All Chapters of THE MAFIA'S FATAL ATTRACTION BOOK 2: A PRINCESS'S CHALLENGES: Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

TARADay breaks, grey and grimy, behind the closed shutters of the guest room. It seeps in thin, sharp blades, and settles on my arms covered in bruises. Memories in violet and blue. Imprints. His. Those of the embrace, the struggle, the possession. I touch them with my fingertips. A dull, familiar ache.I haven't slept. I've watched the light change, from deep black to this washed-out grey. I've listened to the sounds of the house. His heavy footsteps going down to the kitchen. The hiss of the coffee machine. Then nothing more. A strained silence, ready to shatter.My body is a stranger. A territory conquered and ravaged. There is a pain between my thighs, a stinging reminder of the night's savagery. But there is something worse. A residual warmth, a treachery of the nerves, a cellular memory of pleasure stolen within violence. That is what disgusts me the most. My own body, which capitulated, which responded to hatred with a troubled echo.I get up. My muscles scream. I put a robe o

TARAThe house is an aquarium of thick air. I swim through it, slow, numbed by the poison we distill. The touch of his hand is a severed electric wire. It crackles, but no current flows. Just the memory of a shock. Mike sleeps. A restless sleep, eyelids trembling over a dream that must resemble our hell. I pull free. Our fingers, intertwined like diseased roots, resist for a moment then yield. The cold replaces them immediately.I get up. I walk to the window. The city sprawls below, a carpet of cold lights. My city. The one my father seeded with fear and respect. The one Mike, by marrying me, pretended to govern in his turn. The most powerful woman in the city. That's how they describe me in the gossip columns. They only see the jewels, the galas, the name. They don't see the cage. They don't see the invisible hands beginning to close.Instinct. The one my father instilled in me through bloody lessons. It scratches at the back of my skull. Something is off. These last few days. A car

MIKEWe climb the spiral metal staircase leading to the mezzanine, a platform overlooking the room. It's an ideal defensive position. One access point, and we have a 180-degree view of the atrium.We position ourselves behind the steel railing, our weapons aimed at the entrance below. Piotr has pushed a heavy desk against the double doors from the library. It won't hold for long."How many magazines?" Tara asks, her voice calm."Four each.""That'll be enough to do some damage."The library doors shudder under the impacts. They're here."Ready?" I murmur."Always," she replies, and there's an almost savage gleam in her eyes. "No one takes me. Not like this."The doors give way with a crack of splitting wood. The men in black rush inside, deploying immediately, searching for targets.They don't see us right away, hidden in the shadows of the mezzanine."Now," I say.We open fire simultaneously.It's a surgical massacre. Our bursts, synchronized, sweep the atrium. The attackers, caught

MIKEI stand motionless in the middle of the atrium, her weapon in my hands. Tara's blood is still warm on the grip. I feel it against my palm, slippery, sticky. I watch it dry.Stefano's body lies ten meters away, eyes wide open, staring. He looks surprised. They all look surprised. Eight men. Eight corpses. And yet, I am the one who just lost."Boss?"Viktor's voice in the earpiece. I had forgotten about it."Boss, we're at the gates. What do we do?"I look up at the shattered glass ceiling. The sniper was up there. I search for his angle, his position. East rooftop. Building under construction four hundred meters out. Good sightline. Professional."Boss?""Come in, Viktor. And bring me César.""César? But he's...""BRING ME CÉSAR."I hang up. My voice echoes in the silence. The alarms have fallen silent. Nothing left but the wind whistling through the broken doors and the distant sound of sirens in the city. The cops are coming. They always come when it's over.I should leave. I sh

MIKEThe warehouse is burning.I watch the flames licking the sky from the car window, parked two blocks away. Explosions ripple inside one after another. Their merchandise. Their weapons. Their men. All going up in smoke."It's done, boss."Viktor's voice in my earpiece. He's on site, with the assault team."Losses?""Three wounded, minor. No fatalities on our side. As for them... let's just say they won't be distributing anything for a long time."I watch the fire. The sirens in the distance. The cops who don't dare approach. The beautiful city sleeping while I declare war."Pull back, Viktor. Next target in one hour.""You're not coming?""I've got something else to do."I cut the communication. I signal the driver. We pull away.Direction: nowhere. Direction: everywhere I might find her.I drive the streets. I pass our restaurants, our bars, our safe houses. The places where we laughed, where we loved, where we fought. The corner where I kissed her for the first time. The alley wh