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CHAPTER EIGHT (MATTEO'S POV)
Last Updated:
2025-03-15 00:33:31
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Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER NINE (ELI'S POV)
The sound of the bathroom's door clicking shut behind me might as well have been the sound of a gun shooting me in my face because that was what I wanted at the moment. My breath was ragged, my skin burning with the imprint of his hands, his words and most importantly… his control.I staggered forward, body trembling, trying to breathe but I couldn't.The air felt too thick, suffocating, pressing against my ribs like someone stepping on me with their boot. I squeezed my eyes shut, swallowing down the bile creeping up my throat, but it did nothing to stop the voice in my head."Così bello... così perfetto.”"Voglio sentire di più quei dolci suoni, mio piccolo soldato.”“Good, just like that.”I gritted my teeth, clenching my hands into fists that were so tight my nails dug into my palm and drew blood. I welcomed the pain, it was the only thing grounding me.I had promised myself I wouldn’t let their influence get a hold on me and yet—I caught sight of my reflection on the mirror by t
Last Updated : 2025-03-15Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER TEN (ELI'S POV)
The tension in the dining room was suffocating.The sound of cutlery scraping against ceramic plates felt too loud, the quiet conversation between the other men at the table sounded distant to my eyes.My focus was solely locked onto the food on my table, trying to eat by cutting my food into small, manageable pieces and chewing at a steady pace then forcing it down my throat.I had to act normal.I needed to act normal.Skipping breakfast wasn’t an option. That would have raised suspicion. But sitting here, across from them, pretending like everything was fine, like my skin didn’t crawl under their gazes, was almost unbearable.I felt both of them watching me.Not just watching, they were studying me.I kept my head down, forcing myself to breathe evenly. If I gave even the slightest indication that something was wrong, Luca would see it. Matteo would see it. And if they did…I clenched my jaw. I couldn’t let that happen."Did you sleep well, Eli?"Matteo’s voice was casual, almost l
Last Updated : 2025-03-15Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER ELEVEN (LUCA'S POV)
Eli was a terrible liar.I watched him over the rim of my coffee cup, studying every subtle shift in his posture—the way his shoulders tensed just a little too much, the way his fingers twitched around his fork, the way his breathing was slightly uneven.My amusement was growing with every nervous movement. He was trying too hard to be normal.Poor thing.Matteo’s teasing had already done a fine job of flustering him this morning, letting him think he got away with it. Letting him believe that he was safe.Then, the moment he let his guard down, I reminded him exactly whose world he was playing in. I asked if he had left his room last night, something changed.Eli went rigid.No. I was in my room all night.A blatant lie. And yet, he had the nerve to look me in the eye after saying it.Plus, he knew I knew.I let the silence stretch, let him fidget under my gaze. Then I simply hummed and took another sip of my coffee.He swallowed hard.That was all the confirmation I needed.See, El
Last Updated : 2025-03-16Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER TWELVE (ELI'S POV)
The moment breakfast ended, I rushed back to my room, locking the door behind me with shaky fingers.Shit. Shit. Shit. Fuck!My heart was pounding so hard that I could hear it in my ears as I dragged a hand down my face.Luca knew.He fucking knew.Maybe not everything. Maybe not the full extent of what I was up to. But he suspected something. I could feel it in the way his gaze lingered during breakfast, in that damn hum of his after I lied. It had been a simple question—Did you leave your room last night?—but the way he asked it, the weight behind it…That wasn’t just curiosity.That was confirmation.I had fucked up.Badly.I started pacing, my fingers twitching with the need to do something. But what? What the hell could I do? Luca was calculated. If he knew, he'd either kill me now or string me along, letting me dig my own grave while he watched with amusement.And Matteo?Matteo was worse.I thought about the way he teased me over breakfast, his voice laced with that dangerous,
Last Updated : 2025-03-16Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER THIRTEEN (MATTEO'S POV)
There was something off about Eli Parker.I wasn’t sure what it was at first. Maybe it was how he carried himself—too restrained, too controlled, like a man constantly measuring his every move. Or maybe it was the way he reacted at breakfast, that heavy tension in his shoulders when Luca questioned him.I lived for the little things—the flinches, the ticks, the way a person’s body betrayed them when their mouth told a different story. I always notice them.And Eli?He was making the alarm in my head to go off.Luca suspected something, too. I could tell by the way he watched Eli during breakfast, like a predator toying with its prey. But unlike Luca, I didn’t just suspect—I wanted to know.No, I needed to know.So, I set out to unravel him.And what better way to test a man than through violence?*****The indoor, underground gym was quite safe from the distant hum of machines and the thumping of fists as they collided with punching bags.Eli was already inside when I arrived, he was
