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หน้าหลัก / Mafia / The Man I Swore to Hate / บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

บททั้งหมดของ The Man I Swore to Hate: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

70

CHAPTER THIRTY

It wasn’t a video. Not at first.Just files. Hundreds. No titles, no context. Just strings of dates, odd timestamps, and cryptic initials. It looked like junk—until Perion decrypted one.A voice crackled through the laptop’s speakers. Male. Cultured. Familiar.“I’m telling you, he won’t stay quiet forever. The man keeps records. He’s not like the others.”A pause. Another voice. Lighter. Smoother.“Then we do what we always do. Remove the head. The body folds.”The files weren’t just financial reports or boardroom chatter.They were wiretaps. Recordings from private dinners. Calls from burner phones. Conversations that should have disappeared behind closed doors.My father had been listening.Carefully. Quietly. For years.“Jesus,” Perion muttered, scrolling down the list. “They were never just trying to edge him out. This was a coordinated takedown.”“It’s a kill list,” I whispered.Names. Politicians. Executives. Three judges. A journalist who’d “died in a boating accident” last yea
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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The estate grounds were too quiet. Too perfect.Sunlight filtered gently through the iron-wrought gates. The fountain babbled like nothing had happened—like the world hadn’t split in two and swallowed him whole.But I couldn’t breathe.Not with the silence. Not with the calm. Not with his absence screaming louder than the wind. So I ran.Through the rose garden. Past the statues. Down the manicured steps. Barefoot. Wrinkled shirt. Hair tangled from nights without sleep. I didn’t care who saw me. The staff. The guards. The press hidden behind tinted vans across the road. I didn’t care.“Perion!” My voice cracked as I stumbled to the front lawn, fists clenched at my sides. “Where are you?! You said you’d never leave me again!”No answer. Just the crows in the distance and the hum of summer heat.“You bastard!” I shouted, louder now. “You selfish, stupid bastard!”My scream ripped through the courtyard, raw and feral. I threw the watch he left me across the stones. It clattered against t
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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

I hated how quiet he could be. The office was suffocating.Plans were splayed across the marble table, each line on the blueprint another battleground. I stood across his table, arms crossed, heels tapping against the polished floor. In front of me is him, Romero leaned back against his seat, sleeves rolled up, jaw clenched as if my presence alone tested his patience.“It’s a structural impossibility,” he said flatly, gesturing to the plans. “You can’t suspend a terrace that wide without compromising support. You’re romanticizing function again.”“It’s called vision,” I snapped. “Something you’ve lost under all that concrete.”His eyes flicked up, sharp and unreadable. “And you’ve lost your grip on reality." My fingers curled at my sides. “I’m asking you to build, and take a risk. Unless you’ve forgotten how.”Silence crackled between them. Now he was just... staring at me. With that infuriating calm that made me want to throw my blueprints in his face.“This cantilever won’t hold,”
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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The morning after was too bright.Sunlight spilled through the slats of the blinds, painting lines across tangled sheets and bare skin. I stirred first. His arm was still draped over my waist, heavy with sleep and something more permanent. I didn’t move.Romero’s breath was warm against my neck, steady. Peaceful. Like he’d finally found the place he’d been aching to return to. I stared at the ceiling. I was still here. That should’ve meant something. To him, it probably did.I turned my head slowly. His lashes were dark against his cheek, lips slightly parted. He looked younger when he slept. Softer. Like the man he used to be, back before all of this—before I’d made a mess of both of us.I traced the edge of his jaw with my eyes, memorizing him. He didn’t flinch. His eyes opened, slowly. He looked at me, and there was no bitterness. Only a deep, aching kind of love. The kind that waited, even when it shouldn’t."How's my baby?" My body still ached in all the places he’d worshipped li
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

It hit me the next morning—too late, too soft. But it hit me.The signs were all there. The gentle smile, the way she poured water into my glass like we were old friends, the practiced warmth that never quite reached her eyes. I saw it now. I felt it.Signora Phylecia didn’t like me. Not then. Not ever. That whole luncheon, she was playing hostess, not mother. And certainly not mine.The blush dress. The airy perfume. The way she touched my hand when Romero said the word marry—not with joy. With resignation. Like I was a storm she couldn’t hold back, so she’d rather let it pass and pick up the pieces after. She never said a word that night. Not one disapproving syllable. But silence is just another kind of weapon, isn’t it?Romero didn’t see it. Or maybe he did, and chose not to care.But I remembered the way her eyes lingered just a little too long when I reached for him. And now, lying here in silk sheets older than my career, in a house older than my entire bloodline, I knew it: he
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

