They are making progress, but trust me to come in and twist it completely
Matteo's Pov That feeling of dread. The knowing that things are about to change drastically and there's no way out of it except embracing that change even if it would cost your life. That's what I feel as I board the yacht with the boys. The crew members welcome us on board and lead us straight to the cabin where we'd meet with the Colombians to talk business. The smoke from their burning cigarette sticks fills the room as we walk in, naked girls walking around and taking whatever disgusting treatment those fuckers dish them. Strippers sliding up and down the strip poles and a good number of the men and women drugging themselves up to a point of unconsciousness. What the fuck. I clench my jaw and manage to remain as polite as I can be as I greet their Capo. "I hope this isn't the reason I was invited out for this meeting; getting drugged up and cruising around the Mediterranean." Irresponsible fuckers. If I wasn't so taken by my wife's body, I'd be more than happy to have some
Mirabella's PovTwenty four hours.Forty eight hours.Seventy two hours.I should be named as an accurate time keeper by now.Fuck!I heave out a sigh of distress as I pace back and forth in my room.Nerve racking.That is the only description I have for how the last few days has been. Seventy two hours since Matteo walked out the front door and he's not walked back in.There's no explanation to how I'm feeling but I'm feeling it. Every form of discomfort and worry, like a lump caught up in my throat, like my heart is unable to beat at its normal rhythm. Like a strong conviction that something has gone terribly wrong.Thinking about it, what business meeting takes this long to conclude?It’s stupid. I’m stupid. But somehow, I’m worried sick for my husband and I’ve cursed myself out more times than I can count for it but my worries are not just going away.My feet slap against the floor as I make my way out to my balcony. I pull the double door wide open and take a long calming breath
Mirabella's PovThe last few minutes was me getting ready to commence surgery. I scrubbed, put on my gloves, sterilized the surgical tools I’ll be needing, checked Matteo’s blood pressure and Airway to be certain that I’m on the green side.Pretty decent, and it’s time to go big or go home.I clean Matteo up and disinfect the areas around his wound. “Hey,” I lean down and speak in a hushed tone and he grunts in response. “You’ve held your ground so far but I need you to do this with me. In no time, we’ll get that little shit out of you, okay? Just breathe and stay awake; you stay in control of the pace at which you breathe, hmm? You can do that, can you not?” I ask and he slightly nods his head and muffles a ‘yes’.Good.“I need O Negative blood available; we need to commence blood transfusion. He’s obviously lost a lot,” I say to no one in particular but Pablo speedily leaves the room to go grab as many blood bags as he can.“Matteo, make sure to stay awake, talk to me if you have to
Mirabella's PovThirty six hours; that’s how long it has been since I performed a successful surgery on Matteo. Successful because he woke up a few hours later and was responsive to touch and everything in between. However, he went back to sleep after that and hasn’t woken up until now.It doesn’t bother me. He’s as stable as can be and his blood work came back clean.I’ve been by his side the last twenty four hours, unable to shut my eyes or take my hands off him. I know he’s stable but there’s an intense feeling to hold on to him just to be sure.“Matteo?” I call out his name in a questioning manner when he let out a groan in his sleep. He whimpers as a tear rolls down the side of his face. I clean it off with my thumb. Matteo’s grip on my hand tightens and I wince as I get off my seat, leaning down so that my face is inches away from his.“Are you okay?” I pat his hair and his body somewhat convulses as he mumbles a few words under his breath.“No, no, no. What did I do? Bianca!” H
Mirabella's Pov I jerk awake with a wince. Slowly but steadily, my eyes begin adjusting to the environment and I find myself completely naked, hands bound to the headboard of a bed. I pull on the cuffs but It's tightly secured against the headboard. I pull harder and harder until the cuffs scrape my skin, causing me to cry out in pain. "You're pathetic," a voice mocks from the shadows and I halt my movement, waiting for someone to appear. A minute turns into two then into three but there's still no movement; anticipation almost causes my blood pressure to reach its all time high. “So fucking pathetic.” The light in the room is turned on revealing my father and sister; naked. Jesus. "Annabella, what are you doing?" My heart begins pounding so hard that I hear its rhythm. I choke at the sight before me. Why am I naked? In the same room where my sister and father are naked? My mind turns into a madhouse. "Oh my. . .did you?" I look down at my bare body and back to my father and si
Mirabella's PovAnnabella gets up from the side of the bed and massages her temple. "What is it about you, huh? Tell me, Mirabella! How do you get them to choose you? How do you get all the good people by your corner? How are you still alive? After everything you've been through, how are you still standing!" My sister begins fidgeting with her fingers which are obviously trembling.But not in fear, in anger.My tears are spewing uncontrollably in realization that my sister is envious of me. This same me that has always envied her growing up, the irony of life."I'm sorry, Anna, I'll make it right, sorella, I promise. I'll get us out and far away from here if you could just help me escape. Please Annabella, just do this with me."A hearty laughter wracks through her and she throws herself on the cushion. "You're such a fool, Mirabella," she trails off into her dark demeanor. "Do you really think you're in father's custody? I’ll make one thing clear, sister, you're my hostage and you're