Last Updated : 2025-03-17Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER FOURTEEN (ELI'S POV)
It had been days since that fight with Matteo. Since that tense breakfast with Luca.And I hadn't seen either of them since.At first, I told myself it was a good thing. The longer I stayed off their radar, the better. But the silence, the absence of their intense stares, their teasing and taunting, started to unnerve me more than I'd like to admit.Men like them didn’t just ignore someone. They were planning something. I just didn’t know what.Yet.So, I kept myself busy. I made sure to do it cautiously, of course.Luca Rossi’s mansion was a fortress—massive, elegant, and crawling with security at every turn. Over the past few days, I made it my mission to learn everything I could about this place.Exit points? Five. Three on the ground floor, one leading to an underground garage, and a service entrance near the kitchens.Patrol guards? Tight. But not impossible to get through. Their shifts rotated every six hours, and there was a small window during the switch where there were less
Last Updated : 2025-03-17Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER FIFTEEN (ELI'S POV)
TRIGGER WARNING: BLOOD, KNIFE AND TORTURE. My heart raced as Luca opened the file. I braced myself, every muscle in my body stiffened. This is it. They knew. They had to know. My cover has been exposed. But as my eyes scanned the pages, the tension in my body changed to confusion. There was nothing like Elias Carter in the file. No classified FBI report, no record of my past, my mission. Nothing about me. Instead, I saw a different name and face. Marcus Delano. He was a well known arms dealer, trafficker and a lot of other shady things. His name was well known across security agencies, he was on the list of people that the FBI needed to take care of. I exhaled slowly, relief coursing through me. They didn't know who I was. But that relief was short lived because as it was more of the document, I realized something else. This wasn't just a random file, it was a test. I had two choices. Play dumb or prove myself. I gritted my teeth. Alright, Luca. You want to
Last Updated : 2025-03-18Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SIXTEEN (ELI'S POV)
TRIGGER WARNING: BLOOD, KNIFE AND TORTURE. The air was filled with the smell of metal, sweat, piss, blood and something rotten tag made me crunch up my nose. Inside, hunched over in a chair, was Marcus Delano. His face was barely recognizable. His face was swollen and bloodied, one of his eyes sealed shut due to the injuries on it. His wrists were tied on the arms of the chair with thick leather straps. His ankles were equally secured tightly. His chest rose and fell with each uneven breath he took. I heard the alarms in my head go off as I stared at the man before me. This wasn’t what I expected. I had prepared for anything—an ambush, another interrogation, maybe even my own execution. But this? This was worse. Luca stepped inside first, Matteo following with that usual lazy swagger of his. I hesitated at the doorway, every fiber of my being telling me to run. But I didn’t. Because running wasn’t an option. Not here. Not now. Luca turned to me, his expression unreadable.
Last Updated : 2025-03-18
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Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SEVENTY FIVE (ELI'S POV)
I woke up the next morning to the smell of something familiar.Bacon.And not just any kind, it was the thick-cut kind Luca always insisted on ordering from that small butcher outside Brooklyn. I didn’t move at first, just laid in bed and let the scent drift around me, half-convinced it was a dream. But then came the sizzle of eggs and the faint clang of a pan being moved around from downstairs. My eyes opened.It wasn’t a dream.I got up, showered quickly, and threw on a black T-shirt and joggers. The silence in the hallways was different this morning—lighter. I didn’t trust it.When I walked into the kitchen, I froze.Luca stood at the stove, sleeves rolled up, brow slightly furrowed as he flipped pancakes like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like he hadn't thrown me into a dungeon not long ago. Like we hadn’t broken each other in every possible way.He turned when he hear
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SEVENTY FOUR (ELI'S POV)
The halls were just as cold as I remembered.The same marble floors, same glass walls, same suffocating silence. It had been three days since we had landed in New York and walked back through the dark gates of the Rossi estate, and not one of them had spoken to me.Not really, at least.Just a few words here and there—“you’re free to go wherever,” “meals are at seven,” “the guest room’s ready.” All formal. Detached.Matteo’s eyes had flickered toward me a couple of times when he thought I wasn’t looking. Luca had kept his distance entirely by burying himself in meetings, calls, whatever power play he had been running behind the scenes. If I didn't know them as well as I did, I would have said that they were avoiding me out of shame but I knew better.They were watching.Waiting.For what, I didn’t know.I had spent most of the days wandering around the house like a ghost.
