Semua Bab CONTRACTED TO THE DON...AND HIS TWIN: Bab 61 - Bab 66

MatteoI have always been the quieter one. The observer. The steady current that runs underneath Nico’s storms. But Aurora changed everything the moment she walked into this penthouse. I remember it so clearly. She stood there with her chin up and her eyes sharp, trying so hard to hide the fear underneath. When she reached for my water glass without asking... just picked it up and took a sip like it was the most natural thing in the world... something deep inside my chest cracked open. No hesitation. No playing small. She just took what she wanted in that small moment. And I have been falling for her ever since. Quietly. Devastatingly. The kind of fall you don’t come back from.This morning after the night we shared only made it clearer.I woke up slowly, the sheets tangled around us, her scent still heavy in the air. Nico was out cold on the other side of the bed, one arm stretched toward the empty spot where she had been sleeping between us. I lay there for a long minute, just breat

I woke up before both of them and just lay there for a long time, staring at the ceiling in the soft morning light. The document from yesterday sat heavy in my chest like a stone I couldn’t spit out no matter how hard I tried. Dante’s words. Voss’s reply. The date sitting four days before my dad died. The shape of everything was clear now, sharp and ugly, but I had decided last night that crying was for later. So I got up quietly, pulled on a soft t-shirt and some shorts, and went to make breakfast like it was any other normal morning in this penthouse. Maria was already in the kitchen when I got there, humming that old song she liked while flipping bacon in the pan. I smiled at her the way I always did and took over the eggs, cracking them one by one into the hot pan like my hands weren’t still remembering the way the laptop had clicked shut under my fingers. The smell of coffee filled the space, rich and familiar. I poured three mugs and set them carefully on the counter, then lean

I met her in a quiet café three neighborhoods away from the penthouse. Not one of the shiny places the family used for meetings or appearances. Just a small corner spot with scratched wooden tables, faded posters on the walls, and windows that looked out onto a narrow side street where almost no one walked by. I got there early on purpose and chose a table with my back to the wall so I could see the door. My coffee sat untouched in front of me, growing cold. My phone stayed face down on the table. No one knew I was here. Not Nico. Not Matteo. Not even Maria. The whole walk over I kept checking behind me without making it obvious. The document from the study still sat heavy in my chest. The four words Irina had sent still echoed in my head. Now I was about to sit across from the woman who had somehow reached me through a channel that should not have existed. My hands stayed steady on the table, but my pulse was faster than I wanted it to be. Irina walked in ten minutes later. She loo