Chapter 60 Stacy ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ He captured my wrists, pinning them to the ground above my head, his voice rough and low. “Don’t even think about moving them.” I opened my mouth to warn him about the twig digging into my back—sharp enough that I was sure it would break skin soon, not like he’d care anyway. But before I could get a word out, he drove into me with a force that left me breathless, filling me completely, deeper than anything I’d ever felt. All of him, inside me, in one unrelenting thrust. Instinct took over as I struggled beneath him, my body fighting against the intrusion. I tried to twist my hands free, to push him back, but his grip was ironclad, keeping my arms immobilized and trembling above me. He pulled back only to slam in again, harder this time. Desperate to lessen the impact, I lifted my hips to meet his halfway, but the rough twigs only scraped harder against my back. “Too much,” I gasped, the words escaping before I could find a better way to put it. “I—I c
Chapter 61Vincenzo ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼She was practically a rag doll in my arms, too weak to keep her eyes open, limbs like jelly. My coat looked oversized draped over her shoulders, hiding most of her dirt-smeared, twig-punctured shirt.I’d just spent half a minute picking out leaves and sticks from her hair. For someone usually so put-together, she looked like she’d been dragged through a forest—well, that was partly true.“Are you good?” I asked softly, which wasn’t exactly my style. But now that my head was clear, I was realizing what a jerk I’d been. Not my proudest moment, but well… it was done.She didn’t respond, just let her head fall against my chest as we made the short trip back to the car. When we got there, I opened the door, setting her down in the passenger seat with care I wasn’t sure I usually had.She looked at me for a second, like she was surprised, but I shrugged, having decided I might as well act like a decent human being, now that I’d gotten sex out of my immediate to-
Chapter 62 Stacy ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ For the rest of the day, I didn’t see Vincenzo. Not that I was in any hurry to. I’d slept through almost the whole day, waking up groggy, still fuming for whatever reason I couldn’t immediately place. I sat there for several minutes before my memories came back to me. It was what he’d said in the car, and the fact that he’d undressed me while I was asleep, filled the tub with water, kissed me senseless and left me there to bathe myself. That way the reason for my anger. Did I mention I slept off right there in the tub with the water still running after he left the bathroom? Was his plan to kill me? I could have drowned! Now that I thought about it, my cheeks flamed with color. If I didn’t wake up from the sound of his and Nikolai’s voices arguing in the hallway, God knows I’d be dead by now. I snorted in disbelief, appalled , and—if I was honest—ashamed of myself for how I’d let him handle me like that, like some cheap thrill. My s
Chapter 63Stacy⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼Flying with Vincenzo in a foul mood is like being stuck in a thunderstorm with no umbrella—one wrong move away from a lightning strike. I barely took a breath that went unnoticed by him the entire trip because he wouldn’t take his eyes off me, and not in the sexy kind of way because those cold blue eyes threatened death. That, and the fact that his jaw was clenched like he was chewing on nails, scared the shit out of me. The second we touched down, he was already barking into his phone like a drill sergeant, his scowl deepening with every syllable. Whatever was clawing up his ass sounded serious.“Did you get it?” He asked a waiting Aurelio.“Everything.” And just like that, he vanished into a fleet of sleek black SUVs, taking half his entourage with him and leaving me with…well, a little breathing room and some unwelcome company. I glanced at Vito, whose countenance hadn’t changed since the last time I saw him, and the lanky, knife-happy guy who’d made o
Chapter 64 Stacy ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ Even in sleep, I had this nagging feeling that someone was watching me. It took several blinks to finally probe my eyes open and another ten seconds to register my unfamiliar surroundings. The first thing I registered was my captor, sitting there like a stone statue. The intensity in his eyes, if not the fact that he was holding a gun, sent a jolt of panic through me, and I shot upright in bed, my heart in my mouth. I tried to tuck my unruly hair behind my ears to get a better view of him. “What are you looking at?” I demanded, leveling him with the fiercest death glare I could muster. He was still in yesterday’s clothes, his posture relaxed yet alert. The light streaming through the window illuminated the faint bruising on his forehead, which told me he must have had a rough night. Again, my gaze flicked to the gun he held loosely in his hand, but strangely, it didn’t faze me. “Did you sleep well?” He sounded as casual as though he was dis
Chapter 65Vincenzo⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼Marcel was flexing like a king on vacation. He was flirting with Stacy, and she, in turn, was performing her best I’m-so-innocent-I-couldn’t-hurt-a-fly act. She’d tilt her head, bat those lashes like she was trying to send a signal to Mars, and twirl around in front of him like a stripper in a club. The sight made my blood simmer; but even more than punishing her, it made me want to haul her back to the room and remind her exactly whose name she’d scream if I were in the mood for it. But no. I left them to their idiocy before my temper caught up with my fists. My boots hammered the floorboards, making them groan like they shared my annoyance. I had more pressing matters to attend to, anyway. Fi might bring the girls later, and I needed to double-check the security—because relying solely on the incompetents around me felt like betting my life on a coin toss.“Where’s Vito?” I barked at Cedro, who was draped across the armchair like a sloth that had jus
