Semua Bab Contracted sin: Bab 21 - Bab 30

Damien couldn’t shake the memory of that kiss no matter how hard he tried. He paced his room with the taste of Serena still lingering on his tongue and that soft gasp she had made when his fingers tangled in her hair. The way her body had pressed into him before she shoved him back to reality. Why the fuck did I do that? She was my father's fucking wife. Damien had survived this family by keeping his dick and his heart locked down tight. One weak moment and now he was replaying every detail on loop. He slammed his fist into the wall, knuckles splitting against plaster. “Stupid motherfucker,” he growled to the empty room. She wasn’t his and she never would be. That kiss was a mistake, born from too much tension and the sight of her looking so goddamn lost. He jerked off angrily in the shower afterward, imagining her mouth, her tight heat, her voice moaning his name, but the release left him emptier than before. By morning, the decision was made. He would go back to being the cold

Morning light filtered weakly through the heavy drapes. Serena found Vanessa in the conservatory attached to the east wing, the two of them sipping strong coffee while servants moved like silently in the background. “You look like absolute shit,” Vanessa said bluntly, but her eyes held real concern. “Rough night with one of the assholes?” Serena sank into the chair across from her, pulling her robe tighter around her marked body. “You have no fucking idea. Matteo cornered me again. Fucked me stupid by the pool mouth, pussy, ass, the whole goddamn treatment. And I came for him. Multiple times.” She laughed . “This house is rotting me from the inside out.” Vanessa reached over, squeezing her hand. “These Vitale men are predators. My brother has always been like that. Damien learned it from him, but there’s something broken in him too. And Matteo? He’s just a younger, hornier version of his father Lucas.” Vanessa opened up about feeling like the spare sister, the one shipped awa

Serena woke up with her cheek still throbbing. The bruise from Donato’s slap had darkened overnight into an ugly purple and yellow stain that no amount of concealer fully covered. She stood in front of the bathroom mirror for a long time, staring at her reflection like it belonged to a stranger. The woman looking back at her was tired, angry, and starting to look hollow around the eyes. Dark circles sat beneath them. Her lower lip was slightly swollen from where she had bitten down hard the night before to keep from making a sound. She pressed her fingers gently against the mark and hissed through her teeth. “Fucking bastard,” she muttered under her breath. The shower ran scalding hot. She stood under the spray until her skin turned pink and the bathroom filled with steam. When she finally stepped out, the mirror was completely fogged. She wiped a clear circle with her palm and stared at herself again. You’re still here. She dressed carefully a high necked black dress th

Serena sat on the edge of the bed long after the unknown number’s last message had gone dark, the phone screen still warm against her palm. Stay away from the east warehouse next week. The words sat in her chest like a swallowed stone. She had no idea what the east warehouse even was. Something industrial on the far side of the estate grounds, half hidden behind the old olive trees and the service road that only the men used after dark. She’d heard Salvatore mention it once in passing short shipments, temporary storage, the kind of place where crates arrived without paperwork and left the same way. But that was all. Just a vague shape in the distance and now a warning that felt heavier than any threat Donato had ever delivered to her face. She typed and deleted three different replies before she finally locked the phone and shoved it under the pillow. Asking more questions would only prove she was listening. And whoever this person was, they already knew too much about her. By m

The night stretched like a live wire under Serena’s skin. She sat on the edge of the bed in the dark, phone face down on the mattress beside her, the unknown number’s last message still burning behind her eyes. The house never truly slept. Footsteps drifted past her door every twenty minutes. A car engine growled once on the service road and cut out. Somewhere downstairs a door closed . Lucas’s trap was live, and the whole goddamn place knew it. She didn’t move. Vanessa’s warning sat in her chest like a stone. The west wing service door would be unlocked by now. Two of Lucas’s men waiting just inside, ready to grab whatever curious little mouse wandered too close. Serena pressed her thighs together and forced her breathing slow. The memory of Damien’s mouth on hers kept sliding back in anyway the scrape of his split knuckles, the hard line of him against her hip, the rough order that he wouldn’t fuck her against a door while half the house was still awake. God, she’d wanted him to.