All Chapters of Claimed by the Mafia King : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Damiano’s POVThe living room was silent.Too silent.The only sound breaking through was the steady drip, drip, drip of blood hitting the marble floor. Every drop echoed like a heartbeat, a grim reminder of what the house had turned into—a tomb.My knuckles were still smeared with dried red, and the scent of it clung to me—metallic, sharp, and maddeningly alive.Leo stood across the room, arms folded, watching me with that quiet, infuriating calm of his. He didn’t speak, and I didn’t either. There wasn’t much left to say.Then came the sound again.A harsh gag—then the wet, wrenching sound of someone throwing up.Alessia.I didn’t need to be in her room to know what was going on. From the sounds my abilities picked I knew all she was doing. Her sharp intake of breath, the soft scrape of her hand as she braced herself against the wall, the way her heartbeat stuttered every few seconds like she was trying not to break apart.But the retching was louder, heard by even Leo. It was like s

Alessia’s POVOutside, the mansion looked eerily normal. The blood that had once stained the marble floors was gone. Even the faint, metallic scent had been scrubbed away. That was when I realized that even the living room was completely free from anything that could tie it to that crimson fluid.It was as if the massacre never happened.I followed Damiano in silence to the car. He didn’t open the door for me this time—just got in, started the engine, and waited.“Wow,” I muttered, slipping in beside him. “Chivalry really is dead.”He didn’t even look at me. Just said, “Buckle up.”So I did.The drive was quiet. Too quiet. My nerves twisted tighter with every passing second.When we finally stopped, I blinked in surprise.A hospital.Not Papardo, though. Somewhere smaller and quieter. “Why are we here?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. He just stepped out, motioning for me to follow.We moved through white hallways that smelled faintly of disinfectant and something else—dread. The nur

Alessia’s POVI didn’t have a satisfying answer. Just… a tug in my chest that I kept shoving back down, pretending it didn’t exist. Pretending it wasn’t the reason I froze when I had every opportunity to make him bleed.I told myself it wasn’t that. It couldn’t be.So instead, I took the coward’s route. I lied.“I didn’t kill you,” I said finally, lifting my chin, “because I need your help.”He raised a brow, that amused, infuriating smirk flickering across his lips. “My help?”I nodded, though my palms were starting to sweat. “Yes. I… hired a private investigator to look into my brother.”Damiano’s expression shifted—the kind of calm, attentive look that made me feel like I was about to be cross-examined. “And?”“He found out my brother was a secret agent,” I said, forcing the words out carefully, “working for the government. But apparently, he got himself tangled up in something dangerous. Something he shouldn’t have touched.”“What something?” he asked.I hesitated, then sighed. “T

Alessia’s POVDamiano leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed, that unreadable expression back on his face—the one that made me feel like I was about to be interrogated rather than informed.He started slowly. “After we both saw your house in ruins that night, I knew something wasn’t right. So I had Leo look into your family. That’s when we found out your brother had gone missing.”I didn’t even flinch. Honestly, I had been expecting it. If Damiano had found my home looking like a war zone, and I happened to be the mysterious girl hiding more than I said, then of course he would dig. He wasn’t the kind of man to leave questions unanswered—especially not ones tied to someone he was taking under his roof. So, of course, he would want to know what kind of chaos he was dragging into his already messed-up world by keeping me around. I mean, if I were him, I would probably investigate myself too.Still, a part of me bristled. The fact that he had gone behind my back wasn’t the surpri

ALESSIA’S POV“I—oh God.” I froze in the doorway, instantly regretting every decision that led me here. “Sorry! I didn’t knock. I thought the office would be empty! And that you would be out there checking out the body of a cadaver, not he real deal.”Carlo and the woman leapt apart like they had just been electrocuted. Papers scattered, a chair rolled away, and I immediately wished for the earth to open and swallow me whole.Carlo cleared his throat, straightening his coat like that would somehow erase what I had seen. “Alessia! It’s okay, it’s okay. Totally fine.” He turned to the woman, flashing that trademark grin I remembered far too well. “We’ll… uh, continue this another time, yeah?”The nurse gave me a look that could cut glass, muttered something under her breath about “interruptions,” and stormed out.I exhaled and turned back to Carlo, resisting the urge to wipe my eyes with holy water. “You know, I was kind of hoping this office smelled like disinfectant and bad coffee, n