Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE KISS OF VENGEANCE : Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

Chapter Twelve.I pulled the blanket off my legs, kicking it to the side as sweat clung to me. My throat hurt from the scream I hadn't made. The dream refused to disappear. That night. The blood. My mother's final gasp. My father's body that collapsed next to hers.I sat up, digging my palms into my eyes, trying to erase the image.It didn't.It never did.A light knock on the door startled me out of the flashback. I did not move. Another knock—firm.I rose, pulling the silk robe tighter around me, and swung open the door without forethought.Standing there.Vincenzo Lombardi.Leaning against the doorframe as if he was the owner of the world—and me.His robe was open at the neck, revealing enough chest to make it look deliberate. His arms were crossed. He didn't smile. Just glared."You were speaking in your sleep," he spoke finally, voice low."Listening at my door again?" I snapped, voice higher than I intended."I live here." He raised an eyebrow. "When someone starts muttering as t

Chapter Fourteen.Francesca's PovI peeled out of the alley and put it in high gear, tires screaming on the busted road. I needed to reach the villa. Needed to find my uncle.I was short on time.The moment I stepped onto the main road, fear was stuck in my throat like a rock. My foot didn't falter on the accelerator, but my mind was spinning. Something was wrong. Something was off, I knew it. My phone was still clutched in my hand. I called the only person that I believed might be able to think clearly in a crisis such as that. Vito.He answered on the second ring. "Francesca?""I think I'm being followed," I said, my voice strangling. I glanced in the rearview mirror. The black car was still there. Same distance. Same rhythm. Every turn I made, it mirrored it. No response on the other end, then a muffled curse. "How long has it been behind you?""Since I left the restaurant. It followed me out of old town. I attempted to shake it behind the alleyway behind the bakery, but it held b

Chapter Sixteen.The sun light streamed through my high windows like a censure, unwanted and golden. I hadn't slept. Not precisely. My brain had stayed caught in the same web all night long—Vincenzo's insinuating menace, Isadora's almost imperceptible caution, and the treacherous, subtle way my breath had hitched to behold him sleeping in the library.I wasn't meant to care about him. Not confusion, not sympathy, not curiosity. But something had shifted. The edges of hatred were dulling, softened by proximity, by the mask he wore sometimes—the one that nearly seemed human.I shrugged my shoulders, shoving the thought away.I had a job.I buckled the knife under my leg. Just in case. Vito had taught me better than to go into a house like this unarmed. And today, I was going to find out if Isadora's warning was paranoia— or a very real noose tightening around our necks.By the time I entered the hall, the house vibrated with silent motion. Servants moving like ghosts. Guards in black st

Chapter 18Francesca's PovThe courtyard still smelled of smoke and gunpowder. My hands were trembling despite my telling them they weren't. I crouched behind the greenhouse wall with Vincenzo, who for once wasn't bellowing orders. He was looking at me.I avoided his gaze. My heart was racing in my ears, and it wasn't due to the firefight a moment earlier.Then I heard it. A whisper, low and chill."Don't move."My blood went cold. A gun barrel was pressed to the back of Vincenzo's head, and my hand moved instinctively to my waist. But I held back. Any wrong movement would kill him.Vincenzo shifted his head to the side, just enough to be able to see who was behind him. I saw the recognition in his eyes first. Not fear, not surprise… recognition." You?" he whispered. Disbelief layered his voice, mixed with something else—betrayal.I stepped out from behind him slowly, my body stiffening when I saw the man who stood with the gun.My stomach dropped. Arnaldo.I froze, meeting Vincenzo'

Chapter 20Francesca's PovI came back to my room with the weight of the day encircling my shoulders like a vice. Each muscle ached, yet weakness had never been potent enough to dull my instincts. They lived now, taut and irritated. Something was obviously not right.It wasn't stress. It was that shivery feeling that warned you when something was going to go wrong. My fingers tightened at my sides as I closed the door, glancing around my room out of habit. Everything seemed fine, but it wasn't just about the room. It was about the silence. Too still.I crossed the floor to my window and shoved it open, letting the cold evening air cut across my skin like a blade. The grounds outside were in familiar shapes. But something was not right, there. At the crest of the western garden wall, almost hidden in the vines, a new camera flashed once with a very gentle red light. I hadn't seen it yesterday. I would have remembered. I always remembered surveillance setups. This one wasn't a new inst