Mirabella's PovTwo weeks.I claw at my face, smash my head into the hard surface of the wall, and punch my fist into the same wall over and over again. A new kind of sorrow engulfs me and the urgent need to mourn my mother all over again surfaces.In all the two weeks I’ve been locked up in this room and tortured mentally, I punished myself day after day and night after night, because I couldn’t do anything else to help myself. I mourned myself like a dead person while I’m still very much alive; And my sister and father watched me in amusement as I broke myself inch after inch.Today is another dreadful day, a day to be faced by another well thought out mental and emotional torture.I’m sitting on the cold floor, with my knees bent upward and my head in between my thighs. My arms wrap around my legs to help hold them together as I cry myself to shit. The injury inflicted on me by Annabella might have stopped stinging so much, but my heart is still broken into unrecoverable pieces.Th
Matteo's PovWhen you find yourself drowning in your own mistakes, when the gut wrenching nightmares don’t leave you alone, when all you’ve done is struggle to remain mentally sane, the weight of your trauma at some point swallows you up until you loose touch with everything.That was what happened two weeks ago when I woke up from a terrible nightmare and sent my wife packing. I woke up from the same nightmare that has always plagued me, only this time, it wasn’t just Bianca that I’d killed. I ripped Mirabella’s heart out of her in my dream and when I finally woke up, I found that I’d already done some damage to her physically.I panicked and had to tell myself the truth, the truth that I was a danger to her.I sent her away only to protect her from my monsters and I regret it.Her fragrance still lingers in the part of the mansion where she stayed, I still think about how she touched herself in my office while calling out my name, how I buried my face into her beautiful, heavenly cu
Alejandro’s PovThis anxiety—I’ve never felt anything like it before. My nerves are all over the place, my skin trembling. I kiss Mariana again for the millionth time in a handful of hours.She smiles at me. The smile is distant, almost like it doesn’t reach her eyes. I smile back and pull her closer, holding her as tight as I can, fearful that this might be the last chance I get at holding her this close to me.And no, this has nothing to do with her winning the fight or dying in that cage because as long as I breathe, Mariana will walk out of that cage alive and well.But I’m afraid of the responsibilities that come with the position she’ll occupy. I’m afraid that she might forget our love and become intoxicated with power.All of this might just happen in a few hours.“The way you’re holding me, Alejandro, one might think I’m about to die from a terminal disease.”She says.Is she trying to make a joke? Does this seem like a joke to her?I open my mouth to speak but a knock on the
Mariana’s Pov“I will fight in her place. . .”The world around me goes completely silent the moment Alejandro blurts those words. When I planned to use him as my human shield in chaotic times like this, I didn’t expect to fall for him so ridiculously hard that I’m unable to imagine him getting hurt for my sake.Love is a strange and terrifying thing. I never imagined feeling it this deeply, this intensely. Not for Alejandro. Not for a man who was supposed to be my shield, my weapon. And now, the very thought of him stepping into that cage for me… it’s unbearable.The second reason?It’s pride. It’s survival. These men already think I’m weak. They see me as nothing but a woman—Radimr’s wife and mother of his son. If Alejandro steps into that cage in my stead, I will be proving them right, I will become that which they think I am.Weak.Unworthy.And then, everything I’ve clawed my way toward will crumble before my eyes. I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen. So, no. Aleja
Mariana’s PovOne word.Fuckers.No, let’s make it two words.Misogynistic fuckers.They’ve kept me in here for hours, scrutinizing me, digging into my soul in their fruitless attempt at finding the truth of what truly happened to my husband.Alejandro too is seated here as a high ranking made man and a member of this family. Surprisingly, my father, mother and brother are here too. Not inside the parliament room, but they’re right outside the door, waiting for when the chaos escalates so they can stand in for me.It warms my heart.“Let’s go through it again,” one of the elders says, “what did you say happen to your husband? Tell us that story again, in detail.”“I. . .” I open my mouth to speak but Alejandro’s thick, aggravated voice resounds, cutting me short. “I believe she has told that story more times than we all can count.”“Yes, we know that,” another elder says, his russian accent thick. “But we need to hear it again.”“Why?” Alejandro asks, “why are you poking a woman wh
