Hey guys. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I’ll be more than glad to hear your thoughts on Sylvia’s mind work. Also, don’t disregard any detail because we’re just setting the stage for a greater ride in the future. See you there! Kisses!😘
Chapter 7⟿❂⟾Sylvia⟿❂⟾Two hours.That was how long I sat there, curled up on the broken, hard wooden pew, shivering, waiting for a man who was never going to show up.Somewhere between the cold seeping into my bones and the gnawing ache in my chest, I’d started crying without even realizing it. Silent, stupid tears that I wiped away angrily, but they just kept falling, carving hot trails down my cheeks.I didn’t even know why.Maybe it was the exhaustion. Maybe it was the helplessness clawing at my insides.Or maybe it was the terrifying realization that I might have just raised everyone’s hopes for nothing.Because what if it wasn’t Nikolai?What if the anonymous donor who had promised to help the shelter wasn’t him at all?What if I had made them believe, led them on, promised them, that someone powerful was going to step in and save us, only for it to all be a big fat lie?What if Mother Beatrice had looked at me with those hopeful eyes, had prayed over us, believing that help h
Chapter 8 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ A nun that reads erotica. Erotic romance novels, to be precise. Why do I find that so fucking spicy? I let my thumb skim over the pages, my gaze flicking between the words and the trembling woman standing by the door, her cheeks flushed, her lips parted in outrage, and her eyes burning with a mix of humiliation and fury. Oh, she was pissed. It should’ve amused me more than it did, but the fire in her eyes barely distracted me from the fact that she was soaked, shivering, and—fuck me—she had been crying. Crying. The knowledge made something in my chest tighten in a way I didn’t like. I had been sitting here for the past two hours, waiting, my patience thinning, my mind wandering to places it had no business going. At first, I was mildly annoyed. She was late. A minor offense. Then an hour passed, and I started to wonder. Another thirty minutes, and irritation settled deep in my ribs. Another thirty, and my thoughts turned dark. Has she been out
Chapter 9 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ I should have told him then. That I was going to accept his offer. But Nikolai wasn’t giving me the chance. He was watching me like I was a snag in his perfect world that he needed to unwrap, one he needed to snatch. And whatever was in his eyes was pulling me in, making me forget why I’d gone out to look for him in the first place. Or anything at all. A slow, steady ache throbbed between my thighs, the heat spreading, my body betraying me in ways I refused to acknowledge. My nipples pebbled against the thin fabric of my dress, and God! The friction made the throb between my legs worse. I crossed my arms to hide it, but it was pointless. He had already noticed. His smirk was slow, so amused. “All this, and you’re going to waste it on a guy named Jesus?” My head snapped up so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash. “He’s not just a guy,” I bit out. “He’s the Messiah.” He nodded lazily, like I had just explained that water is wet. “Yeah, I
Chapter 10 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ The first thing I noticed was the light. Blinding. Violent. It stabbed me directly in the face like a mystic celestial interrogation lamp, forcing a pathetic groan from my lips. The second thing I noticed was the headache. It kind of felt like tiny construction workers were jackhammering away inside my skull. Not once, not twice, but repeatedly, just for fun. A dull ringing filled my ears, making everything else sound distant, like I was underwater. I tried to stretch, but my limbs felt like lead, my thoughts moved slower than a church service on a hot Sunday afternoon, and worst of all—my mouth was drier than the Sahara. Something was wrong. I turned over, intending to bury my face into my pillow, when…wait. Tucked. Under. The. Sheets. I never tucked myself in. Ever. In fact, I usually just collapsed onto my bed like a crime scene victim and let sleep do the rest. Panic started to creep in, slow and unsettling, like a spider crawling up the
Chapter 11 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ I had spent the whole night watching a nun sleep. And now I had to work extra. I took the glass of scotch in my hand to my lips only to find it empty, I groaned in frustration. The bottle was somewhere on the floor where I had kicked it hours ago and I had no intention of going to retrieve it. I could barely take my eyes off my laptop, which was still open on the bed, the glow of the screen being the only lighting in my room. I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, and from the look of things, I won’t be getting any today either. My eyes went to the security footage on the other screen. Sylvia. I had planted cameras in her room even before she returned to the room last night, maximizing her absence. I didn’t need to, not when Manuel had already gone to pick them up this morning, not when everything went exactly according to my plan. I could have disabled them after putting her to sleep, but I didn’t. And now, even after spending an hour handli
Chapter 12⟿❂⟾Sylvia⟿❂⟾I fucking hate change. No matter how good it is.Three days since we moved, three days since Nikolai disappeared from my room like he’d never existed. Three days, and he was now just a ghost, a shadow haunting the corners of my thoughts. I barely knew him, hell, I didn’t know him, but somehow my life now practically revolved around him. He was in these walls, his hands were on me when I shut my eyes, and his lips were in my ears when I listened just enough, saying the dirtiest things. And that was really terrible, because I was cheating. On God, on my faith, and on my body. “Your body is the temple of God.” I felt so seen that sometimes I just cringe.It was that feeling of someone watching you. When your skin prickles, and the back of your neck feels cold, but no one’s there. Yeah, that. Only this time, I swear I could feel eyes on me—no matter how empty the space was.Maybe I should’ve expected it. I mean, you’d know that men like him don’t linger and ce
