the man who did.The Sera from a few months ago—kidnapped and sold like breeding stock, trapped inside a mansion with no help or even a shred of sympathy to be spared, wondering if I was going to live past twenty-two—could never have imagined where the current Sera would be. She was an entirely new person, and for the better. I went from having nothing to everything.But I was only twenty-two. I had my entire life ahead of me. One of freedom to do whatever I wanted. My mother was forced into a marriage this young, and it had turned out to be her ruination. Killian was different. I knew that he would never treat me like my father had treated my m

KillianTommaso wouldn’t stop bouncing his leg, and it was vibrating through my desk.We were poring over stacks of records, using one of Adrian’s laptops to search for Mattia’s whereabouts, and sorting through Andre’s assets simultaneously. Half of my attention was still on Sera. I hated to leave her, especially when her expression was almost heartbroken. But she had to understand that she and the family’s safety was a priority—at least during work hours.Damn. I should have told her that. But my concentration on this work was disrupted by the faint rattling sound.“Something on your mind, Conti?”Tommaso jerked his head up. “What?”“You’re shaking my desk.”He stopped his leg. “Shit. Sorry. Didn’t realize I was doing that.”“What are you thinking about?” I asked my friend.“Egypt,” Tommaso admitted, tossing a paper on the stack. “I’ve had a lot of leads, but now I’ve hit a dead end.”“Then go,” I urged. “Our biggest threat is dead, the holidays are over, and you’ve fulfilled all

KillianI’d continued to work with Tommaso and Adrian, who came in shortly after Sera stormed out, but my attention was even more divided.My priorities were shifting, and it seemed to happen when I wasn’t looking, because now I couldn’t decide what came first—mafia work or my new fiancée. The former was my lifeblood. I was so deeply rooted in it that I knew nothing else. Maybe that was why the latter was occupying my mind? Because Sera and the life and light she brought was like a taste of the forbidden fruit that showed me that there was a better, less bloody, less violent and lonely world beyond the one I knew?“Killian.”I didn’t hear my guys repeating my name before Tommaso slammed his hand down on my desk. I jerked out of my own thoughts and snapped out of embarrassment, “The fuck?”Tommaso’s look was wry. “Something on your mind, Ricci?”I scowled. “I can’t fucking focus. I’m done for the day. You two can keep combing through or take the rest of the week off.”They were baffled