◇ KEL ◇ What did he mean by "same"? Was he saying he had no idea why his girlfriend said yes to his proposal? Or did he mean he didn't know why she cheated on him? Wait. I shouldn't keep peeling off the scabs with more invasive questions. But my curiosity was too much. "It's so fucked up, innit?" Enzo held back a laugh. He slurred his words a little now, reminding me of how much wine he imbibed tonight. While he kept his face pressed onto my upper abdomen, I took out my phone and glanced at the thin white numbers on my screen. It was a few hours before midnight, and I doubted he still wanted to drive me back to the apartment. "Not even the worst part." "What d'you mean?" I squinted at him when he pulled away to glance at me. A fair amount of vexation was in his droopy eyes. I finally got to breathe normally whe
◆ MILES ◆ "Bambino, è un compito semplice, ma di enorme importanza." [My boy, it's a simple task, but one of grave importance.] "Alora?" [So?] I swore inwardly, waiting for him to cut the bullshit. He didn't call me "bambino" unless he wanted me to do something for him. Important or otherwise. Or he wanted to manipulate me into agreeing to something he said or proposed. "Parlagli e basta, e fatti dare le sua benestare." [Just talk to him, and y'know, get his blessing.] "Cosa sta' dicendo, Pappa?" [What're you saying, Pappa?]Get that old dirtbag's approval? What for? That nutjob Leandro Tomassini already signed the contract for the port deal, including the senior executives and the board of directors. That deal was closed months ago. Why should I ask for that dirty old creep's blessing? Shit if I had to meet with Ignazio Tomassini this week. Enzo and Leandro's uncle. Currently the head of the Tomassini empire. Since Leandro was still in training wheels, Pappa mentioned that the T
◆MILES ◆ After shooting at dozens of beer bottles in my backyard to blow off some steam, I texted Enzo to ask where he was at the moment. Niccolo also said Enzo flew out of Italy again and that Enzo wanted to talk to me about something urgent. Despite my reluctance, I decided to contact Enzo to ask him about his Uncle Ignazio's preferences...what booze and drugs the DOM liked, and what type of women his uncle preferred besides the usually underage hookers. But the jerk wasn't answering my calls. Or maybe Lorenzio just didn't take calls from unregistered numbers. "Pick up the damn phone," I mumbled with a groan as the ringing went on, my hands busy cleaning up some of the mess I just made with my handgun and twenty or so blanks. I had enough bullets in my ammo drawer to practice with, but I opted to use blanks tonight. Just for safety reasons.
◆ MILES ◆ Meet up with his COO? Lying bastard. Before I could shout profanities at my phone screen like a drunken lunatic, I rang his number and waited as my jaw tensed up. The odd, aching sensation in my gut just got worse. But I had to confront him now and get some things off my chest. Not very nice things. The prick probably thought I wouldn't find out about him seeing Mykaela again. Did he think I was that clueless and stupid? The guy picked up after two rings. "Hey, Maxim. You got my message last time?" I ignored his question and held back a sigh of frustration. I clenched my fist. He just called me by my childhood nickname again, as if we were old friends. "What the fuck do you want with her?" I blurted. No time for bullshit. We'd better get straight to the point before he could think of an alibi, and
× WARNING! × CONTENT BELOW INTENDED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ×◇ KEL ◇...It started with a quick kiss—a little chaste buss I left on his lips. Our first ever real kiss. It felt light. Easy. Almost natural. I wanted to comfort him in some way before I had to leave. So I kissed him again.Then he just grabbed my arms and pulled me to him. He showed me how to really kiss someone.But our first one didn't end there. His breath smelled of alcohol but I just didn't give a crap. I wanted to prolong the feeling of his mouth on mine. Just for tonight...I wanted to know how he really kissed a woman.He brushed his soft lips onto my neck, then on my shoulder, his firm arms embracing me. It felt right. Last time I checked, we're just two friends hanging out, but it definitely felt far from a friendly hug. Before I
