(Lisa's POV) "Are you already afraid of her?" Isabella asked as my gaze fell on her, already indulging in the velvet cake on the table. "No, I’m not. I have no relationship with Alessio, so why should I be afraid of her?" I replied, though I knew it was a lie. I hadn't even seen this Bianca, but the thought of her scared me. If she could kill her best friend, then I would be an easy prey for her. All my life, I had lived peacefully, without knowing how to handle guns or anything related to fighting skills. Since Bianca was part of Alessio's underworld, I was sure she was strong enough to beat me to death without much effort. "But don't worry, Lisa. I think she won't be able to kill you." "You think so?" My voice was low, revealing how scared I felt. "Yeah. You belong to Don Alessio. I'm sure she values her life and wouldn’t dare do anything to you—unless she wants to die." "You really think Alessio will protect me from her?" I asked again. "That's a silly question, Lisa
(Alessio's POV) "She asked about where the exit of the house is," I said to the maid who had reported Lisa to me. "Yes, Boss Alessio," she answered, her head bowed to the floor. "And what did you tell her?" I asked, displeased with the fact that she still wanted to leave. "I told her the truth. We don't know the exit of this house because we were brought here unconscious," she said. My eyes fell on her, and she quickly dipped her head to the ground, afraid that I might kill her. "Leave," I ordered, and she rushed out of my suite immediately. I lit up a cigarette, clearly not happy that Lisa had inquired about the exit of my house. If she hadn't accepted that she couldn't leave, what were all those smiles of hers for? The maid who had just left was right when she said they were brought here unconscious. When they accepted to work for me, I had brought them into my house unconscious. Even Isabella was brought here the same way. So, apparently, only Ivan and I knew that the library
(Alessio's POV) "Lisa!" I called out as I barged into her room. She quickly tightened the towel wrapped around her body. Her skin was slightly wet, indicating she had just taken a shower. "You should know how to knock, Alessio," she said, her voice low. I walked up to her, turning her around to check if she was hurt. "Are you okay?" I asked, my voice filled with concern—something that had never happened before. Lisa stared at me before nodding, and I let out a sigh of relief. "Did someone come in here while I was away?" I inquired, despite knowing that only Ivan and I knew how to exit the house. That left me wondering how the stranger had found out about Lisa's room. "No one came in, Alessio. I was alone in here." "Were you sleeping just a few minutes ago?" I asked, locking my eyes on hers. "No, I wasn't," she replied. Did that mean the strange voice was just playing tricks on me? I clenched my fists, angry that I had fallen into his trap. But I couldn't shake the qu
(Lisa's POV) Why didn't he fall for my tricks? I had asked him to watch me dress, but he chose to leave. Why didn't he give in? I pondered while sitting on the couch in Alessio's suite, where he had instructed me to stay until he returned. Had I not done it properly? Come to think of it, he had barged into my room, asking if I was alright or if someone had entered while he was away. It was the first time I had seen panic in his eyes, and it made me wonder what could have happened. Was he attacked? I sighed, realizing that the quietness of his suite offered no answers to my questions. If he were under attack, he should release me and let me return to my simple life. I don't want to be involved in his chaotic world, which seemed more dangerous than the Great War. After sitting on the couch for almost thirty minutes, I stood up and began pacing around the suite, feeling bored. I wanted to leave, maybe go to the library or go to Isabella, who could easily entertain me with her jokes a
(Alessio's POV) "What happened? How did the explosion start?" Salvatore asked over the phone. "It was an attack from our enemies," I replied, puffing the smoke from my cigarette through my nostrils. Ever since the strange phone call, I had been smoking nonstop due to paranoia. He dared to play games with me—no one had done that before, but this stranger did, even laughing at me for not being able to detect his voice. I had tried calling a thousand times, but whenever I did, it was always unreachable. "Which of our enemies attacked us?" Salvatore inquired. "Leave it to me. I'm going to handle it," I said. Telling the Godfather that I didn't know who had attacked our clan was the last thing I would do. It wasn't that I was afraid; I wasn't afraid of anyone, not even the creator of the earth. I chose not to tell him so he wouldn't have any reason to come back to Italy. I didn't want him to return and see Lisa—maybe I forgot to mention that the Godfather is the third person who knows
(Alessio's POV) "Don Alessio!" Marco approached me as I arrived at the nightclub with Ivan. "I'm glad you came; it's been a while. Should I get the best women ready for you?" he asked, speaking in Italian. "I'm looking for someone," I replied. "Who could it be? Tell me right away, and I'll fetch the person for you," Marco said with a smile. He had always wanted to get on my good side, but unfortunately for him, he was trying to please the wrong person. Signaling to Ivan, he showed Marco a picture of the boy we had obtained from the CCTV cameras. He must have been foolish not to realize that there were cameras around. "Do you know him?" I asked. Marco took the picture from Ivan and stared deeply at it. "I think I know him, Don Alessio. His name is Zach, and he comes here every Friday to gamble," Marco said. "Why are you looking for him?" he added. I took the picture and handed it to Ivan. "I need a VIP seat at the gambling hall," I said. "You want to gamble?" Marco asked, but I
(Alessio's POV)"What should I do, Boss Alessio?" Ivan asked when he returned. With my fist tightly clenched, I turned to face him. Ivan innocently stared at me. He can't possibly be the strange caller, right? Ivan wouldn't betray me because he knows the consequences if he does. A part of me chose to believe that he couldn't possibly betray me, while the other part had doubts."Did I do something wrong? You keep staring at me," Ivan said, and I sighed before shifting my eyes away from him. Trust isn't a commodity in my world, but somehow I was able to trust Ivan. He had been my right-hand man for a couple of years now, and all he had ever shown me was his sincerity. He had been loyal, despite the behavior I often displayed.Thinking about that, I decided not to believe he could be the strange caller. He's too afraid of me to even consider it."I'm going to handle it myself. Where's Zach?" I asked."I dropped him off at a nearby hospital, though I don't know if he'll survive or not.""
