Lahat ng Kabanata ng Bound by blood and lies: Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

Eli's pov I don't remember how long we stayed like that, me in his arms, head on his shoulder, breathing in that mix of cedarwood and whiskey that always clung to him. Time blurred. My thoughts were a mess of guilt and longing and fear. But under it all… was this soft ache for him. For us. For them. For something that felt real in a world where everything else had shattered. His hand moved slowly up and down my back. Not possessive, not rough. Just there. Just steady. Grounding me. I shifted, barely an inch, just enough to feel the rhythm of his heartbeat against my side. Still steady. Still mine. Still Luca. He looked down at me. I looked up at him. There was nothing lustful in the first few seconds of silence only that lingering question in both our eyes. Are we still safe here? And then I said the one thing I hadn’t d

Luca's pov “Eli left with the car this morning. Said he was going to get some groceries with—” “You let him leave?” I barked, not hearing the rest. “I—he said Ricardo was taking him, I didn’t—” Matteo turned on me. “Ricardo? I find that hard to believe because they barely talk.God forbid he ever tells us a damn thing.” “Like you’d have listened?” I spat. “This whole thing wouldn’t be a fucking disaster if you hadn’t treated him like an outsider from the start!” “You’re blaming me?” “Yes.” “How's all this my fault when he left. Without telling anyone. Again.” “And where the fuck were you when he was walking out the goddamn door?” I snapped. “Too busy sulking to even

Luca's povThe guest room door stayed shut.I came back.I stood in front of it for almost an hour, hand hovering over the doorknob, willing it to open. Willing him to open it. But there was nothing but silence behind it, the kind that weighed heavy on your chest and whispered, you messed up again.I hated this kind of quiet. It reminded me too much of the nights after Matteo’s mother died, when I’d sneak into his room just to make sure he hadn’t stopped breathing from the suffocation of grief. This silence felt like that. Like something fragile had cracked and I didn’t know how to fix it.I leaned my forehead against the cool wood, swallowing the guilt burning up my throat.“I didn’t mean it,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean any of that.”But Eli wouldn’t hear me. Not now. Maybe not ever.And could I even blame him?****Ricardo had walked back into the estate with Eli at his side, and in that mom

Luca's povThe house had never felt this cold.Not even in the dead of winter. Not even with all the windows shut and the heat on full blast. It was cold because Eli wasn’t talking. He wasn’t crying either at least not loud enough for anyone to hear anymore.That silence?It was killing me.I passed by his broken door again. Still ajar from when Matteo kicked it in three nights ago. The hinges groaned whenever someone brushed past it, like the house itself winced at what we’d done. I didn’t go in. Couldn’t.Matteo did. Every morning. Sometimes with food, sometimes just to sit on the edge of the bed and watch Eli pretend to sleep.He never stayed long. Couldn’t stomach it.Neither could I.****I sat in the office now, hands buried in my hair, papers scattered across the desk that I wasn’t even reading. Logistics. Intel on Silas. Weapons shipment reports. It was all noise. Background static to the ache in

Silas POVThey thought I was finished.Ghosting them allowing them to prepare.Even Matteo—the golden prince of paranoia—had stopped looking over his shoulder long enough to play house with his little FBI pet.My brother.Fools.I didn’t need to strike with noise.I just needed to wait. Watch.And now?Now it was time.I sat at the edge of the rooftop, leather gloves soaked in the blood of a man I hadn’t bothered to name. His phone still buzzed in his pocket, probably Matteo’s men checking in.They’d find silence.And a message.I left the body laying against the ledge, one eye gouged out and a knife driven through the heart. His tongue had been cut clean and placed in his palm. An old Moretti warning. I wondered if they’d even remember what it meant.I did.Silence comes before the slaughter.****I moved like a shadow through the