Semua Bab CONTRACTED TO THE DON...AND HIS TWIN: Bab 51 - Bab 60

The bond shifted again on a quiet Saturday morning when I wasn’t expecting it. I was in the living room alone, curled up on the wide sectional with a book I’d been pretending to read for twenty minutes. Sunlight poured through the tall windows, warming the floorboards and catching dust motes in the air. Nico was in his office down the hall handling some calls. Matteo had gone out for a run but said he’d be back soon. The penthouse felt peacefully empty in that rare way it sometimes did. Then it hit. At first it was just a faint pressure behind my eyes, like the start of a headache that wasn’t quite a headache. I set the book down and rubbed my temples. The bond had been growing stronger for weeks, but this felt different. Deeper. Wider. Like something stretching open that had been waiting for the right moment. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through it. That’s when it happened. Nico’s presence came through first... cool, steady, the familiar anchor I’d come to recognize li

I didn’t expect Nico to show up in the doorway of the living room that morning with that look on his face. The one that wasn’t all sharp edges and control. He leaned against the frame, hands in his pockets, watching me like he was trying to figure something out. “Come with me today,” he said. No orders. No “we have a meeting” or “wear something nice for the clients.” Just that. Come with me. I looked up from the book I wasn’t really reading. “Where?” “Doesn’t matter. Just us, no business and no performance.” I almost laughed. Nico saying something like that felt weird, like hearing a wolf ask for a quiet walk in the park. But I’d been letting him do this more and more lately. Little trips, little escapes. We both knew why, even if we never said it out loud. I needed him closer for my plan. He needed... something from me that wasn’t just the heat between us. Something quieter. Neither of us was being fully honest about it. “Okay,” I said, closing the book. “Let me grab a jacket.”

The morning after that wild night with the twins, my body felt like it had been through something serious. Every little move reminded me of them. A dull ache between my legs. Finger-shaped bruises on my hips. A small hickey on my collarbone that I covered with a loose hoodie before heading to the kitchen. The bond was still there in the background, quiet and warm for now, like a low hum under my skin. But I kept some walls up. I had to. I couldn’t let myself get lost in how good it felt with them. Not when there was still so much I needed to do.Maria was already busy at the stove, flipping eggs and humming that same old song she liked. The smell of coffee and breakfast filled the kitchen. I poured myself a big mug and sat at the counter, trying to act like any other normal day.My phone buzzed on the counter. Mom.I picked it up quick, heart beating a little faster. “Hey Mom, what’s up?”Her voice was trying to sound okay, but I could hear the worry underneath. “Hi

AURORA'S POV I watched Nico from the doorway of his study, arms crossed, trying to look casual while my heart beat a little too fast. He was at his desk, papers spread out everywhere, laptop open, that deep frown line between his eyebrows that only showed up when something was really bothering him. Not the usual control-freak stuff. This was different. A real discrepancy he’d stumbled on at the edges of his world. It wasn’t about me. Not directly. Thank God. But it was close enough that I had to be careful. He’d found some numbers that didn’t line up in one of the smaller holding companies. Some shipments logged in the books that never actually showed up at the warehouses. Small stuff on the surface. The kind of thing that could be a simple accounting mistake. But Nico hated mistakes. He was digging now, cross-checking dates, calling contacts, pulling more files. He didn’t know it yet, but he was already two steps behind someone who was three moves ahead. That someone was me. I’

The morning after felt completely different, like the whole world had tilted a little overnight and nothing fit the same way anymore. My body was deliciously sore everywhere. Deep aches in my thighs and hips from how hard they’d taken me. Faint marks on my skin that I caught glimpses of in the mirror when I slipped out of bed. But the real change wasn’t physical. It was something quieter. Deeper. The kind of shift that made it impossible to keep calling this thing between us just an arrangement or a contract or a strategic bond. Last night I had started it, fully and deliberately, and now we were all living in the after. I moved quietly through the penthouse, pulling on a soft robe and heading to the kitchen. Maria wasn’t around yet, so I took my time making coffee. The grinder hummed, the rich smell filling the air, grounding me a little. I poured three mugs and carried them over to the big windows, staring out at the city waking up below. Cars moving like tiny dots. People starting