Chapter 66 Stacy ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ “If you keep sneaking pieces of bacon off this plate, I’m going to stab your hand with a fork.” “Promises, promises,” Marcel smirked, unrepentant as he snagged another crispy slice. His fingers moved with the quickness of a thief, but instead of carrying out my earlier promise, I tried and failed to hide the small laugh that escaped my lips. Marcel and I made breakfast from the few things we found in the kitchen—steaming eggs, bacon, even baked baskets of pastries still warm from the oven. Turns out he was one of those gangsters who doesn’t hide their love for food and good humor. I had to admit, the act of preparing food, of pretending life was normal for just a heartbeat, was almost comforting. “Take another one and you’ll not get any at the table,” I threatened seriously. He eyed a plate I was currently fixing, “I’m pretty sure Vincenzo wouldn’t mind if I ate all of his,” he against the counter, arms crossed, as if daring me to follow through. “
Chapter 67 Vinvenzo ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ Stacy had a talent for shredding my composure with just a flick of her gaze. But seeing her unravel in front of Russel—that was new. She looked as though she was on the brink of throwing fists or worse, a war cry wrapped in blood and fury. Temptation licked up my spine, urging me to go after her and drag her back by that sharp tongue of hers, but I stayed put, eyes locked on the door she disappeared into, the sound of her slamming it behind her still echoing in the room. Marcel’s eyes made a beeline for my face, but my expression remained a mask carved out of granite. Russel, meanwhile, hadn’t taken his eyes off Allesia, who surprisingly didn’t seem to mind Stacy’s rudeness. She sat there, all gentle smiles and innocence, her fingers delicate as they plucked another pastry from the spread. She had the kind of serenity that could make a hurricane question its purpose. As she ate, Russel’s fingers massaged gentle circles on her shoulders,
Chapter 107Vincenzo⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼“The hair does match, but she’s too overdressed, which is unlike her.” The cigar in my hand burned steadily, wisps of smoke curling into the dim air of my study as Vito leaned over the desk, pointing to a grainy photo on my laptop screen. His voice was calm but edged with urgency.“Outside of Palermo,” he said. “We’ve had reports of her moving with a small group of Irish men who were trying a little too hard to blend in. No confirmation yet, but the timing matches. They might be keeping it low, but she’s alive.”I exhaled slowly, and watched the smoke drift toward the ceiling as my mind worked through the implications. Alive. That could mean a lot of things, it could mean I still had to kill her with my own hands. It could mean Russel would find her first and do it anyway. It could mean Dante might get her first and withdraw from whatever agreement we had. Or it could be a direct contradiction to everything Valente told me, which would mean I’d still hav
Chapter 106Vincenzo⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼The villa reeked of her.I never liked her, not even as a kid when she’d parade around in her silk dresses, pretending to play the perfect wife while twisting knives into my father’s back. Hell, she’d never liked anything concerning me either. Maybe that was the one thing we had in common.The men in this place went down like dominoes, pathetic to the last. She always surrounded herself with men who looked the part but crumbled the moment you applied pressure. A quick choke, a snap of the wrist, and they folded. I didn’t bother watching them hit the ground, I was already halfway up the stairs.She was working with the Irish. Against her own blood. Against her own children. And for what? A scrap of power she’d never actually hold? A seat at a table where no one respected her? Revenge on me? It would’ve been laughable if it wasn’t so goddamn infuriating. My men had already fanned out, securing the lower levels of the house. I made my way upstairs with V
Chapter 104Stacy⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼He murdered her.The thought circled endlessly in my mind, like a cruel pendulum swinging back and forth, slamming into me every time. He murdered her.I was still sat in that cold, damp cell, my legs still strapped in unforgiving metal chains. My tears had dried hours ago, leaving my cheeks stiff and raw. Nisca’s head rested in my lap, her lifeless body sprawled awkwardly, her once-bright eyes now dull and glassy. My hands were covered in blood, either hers or mine, I wasn’t sure.When Clyde dragged her in last night, limp and wrapped in a sack, I thought I might’ve been hallucinating. It wouldn’t have been the first time my mind played tricks on me. But then they ripped the sack off her head and tossed her at my feet like garbage.“You must be lonely,” Clyde had said, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction. “I brought you a companion.”That companion was Nisca. But it was not the smiling, love sick girl who’d tried to protect us when they barged into