Chapter 13 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ I needed something to do. So I came downstairs for coffee—something strong to burn the mess in my head. But as soon as I walked into the parlour, I realized I wasn’t alone. Hand on my gun, I quietly made my way to the sitting room. Sure enough, there they were. Manuel and the rest of the guys were sprawled out lazily. Feet up, vodka bottles scattered, cigarette smoke curling toward the ceiling in lazy spirals. Cards lay spread across the table, a game in progress, though from the looks of it, they were just killing time the only way they knew how. None of us wanted to be here, but no one was leaving unless I said so. I took a slow sip of my coffee, adjusted the gun at my waist, then cleared my throat. They all snapped their heads toward me. Then, almost by some unspoken command, they shot to their feet like schoolboys caught screwing around in class. The last time I caught them playing cards, Stacy had been in the mix—Vincenzo’s vixen, t
Chapter 14 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ I hate the smell of new wood. Or new shit in general—except pussy. I leaned against the bar in the half-finished club, too tired to even reach for a drink. For the last week, I’d been inhaling fresh wood, sawdust, and lingering cigar smoke so much that I made a mental note to book an appointment with the family doctor to check if my lungs were still intact. We were setting up a base here in Albany, something solid. Permanent. A place to move product, handle meetings, and make money. If I was going to be stuck in this city for the next few months, I needed an actual reason—besides the more obvious one: pussy. The place wasn’t ready yet—far from it. No neon lights, no polished floors, and it still smelled like a fucking lumberyard. Another thing to handle. “Nacho,” I called out, flicking a glance at the broad-shouldered man standing near the entrance. “Get that guy to fix the damn stench of this place.” “Boss?” Nacho was our newly recruited
Chapter 73⟿❂⟾Nikolai⟿❂⟾I woke before dawn, as I always did. Years of discipline had trained my body to need only five hours of sleep, and even with Sylvia warm against me, that hadn't changed.What had changed was my reluctance to leave the bed.She was curled against me like a cat, one hand splayed across my chest, her breathing deep and even. My t-shirt had ridden up during the night, exposing the curve of her hip and the length of her legs. In sleep, her face held none of the guarded wariness that sometimes crept into her expression when she thought I wasn't looking. My fingers caressed her back until they reached her neck, where the mark there burned against her skin like a brand. A crescent moon. The only thing I was very sure of right now after filtering the whole jargon of religious bullshit Luigi gathered was the fact that it was certainly not a birthmark, but a scar—deliberately placed. I allowed myself five more minutes of this strange peace before carefully extract
Chapter 72 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ There was something surreal about watching her sleep against my shoulder. After the raw, primal sex in the back of my car, the way she'd given herself to me completely, without reservation, she now looked impossibly innocent again. Her face relaxed in slumber, she could have been a painting of a sleeping angel, if not for the purple marks blooming on her throat and the disheveled state of her hair. The contradiction she embodied continued to fascinate me. Virgin and temptress. Innocent and wanton. Sacred and profane. I'd had countless women over the years, but none had captivated me the way she did, none had made me break my own rules. Like tonight, with the condom. I ran a hand over my face, suppressing a groan. What the hell had I been thinking? I prided myself on control, on discipline, on never taking unnecessary risks. Yet one pleading look from those doe eyes, and I'd thrown caution to the wind. She stirred against me, mumbling something inco
Chapter 71 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ His hands slid up my thighs, pushing my dress higher until it bunched around my waist. His fingers traced the edges of my panties—new ones he'd insisted I put on before leaving the club. He’d produced them from his jacket pocket and stuffed the one I had before in there, almost like he'd planned for everything. "Here?" he asked, though I could tell from the roughness in his voice that he was already convinced. "Here," I confirmed, reaching between us to fumble with his buttons. "Right now." He reached into his pocket and frowned when he came up empty. "I don't have another condom." I continued working on his buttons, undeterred. "We don't need one." His hands caught mine, stilling them. "Yes, we do." "But you promised," I reminded him. "After our first time, you said we won’t need a condom the next time." "Someday," he emphasized. "Not tonight, not in the back of a car." I pouted, knowing it was childish but unable to help myself. "Why not? I'm not