(Lisa's POV) Did he just ask me for a cup of coffee? I thought to myself as I stared at Alessio, his dark brown eyes fixed on me. Initially, I thought he was going to kill the maids because they had sat around me while I served them coffee. It took a lot of convincing before they agreed to sit with me. Isabella had helped as well. I just wanted them to feel comfortable around me—at least until I managed to leave this place for good. Isn't he the monster who kills for little or no reason? So why was he asking me for coffee instead of killing them like he usually does? No, I should be grateful he wasn’t acting like his monstrous self today. "All of you should leave," his deep voice commanded, addressing Isabella, Vanessa, and the maids, who kept their heads bowed, clearly terrified. Of course, they’d be scared of dying—no one wants to die. They all stood up at once, and without sparing me a glance, they left. Now I was alone with him. But strangely, he didn’t scare me the way he use
(Lisa's POV) I still couldn't believe Alessio would do that to me. He had promised he would never hurt me, but yet he did. When he choked my neck, I pleaded with him, hoping he'd stop, but he ended up throwing me against the wall like a piece of paper. I had never imagined he would do that to me. Even though he hasn't said he loves me yet, I thought I was the most important person to him. So how could he do that to the most important person in his life? I was just looking out for him because it's been years since he saw a picture of his mother, and yet he reacted as if I had just shown him his worst nightmare. I want to hate him. I want to hate him for what he did, but I couldn't do it, because I was completely head over heels for him. When I sent him away, I felt hurt doing that to him, but it was the only way to show him I was mad at him for what he had done. I must have nine lives because I don't know how I've kept surviving with everything that has been happening to me ev
(Alessio's POV) How could I? How could I have done that to the woman I love so much? How could I have vented my anger on her like that? I should have held back. I should have held back my anger no matter how angry I was. I shouldn't have done that to her. I should have simply torn the picture when she gave it to me. But if only she had told me where she got the picture and didn't keep insisting I missed that despicable woman, I wouldn't have lashed out at her like that. Still, it didn't justify what I did to her. I didn't just choke her almost to death, I threw her like a piece of paper, making her back land forcefully on the wall. Kindness? The woman from earlier who had an abusive husband must be mistaken. There's no single kindness inside of me. The boy from decades ago is already dead. If I still had that kindness in me, I wouldn't have done what I did to Lisa. I would have held back. I had promised her I was never going to hurt her, but still, I broke that promi
(Alessio's POV)"Where are you?" I read the message Lisa had sent me. I was about to reply when another message came through, demanding that I come back to the clan, because she had something to give me. "A gift? What kind of gift?" I texted back. She replied that she would only show it to me when I returned back to the clan. I smiled lightly, imagining how cute she must have looked while typing the message. "Don Alessio? Are you still listening to me?" the woman across from me asked, and I shifted my gaze from my phone to look at her. She had come to meet me because she claimed to have an abusive husband who beat her and her twelve-year-old child. Right now, the child was in the hospital with only a ten percent chance of survival. "Yes, I'm listening. Go on," I said, and she began sniffling. "I know it’s all my fault for marrying an abusive man. Even when everyone warned me not to, I insisted on marrying him. I tried to run away, but no matter where I hide, he always find
(Lisa's POV) I have always been curious about Alessio's family. Anytime I brought up the topic, he always found a way to change it. Though he had said it was something he didn’t want to talk about, I couldn’t help but wonder why. Even Ivan had once warned me never to mention his mother to him. Bianca might be the second person I hate after the devil, but at least she was right about one thing. I can't claim to love a man and have countless sex with him without knowing anything about his family—what they look like, what happened to them, and, most importantly, his relationship with his parents. "You know everything about his family?" I asked as curiosity took over me. Bianca walked up to me, the smile on her face unwavering. "Do you think I was joking when I said I grew up with Don Alessio? We grew up together, Lisa. I ate from the same plate as him and even slept in the same bed. I knew the cheerful side of Don Alessio when he was still a kid, before he transformed into a
