LOGINShare
Chapter 45: Zefiro's pov
Last Updated:
2024-10-31 22:22:43
Related chapters
My Neighbour's Wife 46: Susanna's pov
Sometimes, I wondered if I loved having my heartbroken, making choices that only left me in tears. Maybe I was a sucker for pain and didn't know it yet. The week crawled by rather slowly and all I wanted to do was bawl. I didn't leave my couch, I felt like death. And when I did go to work, I couldn't function. I counted down the hours until I had to return home. I looked outside, expecting to find him, or his men watching me. I woke up, longing to find my underwear stolen or my home breached. But there was no sign of him anywhere. It wasn't until the next week the feeling returned. The tingling sensation that ran down my spine. One that told me I was being watched, followed. My head snaps back as I hand over my credit card, eyes searching every face, looking for a familiar set of golden brown eyes and dark hair of head. I find a familiar face, one I don't like very much. Rizzi's. Bursting out of the Café violently, I take a different tu
Last Updated : 2024-11-08My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 47: Susanna's pov
Rizzi snorts. "His life is never in danger, Mrs. Hawke." I bristle at the name, but say nothing, changing my direction and heading for our parking spot. I'd have loved to stay longer but I'm too young to die and a bullet through my head is a rather ugly sight. "How long have you known him?" I ask, sighting Rizzi's car down the lot. There's a black van directly behind it, parked vertically, blocking us out. I notice his frown and at a second glance, I add with a mouthful of chocolate dipped cones."There's someone in the driver's seat." He nods. "Thirty-four years." Rizzi's frown eases a little, the corner of his eyes softening into a secret smile. "He used to call me *frantello*." I start to smile but the air on my neck rises suddenly, a sense of unease coming over me. I huddle closer to Rizzi and match his brisk steps, unable to shake the off-feeling. "You're making a mess," Rizzi says as we reach the van, staring pointedly at the uneaten ice c
Last Updated : 2024-11-08My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 48: Susanna's pov
My head slams into something hard on descent, stirring me awake. I moan at the pain, but my voice is muffled, my lips dried and hurt around a foul tasting piece of cloth.A gag.My vision is tinged with darkness and my air filtered as I breathe in deeply. It takes a moment to realize the darkness is a hood over my head and my legs and hands have been bound, skin chafed raw from restraints.I kick, frustrated, screaming into the gag, rolling and hitting into anything I can feel around me, but I only end up hurting myself. I instantly recognize the steady hum of aircraft and engines that drowns out the sound my assault, and my blood runs cold.Where am I being taken? I knew freaking out wouldn’t help but being somewhere in the skies, literally anywhere right now, in the entire world, doesn’t exactly calm my nerves.How long have I been out and who took me? Was it the enemies Rizzi spoke of?Was it Jaxon?Every hum, every shift of the engines sets my nerves on edge. My heart is pounding
Last Updated : 2024-11-09My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 49: Susanna's pov
“H-home?” My breath lodges in my throat, and for the first time, I notice the woman standing behind, speaking in hush tones into her cellphone. Waves of full red hair falls over the back of a black long dress and her arms drop, her body tilting to face me fully. Icy dread pours through my veins, turning my blood to frost as the world around me closes in on the click of red heels and equally red smile. A crushing weight presses down on my chest and the nauseating stench of wrongly layered perfume suffocates me. A hand comes down on my hair, running down my face and I curl back, my ass hitting the floor and my heels scraping against stone. “N-no. Get away from me!”Valentina gives an order and I am set back on my knees roughly, my head pushed down until my lips brush against Morwenna’s feet.“I’ve been looking for you, Susanna,” Morwenna says with faux worry, her hands threading lovingly through my hair. “Why do you do this to me? Do you have any idea how worried Jax is? How could yo
Last Updated : 2024-11-09My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 50: Susanna's pov