Chapter 104 Vincenzo ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ FEW WEEKS AGO Chains dangled from the ceiling, the metallic clang echoing every time Valente twitched, which was often. He was tied to a steel chair, wrists strapped so tightly that blood trickled down his arms in sluggish streams. His face was a mess….swollen, bloody, barely recognizable as human after the first round. I flexed my knuckles, the blood coating them sticky and warm. “You scream like a woman, Valente. Did your mother raise you that way, or is this just your natural state?” “Please,” he gasped, spitting blood onto the floor. One of his teeth clattered to the ground like a broken pearl. “Please, Vincenzo—” “Please?” I crouched in front of him, gripping his chin so tightly his jaw cracked under the pressure. “You think ‘please’ is a magic word? Jesus, what are you, a nun?” He whimpered, his bloodshot eyes darting toward the door like he thought salvation might walk through it. “Let me explain something to you,” I said, my voice dropping
Chapter 103Stacy⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼I’d worn cuffs too many times to not recognize the feel of them.The cold air stung my skin as I sat curled on the stone floor, hands trembling despite my effort to steady them. The dim light overhead flickered, barely enough to chase away the suffocating darkness that pressed against the walls of this room. No, it was a cell…my cell. Where the hell am I?Was I hallucinating? Oh yeah, my mind must be playing games, dating back to the time when I was shackled up in that tiny room in Russel’s warehouse, listening to my father scream while Russel took pieces off his skin. I’ve had those before. But why did it feel so real today? I had no idea how long I’d been here. Hours? Days? It was all a blur of rough voices outside the dark, chains scraping against cement when I moved, and the unmistakable sound of Irish men moving around like wolves waiting for the kill. Did Vincenzo capture me again? But Vincenzo is not Irish. Dante? Why would he want me chained up a
Chapter 102 Vincenzo⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼Russel asked Nikolai to babysit me. Well, not technically, but having him follow me around for the last two weeks could be considered babysitting at this point.He thought I was fucked.The chair beneath me groaned, probably in sympathy with my irritation. Meanwhile, Dante sprawled across from me like he owned the damn world, oozing arrogance. And maybe Russel was right, because the only reason the man was still breathing was Nikolai.“You must be losing your touch if it took this long to find me,” Dante drawled, casually reaching for the glass of water in front of him. He was mocking me with every second he wasted. “Perhaps I wasn’t hiding. Did you think of that, Vincenzo?”I didn’t respond.My patience was hanging by a thread. No, not even a thread. It was barely hanging by a single hair. My mind felt like it was on fire, fueled by two weeks of sleepless nights, numerous dead ends, and the glaring absence of activity in my life.I’d gotten too used to t
Chapter 101Stacy⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼TWO WEEKS LATERI’d escaped a physical prison only to end up in an emotional hell. There’s something uniquely pathetic about sitting cross-legged on the floor of a shoebox apartment, trying to piece your life back together. And by ‘life,’ I mean the sad collection of my father’s business files Elixir managed to stack away from the Mancinis.I shoved aside a cracked snow globe, its tiny Eiffel Tower missing, and yanked out the next item. A silk tie, flamingo pink. Flamingo. Pink.“Nisca!” I hollered, holding up the offending accessory like it was a dead rat. “What the hell is this?”Her voice floated in from the small kitchen. “Vintage Versace. You’re welcome.”“Vintage or not, it’s hideous.” I dropped it back into the box like it might bite me and leaned back against the wall, staring at the disaster surrounding me. Nisca, my former chief maid and Elixir’s sister, who was two years older than me, strolled into the room, a mug of coffee in one hand and a big
Chapter 100 Vincenzo ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ She was gone. Gone. And I felt like the biggest fool alive. I’d woken up this morning, expecting to see her tangled in the sheets beside me, maybe still asleep, looking as sinful as she had the night before when she curled up on my chest. I’d told her—like an idiot—how much I cherished her. How much I couldn’t bear to lose her. She never said it back. But I hadn’t noticed. Not then. The bed was empty, but I hadn’t panicked. Why would I? Stacy liked her showers long, her coffee black, and her hair styled perfectly. I convinced myself she was probably in the bathroom or out on the balcony. I spent the first thirty minutes on the phone with Russel, going over Valente’s latest tantrum. Then I made calls to my men about the shipment in the Englewood warehouse. Approved it. Sent a text. And then decided to join her in the bathroom, maybe drag her back to bed for another round. The bathroom was empty. Still, I hadn’t panicked. Not yet. I’d checked th
Chapter 99Stacy⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼I couldn’t sleep a wink. It wasn’t just the sex—though that was seared into my brain like some sort of branding iron. It was the way he’d looked at me after. Vulnerable, almost human. Like maybe, I was no longer the daughter of the man who murdered his mother. And then, of course, he had to ruin it by saying something ridiculous like, “My demons have fallen in love with your darkness.”What was that even supposed to mean? I’d spent the last hour staring at the ceiling, blushing like some lovesick idiot. Me. Blushing. Because of Vincenzo Mancini, the man who once dragged me kicking and screaming into his hell and cuffed me like a prized animal. And he was sleeping so peacefully beside me, nose buried deep in my air like he was taking in oxygen, hand sprawled possessively across my waist. I needed air.Sliding quietly out of bed, I grabbed the bloodied shirt Vincenzo had tossed on the chair earlier—it still smelled like him, damn it—and crept out onto the te