(Lisa's POV) "Whoa, Lisa! You're improving so much," the lady in charge of teaching me Italian complimented after I finished reading some words in Italian. Though it was hard to pull off, I was happy my efforts weren’t going down the drain. "Thank you so much, ma. But I'm still not fluent in it," I simpered. "Yeah, you're not, but you're doing a very good job. If you keep learning, you'll be perfect—not as perfect as a native speaker, but at least you'll be able to understand when someone speaks Italian," she said with a smile, her Italian-English accent evident. Some people in the clan could speak basic English, but Italian tones were always detected in their voices whenever they spoke. I was the only fluent English speaker here, which is why I was determined to learn, so I could interact with them in the language they were comfortable with. Not to forget, there was also my deal with Salvatore. I had been getting a lot of compliments on how much I was improving in terms o
(Writer's POV) Isabella sighed deeply when she woke up the following morning and found herself naked in Ivan's room. She had clearly been somber when she asked him for a one-night stand, and right now, she didn't regret it because it wasn't the first time it had happened. Before she had come here to be a chitchat buddy to Lisa, she had always gone to the clubhouse once every month, bought herself some drinks, and then get laid with any man who approached her. Just like she had told Lisa, she shut her heart from love after her love story was cut short when her first love died. She believed she would never find a man like him or a man who would love her the way her first love did. Sighing again, her eyes scanned the room in search of Ivan, and that’s when she noticed the sound of the running tap coming from the bathroom. Her clothes were scattered all over the room due to how Ivan had hastily discarded them. She clearly enjoyed the sex from last night, and she'd admit that
(Writer's POV) Enzo had always kept an eye on Alessio. He followed him everywhere he went, making sure Alessio didn’t notice him. The DeLuca family had always been known to move silently, as it was a part of their training. Enzo had witnessed how Alessio’s eyes were fixed on Lisa the night she walked into the bar after she got her heart broken by Nathan. He had also witnessed how Alessio saved her from the man who tried to harass her and how possessive he was when he held her fragile arms. Enzo was also aware of what had transpired between them when Alessio took her to a hotel. He had thought Lisa was just one of the flings Alessio had a one-night stand with—until he overheard Ivan talking to Marco about finding a chef who knew how to cook California dishes. He disguised himself and went to Marco's clubhouse since he had been following Ivan too. That’s how he learned that Alessio needed a chef. At first, he didn’t know why Alessio needed a chef who could prepare Californ
(Writer's POV) Isabella sat in the dining chair, enjoying a bowl of pears while grinning to herself. She loved pears a lot and couldn't go a day without eating them. Fortunately for her, they were always among the items delivered to Alessio's residence every month. Ivan was always the one who took the deliveries from the gateman and brought them inside the house since he knew both the exits and entrances of the mansion. "Anyone who doesn't love eating pears must be from ancient Greece," she said and chuckled at her own words. She was still enjoying her bowl of pears when Vanessa approached her with a worried expression. "What's wrong, Vanessa? Why are you wearing a sad face?" she asked. "Aren't you worried about Lisa? She hasn't been home for seven days," Vanessa voiced her concern. "There's no need to be worried about her, Vanessa. She already started her training at Don Alessio's underworld." "Really? Even if she has started her training, that doesn’t prevent her fro
(Alessio's POV) "Am I interrupting something?" I asked, jealousy evident in my voice. I was clearly not happy about the unnecessary attention she was getting. Everyone in the clan was talking about her, and some of the male mobsters even went as far as complimenting her beauty. I was sure that if I had introduced her as my woman, none of them would have dared to talk about her or even try to compliment her beauty. As if that wasn't enough, here was Angelo, the clan's hacker, offering her a can of soda. "Good afternoon, Don Alessio. Lisa and I were just talking," he said in Italian with a smile. "What were you both talking about?" I asked in English, just so Lisa would understand. Before Angelo could reply, Lisa interrupted him with a laugh, stepping in between us. "You should get going, Angelo. I'll just talk to Don Alessio," she said with a smile. I didn't like the idea of her calling me 'Don Alessio,' and what intensified my irritation was how she was smiling at him. T