Two months later...The water in the tin can is drugged. I reach for it and drink every last drop of it. It hits the ground with a loud clank and I slump against the cold metal wall.Mice squeak as they scurry past my bare feet, biting, nibbling. I barely feel it as a numbing cold spreads through my fingers and toes, fatigue drenching into my very bones.I welcome it, chasing after the usual fog that comes over my mind after consuming the sedatives. But it never comes swiftly, and I can hear the usual shuffling of feet coming down the dark path leading to my cell.My eyelids droop slowly and I drift for mere seconds before a feminine voice, sharp and wicked, cuts through the haze temporarily. “Nothing still?”“No,” the new guard who’s been positioned outside my cell responds. It might have been days or weeks since the last one was replaced. At some point when I was thrown in here, I kept tabs on how long the shifts lasted. I don’t know why I had bothered hoping. For escape. For him t
Last Updated : 2024-12-14My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 51: Susanna's pov
I kick my feet forward and wicked hands grab my calves, pushing them back until my ankles are secured as well, my legs spread so far apart, my thighs cramp.Testing the restraints and finding them unmovable only has wild panic flaring in my blood.The beatings, I could take. Being kicked around, used and abused...I would back fight until I was knocked out or thoroughly overpowered. But being restrained like this, unable to lash out and protect myself for however long it takes to shield my mind from the depravities about to be unleashed on me...it would be the end of me. The end of my will and strength. It might truly break me.“Please.” It is more a desperate snarl than a plea as the guards exit the room. “Please!”A velvety smooth chuckle runs along my spine, snapping my attention from the door to the lone figure approaching me. White suit. Smooth lines. Clean. Empty blue eyes. Fear closes around me like a fist, whole, dominating, absolute. My bladder loosens slightly as the light k
Last Updated : 2024-12-14My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 52: Valentina's pov
On some days, the burden of the guilt is too heavy to lift. On those days, the pipe is never too far, filling my lungs and head with oblivion. He would discover it soon, my sin. And he would punish me for it. I often wondered if it would be a shot to the head, like he’d killed Mario for touching her, or if it would be slow and painful, like the deaths of the men he already has rotting in his basement for abducting her in the first place.Of course, I had to kill them when he left. I couldn’t risk them giving him my name, not when I knew Zefiro Visconti was the devil that never forgave. I might be his wife, but there were lines we Italians didn’t toe with each other.Lovers and wives were targets during the power wars, but everyone knew touching a single hair on the women’s heads wasn’t just a crime. It was a sin. There would be no forgiveness. Blood would call for blood, and the only way Zefiro wouldn’t have me chopped in pieces for what I have done is if I killed him.When I was yo
Last Updated : 2024-12-14My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 53: Susanna's pov
There were no more beatings, the crack of the belts and whips on my skin necessary only during coitus. There were options. Safe words. I never uttered them. Jaxon didn’t want me to, anyway.I never fought him, never spoke back. There was no need to. He’d given me everything I no longer deserved. I was reduced to the status of inhuman, degraded to something lower than an animal, but he still lost himself between my legs, told me that he loved me.I believed him.Sometimes, when I sleep, my mind conjures images of a different time. Of a different man. A darkness to Jaxon’s blonde, and eyes that were not nearly of this world. But when I wake up, those memories slip through my fingers.I let them, because they are worth nothing.He didn’t come for me. Jaxon did. Jaxon broke me, but he’d saved me. So, I made myself forget him, his name, his smell, his touch. It was the only way I could love my husband again, and truly appreciate him.Still, I couldn’t part with the ring. Couldn’t chunk it
Last Updated : 2024-12-15
Latest chapter
My Neighbour's Wife 83: Susanna’s pov
