บททั้งหมดของ SOLD TO THE RUTHLESS MAFIA LORD: บทที่ 101 - บทที่ 110

Serena's Pov I had stopped at a small cafe the next morning, a place Elena had shown me a few days ago when she insisted I leave the estate for at least an hour. It sat on a quiet corner two streets over from the hospital, with worn wooden tables and a window that caught the morning sun. "You need to eat something that isn't brought to you on a tray," Elena had said that morning, standing in the doorway of my room with her arms crossed. "You've lost weight. Dimitrio will notice the moment he opens his eyes, and then he'll blame me for not taking care of you." "He won't blame you," I had said, pulling on my coat. "He will," Elena said. "He blames everyone for everything when it comes to you. Now come on. One hour. Then you can go back to sitting in that chair." The cafe had been nearly empty when we arrived, just an old man reading a newspaper in the corner and a young woman behind the counter who greeted Elena by name. We took the table by the window, and Elena ordered for both

Dimitrio's Pov The first thing I understood, before anything else came into focus, was that everything hurt. My body felt distant and strange, like it belonged to someone else entirely, heavy in ways I could not fully account for. My throat burned, dry and raw, and my thoughts moved slowly, sluggish and disconnected, refusing to settle into any clear order. Then I saw her. Serena's face hovered above me, closer than anything else in the room, her eyes wide and glistening, her lips parted in something between shock and relief. "Serena," I said, though the word barely made it past my throat, rasping and thin. "I'm here," she said, her voice breaking. "I'm right here." I tried to say more, but my throat closed around the effort, sending me into a fit of dry coughing that left my chest aching worse than before. "Wait," Serena said quickly, reaching for something beside the bed. "Here, drink this. Slowly." She brought a cup of water to my lips, tilting it carefully, and I drank,

Dimitrio’s Pov The day they finally discharged me from the medical room, I stepped out into air that felt sharper, cleaner, more alive than anything I remembered breathing in weeks. "Careful," Serena said, hovering close beside me as I made my way slowly down the front steps of the estate. "You're still healing." "I'm fine," I said, though I appreciated the way she kept her hand near my arm regardless, ready to steady me if I needed it. "You're not fine," she said. "You're stubborn. There's a difference." "They're close enough," I said. She shook her head, but she was smiling, and that was enough for me. We spent the rest of the day together, wandering slowly through the gardens, sitting for a long while near the fountain that had somehow survived the attack weeks earlier without a single crack. I told her about the repairs Matteo had overseen, about the plans already underway to rebuild the west wing stronger than before. She told me about small, ordinary things, about the bre

Serena's Pov The moment the words left the rider's mouth, my blood ran cold, the cool night air suddenly feeling colder still against my skin. I waited until the rider had disappeared back into the line of torches before I spoke, choosing my words carefully, knowing exactly how Dimitrio would react to what I was about to say. "Look at them," I said, gesturing toward the torches still burning steadily in the distance. "Three hundred men, Dimitrio. We have half that, and most of our forces are still recovering from the last attack. If we fight tonight, we lose. You know that as well as I do." "We'll hold the line until reinforcements arrive," he said. "And if they don't arrive in time?" I asked. "What happens to everyone inside these walls while we wait? Elena. Matteo. Every soldier who's already bled for this family once this month." "I won't trade your safety for theirs," he said. "I'm not asking you to," I said. "I'm asking you to let me buy us time. I can go, listen to their

Serena's Pov The words hung in the tent, heavy and strange, and for a moment I could not fully process what Ricci had just said. "Twenty-four hours," I repeated, more to myself than to him. "You're giving me twenty-four hours to retrieve an heirloom that's been hidden for decades." "Correct," Ricci said. "And if I can't find it in time?" I asked. "Then the consequences I described will follow," Ricci said. "We will march on the estate. We will take it. And we will take you as well, Serena. Alive, for now. But not comfortably." I stared at him, taking in every detail of his face, his posture, the unshakable calm of a man who had delivered this kind of ultimatum before and meant every word of it. "Why not just attack now?" I asked. "You have the numbers. You have the weapons. Why give me a chance at all?" "Because attacking now would cost me men I cannot easily replace," Ricci said. "And because taking the estate by force means destroying the very place where the heirloom might