جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 80

LOLA'S POV The next mafia gathering is smaller and more intimate, a dinner party at Vincent Romano’s estate to celebrate his birthday. I’m getting ready in our bedroom when Ocean comes in, already dressed in a dark suit. “You look beautiful,” he says, watching me apply lipstick in the mirror. “I’m not even done yet.” “You’re always beautiful.” He comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. “Are you nervous about tonight?” “A little, but less than before.” “Good. It’ll be a smaller group and more relaxed.” He kisses my neck. “And Sophia will be there.” I smile at that. Sophia has become my anchor at these events, someone I can talk to, someone who understands. We arrive at the Romano estate fashionably late. Vincent greets us at the door with Sophia at his side. “Ocean, Lola. So glad you could make it.” Vincent shakes Ocean’s hand warmly. “Happy birthday,” I

THIRD PERSON POV Hannah is in the kitchen making tea at two in the morning when she hears it. A sound, subtle. Coming from the east wing of the mansion. She freezes, while listening. There it is again. A scraping sound,like someone trying to open a window. Her heart starts pounding, she sets down her mug carefully and quietly. Should she call Ezra? Call Ocean? Run to her room and lock the door? Before she can decide, the security alarm blares...loud, piercing, echoing through the entire mansion. Someone breached the perimeter. Hannah runs toward the staff quarters where Ezra’s room is located and she pounds on his door. “Ezra! Ezra, someone’s trying to break in!” The door flies open. Ezra is already dressed, already armed, and already moving. “Get to the safe room,” he orders. “Now.” “But...” “Now, Hannah!” She runs down the hallway toward the reinforced safe room that Ocean had installed for emergencies. Behind her, she hears Ezra speaking into his radio, coordinatin

THIRD PERSON POV Willow Hart sits in her hotel room at the Savoy, staring at her laptop screen. She's been in London for two months now, two months of watching Ocean and Lola be disgustingly happy together. Two months of her plans failing, two months of desperation growing. The seduction attempt failed spectacularly. Ocean rejected her, told her to leave. Made it crystal clear he wants nothing to do with her. The partnership with Ethan has been useless. Ethan is in hiding after his failed kidnapping attempt, too scared to make another move. Elena Kozlov and the other wives who hate Lola are powerless, their husbands destroyed, their influence gone. Willow is running out of options. And running out of money. The Savoy is expensive, she can't stay here indefinitely. She needs something, some leverage, some piece of information that will drive a wedge between Ocean and Lola. So she's been digging, researching,spending hours online looking into Ocean's past. Into Lola's p

LOLA'S POV I'm late. Not just a day or two, a whole fucking week. I've always been regular like clockwork...every twenty-eight days on the dot. No surprises, no drama. So missing a whole week? Yeah, that shit is serious. My stomach has been doing flips all morning just thinking about it. I'm locked in the bathroom, sitting on the closed toilet lid, staring at this pregnancy test box like it's a bomb. I bought it yesterday in a small pharmacy across town so no one would recognize me. I hid it deep in my purse and sneaked it into the house like it was illegal drugs or stolen money. My hands were sweating the whole time. I don't even know why I'm acting so sneaky. Ocean is my husband. He loves me. If I'm really pregnant, he should be the first person I tell. But damn, I'm scared as hell. My heart won't stop racing. What if the test comes back positive? What if Ocean freaks out and thinks I planned this? What if this changes everything between us in a bad way? We only started

ThIRD PERSON POV The word spreads the way it always does in the Moretti organisation. Not through announcements, not through meetings. Through movement, through the specific reshuffling of men and resources that anyone with half a brain can read like a headline if they know what they're looking at. And these men know what they're looking at. By seven in the morning Ezra has been pulled from rotation and positioned outside the master bedroom hallway. By eight there are two additional men on the front gate and one on the east side of the property that had previously been considered low risk. By nine Daniel has made four calls to four captains and the content of those calls, while never explicit, carries a weight that everyone understands immediately. Something has changed. Something important. Ocean makes the calls himself from his office before the house is fully awake. Daniel first, then Ezra, then the doctor...a woman named Miriam who has handled sensitive medical si