All Chapters of Forbidden Never Felt This Good: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

0042 ~Aria~Saturday arrived quietly.No alarms, no schedule pushing through the door before I was ready for it, no back-to-back demands before I'd even had coffee.Just morning light coming through the curtains at a reasonable hour and the weekend feeling that was buzzing in me.I lay in bed for a few minutes, thinking of what to do.My father had Luca occupied with something, I had heard voices in the study corridor early, the low murmur of men working through problems that don't pause for weekends. That was fine.I had spent enough weeks following the schedule, to the office, to also having someone monitor my every movement. I need to get some things done.I needed groceries and toiletries. The kitchen had flagged several things running low and I had been meaning to sort it for days, I wanted some things I could have as snacks and the weekend felt like exactly the right time to do something that normal people do without it being a strategic event or maids getting it. I just wanted

0044 ~Luca~The meeting ended by early afternoon.Vittorio's inner circle had gathered in the main conference room, eight men around a table, the kind of men who don't need things explained twice and don't ask questions that don't need asking.We went through everything. Jean's confirmed affiliations with the Viper gang, the extent of the network, which of his contacts had been identified and which still needed tracing. What the removal of their Underboss meant for the organization's next move. There were loose ends. There always are. But the immediate threat had been addressed and everyone in that room understood the message that had been sent.When the room cleared, I checked my phone.Russo’s updates from the outing were logged in sequence, timestamps, locations, nothing flagged. Clean trip. I scrolled through and was almost at the end when one entry made me stop.I had instructed him not to leave a single detail out.Minor incident in supermarket. Miss Santoro in brief contact w

0046 ~Aria~There was no response.Everything in me stalled, not in full-blown panic, but in a sharp, suspended second where the world shrank to the silence in front of me.Then muscle memory kicked in.I moved.Two fingers went straight to his neck, right where they’d taught us in that first aid class at Harvard.I remembered the sterile air of the room, the instructor’s cool efficiency, the way we’d laughed off scenarios that felt entirely theoretical back then.I’d taken it because it fit my schedule, because it was practical, and because, if I was being completely honest with myself, I knew the surname I carried.I just never thought I’d be using it on my father. The leader of the violence itself. Under my fingertips, a faint, erratic flutter tapped back.A pulse.Air rushed back into my lungs all at once.“Okay,” I breathed, more to anchor myself than him. “Okay… you’re here.”I didn't linger. I was already at the door, my voice cutting through the quiet corridor with a sharp, u

0048 ~Luca~ Fear hit me. Had she heard?“Aria?”My voice slipped slightly, a fraction out of control. It wasn’t enough for anyone else to catch, but I heard it. I always heard the crack when control gave way, even by a millimeter.I was on my feet before my brain fully authorized the movement, phone still gripped in my hand. My mind immediately went to work running calculations: distance, timing, the layout of the hall, how much of my voice might have carried through the wood.The possibilities lined up fast. Too fast.She looked at me, carrying that quiet exhaustion that only comes after the heavy part of crying is over. Not the loud, dramatic grief that demands an audience, but the kind that settles deep into your bones and stays in your eyes.They were faintly red. She’d come straight from Vittorio’s bedside.“There you are,” she said smoothly. “I was looking for you. Papa is awake. Come.”That was it.No hesitation. No sharp edge. No lingering glance that meant she was holding ba

0050 ~Aria~“Pierre?”He smiled. A bright and genuine smile. The smile on his face is always like that almost all the time. “Aria,” he said, with the tone of someone who had just watched something click into place and found it more satisfying than expected. “I had a feeling we’d cross paths again. I just didn’t picture it like this.”“Neither did I,” I admitted honestly.“So you’re Aria Santoro.” He tilted his head slightly. “The new CEO.”“That’s me.”“Interesting.” His smile was genuine, not the calculating kind people wear when they realize someone is useful. It was the way someone looks when they discover a good story has a new chapter. “Small world.”“Apparently.”He extended his hand properly this time, formally. “Let me introduce myself correctly. Pierre Beaumont. And this,” he gestured to the man beside him, who had the calm, attentive quality of someone excellent at his job, “is my assistant, Landon.”Landon nodded. “Miss Santoro.”“Landon, good to meet you.” I shook Pierre’