A year later…and some.A tear runs down my cheek and my fingers rest atop my quivering lips. “It’s…beautiful.”Fabian peers over my shoulder. “I don’t get it. What is it?”“A visual representation of my mental state. Do you like it?” I ask, tracing the chaotic brush strokes with my fingertips. Erica, Fabian’s girlfriend chuckles, chipping away at my fries. “The project was on portraits, Susan. Mrs. Rideal’s gonna to make an example of you again.”I gesture towards the drawing. “But this is a portrait of me!”Fabian makes a face, snatching the fries from Erica. All he does lately is eat my food. “You’ve got paint in your hair.” He frowns when my phone pings multiple times. I snatch it off the stool before he can and go through my notifications.The world bleeds away, taking the sounds of Erica and Fabian smooching on my couch away with it. I feed my growing obsession with picture after picture. Cold brown eyes. Crisp navy blue tuxedo. A devastatingly ruthless smile. Confident. Arrogan
My Neighbour's Wife 82: Zefiro’s pov
Unsigned divorce papers crinkle in my grasp. The visit to the asylum, like many others had been futile. Valentina ripped each document to shreds, violent in her rejection of our divorce.Anymore and I might kill her with my bare fucking hands.She wanted to remain tethered to me, knowing that as long as she lived, whatever plans I had with Susanna would be void.“Hope to God that I never leave this place, because the first thing I’ll do is gut the bitch myself.”My nostrils flare and my fingers twitch. Patience is slowly becoming my most despised virtue.A soft knock scatters my thoughts. I slam the papers shut just as Susanna’s perfume drifts into the room. She pokes her head inside, dark hair falling over her shoulder, and something in me twinges at the small smile she gives me. “Hey. Busy?”She looks younger now. Brighter, somehow.“Never too busy for you,” I state, as a matter-of-fact.Her cheeks take on a rosy hue and she slips inside. My mouth dries instantly and my chest tighte
My Neighbour's Wife 81: Morwenna’s pov
Mor couldn’t sleep.The dormitory had fallen silent around her, snores and silent chatter filling the air. There were no windows, and as such, she couldn’t tell what time it was. It only worsened her anxiety.The pregnant inmate beneath her cursed violently at her when she shifted again, shaking the bunk. Morwenna cursed right back, causing the woman to fall silent.Her eyes flicked to the guards manning the doors outside. They hadn’t left. Their shift ended by eleven. That was when Visconti had planned for her death to happen.Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Susanna’s eyes. The child and the woman. She hated that the words had festered and she couldn’t stop peering through the rows for movement.She had tried to plead with the guards to put her in a cell instead, but the cells were just as bad as the dormitories. Maybe even worse. At night, the cells were shut, and for that reason, there was no need for as much patrols as the dormitories received.She was safer here. The guar
My Neighbour's Wife 80: Morwenna’s pov
Mor fiddled with the rosary, her fingers jittery. She cursed under her breath, despising the foul stench of piss and body odor. The women wouldn’t stop leering.Already, in the bathroom, King, as they called the top dog had tried to stick her hands down her pants while Mor was held back by a bunch of no-good whores with crack holes in their skin and rotting teeth.King had earned a black eye and torn lip from Mor.Many didn’t know, but Mor was a ruthless fighter. One couldn’t deal with devils without learning to protect themselves.But she was growing exhausted and pissy. Staying up all night, watching her back continuously, the anxiety and fear was starting to creep in. She would leave tomorrow, and she would see her son and husband at the safe house the government provided.One more night, she thought as she prayed The Lord’s Prayer. One more night and they would never get to her again. One more night and her son would be safe.They would try to kill her before then, that much she k
My Neighbour's Wife 79. Susanna’s pov
The words sink heavily in my soul, so much that long after the guests depart, I remain on the ground, neck hurting from watching the clouds move and shroud the moon.My neck tingles with awareness and I look back. Zefiro leans on the door behind me, hands in his grey suit pants. “It’s cold outside.”I exhale, heart racing suddenly. “I can barely feel it.” It isn’t entirely a lie. “Happy birthday. I didn’t know what date it was. I couldn’t…get you anything. I’m sorry.”He pushes off the door. “Your presence is enough.” He lowers himself to the ground beside me and I peer at his face in mild surprise. A lot of time might have passed, but I know Zefiro always had a cleanliness problem. “Have you thought about it yet?”“What?”“Where you wish to go first?”I shrug casually, even if tears cloud my vision. “Not quite. I don’t know many places. I read about Edinburgh once. It’s a magical place, I hear. Maybe Dublin, if I’m feeling adventurous. Iceland or Greece, out of mere curiosity. Venice
