All Chapters of His Second-Best Choice: Chapter 11 - Chapter 19

19 Chapters

Chapter 11

"Sir, our top seven dark web teams all tried. The IP bounced through the neutral zone and turned to static. We can't find her. She vanished."His right-hand man stood outside the door. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead.Silence hung heavy inside the room.A second later, glass shattered violently against the wooden door. Hard liquor seeped through the crack at the bottom. A man's raspy roar tore through the wood."Get the fuck out."Frantic footsteps scrambled away down the hall.The main estate had been locked down for three days straight.The blackout curtains stayed drawn shut. No lights were on. The air reeked of cheap liquor and stale, metallic blood. Lucian's stubble had grown wild. His shirt was a wrinkled, dirty mess.Three whole days. He burned every asset across the West Coast. She was gone. Erased. Like she never existed.He collapsed onto the leather couch, his bloodshot eyes staring into the dark.The cuts in his palm from the snapped ring were infected, but he never pu

Chapter 12

Dead silence fell over the courtyard.The guard with the split lip kept his head down and backed away. The other men scrambled back with him."Mom, what's wrong?" Bianca clutched her chest. Panic flashed in her eyes. She quickly put on her wounded, innocent face. "I was just trying to help you. That bitch ruined our family. Keeping her trash around only brings bad luck.""Shut up."Alessandra spat the words without looking at her.She had just come back empty-handed from the docks. The capos were breathing down her neck for the money laundering books. Her nerves were shredded.A damp wind swept down the hallway and whipped her heavy coat.Alessandra marched straight up to the reinforced steel box. Biometric and mechanical deadbolts sealed it shut."Bring me a crowbar," she ordered.Her man handed her a solid steel bar right away."Mom, no!" Bianca's voice jumped an octave. She lunged forward in her slippers and tried to cover the lid. "Nothing good is in there! Just the dirty money she

Chapter 13

Bianca's shrieks echoed down the hall.Alessandra looked down at her on the floor. Her eyes were ice. She looked at her like rotting garbage."As of right now, you are dead to this family. Get out of my house."The grin on Bianca's face vanished."Drag her out," Alessandra said, turning her back. "Throw her past the gates."Four guards marched up. They pinned Bianca's arms behind her back and dragged her across the stones."Let go of me! Mom! You can't do this to me!" Bianca thrashed wildly. One of her slippers flew off. Her bare ankle scraped bloody against the ground. "Twenty years! I called you Mom for twenty fucking years!""Yes. That buys you a thirty-minute head start. After that, you're fair game."The heavy iron doors slammed shut in her face.Ten minutes later, an alert lit up the dark web.Alessandra put out the contract herself. It hit every crew on the West Coast.[Bianca is stripped of all family ties. Thirty-million-dollar bounty. Kill on sight.]Rain pounded her face.Bi

Chapter 14

Blood dripped from his knuckles onto the paper. It soaked into a dark red stain.Lucian pressed his thumb into the page with a dead face."Perfect." Bianca grabbed the contract. She jammed the drive into her coat. She leaned on the wall and stood up. Pure madness burned in her eyes. "From this second on, I'm the official Mrs. Sterling."She dragged her muddy feet straight to the king bed in the center of the master bedroom.Aurelia slept there for three years.Bianca grabbed the sheets, her eyes full of venom. "Throw out all that bitch's junk! This is mine now—"A massive hand clamped onto the back of her neck.Lucian jerked his arm back with savage force.Her spine hit the doorframe. Hard. Bianca screamed and hit the floor. She curled up on the hardwood, clutching her ribs."Touch that bed again," Lucian looked down at her, his voice flat, "and I'll chop off all ten of your fingers."Bianca's face went white as chalk. She bit down on her lip and stayed frozen on the floor.For the nex

