Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 71 - Chapitre 80

Lorenzo's POVThe air in the private study was thick with the scent of old paper and the metallic tang of unspent violence. I watched as Nico and the guards dragged the local crew members out. They had been eager to buy the data Vivienne tried to sell them, bottom-feeders hoping to feast on the scraps of a Vitale deal. Dealing with them was quick, clinical—a necessity of the business. But they weren't the real problem.I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket, my thumb hovering over Vivienne’s contact. My jaw was set so tight it ached. For twelve years, I had looked at her and seen the legacy of the man who died for me. I had ignored the cracks in her character, the growing coldness, the entitlement that had curdled into malice. I had been a fool, blinded by a debt that was never hers to collect.The line clicked open on the second ring."Lorenzo?" Her voice was small, tentative, still clinging to the persona of the victimized daughter. "Is everything... is it fixed? Did you get the bo

Seraphina's POVMy chin was still tilted back, trapped in his iron grip, and my breath hitched as I saw the storm swirling in his dark eyes. I had pushed too far. I had dared to call him jealous, to throw the youth of another man in his face like a challenge.He didn't yell. Lorenzo Vitale never needed to raise his voice to be terrifying. Instead, he leaned in closer, his shadow swallowing me whole against the cold stone wall."You think age defines a man’s capability?" he murmured, his voice a low, dangerous silk that vibrated through my very bones. "You think that boy knows what to do with a woman who has fire in her blood?"Before I could answer, he released my chin, but there was no reprieve. His hand moved with predatory grace, his long, calloused fingers forcing their way into my mouth. I gasped, the sudden intrusion stretching my lips, and he began to move them in a slow, rhythmic motion—a crude, unmistakable mimicry of a sexual act."It seems this pretty mouth hasn't learned i

Seraphina's POVHe was gone before the sun had fully cleared the horizon, leaving behind nothing. He hadn't said goodbye. He hadn't even looked back.Vivienne had called, and the world had shifted on its axis once again.I spent the remaining hours working under the silent, watchful eye of Nico Santoro. Together, we meticulously wrapped up the final details of the project—the legal veneers, the offshore transfers, the paper trail that turned a blood-soaked alliance into a legitimate business venture. Nico was a ghost, efficient and unreadable, providing the documents I needed without a word. Every time our hands brushed over a folder, I felt a jolt of phantom electricity, a reminder of the man who should have been standing where Nico was.But Lorenzo was halfway to New York by now, racing back to the girl who held his heart hostage with a well-timed fever and a handful of lies.When we finally boarded the Gulfstream for the flight back to Manhattan, the heavy thud of the cabin door se

Chapter 77Lorenzo’s POVThe air in the master suite of the Vitale estate was thick with the scent of antiseptic and lilies—Vivienne’s favorite, and a smell I had come to associate with her delicate, manipulative fragility. I sat in the velvet armchair pulled flush against her bedside, the rhythmic ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway marking the seconds of a night I hadn't planned on spending here.In the dim glow of the shaded lamp, Vivienne looked like a porcelain doll someone had carelessly left out in the rain. Her skin was waxy, a stark, translucent white that made the dark circles under her eyes look like bruises. Every few minutes, a shudder would rack her small frame, followed by a soft, whimpering moan that made my chest tighten with a familiar, suffocating guilt.The family doctor had left an hour ago, his diagnosis echoing the same patterns I’d heard for twelve years. Psychosomatic fever. A physical mani

Seraphina's POVAfter leaving the company, I went home.I spent the afternoon feeling anxious and restless, and finally decided to go somewhere.It's raining outside. I stood outside the towering wrought-iron gates of the Vitale estate, my hands gripping the cold metal bars. Behind these gates lay a world of opulence and absolute power, a world where Lorenzo Vitale moved pieces on a chessboard I couldn't even see.I knew he was inside. I knew he was likely tending to Vivienne. But my father didn't have time for me to be proud. The report from the detention center burned in my mind: a "skirmish" in the showers, a jagged wound, a fever that wouldn't break."Please," I whispered to the intercom for the fourth time, my voice cracking. "Just five minutes. Tell him it’s Seraphina. Tell him it’s about the debt."The security cameras swiveled, their red eyes mocking me. I waited. One hour bled into two. The sky turned a bruised purple, and the shivering started in my bones, a rhythmic shaking