bound to the ruthless mafia king의 모든 챕터: 챕터 21 - 챕터 30

The engine of the stolen sedan hummed lowly, I’m surprised it’s even moving. This part of the city had been left to rot decades ago. The streetlights were dead, and the warehouses leaned against each other.Enzo was in the passenger seat, his eyes scanning the side mirrors every few seconds. He hadn't said much since we left the loft, but his presence was a quiet weight beside me. Isabella was in the back. She was silent, staring out the window at the rusted cranes and empty docks. She wasn't snapping at me anymore. She wasn't even looking at me. That cold, quiet distance felt a lot worse than her shouting."The next left," Isabella said. Her voice was calm.I turned the wheel, the tires crunching over broken glass and dried mud. "How much further?""Two blocks. It’s a small shop on the corner of 4th and Industrial," she replied.I looked at her in the mirror. She caught my gaze for a split second before looking back at the ruins of the district. I wanted to say something about the ni

Isabellas povI woke up with my cheek pressed against cold glass and no idea where I was.For three seconds I was back in my apartment. Friday night. Mama's crossword on the table. The television on low.Then the road noise came back. The hum of the heater. The dark stretch of highway outside the window.I sat up slowly and pressed my fingers against my eyes."You were out for almost two hours."Luca's voice. Low. Like he'd been keeping it that way on purpose.I looked over at him. He had one hand on the wheel and his eyes on the road but there was something tight in his jaw that hadn't loosened since we left the Black Sector. His shirt was dirty and one of his sleeves was rolled up to the elbow and I could see a bruise forming along his forearm that he hadn't mentioned once."You're hurt," I said."I'm fine.""You aren’t,”He glanced at me briefly then looked back at the road. "It's a bruise, Isabella. I've had worse."I believed him. That

The motel sign was missing two letters and the car park was empty except for a truck that looked like it hadn't moved in weeks. Luca pulled in without slowing down first, like he'd already decided this was the place before he even saw it properly.I didn't complain. My body had stopped caring about aesthetics somewhere around hour three of driving.He paid cash at the front desk. The man behind it didn't look up from his television once. Luca took the key, and that was that.The room smelled like old carpet and the kind of cleaning product that never quite finishes the job. Two beds, a lamp between them, a window with a curtain that didn't fully close. I stood in the middle of it and looked around and thought about the estate with its high ceilings and its heavy curtains and its everything, and I felt nothing about losing it."Shower's yours first," Luca said.I didn't argue.I stood under the water until it started going cold, and even then, I didn't move immediately. I just stood th

"Reach into the glove compartment." His voice was low. Completely flat. "What?" "Slowly. Don't make it obvious." I looked at him. His eyes were on the mirror. I turned my head just slightly and caught the edge of a black car sitting two lengths behind us, keeping perfect pace with every shift in our speed. I opened the glove compartment. The gun sat on top of a folded map. Black, compact, heavier than it looked when I picked it up. I stared at it. "Do you want me to actually hold this?" "Just don't drop it." "That's not reassuring." He rolled his eyes "It wasn't meant to be." I wrapped both hands around it and sat very still and watched the road ahead while Luca watched the mirror and the car behind us stayed exactly where it was. My heart was doing something loud and unhelpful. I breathed through it. Luca took a left. Not a sharp turn, not a panicked one, just a calm and deliberate left onto a road that added ten minutes to our route. I watched the mirror on my side. T

I stared at the photo for a long time.It was a good shot. Clear and steady, not a rushed grab, the kind of image that said whoever took it had been standing there long enough to frame it properly. Long enough to wait for the right moment."They're not attacking," I said."No.""They're telling us they could.""Yes." Luca was already at the window, standing to the side of it, not in front of it. Old habit. He looked down at the street below without touching the curtain."What do you see?""Nothing now.""That's worse.""Yes," he said again.I put the phone down on the table and sat back and made myself breathe. The flat that had felt like safety two hours ago now felt like a box. Same four walls, same yellow lamp, same couch. But the air in it had changed completely.Enzo appeared in the doorway. He'd heard us go quiet.Luca showed him the photo without a word.Enzo looked at it for a long moment. "They've been outside long enough to get comfortable.""At least an hour," Luca said."S