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Chapter 56: Zefiro
Last Updated:
2024-12-20 17:32:24
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My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 57: Susanna's pov
I’m in the cold, airless booth again. The smell of cloying cologne, sweat and iron coating my throat like oil.Boots scrape against the floors and for a moment, I realize we aren’t alone. Alexei Petrovich invited his friends to play. Their faces blur into grotesque shapes--sneering mouths, wandering hands that claw at my skin, their laughter sharp as broken glass.They hit me, call me a bitch, a whore, all to get a cry out of me. I do. I sob, and oh does it delight them so, the sick gleam in their eyes turning ravenous. Every sound is amplified; the creak of belts unbuckling, the harsh order to part my lips before something that feels like a pill is shoved down my throat.My body soon becomes foreign, like a puppet I have no control over. My heart races and heavy loads of sweat runs down my skin as the temperature hikes. Nausea cramps my stomach, my vision distorting. A feeling spreads through me, switching swiftly from nausea to euphoria to even...love, and I beg for it, laughing. I
Last Updated : 2024-12-20My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 58: Susanna's pov
I stepped out of the bedroom on the tenth day, only because my monthly cycle returned. I hadn’t fed well enough in the past year and it’d become irregular, coming once in every four months.My body seems to have decided that my eating habits in the past few days has become healthy enough, sending me enough blood to create a crime scene on Zefiro’s white sheets. And the cramping in my lower belly feel like knife stabs to my gut. Trying to handle it had me dangling off the side of the bed, writhing. I’m hoping I find something in the kitchen.Just as the door shuts, a scream echoes along the halls and my head snaps up in time to see a child squealing, small feet slapping against the floors.I freeze as the boy draws closer, searching for signs in his eyes, his hair, his small face that he might belong to Zefiro. But he’s a redhead and cute freckles scatter along his face. His bright blue eyes land on mine and he squeals again, spreading his arms wider. My guard lowers as he wraps his
Last Updated : 2024-12-21My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 59: Zefiro’s pov
Murder? Too fucking messy, but fitting. Still, Grandmother wouldn’t appreciate me adding another name to my already cruel reputation. Abduction, then murder? A much better option. No one would have enough good cause to think it was me. “Morning, darling.” Repress. I glance up from my breakfast, dragging my gaze down the length of Valentina’s sundress. My hands itch. “You look stunning.” No. Poison. It’d be amusing to see how many colors her skin could turn while choking on her own blood. Valentina leans down, brushing her lips against my cheek, and the weight of the pistol tucked into my waistband presses like a temptation. Her perfume of rich floral and vanilla is overdone, as if to mask the stink of her soul. “Thank you. You don’t look bad yourself.” A pointed cough from Rizzi and I freeze, finding my fingers already inching for the hostler, my vision tinged with red. Colorful. It’d be a rather colorful breakfast with her blood splat
Last Updated : 2025-01-15My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 60: Zefiro’s pov
Susanna isn’t in the bedroom when I return by midnight, and for a moment, I’m thrown back by several months, that living fear and panic burrowing so deep, I didn’t know where it ended and where I began. I’m hurtling across, peering from door to door, Rizzi and a few others ransacking the penthouse, when a muted boom vibrates beneath us. I can barely think, breathe as I take the flight of stares to the game’s room downstairs. I should have been home sooner, but the therapy session today had dragged on for longer. Susanna wouldn’t see the doctor, so I attended the sessions in her stead, learning and sifting through the details of triggers and responses. People handled these situations differently, and while I didn’t yet know the details, I knew Susanna was different, and treating her with an approach that wasn’t at all for her would only succeed in pushing her further away. “What?” I snap at the cluster of men standing outside the gun
Last Updated : 2025-01-15My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 61: Alessandro’s pov
Green eyes filled with tears. Fingers clenched around my bicep. One word. Please. I knew death, knew it by its darkness and the seductive chill it sends before its appearance. I summoned it on some occasions, feeding more bodies to hell than I can remember. It was our way. For famiglia, no sacrifice was too small. But it wasn't I who called for it this time. I understood, more than Valentina or Papa could comprehend that there was no fleeing from it. Blood had been shed and there would be payment, only in blood. I'd seen it that night when Mauro's body fell beside me. The madness in the don's eyes. The excitement. I knew it then and I understood it when he blew off two more of my fingers for taking her to that motel. There was something about the woman that turned him into something carved from bloodlust and darkness, giving into the viciousness of the Visconti blood. Wheels turn behind Papa's eyes. He's always cherished Vale
Last Updated : 2025-01-16My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 62: Susanna’s pov
I shouldn’t be wandering outside at this time, but I couldn’t sleep. I tried, but the nightmares wouldn’t let me. I’d woken with my heart pounding in my ears and bile in my mouth, the darkness in the room resembling that of the cell. Zefiro isn’t here, and Rizzi offered to walk with me, but I waved him off. I can’t handle the way he looks at me, like he’s the one who should carry the blame for everything that’s happened. For everything I’ve lost. Still, I’m not entirely alone. The quiet presence of two guards trails behind me, just out of sight. I wouldn’t have known they were there if one of them hadn’t let out a cough. Not sure Jaxon would try to steal me quite yet, not when the one month period isn’t over, but Zefiro must think there’s some other threat, if I’m under surveillance every second of the day. I don’t complain, though. It’s not uncomfortable. There is a strange comfort in knowing that I’m safe here and have nothing to fe
