All Chapters of The Mafia King's Obsession.: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

*Harper*I’d forgotten what real anticipation felt like.Not the dread of a locked elevator. Not the thrill of Rowan’s hands pinning mine above my head. Just... waiting for my best friend to come home.I stood by the baggage claim, checking my phone every three seconds. Santiago hovered behind me, pretending to look disinterested but sweeping the crowd with sharp eyes. His presence should’ve made me feel awkward, but by now, he felt more like an awkward older brother who’d kill someone if they brushed my shoulder wrong.I spotted Lili before she saw me; bright floral scarf, tangled hair from too many layovers, dragging a suitcase missing a wheel. Classic Lili.The moment her eyes landed on me, she let out a noise halfway between a squeal and a war cry.“BLUE!” she shrieked, ignoring every single rule of polite airport behavior.I ran to her, laughing and crying all at once. We collided, arms locked so tight the rest of the world went

*Rowan*The city was still waking up when I walked through her door.Santiago opened it for me without a word, he’d seen the soot on my cuffs, smelled the scorched wool of my coat, and he knew better than to ask how many men lay colder than the night because of me.I didn’t stop in the foyer. Didn’t shrug off my jacket. Didn’t even glance at the shadowed guest room where her little friend, Lili, probably slept with a knife under her pillow just for spite.No. I crossed straight to Harper’s room and pushed the door open.She was there.Tangled in sheets, hair fanned out on my pillow — one palm pressed to the empty space where my chest should have been all night. Her breath rose and fell steady. Innocent. As if the man at her door wasn’t still warm from a kill.For one heartbeat I didn’t think of Victor. Or Lisbon’s bones blackening in a warehouse blaze.I thought only of her: my Stray Kitten, asleep in my bed, softening every corner I

*Rowan*It started at dusk, when I returned to Lisbon, the sky bled red over the docks I’d already burned.Rafe’s blood still lingered in my nostrils, the copper tang, the rage it carved inside my chest. It would never fade until I balanced the scale with someone else’s heart. Tonight, I wanted Victor’s. But I’d take his precious heir first.Earlier, when I left Harper’s apartment, I didn’t need to walk too far. The first rat didn’t even run.He lounged behind a seafood stall in Alfama, puffing a cheap cigarette, bragging into his burner phone about how the “King” wouldn’t dare show himself in public anymore.He didn’t notice my shadow until my boot shattered his knee sideways with a pop like cracking lobster shells. He shrieked, I silenced it by grabbing his jaw and slamming his skull against the wall.“Talk,” I hissed, my thumb pressed so deep into his throat he sputtered foam instead of words.Momo stood beside me, rolling

*Rowan*I stepped through the door of Harper’s apartment, the blood of Victor’s men washed from my hands but not from under my nails.The doctor stood from where he’d crouched beside Rafe’s makeshift bed, nodding once, crisp and clinical.“He’ll live,” the man said. “It was clean through. No major vessels. He’s on a drip. We’ll keep him on antibiotics, blood thinner. But the pain will be cruel for a while.”Rafe cracked open one swollen eye. “You should’ve seen the other guy,” he croaked.I smirked. Brief. Just a flicker. “They didn’t see much of anything, after I was done.”Santiago stood by the window, his silhouette framed by the soft dusk light. Lili sat with her arms crossed, face unreadable, her mouth tight with suspicion, like she could tell the war I was bringing. Harper wasn’t there.“Where is she?” I asked, my voice low.Lili nodded toward the back room. “She went to lie down. Said she’d wait for you.”I moved

*Harper*The explosion rocked the building like a slap from the gods. It terrified me.I dropped the coffee cup. It shattered, and the hot dark liquid was splashing across the floor. But I didn’t feel it, because I was already turning to the window again, heart clawing its way up my throat.A thick plume of black smoke bloomed on the horizon. It wasn’t far, it was close. Too close.Rafe cursed from behind me, struggling to sit up on the couch. "The club... That was the club. They fucking hit the club!"Lili rushed to my side, her hands on my arms. “That must have been a car accident, right?”I couldn’t respond, I wanted it to be true, but my heart was telling me it was what Rafe had said, and the smoke at the distance was confirming it.“Harp, come, take a seat, you are scaring me,” she said, trying to move me aside, but I refused.My phone was already in my hand as I dialed his number, it rang several times then went to voicem