◆ MILES ◆ ... "We're cooking something up with Leandro, Lorenzio's brother. He's got a new lab." Ricchar grabbed the wine bottle in front of him. "It's a new one. Not as dangerous as meth or heroin." "Are you kidding?" I wanted to swear at the underlying suggestion. "You're turning into Pappa." Ricchar shrugged nonchalantly at my comment, his lips pouting somewhat. "Leandro's chemists say it's just like taking vitamins, or painkillers. It's more of an opioid. Cheaper than blow. You could easily sell it to your friends." For Pete's sake. Now my own cousin's convincing me to become one of their drug dealers. Chemists... I wondered how many millions they got paid per year straight from the Tomassinis' offshore bank accounts. "Fuck no. Not gonna happen." I chuckled and looked away from him in incredulity. I had enough life-derailing addictions to deal with on a regular basis. Wh
◇ KEL ◇ "Why are you still there?" "No— I was gonna..." The rest of my reply got cut off when I almost dropped my phone in a hasty attempt to lower the volume. I rushed out of Enzo's hotel room, my legs barely able to hold my weight. Miles' indignant tone shouldn't be a surprise, but... I just didn't expect he'd actually call me this morning. "He told you not to leave?" "No. It's not like that," I lied. Some part of my head throbbed as my brain tried to come up with a better backup lie. "Just wanna make sure he's fine. He drank too much last night," I explained, keeping my voice down as I stood alone in the dim hallway. It wasn't like I was cheating on him or anything—nothing beyond friendly gestures happened last night. Enzo would never take advantage of the situation like that. Wait. Did Miles think we're in a real relationship now? Why? He never said anything about us dating or being official. Though at times it felt like we're getting there, I just didn't know if he saw me
◇ KEL ◇ The sight of a barechested, damp and scowling Enzo surprised me when I got back into his hotel room to get my things. His bodyguard showing up in the hallway also reminded me to leave now. Or else Miles might do something drastic about this whole issue. Wouldn't be the first time.As I tried not to check out Enzo's exposed body, I grabbed my old tablet to put it in my satchel. Time to come up with my goodbye spiel. I wanted to chat with Enzo for a bit. Say bye properly. Check how he actually felt right now after all that alcohol. I just couldn't stay any longer. Miles and Niccolo would find out if I stayed another hour in this hotel with Enzo. Why's he ignoring me? Enzo hadn't paid me any mind since he stepped out of his shower. The relaxing scent of soap that reminded me of fresh linens occupied the hotel room. Enzo kept his phone on his ear, talking in fluent Italian to someone. At times in English as well. No clue who was on the phone with him. But I had a feeling it w
◇ KEL ◇ [ A year later ] "Recombinant, mRNA, or viral vector?" "Viral vector. Or stick with recombinant subunit, but with a better adjuvant." "Sure. That works, too." Partly covered by a towel, Enzo walked out of the bathroom with a scrunched up nose and knitted brows. "But why not mRNA?" Why not go for the messenger-RNA type? If his CSO was doing his job, then the big boss should no longer ask me these questions weeks before their clinical efficacy trials. I sat beside the pillow and looked up from my phone, trying not to frown at the half-naked guy making the floor wet. The new mop I bought should be desert-dry by now. I'd left it near the pool. The weather had been friendly all morning. Like my hormones. And thank heavens for both. "If the board is now aiming for distribution on a global scale, your teams should opt for the one that's not gonna be a logistics nightmare." "Yeah. We should," he mumbled with a restrained sigh. "And they definitely want to scale up." "So go for
◇ KEL ◇ He must be thinking it was a sick joke. An elaborate prank. Or perhaps he thought I was gradually going insane? And delusional. Making up ludicrous stories that had festered in my head. Yet he didn't laugh at the things I'd said. Not even once. Enzo didn't even crack a grin. The look on his face when I mentioned "vampirars" and "dhampiricas" only varied between a deep scowl and a skeptical squint. He sat still beside me as I recounted everything I witnessed in Umbria. When I explained how I found out the Falcos supposedly became cursed with a genetic disease, he only stared at me, as if words were too difficult to muster up. "I know. I know how it sounds. But, it happened." I sighed. "And whenever I have questions, I call up Cloe. Or I ask Miles sometimes." "They're all.