Last Updated : 2025-01-16My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 63: Susanna’s pov
I propel myself, sweeping low and wild, and a shot zings past my ear a moment before I collide with his torso, the force behind the movement strong enough to knock the gun from his grasp and send us tumbling into the grass. He snarls, ripping me off him and I gasp as my back hits the ground. He’s searching for the rifle, reaching--It is pure animal instinct that drives me forward, and I leap at his exposed back, wrapping my arms around his face, nails scraping at his eyes and my legs locking around his torso. He shoves back, thrashing angrily in a bid to get me off, but I cling to him, heart pounding, chest heaving as I struggle viciously to claw out the bastard’s eyes. Heavens. If I get out of this alive, I’ll take fighting lessons.He slams us back into a tree and the hit rattles my skull, loosening my grip on him slightly as stars explode behind my eyes. His fingers claw at my hands, my fingers, and I feel a burst of blind panic when I realize I’m losing him.So I jerk forward and
Last Updated : 2025-01-16My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 64: Susanna’s pov
A deafening crack ricochets through the air. And then another. I bury my nose in his chest, shivering, sobbing softly. His heart beats fast and hard against the side of my cheek and the weight of the last few minutes crash into me.Minutes. I could have died in mere minutes. I’d never… My hands run down the length of his broad back, a broken sob shaking my lips as I breathe in his scent--the clean crispiness of freshly made notes, spicy masculinity and that cologne I’ve never smelled on anyone else. I’d never get to smell him again, or touch his skin, soft and smooth over rock-hard muscles, kiss him, feel his breath hot against my skin, hear his rare breathy laughter, his amused chuckle, and watch him stare at me like a man ruined and undone.Zefiro’s hand slides down my neck and he pulls us apart. “Are you hurt anywhere?”I shake my head, face wet with tears as I meet his gaze.His eyes are wide and crazed as he scans my face, noting the blood on my lips.“It’s not mine,” I say, voic
Last Updated : 2025-01-16
Latest chapter
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 67: Zefiro’s pov
Nonna rouses from sleep the moment my socked feet hit the floors. She’s always been a light sleeper, frighteningly agile for her age as she reaches underneath her pillow in a flash and aims too accurately for my head. She blinks then, twice, her eyes focusing and she hisses, lowering her hand. “Foolish boy. I could’ve killed you.”I laugh, even if I feel foul. I strut over to her bed and don’t quite meet her gaze as she takes note of the blood on my face and the black gloves covering my fingers. I sit on the floor by her feet, the movement almost natural, reminding me of the days I would sit in this same spot, watching her pace as she tried to figure out how to deal with a mess I created.It was either I came here or went straight home after the kill, still fighting off the high that came with it. I didn’t think I’d be able to control myself if I found Susanna sleeping in our bed.Home. Our bed. How odd, the comfort those words bring. “Whose blood is it, stellino mio?” “Ri
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 66: Zefiro’s pov
I turn and stride out, unhurried. Screams and loud shouting echo in the house. Someone’s shouting for Valentina from the ground floor, screaming for her. She shouldn’t be here. She should be back home, with Noona. She would have been safer there, hiding from my wrath than here, in her father’s home. Her room’s on the floor below. The staff either run past, bleary-eyed, or they pause and do a double take before falling to the floor, hands above their heads. I pay them no heed. I didn’t come for them. Valentina’s bedroom sits on the second floor, right next to her cousin’s, which is why it is no surprise to find the woman huddled on the floor, covering her children with shaky hands. Her teal eyes meet mine and widen a fraction with betrayal and fear. We never hurt women or children. Usually. Valentina’s a special case from hell.The door is ajar when I reach it and all the warning I get is the spark of the muzzle before I shove against the door, narrowly avoiding a damn bullet to t
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 65: Zefiro’s pov
Violence never really was a last resort for me. It is a language I speak most fluently. There is art in destruction, a discord that often strikes me as beautiful. Like the splatter of blood against walls and floors. Like a broken body, mangled beyond recognition. It was amusing, usually. But tonight, I only feel rage. No one knows, but I think most clearly when I’m in the rage. I see colours more brightly and can almost taste the fear of prey. Viciousness and inhumanity blur lines on those days. It is why I rarely let my emotions get the best of me. But someone crossed the line tonight. I wasn’t lying when I told Susanna I had work tonight. No. I have scores to settle. Blood already runs down the length of the knife in my grasp. It belonged to the guards outside. They died too quickly, too quietly, nothing at all like Susanna’s scream for help earlier. Can’t stop hearing it. Can’t stop seeing the fear in her eyes as she races for me. Can’t stop hearing her ragged sob
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 64: Susanna’s pov
