Semua Bab Shadows of Forbidden Desire-I slept with my mafia bro in-law: Bab 11 - Bab 20

The two days following Vincenzo's dinner passed in a haze of forced calm. Lorenzo said little about that night, though something in the way he watched her now, assessing, careful, told her Giulia had reported back every detail worth noting. Isabella spent the time confined mostly to her room, reading without absorbing a single word, jumping at every sound from the hallway that might mean Lorenzo had finally decided he had enough to act. Even meals felt like a performance, Lorenzo watching her over the rim of his glass in a way he never used to bother with, like he'd finally started paying attention to a wife he'd spent three years treating as furniture. On the third day, he allowed her a single supervised outing, a trip to the salon for a color touch up before some function she'd already stopped tracking the details of. Renzo drove her, parking outside and waiting with the engine running while she sat under the stylist's hands trying not to check her phone every thirty seconds. The st

The coffee shop smelled like burnt sugar and cinnamon, the same as it always had, and for the first time in two weeks Isabella felt something close to normal settling over her shoulders. Sofia slid into the booth across from her, two cappuccinos already balanced in her hands before Isabella had even finished sitting down, the same corner table they'd claimed as their own since they were teenagers sneaking out during study hall."I still can't believe he let you out of the house without a guard dog trailing you," Sofia said, sliding one cup across the table. "Progress, I guess.""Renzo's parked outside. He's just not allowed inside anymore." Isabella wrapped her hands around the warm cup, grateful for something ordinary to hold onto. "Small victories."Sofia studied her for a long moment, the kind of look only someone who'd known her since childhood could get away with, the sort that catalogued every new line of stress and every hollow shadow under the eyes without needing to ask a sin

Isabella didn't sleep that night, the unknown message glowing behind her closed eyes every time she tried. She'd typed a dozen replies and deleted every one, unsure whether responding would open a door better left shut or whether silence would only invite something worse. Every creak of the old house sounded like footsteps outside her door, every passing car on the road beyond the gates sounded like someone finally coming to collect on whatever debt she didn't yet understand she owed. By morning she'd decided on the only path that made sense, forwarding the message to the burner phone before she'd even finished her coffee.Someone else knows. Not Lorenzo, not Giulia. A number I don't recognize.Dante's reply came within minutes, sharper than usual, none of his usual careful patience bleeding through the text. Send me the exact number. Matteo can trace it faster than either of us guessing.She did, hands steady now that there was something concrete to do besides panic. The reply took l

Isabella waited at the villa for nearly two hours, Matteo checking his phone every few minutes with the same controlled patience he brought to everything, though she noticed the tightness around his eyes that betrayed his own worry. She paced the length of the sitting room, replaying every possible version of what Vincenzo might have discovered, none of the scenarios settling the churn in her stomach."Sit," Matteo finally said, not unkindly. "Wearing a hole in the rug won't bring him back faster.""I can't sit. Not until I know what's happening.""Dante's survived worse meetings than this one. Trust me, Signora, I've seen him walk out of rooms that should have gotten him killed twice over." Matteo's voice carried quiet certainty, though his eyes kept drifting to his phone all the same. "Vincenzo's calculating, not reckless. He won't move against anyone without a plan already three steps ahead of the one before it.""That's supposed to reassure me?""It's supposed to remind you that w

Isabella pressed closer to the door, straining to catch the rest of the conversation, her heart hammering so loud she feared it might give her away. She could feel the grain of the old wood against her palm, the same door she'd hidden behind so many times these past weeks, each occasion carrying its own particular flavor of dread. Vincenzo's voice cut through first, sharp with irritation."This wasn't part of our arrangement. I told you to wait outside until I called for you." His tone had lost its usual polish, something rawer bleeding through the careful control he wore everywhere else."You told me to gather information," the stranger replied, unbothered by the irritation in Vincenzo's voice. "I gathered it. The villa's original deed lists a woman named Carla Bianchi as sole owner before the shell company took over. I did some digging, the kind that takes patience and the right contacts in the records office. Carla Bianchi was Dante's mother."Silence stretched inside the study, lo