Library

Home / Mafia / Mafia’s Feud : Love & Betrayal / Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

Lahat ng Kabanata ng Mafia’s Feud : Love & Betrayal : Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

73 Kabanata

Lucy Spiraling.

The Valerio estate never slept.That was what Lucy had learned since childhood, there were always footsteps on the marble floors, always shadows slipping through corridors, always the scent of smoke and steel clinging to the air. But tonight, the house felt different. Too quiet. Too still.The silence was heavy, suffocating, like the pause before a storm.Lucy sat on the edge of her bed, her nightgown clinging to her skin from hours of restless pacing. The curtains were drawn tight, but a thin line of moonlight slipped through, cutting across her floor like a blade. Her heart had not stopped racing since she’d closed her eyes and seen him again, Angelo, in the alley. The night when she’d slipped away from Vince’s men, desperate for air, desperate for something that wasn’t another shadow breathing down her neck.his voice sharp with warning, his presence too close, too real.Her mind replayed the alley like it had happened only minutes ago. Angelo’s eyes in the dark. She hadn’t known i

Guardians.

A knock came at her door, sharp, insistent. Vince’s voice followed, rough with sleeplessness.“Lucy. Breakfast.”She jumped. Her stomach clenched as she rose. It wasn’t just the gnawing fear of what might be growing inside her; it was the knowledge that she had to step back into a house where nothing she felt could be shown.Vince would notice. Vince always noticed.“Coming,” she called back, forcing her voice to steady.The footsteps lingered, then faded.Lucy stared at the door, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might give her away.No one could know. Not yet. Not ever. And so she rose, smoothed her hair, and painted her face into something calm.The mask of a Valerio daughter.But beneath it, her silence weighed heavier than any crown.The corridor outside her room already felt crowded.Two of Vince’s men lingered at the end of the hall, pretending to be statues, their gazes sliding toward her as she emerged. Their presence was suffocating, more prison wardens than protect

Whispers Of Uprising.

Lucy’s heels clicked softly against the marble as she walked away from the dining hall, every step measured, steady. On the surface, she was calm. On the inside, she was breaking.She could still feel Vince’s eyes burning into her back, could still hear the suspicion woven into his voice.“Too quiet. Almost like you’re hiding something.”He didn’t know. He couldn’t know. But his words had been too close to the truth.And that was when Lucy understood, with a clarity sharp enough to wound, that she couldn’t tell anyone. Not Selene, not Maya, not even Kira. Not her father. Certainly not Vince.This was hers to carry. Hers alone.If she spoke, the world would end.She slipped back into her room, closing the door with a quiet click.Her reflection stared back from the tall mirror by the wardrobe. Pale, tired, shadows beneath her eyes. And beneath the silk of her blouse, a body that no longer felt entirely her own.Her hands trembled as she pressed them against her stomach.Was it real? Wa

Carrying A Life.

“The Russos?” she whispered.Selene nodded grimly. “They’ve been quiet for years, playing second to the Mancinis, but that’s done. Their people are saying Giovanni’s old, that he’s letting his son soften him, that the Mancinis are no longer strong enough to rule. The Russos want to change the balance.”“An uprising,” Maya added, sipping her wine. “And not just against the Mancinis. They’re talking about sweeping out anyone who’s in their way. Valerios included.”Lucy’s chest tightened, fear squeezing her lungs.Her family. Vince. Her father. Her mother. Her BrothersAngelo.Her friends watched her carefully as the words sank in.Selene tilted her head, studying her face. “That’s why you’ve been so quiet, isn’t it? You’ve heard something already. From Vince? From your father?”Lucy blinked, caught off guard. “No. I”“Don’t lie.” Maya cut in, her gaze sharp. “You’ve been different. Distant. You barely eat. You look like you haven’t slept in weeks. Something’s wrong, Lucy, and if you don

The Silence Before The Storm.

The morning after her friends departed, Lucy woke to silence.Not the gentle kind that cradles you in peace.But the suffocating kind, thick, oppressive, and heavy enough to press down on the estate like a storm poised to break.She felt it before she even moved.The air was different.The laughter and idle chatter that usually filtered through the halls were gone, replaced by whispers that barely stirred the air. The servants moved like ghosts, heads bowed, their footsteps quick and careful as though afraid to disturb something unseen. Even the guards, Vince’s ever-watchful shadows, seemed sharper, more alert, their gazes cutting through every corner, every doorway, as if expecting violence to spill in at any moment.Lucy didn’t need Vince to tell her what she already knew. The Russos were closing in.Still, he did.Vince was already waiting when she entered the dining room. He sat at the head of the long mahogany table, posture straight, fingers interlaced before him, his gaze fixed

Suffocating.

