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 68 Vincenzo ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ “You’re not hearing me, Vincenzo,” Russel was saying. He stood by the wide windows, the dark city view stretching out behind him like a scene from a cinema. I could see my own reflection glaring back, and damn if I didn’t hate the look of surrender already tugging at my features. “And you’re not thinking this through,” I replied coolly, my fingers drumming an erratic beat against the polished edge of my desk. “It could be a setup. This Declan guy might be pulling us into a trap, and you’re too blinded by—” “By what?” Russel snapped, spinning to face me. “By wanting to clean up the mess you blindly walked us into? Jesus, Vincenzo. This isn’t about your fucking pride. It’s business.” “Business.” I repeated, “Funny how you talk about business when you’re already giving me that accusing look.” His jaw clenched, the lines around his mouth sharp enough to cut. We shared the same stubborn blood, the same fiery tempers. It made for a dangerous comb
Chapter 69 Stacy ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ “She flirts with every single guy that smiles at her…” Those words burned hell and brimstone in my mind. The way he’d watched me like I was dirt beneath his foot simmered in my mind like a bad broth. My hand clenched tighter around the innocent pen in my hand, but that was not enough, so I stabbed it into the wall, leaving a sharp, satisfying dent. Stupid, arrogant prick. Just then, I thought I heard a noise in the bathroom. My head snapped toward it, but the closed door wouldn’t let me see beyond it. My first thought as I cautiously pushed the door open was Vincenzo’s mother. For some stupid reason, I’d been anticipating, waiting for her to pop up and claim me ever since her son slit my wrist against her tombstone, plus I imagined she was angry I fucked her son there. God help her if she appears now, because I might just have to kill her again, this time with a biro. Yeah, I was that angry. After a long glance about the bathroom, I rea
Chapter 70 Stacy ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ I watched the restless man in front of me. He was pacing, I had to admit, he looked like he was teetering on the edge of losing his mind. His shirt was disheveled, his jaw tight, and for a moment, he looked almost… desperate. I had to fight back a laugh, I really had to. Because there’s no way in hell I could believe the show in front of me. No way. Mr. high and mighty, unraveling in front of me? This had to be a joke. “So, let me get this straight,” I said, leaning back against the wall with my arms folded, my voice dripping with feigned curiosity. “Just yesterday, you were telling your brothers what a slut I am. And now you need me to render my services to you?” He stopped pacing and looked at me with a strange, almost vulnerable intensity. “You’re really not going to make this easy for me, are you?” “If asking the right questions means making it difficult for you, then yes, we’ll be doing that all night. Or you can turn around and sneak
Chapter 71 Stacy ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ Vincenzo’s eyes were dark, practically feral, but his posture screamed control—like a wolf ready to pounce but held back by an invisible leash. And I was holding it. His restraint was delicious, his tension palpable, like a fire crackling at the edge of an oil slick, just waiting for a spark. I could give him that spark immediately, but where is the fun in that? If he wants me, then he has to know he’s not going to get it easy. He knew. I leaned back against the cold, tiled wall of the shower, feeling the chill contrast with the heat radiating off him. He was close, close enough that his heavy breaths fanned over my skin, and I felt him waiting, silently pleading for permission. The mighty Vincenzo Mancini was at my mercy, and the power pulsed through me like a high. “On your knees,” I murmured, a smug smirk curving my lips. He didn’t move at first, his jaw clenching as he absorbed the command. I could see the battle playing out in his head, his
Chapter 72 Stacy ⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼ I pushed him back against the opposite wall, taking a step forward to close the distance. His mouth parted, eyes widening in surprise as I straddled him, effectively trapping him beneath me. “How does it feel, Mancini?” I whispered against his ear, letting my breath tickle his skin. “To be at my mercy?” He groaned, hands trembling with the effort to obey me, his self-control hanging by a thread. “You’re killing me, Stacy.” “Good,” I murmured with a smile as I pressed a slow, deliberate kiss to his lips, I felt his resolve weaken with each passing second. “Now beg.” He let out a strangled sound, and for a moment, I thought he might snap, might wrest control back and remind me just who I was dealing with. But he didn’t. He took a shaky breath, his gaze locked on mine, a hint of something vulnerable in his eyes. “Please,” he whispered, his voice barely audible, the word like a gift. And it was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. With a victorious smile,
Chapter 73Stacy⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼By the time we staggered out of the shower, I was beyond spent— weak, sore, my entire body shaking like I’d run a marathon. It was nearly four in the morning, and he was still here. My heart still beat lazily from the countless times he’d had me, again and again, like his appetite was a bottomless well. What was supposed to be a sneaky sex had somehow spiraled into Vincenzo spending the entire night in my room, our bodies tangled like we were all that existed in the world.I’d never had this much sex in my life, and he made sure there wasn’t an inch of me he hadn’t explored, claimed, and left tingling with satisfaction.I tried to roll over, but his arm clamped around me like a bear trap, pressing me to his bare chest. We’d swapped positions so many times, I wasn’t even sure which way was up anymore. Right now, he was spooning me, but not even half an hour ago, he’d done a full 180, grabbing my arm and pulling it over himself like he was starved for a cuddl
Chapter 108Vincenzo⟻⟼ ✦ ⟻⟼Liam traced the location to a place called ‘The Iron Vault’ in Agrigento, though someone should’ve just called it ‘Come Die Here.’“That’s the spot,” Liam’s voice boomed in my ear. I was staring at the location he’d sent while Nikolai was driving us there. “The guards look sloppy, but the trucks? Military-grade. Clyde’s been spending his allowance.”Dante sat off to the side, arms crossed, his expression as cold as stone. “You know this is a trap, right? Clyde doesn’t do subtle.”“Yeah, well, neither do we.” Nikolai said from the driver’s seat.I lowered the tab to my lap and spared a second to glare at him. Russel insisted he come, and he accepted the guy’s offer to help him eliminate his brother, but looking at this guy who had the same face as the guy we were going after had a way of making me want to squeeze his neck.How do we even know it’s not Clyde sitting here?“You’re not coming in there with us.” I told Dante without hesitation.“Why?”“We’ll ne
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