[XAVIER]I should’ve been smarter than to get sexually involved with Hazel’s teacher. The last thing I ever want is to disappoint my daughter.So why couldn’t I control my impulses?I can come up with countless reasons for losing control, one of them being the desire for intimacy. After all, every man has his needs, right? The last woman I slept with was Aurora, and it was during our secret affair that she conceived Hazel. The exact point when I stabbed my brother in the back and made an enemy out of him for the rest of my life.I know Mir has moved on. With Zarina in his life, he couldn’t care less about what I do or don’t do anymore. Of course, he would be furious if Hazel got into serious trouble because of me, but to be honest, I would be the first to blame myself for allowing it to happen in the first place. He would have to get in line if he had any desire to make me suffer.All I’m saying is that my sex life is nobody’s damn business but mine.But still.Still, I feel guilty fo
[LIZZY]“Can we go to the zoo, Lizzy? Can you please take me? Please? Pretty please!”I take a deep breath, fighting the urge to massage my temples and relieve the tension building up around my head, feeling like an earthquake in my skull.Joey has been relentless since the crack of dawn. I have no idea where he heard about the Tropicarium Park in Jesolo, but ever since his curious eyes caught sight of me, he’s been like a broken record, playing the zoo visit tune on repeat.Now, it’s like wherever I go, he’s right behind me, trailing like a lost puppy, whining and pouting, begging me to take him to the park for a visit.We are currently in my room. I have bathed and changed after the unplanned run I went on this morning. I don’t know what came over me, but I found myself wide awake at four in the morning, unable to doze off again. Curiosity got the best of me, so I thought I’d see if Vector had returned. To no surprise, his room remained just as vacant and dark as it had been for the
[VECTOR]“What do you have for me so far?” I ask, eyes on the closed door as I lean back and wait for something useful to come out of the mouth of the man on the other end of the call.It’s been a few days since Romeo Conti left for New York. He should have something for me by now, or at least, I’m hoping he does. I already asked Oranzio Petroni’s men to get him all the help he needs. The man has agreed. Now I just hope to get to the bottom of this blast as soon as possible.“I did some digging around. The locals in the neighborhood don’t have much to say, except that the family moved in shortly before Ms. Jones joined them. Actually, some people even assumed she was part of their family, like a sister-in-law or something. Anyway, I’ve hired some additional help to gather more intel. But for now, all I’ve got is a feeling that something about the family doesn’t sit right. The husband was definitely a cop, but as for the wife… some folks claim she was a housewife, while others insist t
[CRISTIANA] It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that I don’t have much say in the family matters. They all think I’m either too young and too naive to know or understand anything. I’ve been raised my whole life as if I were some delicate princess who would be corrupted by the darkness of the outside world. They thought I was too pure for this harsh reality, too easily fooled to avoid attracting trouble. In a sense, that pretty much sums up my entire life. I’ve grown up with not only overprotective parents but also a deranged brother who considers chopping off the fingers of any man who dares to look in my direction as his favorite pastime. And if that weren’t enough, throw in an irrational and hot-tempered older cousin who happens to lead a notorious crime syndicate. It’s a recipe for an impending catastrophe. The only relief I have in my not so run of the mill life is my sister-in-law who happens to be the only sane person I can freely talk to or reason with—Zarina is the only
[VECTOR]“How long are you going to sit there like a fool, Vector? If you have something to say, why don’t you just say it?” Sofia’s words cut through the air, accompanied by her familiar wicked grin. She disgusts me to the core, but despite being a sociopath, she’s the only family I have left.Perhaps that’s why, when I feel lost and unsure of what to do, I find myself unlocking the doors to my past and descending into the basement. It’s where I keep my adopted sister imprisoned, bound by shackles. For what she did to my family, she should be buried deep underground.But it seems the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Even though I have countless reasons to grab my gun and shoot her in the face, I keep her alive, hoping that someday she will come to understand the pain and destruction she inflicted upon the only people who cared for her.She tore them apart.She destroyed everything that mattered to me—the family who took her in, loved her, and gave her a chance at redemption. The
[TREVOR]“Are you positive it was her?” Laura asks again, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. Even though she’s keeping tabs on me from a safe distance, her repetitive questions really get on my nerves.I don’t have anything against her, except for the fact that her involvement with these mobsters seems way more sinister than a cop’s should be. But who am I to question her motives? As long as I get my share of the deal, I couldn’t care less about what drove her to join such a dangerous game. All that matters to me is ensuring Lizzy’s safety, and I couldn’t give a damn about anything else.“There’s no way to be sure, babe.” Doesn’t she already know this? Things rarely go according to plan when dealing with these mobsters. They’re too crafty and cautious to be fooled by people like her and me. That’s one of the reasons why they never get caught, and even if they do, nothing sticks to them. Like I said, they’re way too careful.If there’s one person I can be honest with, it’s myself. And
[VECTOR]“Vector, stop!” Marcus follows me down the basement steps, his voice echoing off the walls of the narrow passageway. “Honestly, just stop the fuck, man!”I do. I stop. But I’m barely calm. I can’t fucking think straight. Not with Lizzy gone and all my worst fears coming to life to haunt my reality. What was she thinking when she took off like that? Did she have any clue about the danger she might have thrust herself into?And honest to god, the next time I find her—which I will—I am going to brief her on the perks of having a conversation. Yes, I’m the fucker saying that. But if that’s what it takes to make her stay and keep herself safe, I’ll force myself to do the one thing I probably despise the most.I’ll fucking talk.No, scratch that. I’ll fucking serenade her if that’s what she wants.“I’m not going to kill him,” I grit out, scowling at the door in my sight. The door behind which that fucking Trevor is being watched by my men, probably keeping him warm and red.“You sa
[XAVIER]All my life, my father and Mir did everything they could to keep me away from their mafia business. I wasn’t allowed in their “meetings” or to ask questions regarding their business or where they went in the dead of the night.At first, it didn’t bother me much. I was curious, yes, and wanted to be part of whatever they had going on behind closed doors, but I never put up much of a fight for what I thought I deserved. Maybe deep down, I always knew my life wasn’t meant to be on the same path as theirs. Maybe I always knew my dad had different plans for me.But sometimes I do wonder if my father’s explanation for creating a different life for me was just to hide the fact that I wasn’t fit for the business. I was his son, after all. His own flesh and blood. Maybe he knew I wasn’t built for their dark world. Maybe by keeping me on the sidelines, he was just trying to be a good dad.Can I hold it against him? Not really. I can’t hate someone for showing biased love to me, can I?