It was the kind of quiet that didn’t soothe, only shifted. The air didn’t hum with his presence anymore; it simply waited, still and cautious, as if the walls themselves weren’t sure what to do with the absence of the man who had ruled them. The difference was subtle, but Lucy’s nerves picked up every note of it. The heavy, suffocating silence that usually pressed down on her like stone now felt a little thinner, like someone had cracked open a window in a room that had been sealed too long.Conversations drifted more easily down the hallways now. She heard voices from the kitchens, hushed but light, bursts of laughter that hadn’t dared exist in months. Even the guards, those stone-faced statues posted at every corner, had changed in ways only someone like Lucy would notice. Their shoulders didn’t carry the same iron tension. Their eyes moved slower, less like predators and more like men simply waiting for the next shift to end.Vince’s presence had been a constant whip at their backs

Vines And Shadow.

Lucy lingered on the balcony, hands gripping the stone railing until her knuckles turned white. The night pressed close, full of unseen eyes and unseen dangers.Her room overlooked the inner courtyard, safer than the walls that faced the street, but still patrolled. She’d watched enough nights to know the rhythm: two guards pacing the perimeter, lanterns swinging low, their boots clicking against the flagstones. They overlapped only at certain points, a brief convergence where no corner of the courtyard was unobserved.That was the gap she needed.She crouched, her cloak wrapped tightly around her, the hood casting her face in shadow. Her heart hammered so loudly she thought it must echo into the courtyard.One guard passed beneath her balcony, a lantern glow brushing across the stone. His face tilted up for a moment, an idle glance but Lucy froze as though her body had turned to stone.Seconds crawled by.Then he moved on.Lucy released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, h

Desperate.

Lucy sagged against the hedge, shaking from the release of terror. Her knees threatened to give way, but she swallowed hard and forced herself forward. The garden opened ahead of her, wide, moonlit, terrifyingly empty.No cover. No shadows to hide in. Only open lawn stretching to the outer walls.If she ran across, they would see her.UnlessHer eyes darted to the left, catching the faint glimmer of a narrow path winding through a dense cluster of trees. Half-forgotten, overgrown, it twisted toward the estate’s shadowed edge longer, riskier, but hidden.Her choice wasn’t really a choice.Lucy slipped into the trees.At first, it was only silence, thick, watchful. Then came the sound that made her blood run cold.A metallic clink.The rattle of a chain.Followed by a growl, low, guttural, rumbling through the ground beneath her feet.Her breath hitched.The Valerio dogs.Vince kept them along the estate’s edge, brutal, half-starved beasts trained to rip apart intruders. She had for

His Fear, Her Freedom.

Lucy pulled her cloak tighter, the hood casting her face in shadow as she slipped into the winding veins of Catania.The cobblestones gleamed slick beneath the moonlight, carrying the stink of fish and smoke. Wooden shutters rattled in the faint breeze, while far-off laughter rose from a tavern, coarse and rough.For a moment, she almost convinced herself she had done it, escaped Vince’s suffocating grip, outwitted his men, and reached the world beyond the walls.But freedom was never that simple.Her footsteps echoed too loudly in her ears, bouncing off the walls of the narrow alley. And with every step forward, a pressure built at the back of her neck, prickling the skin like invisible fingers.Someone was behind her.Lucy slowed. The sound behind her slowed.Her pulse thundered.She quickened her pace. The echo followed.Her breath hitched. The streets seemed too narrow around her, shadows thickening.She turned sharply, ducking into a side alley where a row of laundry sagged betwe

Scared.

Marco’s voice hardened, though it carried no malice, only the weariness of a man caught in someone else’s storm. “Tatiana is moving. She’s building something bigger than the streets can hold. Weapons, soldiers, alliances. Your name isn’t safe on anyone’s lips, Lucy. Not even in whispers. If she finds a way to break you, she’ll break Vince. If she breaks Vince, she weakens Mancini. And if she weakens Mancini”“The whole city burns,” Lucy whispered, finishing his thought.Marco’s silence confirmed it.She shook her head, taking a step away from him. Her chest ached with too many truths at once. “And Angelo? What is he in this? A protector? A spy? Or just Giovanni’s dog, doing what he’s told?”Marco’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment, he looked almost pained. “You think Angelo does this for Giovanni?”Lucy’s breath stuttered.Marco took another step closer, his voice low and measured now. “He asked me to watch you. Not Giovanni. Not Vince. Because he knows what Tatiana is capable of. Beca

PREV

...

NEXT

I-scan ang code para mabasa sa App

DMCA.com Protection Status