Chapter 15

The cargo tug dropped anchor outside the reefs.Aurelia slung her tactical pack over her shoulder. She dropped into the speedboat. She gripped the throttle with one hand and steered into the island's inner bay.Sheer volcanic rock walled in the entire island. Anti-air guns and radar towers lined the cliff tops. A military jamming grid blacked out all signals.This was a fortress built for war.Aurelia climbed the slick iron ladder to the dock. She pushed open the blast door to the command tower.The man behind the desk was not the old arms dealer from the rumors. He was young. He wore a black trench coat. His shoulders were broad and straight. He spun the slide of a field-stripped handgun through his fingers. Behind his left ear sat the dark ink of a black eagle tattoo.Nikolai Vane.The Don of the European underworld.Aurelia paused. She pulled her Glock in a flash. She racked the slide. She leveled the barrel right between his eyes. "Where is the previous owner?"Nikolai never reache

Chapter 16

"It's been two months. How long are you going to play mute?"On the cliffside terrace, Aurelia set her empty wine glass down hard against the iron railing. The sea wind whipped loose hair across her face.Behind her in the shadows, Nikolai's tall frame leaned against the stone pillar. An unlit cigar rested between his fingers.Sixty whole days.The Don of the European underworld had canceled every family meeting in Sicily. He took her through every outpost and defense port along the Mediterranean. He taught her the radar blind spots. He handed over the fleet's deployment codes. Yet he never asked a single question about North America.Aurelia gave a dry, self-mocking laugh."You already saw the news from the West Coast, didn't you? The ruined engagement party, wiped bank accounts, citywide manhunt. Lucian forced me onto a clinic table for a fake girl. Alessandra used me for twenty years as a doormat. Even my escape cost me everything I had."Her voice was dead flat. No tears. No tremor

Chapter 17

Three days ago, a Red Notice hit every mafia family across Europe. All thirteen territories got the dispatch.The secret order carried the Vane black eagle wax seal. It named the first ruling Godmother of the Mediterranean in a century.The name on the order was Aurelia.The news hit the West Coast like a massive earthquake.At dawn, base sirens blasted across the Mediterranean seawall.On the radar screen, two red dots tore through the water at full throttle. Two multimillion-dollar armored vessels ignored all maritime warnings. They raced side by side, fighting for the inlet to the bay.The two ships cut each other off. Their heavy guns were locked and loaded. Neither captain gave an inch.On the yacht deck, Lucian glared at the escort ship beside him. "Full throttle. Ram our way to the dock. Nobody gets ahead of me."By the escort ship's porthole, Alessandra stared with bloodthirsty eyes. "That bastard kept me from my own flesh and blood. Now he thinks he can steal her back?"Heavy

Chapter 18

"Both warships were driven into international waters," the lieutenant said. He shoved open the glass door. "The old woman jumped ship."Aurelia set down her arms ledger. Her brow rose slightly."She gave up all her weapons. She sent away her men. She's been on her knees outside the wire for two full days. Not a drop of water."The sea wind howled, thick with salt and spray.Below the cliffs, the once all-powerful Alessandra Castiglione knelt in the mud. She looked like a piece of charred wood, frozen before the stone boundary marker outside the razor wire.Her designer dress was soaked and ruined by storm water and grime. She held her gold serpent cane high above her head with both hands, totally broken."Let's go see," Nikolai said. He stepped up beside her.His warm, dry palm wrapped around her wrist. His cedar scent cut right through the stink of the sea.They walked down the stone stairs side by side.Gravel crunched under their boots. Alessandra strained to lift her head.Her hand

Chapter 19

Three months later."The North American families were carved up last week."In the back of the armored stretch sedan, the lieutenant passed forward a thin intelligence folder.Outside the tinted glass, ancient Roman stone rolled past in a gray drizzle. Aurelia leaned against the leather seat. She studied the sector defense maps, not even looking up."Lucian's right hand is useless. He lost his grip on the West Coast crews. The capos moved in on him and took his seven main smuggling lines." The lieutenant kept his tone flat. "Alessandra handed over the family seal and stepped down. She stays inside the estate now. Never takes a step past the gates."Beside her, Nikolai buckled a leather brace onto her right wrist with steady hands.He tightened the silver buckle and looked into her eyes. "Let them rot in the mud. All thirteen territories answer only to you."Rome. Santa Maria in Trastevere.Rain slicked the long marble steps. Enforcers in black tactical trench coats stood watch everywhe

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