Alejandro’s PovDon’t sleep tonight.I’ve thought about those words in every way possible, imagined every possible scenario that’ll make Mariana ask me to stay awake tonight, and yet, I’ve found none.Or maybe I haven’t thought about it as deeply as I should.I wanted to hold her, to ask her more, but the presence of her husband made that impossible. And now, hours have ticked by, and I’m still unable to get my answers.Wait—is tonight the night? Is her plan unfolding tonight?Truth is, I don’t even know what her plan is, but I strongly suspect it has everything to do with ending Radimr. So, if she’s asked me to stay awake tonight, it might mean she needs me close.I pull open my room’s door and step out into the hallway. The manor is too quiet. Everyone is asleep, and those who aren’t are standing guard outside of the house.My stomach twists with a warning that chaos is brewing tonight, but I push it aside and start walking. I make a turn towards the stairs and start moving up the s
Mariana’s PovTime flies when happiness fills your days.It’s been two months since I gave birth to my Angel. Two months since my heart swelled with love so pure and overwhelming, I thought I might drown in it.I love my son.I love him for coming into my life and unraveling a part of me I never knew existed. For being my light in the darkness.But most of all, I love him for arriving exactly when I needed him—as though sent by the universe itself to give me a way out.Because today, after weeks of persuasion, my husband has finally done what I’ve been waiting for. He has presented my son to the elders of his family, naming him as his successor should anything happen to him.It’s tradition, a ritual of power. To the outside world, it’s a declaration of legacy. To me, it’s the final piece of the puzzle.I know Angel is too young to be entangled in this messy, bloody business, but I had to secure his place in this world before setting my plans into motion.Plans that have been months in
Alejandro’s PovThis is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. For the first time, it feels like I have a complete family—no, I know I have a complete family.In the last three months, the universe has granted me a gift I never expected: uninterrupted time with the woman I love and the child she carries. Our son. Every morning, I wake up beside her, wrapped in the warmth of her presence. I feel my son’s first kick as the sun rises, and his tiny, eager movements as the night falls. I’ve stayed awake with them, laughed with them, cried with them, fallen sick with them, and loved them. I’ve been a father and a lover in every way that matters.Why? Because Radimr’s travels somehow stretched from days into weeks, and weeks into months.“Something else has come up, and I’ll need to stay another week. . .” That’s been his excuse for three months.On the phone, Mariana plays the part of the concerned wife. She sighs and murmurs her disappointment, as though his absence truly pains her. But
Mariana’s PovWhen my eyes open, I’m met with the most beautiful sight I’ve seen in days. Alejandro, sleeping peacefully, his lashes fluttering, arms still wrapped around me.Wow!How did we fall asleep?I lean in and smack a kiss on his lips, causing him to stir a bit, groaning, his arms tightening firmer around me. I kiss him again, this time longer.It doesn’t take seconds before his mouth parts, his lips fusing with mine. I moan just as a groan vibrates throughout his body.His eyes flutter open, just a tiny slit, the lazy gaze holding mine. It’s like realization dawns on him and he retrieves his lips from mine in a swift motion. “Mariana. . .” He whispers groggily.“Make love to me,” I declare.His brows pull into a furrow, lips formed into a pout. “I. . .” He starts and I cut him off.“Please,” I hush, my lips ghosting over his.His resolve falters. And he’s staring at me with adoration as well as restraint.Then there’s the feral desire burning in his eyes. In mine too. The ris
Mariana’s PovTime seems to slow down when things aren’t really going your way.Maybe I pushed too hard, too far the other night. Far enough that Alejandro has been completely ignoring me for days now. Far enough that Radimr has become ware of me, always staring at me with suspicious eyes. Far enough that the maids in this house seem to avoid me as often as they can.To simply put, I’ve been living an isolated life for the past seven days.Just me, and my heavy fucking stomach. It’s dreadful just as much as it is comforting.I’m pulled out of the daze when a towering figure stands in front of me and wraps his hand around me. “Don’t look so sad, I’m just going to be away for just a few weeks, my love,” Radimr whispers as he hugs me. I thin my lips into a smile. “I’ll miss you.”His smile is radiant when he replies, “I’ll miss you too. Please don’t over work yourself. . .or get to upset while I’m gone. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to my son.” Stupid fucker.I scoff. “I’m a big g
Mariana’s Pov“Look at that,” Alejandro says, his voice low, the smirk on his lips sharp enough to cut. “How easy it is to lure you out here and break your heart into a million pieces.”The words land like a blow. He doesn’t even try to soften them. And I know exactly what he means. When he came into my room, kneeling by my bed, whispering the words I had been desperate to hear for months, he knew. He knew I was awake, knew I’d hear every word and cling to the hope they offered.It wasn’t an accident. He said them to draw me here. To break me just as much as I’ve broken him.Petty bastard.But it’s not the cruelty of his intention that stings the most—it’s how he chose to do it. By humiliating me in front of someone else. Bringing her into a room that should have been our sanctuary, our safe haven.My lips tremble as I force out the question. “What is that supposed to mean?”Alejandro steps forward, his movements slow and deliberate, his smirk twisting with mockery. “What are you doin