All Chapters of The Mafia's Forbidden Heat: Chapter 171

THORNE POVNetwork Haven felt wrong from the beginning even though I tried to convince myself otherwise. Everything was too coordinated. Too smooth. Too perfectly aligned. When fifty families all agreed on every major decision through collective consensus it meant either everyone genuinely agreed or dissent was being suppressed.I suspected the latter."Does it bother you how uniform everything feels," I asked Rin two months after we moved in."What do you mean.""Everyone here thinks the same way. Talks the same way. Even their emotional responses feel similar. Like the network is creating conformity instead of connection."Through our bond I felt his uncertainty. He had noticed it too but did not want to admit it. "Maybe that is just what happens when everyone is bonded. Shared consciousness naturally leads to shared perspectives.""Or maybe this particular network has developed groupthink and no one is willing to challenge it."Iris was thriving which made my concerns feel petty.