◇ KEL ◇ "What're you reading now?" "Pathogenesis of lung injury. Receptor-binding domains and mutations." "Sounds dangerous. And intriguing." I smiled at the guy sauntering into the room, his grin showing off his adorable dimples partly hidden by his 5 o'clock shadow. "Fun workout?" "Mostly." "Your team heard of the newest outbreak in China?" "Yeah. We discussed it last week." Enzo flung a white towel over his shoulder as he approached me, his flat tone and expression quite serious. "Remember that five-hour meeting with Graham and the board?" "Yeah." I nodded. Graham was their chief scientist who headed Zione Bio's team of medical and pharmaceutical researchers. "Are they looking into it? The infected patients exhibit flu-like symptoms. Well, the hospitalized ones, definit
◆ MILES ◆[ Mariangela, Umbria ] Salvato 75Z. Tough steel. Heavy. Minimal recoil. Accurate. Durable. Reliable, most importantly. The cold and smooth barrel glistened as I put my finger on the curved trigger, beaming and staring back at me. Just waiting for my patience to run out. I'd never used this to kill someone. But that might change today. The selfish bastard gave me this when I finally decided to join SF Shipping and ruin my fate...to his satisfaction. "Just a little present," he'd said. Well, it was more like an unacknowledged bribe. He seemed glad with my decision, but of course he wasn't as proud as Mamma. To him, working for the family business was my only means of paying off a longstanding debt. A debt I incurred just for being his only heir. "Boss." "What?" I glanced behind. With a l
◇ KEL ◇ "Success?" "Finally." Enzo grinned lopsidedly and took off his black shirt. "A nice, solid dump." He flung the shirt over his shoulder, then sat next to me on the poolside recliner as the sun hurt my eyes. Like the weather, his brand new L-shaped pool looked too beautiful to ignore. "It was the okra, alugbati, and chia seeds."I smiled at him, quite proud of my culinary skills. "Yeah." "I'll make you chicken adobo later." "With eggs?" Enzo smiled wider. "Thanks for cooking again." He touched my chin and pressed a noisy kiss on my cheek. His hands smelled of apple-scented sanitizer. "Mommy's asking if you just got back from Florence." He scratched his forehead, his warm thigh touching mine on the recliner. "They'
◆ MILES ◆ He fell asleep on the couch. Again. The third time this week. His laptops sat on my mother's favorite coffee table, both left open and running, the cords and empty coffee cups scattered on the varnished oak. Plus some wrinkled candy wrappers. What a mess. Maybe he worked till sunrise. Besides tracking down my fugitive father, I wasn't sure what else Nicco had been working on. I left him out here past midnight after we had a few drinks. Mostly non-alcoholic for me. My new shrink might shove me back in that wretched facility if she heard I went on another bender. "Allora?"[What now?] I looked up from my phone. My left hand gripped a loaded handgun just waiting to feel useful. It was fairly new. Expensive. A nice birthday gift from someone whose neck I still wanted to slit open. Nicco yawned and lazily sat up on t
◇ KEL ◇ Oh no. Crap. I didn't just say that out loud. My eyes and throat ached now. I even stuttered. My voice was starting to tremble, too. Shucks. Not now. I didn't want to cry in front of him. Especially not in public. Ugh. His bodyguards must be enjoying the show right now. Frowning again, Enzo stopped touching my face and backed off. He didn't get rid of his confused look, as if my words didn't make any lick of sense. Or was he surprised that I mentioned his ex again? "Because I can't keep hanging out with you without constantly reminding myself not to take you to bed and make you forget he exists." He looked away, shaking his head weakly. "But you think I'm still with Olivia? And what happened that night was nothing?" "Just take me back to the apartment." "No." I sighed when he held my arm before I could walk
◇ KEL ◇ "Why did you send me money again?" "Why did you ignore my calls and texts?" Great. Time to unpack all of it. He drove us all the way out here just to have this conversation. I held in a sigh and looked out the window, the seat belt almost choking me now, wrinkling my plain cotton dress which I didn't bother to iron. I didn't even want to go out. I just wanted to hole up in my room and focus on my to-do lists. But like most of the time, he dropped by my place and disturbed my peace, taking me away from my little comfortable nest. And now we were parked right outside a fancy restaurant whose name I couldn't even read or say properly. "I'm going to Rome this Thursday." Enzo sighed beside me, his left hand clutching the steering wheel. The engine stayed running. With my purse on my lap, I sat still in his Audi's passenger seat, exhausted and just not in the mood to be extra nice
× WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW NOT INTENDED FOR YOUNG READERS AND MAY BE TRIGGERING TO SOME (DESCRIPTIONS OF S.A.) × ◇ KEL ◇ ... Tall. Dark. Raven-black hair. Muscular all over. A looming presence. My intakes of breaths wouldn't reach my lungs. I backed off. My hands and legs turned numb. Why? Why wouldn't he stop staring at me? Deliberately intimidating. Now he's towering over me with a full glass of wine and a crooked grin stretching his pale lips and dark beard. Leandro sipped his drink. "Thanks for helping my brother." "You're welcome. I was just trying to help." "You know he's got a thing for your type?" He chuckled. "Humor me. Why are you with him?" My type? "We're just friends, Signore." I faked a smile at his natural talent for giving shade. I'd rather walk out of here now, but it would be rude. "Really good friends." Leandro grinned when I fell silent. He stepped dangerously close to me that I could smell the alcohol on his tongue. Should I shove him? Run? Shit. W