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SEVENTY THREE (RICCI'S POV)
The sun was beginning to dip below the valley when I returned to the villa, the warm golden rays bathed the villa making it even more breathtaking.The issue has turned out to be a minor one but took over a day to resolve and I was more than happy to be home and soon to be in Eli's arms.It was quiet— the type of peace and quiet that I usually craved and cherished after all the blood, movie and chaos but today, something felt different.It was too quiet.Off.Too still.As I stepped into the grand entryway, I called out. “Eli?”Nothing.My pulse kicks up.“Eli?” I say again, louder now.Still nothing.Where’s Eli? I wondered.Pulling off my gloves, I walked into the living room but there was still no sign of Eli. The bedroom? Empty. Bathroom — untouched. The sheets were still rumpled from the previous morning, the pil
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO (ELI'S POV)
The car ride was silent.Only the faint hum of the engine and the crunch of gravel under big, thick tires outside broke the silence between us as they sped down the back roads leading us further away from the railway.I turned to look at the man next to me. Nathan. They had brought him into the car shortly after me, he would be treated and then sent back to America.This made me wonder where they were taking me to.Nathan lay beside me in the backseat, unconscious again, his breathing shallow but steady. The seat beneath him was stained with blood. I’d pressed my jacket against his side, trying to soak up the worst of it.Matteo was up in front, in the passenger seat with a phone to his ear, barking orders rapidly in Italian.Luca sat opposite me, legs crossed, his hand absently adjusting the cuffs of his coat like this was any other day. Like we weren’t running from a crime scene. Like they weren’t
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE (ELI'S POV)
I kept my face calm, even as my mind ran through every possible way to escape. Every breath I took felt like I was inhaling poison—thick with tension and with fear I’d buried but never truly outrun.“I’m not yours,” I said quietly, jaw clenched. “I never was.”Matteo’s smile faded just slightly, the flicker of irritation showing like a crack in stone. “Then why are you here, Elias?”I didn’t answer.Instead, I looked past him. My eyes scanning the shadows behind the platform, the corners of the station, the windows above—anything. Nathan had to be nearby. They don't want me to see him yet. They wanted me to feel the consequences of disobedience.Luca circled me slowly now, like a wolf circling around the prey to be its next meal. “You always had that fire,” he murmured. “Even when we broke you in.”“You tried to break me.”“Hmm. We did more than try.” He leaned in close to my ear. “But
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SEVENTY (ELI'S POV)
The old railway station looked like the bones of some long-dead giant. Its frame creaked under the slightest weight as it was worn out and old, the iron rails were rusted and bent like fractured limbs. Fog clung to the ground making it more eerie than it already was, they moved around my boots like fingers trying to drag me back.Still, I walked forward.The cab had pulled away minutes ago, its headlight growing dimer until it finally disappeared into the night. I was alone now—no backup, no comms, no tracker. I didn’t even know how long I had been walking. Every step I took sounded too loud as it echoed through the quiet night. My heart thumped against my ribs like it was trying to escape.I scanned the dark.Every instinct screaming at me that it was a trap.And it was. No doubt. But it was a trap I chose to walk into.I walked around the outer wall, sticking to the shadows, eyes sharply scanning
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SIXTY NINE (ELI'S POV)
The phone buzzed again.My eyes hadn’t left the photo of Nathan Cole, bloodied and broken, tied to a chair like some animal that had been hunted and caught. His body language said everything—he was near the end of his rope. My throat tightened as I tapped the new message."If you want him to survive the night, come to this location."Another message sent a pin on a map. Rome. An abandoned rail station on the city’s outskirts.It felt like ice begin to flood through my veins.I stared at it, heart pounding so loud it echoed in my ears.They were really doing this. Luca and Matteo had him. And they were playing their sick, twisted game again.I rubbed my face, trying to breathe. Think.Nathan wasn’t just an agent. He was the only reason I’d ever made it out alive. When I was still Elias Carter, drowning under cover so deep I couldn’t remember who I was, he pulled me out. He
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT (ELI'S POV)
The moment the terrace door flew open and Ricci’s man stepped through, everything changed.I could feel it like a sudden drop in temperature. A stillness that wasn’t peaceful anymore—but charged, like lightning had just struck a tree. The man looked like he’d run through hell barefoot—sweat dripped down his temple, he was breathing hard, his eyes were wild and a little bit haunted.He didn’t speak in English. The words tumbled out in fast, clipped Italian—coded, urgent.I recognized a few word from the conversations Ricci had trained me to understand over the weeks, but this wasn’t the usual “check the perimeter” or “bring the car around.” No, this was something else. Something serious.Ricci froze for just a second.Then everything about him changed.He grabbed his phone and his shirt in one swift motion, muscles instantly becoming taunt beneath his skin, his face shifting into that unreadable expre
Bound by blood and lies CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN (RICCI'S POV)
The night was unusually still.Even the crickets had gone quiet. The wind barely moved the olive tree branches. The stars looked close enough to touch, glittering over the coastal hills of Tuscany, bathing the villa’s terrace in pale silver light. It was like the whole world had paused—just for us.Eli was curled beside me on the wide terrace lounge, his head resting on my shoulder,a light cotton blanket draped across our legs. The stars stretched endlessly above us, brighter and than I’d ever seen them back in the city, it was beautiful. We were both barefoot, an empty bottle of wine resting near our feet.He smelled like sun kissed skin and saltwater. My hand lazily traced the curve of his arm, stopping occasionally just to feel him—solid, real, breathing. His fingers played lazily with the edge of my shirt. The skin-to-skin contact should’ve felt ordinary by now—but it never did. Not with him.We’d spent the day wrapped in a slow kind of bliss