Chapter 70 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai's arm was a steady presence around my waist as he guarded me outside the club. The stars above seemed to swim in my vision, not from intoxication but from the lingering high of what I'd just experienced. Behind us, Manuel and another of Nikolai’s men followed at a respectful distance. I couldn't meet their eyes. Did they know where we'd been? What we'd done? Of course they did. The thought sent a rush of embarrassment through me. "Are you alright?" Nikolai enquired. I nodded, then reconsidered. "I don't know." He studied my face, concern etching lines around his eyes. "Regrets?" "No," I answered quickly, surprising myself with my conviction. "Not regrets. Just...thinking." Our ride waited at the curb, Nikolai went round to open the door for me. As we slid into the back seat, the privacy partition was already raised—a small mercy I was grateful for. Once the door closed, sealing us into our private cocoon, I felt the first tremors begin in m
Chapter 69 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ Without a word, he took my hand and pulled me to my feet, his grip firm but not painful. "Fix your dress," he ordered quietly. I did as he commanded, sliding the zipper back up just enough to keep the fabric in place, though it remained looser than before. The warmth of his hand radiated through the small of my back as he guided me away from the main dance floor. We moved past the VIP section, deeper into the club through a corridor I hadn't noticed before. Two of his security men fell in behind us, maintaining a respectful distance. Nikolai nodded to a bouncer stationed before an unmarked black door, who immediately stepped aside. "Are you feeling tipsy?" Nikolai asked, his voice was etched with concern. I turned to look at him, holding his gaze. "I'm not high, I’m horny." Something dangerous flickered in his eyes. "God damn it, Sylvia. You’ve really fallen from grace.” Nikolai nodded once to his security team, probably telling them to
Chapter 68 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ "What are you thinking about?" Nikolai asked, noticing my distant gaze as we drove through the country side. "St. Catherine's," I admitted. "You miss it?" "Parts of it," I said honestly. His expression turned serious. "I suspected.” “It’s just funny how everything’s suddenly changed.” “I don’t feel guilty and I want you to never feel bad.” He said. “The sisters at St. Catherine's were given specific instructions about your care. I've been trying to figure out why." "Do you think it has something to do with who I might be?" Nikolai considered his words carefully. "I think it's connected, yes. But I don't want to burden you with theories today. Today is about..." he paused, searching for the right words. "Normal life?" I suggested with a small smile. "As normal as possible," he agreed. "Speaking of which, if you want to talk to Maeve, I can arrange it." My heart leapt. "Really? You would do that?" "Of course. She's been worried about you. I spok
Chapter 67 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ "Yes, a complete makeover. Mr. Gianni's instructions." The woman entered, wheeling in a trolley loaded with beauty supplies. "I'm Marcella, by the way. I handle styling for all of Mr. Gianni's special guests." I eyed the intimidating array of products and tools. "I've never had a makeover before." Marcella's eyes lit up. "Never? Then this will be extra special." She gestured to the bathroom. "Let's start with your hair, shall we?" I followed her reluctantly. At the convent, beauty routines were simple affairs; minimal soap, cold water, and Sister Margaret’s occasional trims. In the spacious bathroom, Marcella directed me to sit on a cushioned chair she'd positioned by the sink. "Lean back, let me wash your hair properly." As she worked the shampoo into my scalp with practiced fingers, I closed my eyes, surprised by how soothing it felt. The warm water and gentle massage were nothing like Sister Margaret’s efficient ministrations. "Your hai
Chapter 66 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ I must have fallen asleep eventually, because I woke to sunlight streaming through the windows and the sound of activity in the house below. I sat up, disoriented for a moment before the events of the night before came rushing back. Nikolai. The interrupted 'therapy'. The conversation we had. The figure I thought I'd seen in the trees. The conversation at dinner. A knock at the door made me jump. "Miss Sylvia?" a woman's voice called. "Mr. Gianni asked me to bring you breakfast and some fresh clothes." I wrapped myself in the robe I was still wearing from last night and opened the door to find one of the household staff with a tray of food and a garment bag draped over her arm. "Thank you," I said, stepping aside to let her in. "Is Nikolai—Mr. Gianni—around?" "He had to step out early this morning," she explained, setting the tray on a small table by the window. "He asked me to tell you he'll be back by noon and that you're to stay in the
Chapter 65 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai's hand moved to the nape of my neck, his fingers tangling in my damp hair. "That's why you wanted to take your vows so badly, isn't it? To make the mask permanent." His insight caught me off guard. No one had ever understood that part of me before. "Yes," I admitted softly. "If I belonged to God, to the Church, then it wouldn't matter who I was before. I could just be Sister Sylvia for the rest of my life." "And now?" he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Do you still want that?" I closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of his hand on my neck, the gentleness of his touch that belied the dangerous man I knew him to be. "I don't know anymore. Everything is different now." "Because of what's happening with the convent?" "Because of you," I corrected, opening my eyes to meet his gaze. "You make me want things I shouldn't. You make me question everything I thought I knew." He leaned closer, his breath warm against my lips. "Is that a