Semua Bab TO HATE, TO TOUCH, TO RUIN: Bab 11 - Bab 20

In every corner, brass sconces cast a soft yellow glow, drawing long shadows across the limestone walls. The sound of waves crashing grew louder as I neared my room at the end of the hallway, ocean wind slamming against rock like a thousand secrets dying to be told.I opened the bedroom door. Warm. Quiet. The white linen curtains fluttered slowly in the breeze coming in from the open balcony. The scent of salt and sand kissed my face, filling my lungs with the illusion of freedom.I stepped outside.The cliffs below stared back at me, jagged and unforgiving, slammed over and over by the dark sea glowing under a half-dead moon. Wind swept my hair back, cold strands sticking to my neck and cheeks.I closed my eyes, letting the chill sting my skin, soothe the fire still burning low in my chest since earlier that day.I gripped the wrought iron balcony railing. My fingertips pressed into the cold metal, grounding the soft hum in my head. The night felt silent here, though I knew somewhere

After lunch, I sat on one of the tall barstools near the kitchen island. My chin rested in my palm as I stared at Aldo, who stood stiffly in the corner like a dead-eyed statue carved from boredom and body armor.I let out a dramatic sigh, loud enough to pierce whatever brain he had behind that blank face.“I’m bored.”No reaction. No blink. No flinch.I rolled my eyes. “I. Am. Bored. Did you hear me? BORED.”He turned, slowly, and looked at me like I was bird shit on the hood of his overpriced car. “What do you want?”I dropped my head back, staring up at the ceiling like I was asking the heavens for divine intervention. “I want something to play with.”His eyebrows lowered slightly. “To play with?”I gave him a flat look. “Yes. Play with. What did you think, Aldo? That I’m some robot who’ll just sit here quietly, waiting for Zach Romano to come home with blood on his shoes and a pair of handcuffs in his pocket?”He stared at me for a beat too long before finally saying, “We can’t giv

I didn’t know what kind of curse lived in this place, but I woke up with a light head and a back still warm from thick linen sheets in that damn stone room.Which was wild, considering I’d spent the whole night staring at the ceiling, listening to the echo of my own breath, replaying that kiss.That stupid, reckless, infuriating kiss that, God help me, I didn’t completely regret.I sat up, bare feet touching the cold marble. The bathroom swallowed me in a haze of lavender soap I definitely used too much of again, like I was trying to scrub the scent of that ocean-eyed bastard off my skin.But in the mirror, his mark was still there.I glared at my lips, touching the swollen corner with the tip of my finger. The bite mark was still faintly red, clinging on like an unwritten claim. I snorted and splashed cold water on my face, pretending I didn’t feel tequila-drunk butterflies throwing a rave in my stomach.I made my way downstairs, damp hair brushing my shoulders, steps slow but my bra

Dusk melted slowly into the horizon, painting the sky in streaks of orange and red like old wounds that refused to heal.His horse stepped carefully down the rocky slope, carrying us toward the beach, where the sand was already turning cold under the bite of the sea breeze. Zach’s body was still behind me.Big, warm, silent like a threat that hadn’t been spoken yet.I drew in a deep breath. The ocean ahead looked like a shattered mirror.“What are you going to do to Matteo?” I asked, not turning around. My voice was swallowed by the crashing waves.He didn’t answer directly. His horse kept walking like we hadn’t spoken at all. But I could feel his stomach tighten against my back. I could feel the chill in his voice before he even spoke.“The worst,” he murmured. “If he doesn’t take responsibility for what he’s done.”I just gave a small nod. No surprise there. I knew who Matteo was. And I knew what loss felt like.“I’m not defending anyone,” I said to him. “My cousin was murdered a ye

I pushed my bedroom door open slowly, holding my breath like the whole damn villa could still hear the noise of my heart crashing against my ribs. The dim light from the bedside lamp spilled across white walls, highlighting the rumpled gray linen sheets that had wrapped around my body just a few hours ago.My mind was a mess. Not from the broken AC or the Mediterranean heat outside, but from something else entirely. Something that had been clinging to my skin ever since I’d planted my ass on the very obvious hardness underneath Don Cosa Nostra’s holy-forbid-he-feels-love sweatpants.God. His size.Jesus.I closed the door behind me with my elbow and dropped onto the bed like the mattress could swallow the leftover sins still stuck to the back of my neck.The taste of chocolate still lingered on my tongue, but it was nothing compared to the bitterness of what had just pressed into me. No one had ever handed me a manual on How to Sit on a Mafia Lap Without Getting Mentally Wrecked. Sadl