All Chapters of POSSESSED BY CIRO : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

~~Author’s pov~~She lay there most of the night, with the ceiling staring back at her and the red rose a pale shape in the dark on the windowsill, and went through the whole thing about forty times without arriving anywhere new.The anger was solid. Real. Not going anywhere.But underneath it, something else kept pushing up that she didn’t want to look at directly. Because looking at it meant admitting that the past two weeks hadn’t been nothing to her. That she had let something grow in her chest without giving it permission, and now she didn’t know what to do with it.The bridge had been real. She knew that.The study evenings had been real. She knew that too.The problem was that this evening had also been real.Same man. Both were real.She pressed her palms flat against her eyes.She was so angry at herself.For sitting in that armchair night after night like it meant something safe. For lying in this bed, turning one second over and over like it was worth keeping. For forgettin

~~Author’s pov~~The next few days settled into something that almost looked like a routine.Almost.Mornings at the breakfast table with Ciro. That in between silence they had found after the study incident, not warm like before, not sharp like the morning after, just two people existing in the same space without actively fighting about it.She took the pastries when they were pushed toward her.He refilled her tea sometimes without being asked.Nobody made anything of any of it.Afternoons she spent mostly in the library or the garden.Violetta surprisingly came every day.That was the thing she noticed.Not once or twice. Every single day without fail, mid morning, heels on the stone path, two coffees in hand, that easy energy arriving before she did.They talked. Really talked.About everything and nothing.About what it was like growing up the way Oriana had, orphanage, law school, fighting for every single thing in a city that hadn’t particularly wanted to give her any of it.V

~~Authour’s pov~~Cassie called the next morning.Oriana was still in bed when the phone rang. That rare morning where she had woken up slowly without immediately being ambushed by her own thoughts.She answered before the second ring.“Tell me you’re okay,” Cassie said.No hello. No preamble. Just that.“I’m okay,” Oriana said.“That was too fast,” Cassie said. “When people are actually okay they don’t say it that quickly.”Oriana pressed her lips together.“I’m okay Cassie,” she said again.Slower this time.A pause.“You sound different,” Cassie said.“I’ve been here a while,” Oriana said. “Things adjust.”“Things adjust,” Cassie repeated slowly.Like she was turning each word over individually.“Oria. You were kidnapped.”“I know.”“By a mafia king.”“I know Cassie.”“And now things are adjusting.”Oriana looked at the red rose on the windowsill.Four petals on the sill now.She hadn’t noticed the fourth one fall.“It’s complicated,” she said quietly.The silence that came from Ca

~~Author’s pov~~She found Ciro near the center of the ballroom.Or maybe he found her.It's hard to tell with him sometimes.He was still speaking to the two men when she approached, whiskey glass still loose in one hand, with that same unreadable expression that made powerful men immediately start choosing their words more carefully around him.His eyes found her before she even reached him.Always that first.Always her first now.Something in his face shifted slightly as she came closer.Not softer.Just… focused.The two men noticed it too.Interesting.One of them smiled politely at Oriana, said something in Italian about beauty and luck and dangerous distractions, then wisely ended the conversation less than a minute later.Ciro watched them leave before looking down at her.“You disappeared.”“You allowed Violetta to kidnap me.”“That wasn’t permission.”Oriana rolled her eyes faintly.“You’re very controlling tonight.”His gaze moved over her slowly.The red dress.Bare shoul

~~Author’s pov~~“Oriana!”The shout ripped out of him sharp enough that she reacted before understanding why, her body turning toward him—Gunfire exploded through the parking lot.Too loud.“Ahhhhhhh.” Oriana screamed.Something slammed into her shoulder hard enough to spin her sideways.Pain detonated instantly.White-hot.Blinding.She hit the concrete with a broken sound caught somewhere between shock and air leaving her lungs.The world tilted violently.Another gunshot.Damien was suddenly above her, dragging her behind a car as bullets cracked against metal.“Shit—shit—”His hands grabbed her face quickly.“Oriana. Look at me.”She could barely hear him properly.Her shoulder burned.No—not burned.Tore.Like someone had shoved fire straight through flesh.Her breath came fast and uneven.“I’ve got you,” Damien said sharply. “Stay with me.”Blood soaked through the red silk disturbingly fast.Damien looked at the blood once and swore viciously under his breath.Then his entire