Semua Bab Through Smoke and Steel: A Mafia Romance: Bab 101 - Bab 110

❦ Rosalind ❦I staggered on the pavement, walking under dim streetlights along the outskirts of New York. They flickered like they were mocking me, buzzing faintly and casting everything in a sickly yellow haze. The skyline glittered ahead of me like a mirage. All I had to do was reach it. If I could just get close enough to the crowd, I’d disappear inside it and nothing, no man, could drag me back.I didn’t ask anyone for help. I didn’t even look at the faces I passed. I felt like a ghost, and ghosts didn’t beg. My joggers were damp, filthy, and clung to me, chafing against my skin. My hair stuck to my temples. The flash drive dug into my palm like a blade but I didn’t loosen my grip. If I let go, it was over. I’d have suffered for nothing.My chest burned from holding my breath. Not because I was running, but because I was holding myself in, holding in a scream down until it burned the back of my throat. Only when I stumbled onto a wide, busy street with bright shops, car horns,

❄︎ Viktor ❄︎I stepped out of my car, felt my boots crunch against the gravel, and my hand instinctively went to the gun tucked in my waistband. My men stood in a line at the front of the house, like stiff statues under the lamps. Their faces were grim, every one of them, like they were waiting for a funeral to start.My pulse picked up. I didn’t fucking know why. Not only did I not remember all of their faces, but I couldn’t recall if this kind of reception was normal. They looked like they’d swallowed glass.For a fleeting second, I wished Adrian was beside me, but I crushed the thought. I was the don. With or without my memories, that didn’t change anything.My bodyguards closed in on either side of me as I walked forward, heading toward the man who stood half a step ahead of the rest. Now that I was up close, I could see their control slipping. Clenched fists, twitching shoulders. They were trying hard not to shake. Curious.“Speak,” I ordered flatly.I flicked my eyes toward t

❦ Rosalind ❦ I was sinking into sleep, my head heavy, when the penthouse phone shattered the silence. The blare tore through the quiet, and I shot upright, my heart hammering against my ribs. For a split second, I thought they’d found me again. My hand slipped beneath the pillow, grabbing the small pistol I kept there.But it was only the phone.Still, my body shook as if the danger was real. The ringing cut off, leaving me stranded in the silence, trying to decided whether I had the strength to move to pick it up. I almost laid back down, when it blared again, shrill and loud. I groaned under my breath, dragging myself up, the pistol still in my hand.I picked it up but didn’t speak.Then, his voice. “Hello. Rosa.”My knees nearly gave out. My throat burned. The tears came suddenly because all I could think of was calling him and calling him and hearing nothing. Needing him, and being met with silence.I nearly slammed the phone down. But then he spoke, his tone rushed and raw

❄︎ Viktor ❄︎I watched her walk up the winding stairs, the hem of her sundress teasing me with every dainty step. I leaned back almost unconsciously and let my eyes follow the long length of her pretty legs until she disappeared. My lips curved. If I didn’t know what she was sneaking off to do, I’d have followed her and dragged her into the nearest wall to remind her who she belonged to.But I knew.My lovely wife was going upstairs to oversee the auction of her hotel, blissfully unaware that I was one of the players waiting to claim it.I moved to the minibar and poured two drinks. One for me, one for Adrian. The man was sunk deep into his laptop, the glow of the auction site reflected in his glasses.I dropped onto the sofa beside him. The ache behind my eyes pulsed harder, so I shut them, trying to swallow it down with a long sip of whiskey.“Does she know?” Adrian asked.“No.” I responded. “I’m interested in seeing how she acts, thinking I’m still stumbling around with memory l

❦ Rosalind ❦ My victory was short-lived. The message box flashed red across my screen like a wicked taunt. YOU HAVE BEEN OUTBID.My jaw clenched so hard it promised an ache. I turned to look at the balance in the corner of my screen. God. Almost five hundred million was already gone. My pulse pounded in my ears, louder than the insidious hum of the laptop as I watched the bidder IDs fall over themselves, bidding nonstop.It had been an hour of climbing and fighting for every inch of ground, only to watch it ripped away at the last second by some asshole behind a screen God knows where in the world.I took a deep breath, my fingers hovering above the keyboard. The timer ticked down once again like it had the last hundred times. The timer reset to thirty seconds every time a bid was made. If your bid held for thirty whole seconds, it meant victory. A clean win. And in the last twenty minutes, the crowd had actually thinned. The IDs that once filled the scrolling list fell away