My Neighbour's Wife 78. Susanna’s pov
****“And the divorce proceedings with Valentina? God forbid you remain with the crazy bitch,” his grandaunt, Virginia says, her glass of red wine hovering close to her lips.My gaze flicks to Zefiro as he slices through his steak, his expression calm as ever, if a little warm. “Nearly done. It’s slower because of the case. Give it another month.” His mouth tightens. “Or two.”The dinner passed incident, though, the first few minutes had been tense. The introductions, especially. Mrs. Della Rocca had introduced me as a family friend, but upon hearing my name, every ear had perked. I quickly found that most of the females were like his grandmother—protective, sharp-eyed, and sent to constantly set me on edge.Though, they never strayed too far in their questioning, as if respecting some unspoken rule, I found myself being watched by too many. Varying shades of curiosity and interest, but nothing daunting.Zefiro has four cousins, all scattered down the family line, almost watered d
My Neighbour's Wife 77: Susanna’s pov
The next couple of days are critical and tense. There’s a guard hovering in every spot at the house. Rizzi says it might take a while yet before the Zaytsevs establish order and until then, it’d be best to keep away from the windows or open spaces.He made good on his promise, though I hadn’t believed him. The green-eyed singer from Morwenna’s cell, her name is Isha and even if she’d been kidnapped on a joy trip to Mexico and trafficked, even if she received word that her parents had looked for their the whole time, she wasn’t returning home.She had been engaged. And the society where ‘home’ was would shame her for what she had been through. Her sisters would never get married if she returned and ruined their reputation. It’d be better if she remained dead to them.Rizzi had her placed in one of the family’s exclusive restaurants under Zefiro’s orders. The guests enjoy her singing.I was beginning to think everything Rizzi had said was true. It makes me question my decisions, too.
My Neighbour's Wife 76: Susanna’s pov
The door on my left swings open and the little pockets of air I’ve selfishly gulped down my throat vanishes as Zefiro slides in beside me.My nails prick the leather of the backseat and a white handkerchief lands in my thigh. My fingers squeeze the silken material, unsure if it is meant for the blood or my tears and I let myself glance left. There is blood on his sleeves.“You could’ve told me.” My voice cracks on the last word.His head cocks, but his gaze remains out the window. “I did.” When his brown eyes find mine, there is fire alive in them…and hurt. “You’ll never trust me, will you?”“I—I was…I d—didn’t…I just—“He shakes his head and laughs a little, dark curls caressing his high cheekbones. “You have no idea the lengths I would go, the depravities I would commit to protect you. And if I could, I would carry your pain and scars, wear them with pride so you never have to. I would give—have given—everything. I have killed for you, bled for you, gone to war with myself, my worl
My Neighbour's Wife 75: Susanna’s pov
More shots ring through the hall and screams follow, with scrambling feet and scraping chairs. The singer's voice falters and wobbles, before ceasing altogether. The adept fingers on the piano, however, doesn't stop. I stare at Jaxon for a time. From his lifeless blue eyes, the blood pouring from the top of his head, from his chin onto my hands, my clothes. A subtle tremble begins from the core of my being, from the core of where the woman in me resides, spreading out until my fingers are cold, numb and filled with tremors. An arm lands on my shoulder, pulling me off Jaxon and I thrash against it, finding it difficult to aim, to keep the gun in my grasp. I just killed him. "Relax," Rizzi grunts against my ear. "It's about to get bloodier. We need to get you out of here." My gaze veers right and my stomach churns. Petrovich has a bullet between his brows, and his head hangs from an awkward angle of the chair's back. The woman who had b
