All Chapters of A Wife For Nico Vescari: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

~CAKE~“Care to explain?” I demanded, trembling with all the things I was holding in.He groaned and rolled onto his side, rubbing at his face. “It’s early,” he muttered, voice thick with sleep, like he had a choice here.I didn’t flinch. I didn’t step back. Not when he had the audacity to lie to me, to keep my things, to read my thoughts.He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, tall and slow, like he had all the time in the world. My eyes tracked him. I hated that I noticed how the morning light hit the lines of his chest, the way his briefs clung low, the curve of his—no. Focus, Cake. Focus. Anger, not appreciation.“They’re yours,” he said, finally looking at me, tossing the journal, the vibrator, and my clothes onto the bed. His tone was flat, completely uninterested, like he was bored with this entire exchange.“They’re my stuff, Nico!” I snapped. “Stuff you said you threw away! Stuff you told me was gone!”He shrugged, shoulders wide, completely casual. “So?”“So?”

~CAKE~Staying with Elianna was not how I imagined I’d spend my week, but here I was, five days in, living out of a duffel bag in her guest room like I’d been exiled from my own life.It wasn’t bad. Actually, it was the opposite of bad.Elianna didn’t give me space to sit and spiral, which I appreciated more than I was willing to admit. The morning I showed up, she didn’t even ask questions immediately. She just opened the door, took one look at my face, and pulled me into a hug so tight it almost knocked the air out of me.Then she dragged me inside, shoved a glass of wine into my hand, and said, “Start talking.”I did. Not everything. Not about the journal, not the exact words he said, not how it actually felt like something inside me shifted when he said it. I just told her we fought, that it got ugly, that I needed a break, and he didn’t stop me.She listened, nodded, and then, out of nowhere, leaned forward with this look on her face.“Okay, but before anything else,” she said, d

~NICO~Gunshots tear through the underground ring and everything falls apart at once. People surge toward the exits, shoving, yelling, knocking chairs over in their rush to get out. My men move through the chaos with purpose, controlling the panic just enough to clear a path. It is loud, messy, and fast, exactly how I needed it to be.I am already moving before most people understand what is happening.By the time I reach the ring, he is still on her.He is still hitting her.Rage hits first, sharp and immediate, but it does not slow me down. It sharpens everything. I step up, raise the gun, and fire.The shot lands clean through his arm.He jerks back with a shout, losing balance as he scrambles away from her, clutching at the blood pouring down his arm. He does not even look at me before he bolts, dropping out of the ring and disappearing into the chaos.He will be found.I do not spare him another glance.My focus is already on her. She is not moving.Blood spreads across the canva

~NICO~I left Elianna at her place and waited just long enough to see the door close behind her before I drove off.There was no reason to linger. She was safe there, and right now my attention was somewhere else entirely.She had brought out Cake’s things shortly after. I took what I was given and headed back to the ring without a second thought.By the time I got there, the building was nearly empty.That worked for me.I went straight to her private locker room, and everything inside looked untouched. Her bag was still on the bench, one shoe on the floor, the other halfway inside it. Her towel hung loosely over the chair, and her water bottle was tipped over near the wall.It looked normal.Too normal for what had happened a few hours ago. I didn’t stand there long. I moved in and started packing.I picked up the shoe from the floor and dropped it into the bag, then the other one. Her wraps, a change of clothes, everything that belonged to her went into the gym bag without hesitati

~NICO~By the time I took my seat at the head of the table, everyone was already there.I noticed it immediately. Not just who was present, but how they sat, what they wore, who looked at whom. It was a habit I had never been able to shake. One that had kept me alive more times than I cared to count.Enzo lounged to my right, sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms, a glass of whiskey already in hand. He looked relaxed, almost careless, but I knew better. He was watching every movement in the room.Sienna sat beside Enzo, her posture ramrod straight, hands folded too neatly in her lap. She had chosen something softer tonight, a light dress that made her appear younger, almost fragile. But her eyes kept flicking toward me every few seconds. She was worried. She was trying, and failing, to hide it.Raffaele sat across from Enzo, calm as ever, his suit without a single crease. He looked more suited for a corporate boardroom than this kind of table, but that had always been his gift. He bl