All Chapters of CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride : Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

THE DISCOVERY~ANYA POV~The scream woke me up.It was not mine. But Marcello's.I jolted upright from where I had passed out on the floor, still fully dressed, my neck stiff from sleeping against the wall. My heart was already racing before my brain even caught up."Mama! MAMA!"He was standing in his makeshift bed—the dresser drawer lined with blankets—tears streaming down his face, his little hands reaching for me like I was the only thing keeping him from drowning.I scrambled over to him, scooping him up. He was hot. Sweaty. His whole body was shaking."Shh, baby. Shh. I am here. Mama's here." I held him tight against my chest, rocking back and forth. "It was just a bad dream. You're okay. We're safe."It was a lie. The word tasted like metal in my mouth.We weren't safe. We hadn't been safe since the moment I made that phone call to Diego. Maybe even before that.Marcello buried his face in my neck, his tiny fingers squeezing my shirt. "Scary man," he whimpered. "Big scary man."

THE PHONE CALL~DIEGO POV~I was staring at my laptop, pretending to work, when my phone rang. It showed an unknown number. My heart jumped. I grabbed it so fast I almost dropped it."Anya?" I answered, not even caring how desperate I sounded.There was silence at the other end.But not empty silence. I could hear breathing. It was slow and controlled. Like whoever was on the other end was taking their time."She's not Anya anymore." The voice was deep, calm, and Italian accent.My blood turned to ice.I knew that voice. I have never heard it in person, but I knew it. From Anya's nightmares. From the stories she had sobbed into my shoulder two years ago before she disappeared.César Navarro."Where is she?" he asked. It was casual. Like he was asking about the weather.My mouth went dry. "I don't know what you're talking about."A low chuckle. It made my skin crawl."Your sister called you twice in three days," he said. "The first time, she was careful. Kept it short. But the second c

THE WARNING~ANYA POV~The safe house wasn't safe.To be honest, nothing was safe anymore.Beatriz's sister lived on the outskirts of Lisbon. One of those neighborhoods that wasn't quite a city, wasn't quite a suburb. Just rows of identical concrete apartments with laundry hanging from every balcony and stray cats everywhere.The apartment was small. Smaller than Beatriz's. One bedroom that smelled like mothballs and the kind of air freshener old ladies buy in bulk. Marcello was asleep on the couch, his face smooshed into a pillow that was probably older than me.I hadn't slept.I had spent the whole night sitting on the floor with my back against the door, the escape bag at my feet, watching the window. Waiting for headlights. Waiting for footsteps. Waiting for the universe to finally catch up and crush me.My knee was killing me from where I had fallen on the stairs yesterday. I could feel it swelling under my jeans. Every time I shifted, pain shot up my leg like someone was jamm

THE REUNION~ANYA POV~I was standing at a payphone near the Rossio station, and I had already called Diego five times in the last hour, and every single time it went straight to voicemail, and every single time my heart sank a little deeper into my stomach because what if they had caught him, what if César had him, what if I was calling a dead man's phone?Marcello was in the stroller beside me, chewing on his toy and watching the pigeons with those ice-blue eyes that were way too alert for a two-year-old, and I was trying not to spiral, trying not to imagine all the horrible things that could have happened to my brother in the six hours since our last call.I was about to hang up—again—when the line clicked."Yaya." His voice.My knees almost gave out."Diego!" I grabbed the payphone with both hands, my voice coming out too loud, too desperate, and I didn't even care that people were staring. "Oh my God, where are you? Are you okay? Did they—""Lisbon," he cut me off, and he sounded

THE CHASE~ANYA POV~We were running through streets so narrow I could touch both walls if I stretched out my arms, and the cobblestones were uneven under my feet, slick from the afternoon rain that had passed through earlier, and every step sent pain shooting up my injured knee but I couldn't stop, I couldn't slow down, I couldn't do anything except keep moving forward with Marcello squeezed against my chest and Diego's hand locked in mine.Marcello was screaming now, full-blown terror screaming that echoed off the ancient walls and probably told everyone within three blocks exactly where we were, but I couldn't comfort him, I couldn't stop to tell him it was okay because it wasn't okay, nothing was okay, and his little hands were fisted in my shirt so tight I could feel his nails digging into my skin through the fabric."Mama! MAMA!" he sobbed, his face buried against my neck, and I could feel his tears hot and wet against my skin, could feel his whole body trembling with fear that