A deafening crack ricochets through the air. And then another. I bury my nose in his chest, shivering, sobbing softly. His heart beats fast and hard against the side of my cheek and the weight of the last few minutes crash into me.Minutes. I could have died in mere minutes. I’d never… My hands run down the length of his broad back, a broken sob shaking my lips as I breathe in his scent--the clean crispiness of freshly made notes, spicy masculinity and that cologne I’ve never smelled on anyone else. I’d never get to smell him again, or touch his skin, soft and smooth over rock-hard muscles, kiss him, feel his breath hot against my skin, hear his rare breathy laughter, his amused chuckle, and watch him stare at me like a man ruined and undone.Zefiro’s hand slides down my neck and he pulls us apart. “Are you hurt anywhere?”I shake my head, face wet with tears as I meet his gaze.His eyes are wide and crazed as he scans my face, noting the blood on my lips.“It’s not mine,” I say, voic
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 63: Susanna’s pov
I propel myself, sweeping low and wild, and a shot zings past my ear a moment before I collide with his torso, the force behind the movement strong enough to knock the gun from his grasp and send us tumbling into the grass. He snarls, ripping me off him and I gasp as my back hits the ground. He’s searching for the rifle, reaching--It is pure animal instinct that drives me forward, and I leap at his exposed back, wrapping my arms around his face, nails scraping at his eyes and my legs locking around his torso. He shoves back, thrashing angrily in a bid to get me off, but I cling to him, heart pounding, chest heaving as I struggle viciously to claw out the bastard’s eyes. Heavens. If I get out of this alive, I’ll take fighting lessons.He slams us back into a tree and the hit rattles my skull, loosening my grip on him slightly as stars explode behind my eyes. His fingers claw at my hands, my fingers, and I feel a burst of blind panic when I realize I’m losing him.So I jerk forward and
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 62: Susanna’s pov
I shouldn’t be wandering outside at this time, but I couldn’t sleep. I tried, but the nightmares wouldn’t let me. I’d woken with my heart pounding in my ears and bile in my mouth, the darkness in the room resembling that of the cell. Zefiro isn’t here, and Rizzi offered to walk with me, but I waved him off. I can’t handle the way he looks at me, like he’s the one who should carry the blame for everything that’s happened. For everything I’ve lost. Still, I’m not entirely alone. The quiet presence of two guards trails behind me, just out of sight. I wouldn’t have known they were there if one of them hadn’t let out a cough. Not sure Jaxon would try to steal me quite yet, not when the one month period isn’t over, but Zefiro must think there’s some other threat, if I’m under surveillance every second of the day. I don’t complain, though. It’s not uncomfortable. There is a strange comfort in knowing that I’m safe here and have nothing to fe
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 61: Alessandro’s pov
Green eyes filled with tears. Fingers clenched around my bicep. One word. Please. I knew death, knew it by its darkness and the seductive chill it sends before its appearance. I summoned it on some occasions, feeding more bodies to hell than I can remember. It was our way. For famiglia, no sacrifice was too small. But it wasn't I who called for it this time. I understood, more than Valentina or Papa could comprehend that there was no fleeing from it. Blood had been shed and there would be payment, only in blood. I'd seen it that night when Mauro's body fell beside me. The madness in the don's eyes. The excitement. I knew it then and I understood it when he blew off two more of my fingers for taking her to that motel. There was something about the woman that turned him into something carved from bloodlust and darkness, giving into the viciousness of the Visconti blood. Wheels turn behind Papa's eyes. He's always cherished Vale
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 60: Zefiro’s pov
Susanna isn’t in the bedroom when I return by midnight, and for a moment, I’m thrown back by several months, that living fear and panic burrowing so deep, I didn’t know where it ended and where I began. I’m hurtling across, peering from door to door, Rizzi and a few others ransacking the penthouse, when a muted boom vibrates beneath us. I can barely think, breathe as I take the flight of stares to the game’s room downstairs. I should have been home sooner, but the therapy session today had dragged on for longer. Susanna wouldn’t see the doctor, so I attended the sessions in her stead, learning and sifting through the details of triggers and responses. People handled these situations differently, and while I didn’t yet know the details, I knew Susanna was different, and treating her with an approach that wasn’t at all for her would only succeed in pushing her further away. “What?” I snap at the cluster of men standing outside the gun
My Neighbour's Wife Chapter 59: Zefiro’s pov
Murder? Too fucking messy, but fitting. Still, Grandmother wouldn’t appreciate me adding another name to my already cruel reputation. Abduction, then murder? A much better option. No one would have enough good cause to think it was me. “Morning, darling.” Repress. I glance up from my breakfast, dragging my gaze down the length of Valentina’s sundress. My hands itch. “You look stunning.” No. Poison. It’d be amusing to see how many colors her skin could turn while choking on her own blood. Valentina leans down, brushing her lips against my cheek, and the weight of the pistol tucked into my waistband presses like a temptation. Her perfume of rich floral and vanilla is overdone, as if to mask the stink of her soul. “Thank you. You don’t look bad yourself.” A pointed cough from Rizzi and I freeze, finding my fingers already inching for the hostler, my vision tinged with red. Colorful. It’d be a rather colorful breakfast with her blood splat
