All Chapters of The Stand-In’s Stoke Back, Everyone Regretted It: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I ran. Fell twice on the way back.My fingers had gone white, nails biting into my palms. My knees scraped open on the marble hallway floor and the blood came dripping down.But the physical pain was nothing. The real wound was the one that had just been torn straight through the middle of my chest.Four years. Four years I'd been at his side, watching him go from a street nobody to a made man with a crew behind him.In winter, his hands cracked from the cold, so I tore apart my own leather gloves to wrap them, embroidered handkerchiefs to sell for gun oil and blades. My hands bled and I never let him know.In summer, he hated the heat, so I stayed up all night running a fan for him. Come morning I'd be out in the blazing sun hauling freight at the warehouse, negotiating with dock traders, doing whatever needed doing.The third time he failed to take over a crew, he got blackout drunk and said he didn't want to live anymore. I stayed up watching him all night, and the next morning I s

First thing the next morning I put on the old coat Avery had thrown out, my "gift" from the Moretti estate since being brought back to the family. Nice fabric, worn through at the cuffs. She'd gotten tired of it.I fixed my hair in the mirror. The face looking back was pale, but the eyes were unnervingly steady.Out in the main hall, the orders had already come down. Luciano was having afternoon tea with Avery in the garden.Don Moretti sat at the head of the table. When I walked up and volunteered to take the assignment, something lit up in his eyes."Nina. You mean that?"I kept my head down. "Godfather, you've given me everything. Avery is my sister. If I can share her burden, it's an honor."Only I knew that every word of that came out through gritted teeth.Don Moretti turned the ring on his finger and nodded, like he was checking a piece of equipment."You've always been sensible." He smiled. "I thought I'd have to talk you into it. Nice to see you understand the bigger picture."

My lips had gone white."No."Luciano's face collapsed into disgust. He stood up sharply, jacket lapels snapping. "Then I can't protect you.""On your knees."One of the guys kicked the back of my leg and I went down hard, hitting the floor with a thud that rang through my whole body.Avery picked up a glass and dropped it on the floor right in front of me. Broken glass, right under my kneecaps, sharp edges biting into skin.She settled back into Luciano's arms, watching me. The corner of her mouth curved. "Search her. Make her crawl over there." She pointed to the scattered shards and checked Luciano's face.Luciano's jaw tightened. "Do what my fiancée says."His fiancée. I was shaking, laughing without any warmth in it.The man pushed my head down, both hands on my shoulders, and I crawled forward across those broken pieces, inch by inch. Blood drew two long tracks across the marble floor. I didn't make a sound. I bit down hard and swallowed everything.It hurt. But the real pain cam

I was half-delirious from the fever. I looked up at the face in front of me and thought I had to be dreaming."Big brother..."I hadn't seen my brother's face since we were separated, years ago. My voice broke. My eyes filled."Big brother... they all hurt me."I didn't finish the sentence. I passed out.The Shadow King's eyes flooded red. A vein jumped at his temple. He caught me as I fell, his hold suddenly desperate, and raised his voice with all control gone from it entirely."Doctor — get the doctor—!"A glass hit the floor. Avery shrieked: "That's impossible. She can't be the sister he's been looking for for eight years—"The doctor came in at a dead sprint, his people practically carrying him. He went to his knees beside me before he'd even set down his bag."Every wound on her body. I want a full accounting."The Shadow King's voice was soft and very dangerous. The tendons in the back of his hand stood out. Every person in the courtyard felt something close around their throat.

A few days later, Luciano showed up uninvited.He looked like he hadn't slept, with disheveled hair and shadows under his eyes, worn down from the inside. I knew the Don had sent him.Avery had been kept in holding since the wedding, no visitors allowed. She'd been raised getting everything she wanted, built for fresh food and soft beds, not concrete floors and stale bread. The girl they let out a week later looked like she'd aged ten years. Meanwhile the Don had burned through favors and cash trying to get her released, calling in every connection he had.Didn't matter. Nico wouldn't budge. So they came to me.Bella knocked. "Miss, Luciano Carver is downstairs asking to see you.""Tell him no.""He says he's your husband."I laughed. Bella, catching on fast, went to the front door and relayed: "Miss Reyes says her husband's been dead a long time."I stretched out on the balcony. Sun on my face. Eyes closed.Twenty minutes later: "Miss, he's still down there. People are stopping to sta