I found him on the veranda just before sunrise. The world was still asleep, the sky painted in hushed strokes of lavender and gray. Romero leaned against the railing, the sea below us churning like a restless secret. He didn’t turn when I stepped out.“You always wake up before the sun now?” I teased gently, wrapping the robe tighter around me.He shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”I moved closer, resting my hands on the banister beside his. “Are you okay?”He was quiet. Then said, “What did she say to you?”I hesitated. The truth sat heavy in my chest. “Nothing I didn’t already know.”His jaw tensed. At that, he turned. His eyes met mine, raw and furious and aching. “I’m sorry.”“She told me you were trouble. That you’d burn down everything I’ve worked for. She's the one who made you keep your distance from me before, right?” His voice was calm, but I could hear the storm behind it. “And when I asked her what she meant, she just smiled and said you’d already proved her right.”I swallowed h
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

I stirred to the sound of his voice.Muffled, low, careful, like he was trying not to wake me. But I was already awake. My eyes stayed shut, breath steady. The room still smelled like sea salt and cedar, the sheets warm from his body beside mine. I heard the hush of the sliding door and then his footsteps as he paced the room. Then stopped."You’ve done enough, Ma. Please, let us be happy," he said, voice tight but quiet. A pause.Silence. Then softer, clipped: "She chose me. Not the legacy. Not the money. Me." Another pause.I bit my lip, still motionless under the linen sheets. My heart was pounding now, but not out of fear. Out of knowing. Of what I’d suspected. He was talking to her. His mother.The line went dead not long after. I heard the soft beep of the call ending. Then nothing, just the wind rustling through the open windows. A moment passed. I felt him move closer again. The bed dipped as he leaned over, and I barely kept myself from reacting when he brushed a kiss against
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

The golden light of the setting sun spilled through the glass walls of the kitchen, casting warm shadows across the marble countertops. I stood barefoot, wearing one of his oversized button-down shirts—barely buttoned—sneaking strawberries from a porcelain bowl. Romero came up behind me, arms wrapping around my waist, his lips brushing the curve of my neck."Stealing from my private stash?" he murmured against my skin.I turned, a strawberry between my fingers. "Prove it’s yours."He took it from my hand slowly, deliberately, his mouth grazing my fingertips before he bit into it. Juice stained his lips, and he didn’t stop until he kissed me, tasting of sun-ripened fruit and something far more dangerous.His hands found the hem of the shirt. “You know this drives me crazy, right?”“And yet you haven’t taken it off,” I teased, breathless already.“Oh, I will.”Bookshelves stretched high above us, the scent of leather and old paper grounding us in a different kind of intimacy. He lifted
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CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

The sun was starting its descent again, brushing the horizon with molten gold as if the island itself was blushing from everything we’d done. I lay draped over Romero’s chest, his hand absentmindedly stroking circles on my hip, our skin still warm and glistening from the sea—and each other.He kissed the top of my head. “You’re going to be the death of me.”“I’ll make it a beautiful one,” I murmured, smiling against his skin.I was about to climb on top of him again when the sound shattered everything.A deep, mechanical thrum cutting through the waves.Chopper blades.Romero’s body tensed beneath me. His arm wrapped around me protectively, as if the noise alone could steal me away.“Who—?” I started, but he was already sitting up, jaw tight, shielding me with his body as we both stared toward the sky.The helicopter loomed into view above the cliffside, glossy black and marked with a crest I recognized far too well.Mastrandrea.Romero cursed under his breath. “Stay here.”“Romero—”
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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

The city lights never looked so cold. The hum of traffic and distant chatter replaced the island’s crashing waves and warm breeze. Romero and I parted at the airport, the finality of it stabbing sharper than I expected.“I’ll call you later,” he said, forcing a smile.“Make sure you answer,” he added, his voice thick with everything we left unsaid.We walked away in opposite directions, the crowd swallowing us like we were just two strangers who happened to share a secret place. But I wasn’t ready to let go, not yet.My phone buzzed almost immediately, a message from Romero. “I love you.”Back in my condo, the silence was different. He wasn’t here to fill it. I closed the door behind me, dropping my bag with a sigh. The chill in the air was unexpected, but it wasn’t the AC. Before I could set my keys down, the sharp click of heels echoed down the hallway. I froze.“Carmenta.”The voice was like ice against my skin. Smooth, cold, and carrying all the weight of a storm.I turned slowly.
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