All Chapters of The Ricci Heir: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

LucaThe plane was too quiet.Not silent, the engines hummed, Kat whispered into her phone, Ciara breathed unevenly beside Declan but quiet in the way that meant everyone was holding themselves together by threads.I sat across from Ciara, watching her stare out the window with her father’s hand wrapped tightly in hers. She was trying to be brave. Trying not to fall apart.And I had to be strong for her. For all of them, my family. But inside… Inside I was drowning.My son, my firstborn was in surgery in a foreign country, bleeding out on a table while strangers tried to save him.And I wasn’t there.I wasn’t with him.I wasn’t holding his hand or telling him to fight or threatening to drag him back from the afterlife if he dared leave me.I was on a plane, helpless.A Don without power.A father without answers.GreenLee touched my arm gently. “Luca.”I didn’t look at her. If I did, I would break.Kat ended her call with Nick and wiped her eyes. “They’re safe,” she said softly. “At t

The doctor’s eyes were tired.Blood on his gloves.Sweat on his brow.That look surgeons get when they’ve been fighting death for hours and aren’t sure who won.My stomach dropped.“Tell me,” I said.He exhaled slowly. “Your brother coded twice on the table.”My vision tunneled.Wolf swore under his breath.Cormac sat up straighter, wide awake now.“But,” the doctor continued, “he made it through the surgery.”My knees nearly buckled.“He’s stable for the moment,” the doctor added quickly, “but he lost a tremendous amount of blood. His body is exhausted. I can’t tell you when he’ll wake up.”I nodded once, jaw clenched so tight it hurt. “But he’s alive.”“Yes,” the doctor said. “He’s alive.”I dragged a hand over my face, trying to breathe past the pressure in my chest. Wolf let out a shaky breath beside me, and Cormac muttered something that sounded like a prayer.The doctor cleared his throat. “Now… about transport.”Wolf jumped in first. “When can we move him to Jasper?”The doctor

The recovery room was too bright. Too quiet. Too full of machines keeping my brother alive. Matteo lay there, pale and still, chest rising only because the oxygen was helping him do it. Tubes. IV lines. Monitors. All the things he hated. All the things keeping him here. I stood at the foot of the bed, hands on my hips, trying to breathe past the pressure in my chest. Twelve hours.That was all the time we had before we moved him, whether the doctor liked it or not. Wolf came in behind me, voice low. “Grim’s nurse and tech are prepping the equipment. We’ll be ready to load him as soon as the plane’s fueled.”“Good,” I said. “We’re not staying here a second longer than we have to.”My phone buzzed. Papà. I stepped into the hallway before answering.“Salvatore,” he said, voice steady but tired. “We’re at the compound. The medical wing is ready. Matteo and Declan’s rooms are set up too.”I exhaled slowly. “Good. We’ll be in the air as soon as the doctor signs off.”“He will,” Luca said. “

The ranch was too quiet. Not peaceful quiet, the wrong kind. The kind that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The kind that reminded me I wasn’t supposed to be here. Not with them. Not like this. But here I was. Sitting in the living room of a former lieutenant of Hector’s, staring at the cracked leather couch and the dust floating in the sunlight, trying to pretend I hadn’t just blown my entire life apart. Cormac should’ve understood. Cedric should’ve backed me. Aiden should’ve listened. Liam should've been the one they blamed. But they didn’t.They chose them Matteo, the Italians, the MC over me. Or at least that’s what I’d been telling myself. Now… I wasn’t so sure. Footsteps echoed behind me. Hector’s heavy boots. Isolde’s lighter ones. They moved like they owned the place like they owned me. I clenched my jaw. I wasn’t owned. I wasn’t. But the doubt crept in anyway.What if they were right? What if my family really didn’t trust me? What if they never had?I rubbed my

JuanRafe didn’t knock. He never knocked when the news was bad. He pushed into my office, jaw tight, blood drying on his cut, eyes hard. “It’s done,” he said. “The raid on your father’s compound is over.”I set my pen down slowly. “And?”“Hector’s gone.”Of course he was.“And the girl?” I asked. “Isolde.”Rafe nodded. “Gone with him.”I exhaled through my nose. Hector and his women. Always trading one for another. First Siobhan, then her daughter. He never cared who he hurt or what mess he left behind.“And the O’Connell boy?” I asked.Rafe hesitated which he never did.“Sean O’Connell is with them too.”That made me sit back. Sean O’Connell. The youngest. The quiet one. The one who always looked like he didn’t belong in a room full of killers.“What the hell is he doing with my father?” I asked.Rafe’s mouth tightened. “He’s the one who shot Matteo.”My blood went cold. “And Cormac. And Cedric.” For a moment, the room tilted. Not from shock from fury. Cold, controlled fury. “Tell me