× WARNING! × GRAPHIC NSFW CONTENT BELOW INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS × ◆ MAGNUS ◆ "Bad dreams again, dear?" "What's new..." "What about?" Evonne asked as I rubbed the stupor out of my face. Her murmured question made me sit up beside her half-naked and pale figure on the soft covers. The room stayed dim as I tried to decipher the strange images in my head. Images that the new dreams had planted into my consciousness. It was not a matter of "what" but a matter of "who". Again. Maybe the "where" bore a bigger significance this time, too. Maybe not. I didn't really care. "I'm not sure," I sighed after glancing at my wife's curious stare. The kind that studied every bit of my face to gauge my state of mind and the sincerity in my words. Like always, the visions came through in lengthy dreams. Sometimes they were hazy, short, and scrambled. But often complex and memorable. For someone who had been
◇ KEL ◇ "All good? Just like that?" Enzo stared. Another frown wrinkled his sore lips, and his voice sounded weaker. The perplexity and frustration in his tone helped his question sink into my thoughts. Bound to happen sooner than later. The anger. Betrayal. Shock. Like he couldn't comprehend how his own brother could hurt him like that, as if punishing him for a grave misdeed. Now it seemed all he wanted was my sympathy. Perhaps he just wanted me to assent to his anger and sentiments because he felt pained, betrayed, and alone right now. His fiancée just left him for another man, his brother mercilessly beat him to a pulp last night, and the closest thing he had to a family right now was his longtime bodyguard waiting outside. "Why do you pretend it's nothing?" Enzo's brows creased more as he scowled at me. Great. Now he wanted to a
◇ KEL ◇ He wanted me to press charges to help put his brother behind bars for good. It made sense and I clearly understood why, but, I didn't think it was my job to do. Or maybe I was just being a stupid coward. Exams and heaps of books that needed reading still waited for me and I couldn't afford to lose sleep over our issues with his brother. Maybe Enzo had run out of patience this time. Maybe seeing his brother jailed would be the only thing that would give him peace of mind...the only thing that would make him feel safe. It's a no-brainer. I should help him. Help right some wrongs his brother did. Help seek justice for the people Leandro had harmed. On the other hand, I didn't have the time, guts, or will. What I wanted now was for Enzo to recuperate fast. Then I could go back to studying every day, preparing for exams and reside
◇ KEL ◇ "Hi, babe. Morning. Get enough sleep?" "No. Are you in his room?" "Yeah. Why?" I held my phone against my ear, ignoring Miles' peeved tone on the other line. I glanced at the sleeping patient on the hospital bed. I had dimmed the lights. Maybe I could log some Zs before the doctor checked up on Enzo again. "Nicco okay?" "Alive and kicking," Miles muttered. "Guards still up?" "Alessio brought food an hour ago. The other guard left, just finished his shift. Tell Nicco to rest more. Don't overwork him." Miles scoffed. "He'll live. Your patient's still asleep?" Now his tone sounded genuinely curious and derisive. "Yeah. Didn't sleep much last night." I got up from the couch to look out the thick glass windows. The weather looked gloomier than my current thoughts. Hopefully Miles and Ricchar di
◇ KEL ◇"Kel, it's Nicco.""Hey." I pulled my phone away from my ear to stare at the unsaved number on my phone screen. Local area code. The familiar, husky voice assured me it was definitely Niccolo. "Where are you? You okay? How's your...""Relax. I'm fine.""You went to the ER or not?""Later. Miles said you're in the hospital with Lorenzio." Nicco paused and sounded genuinely concerned. "What's up with him?""Had to take him to the ER. He was concussed. Plus rib injuries.""Go back to New York. Lay low. Don't meet up with Ilya.""You used to talk to him all the time? Right? Why does he want to meet up again?""Don't know yet. Just don't talk to him again," Niccolo murmured. "Stay off social media. If Ilya finds you, and I hope he doesn't, don't believe anything he says.
◇ KEL ◇Killed? What did he mean? That he killed his faith in God? Or he actually killed someone? Nah. Not possible. This guy wasn't a killer by any means. I shifted on the chair to study his expression, narrowing my gaze at his still profile, waiting for him to say more. No. No way he meant it literally. Who on Earth would he even kill? Enzo was not the violent type. A passive-aggressive pacifist, more likely.When I first met him, I thought he looked like an athlete. Or a hard-nosed wealthy businessman who liked MMA and punching things in his spare time. His overall appearance looked that intimidating at first hello. The thick beard, his tailored suit, the bodyguard, and the wiser-than-his-years look in Enzo's eyes only added to his commanding presence.As I got to know him better months after that incident in Umbria, I gained a deeper understanding of the type of person he was. Once,
◆ MILES ◆ [ Lyon, France ] "Is Kel home now?" "Yeah." "Busy with trainings again? She's doing surgery rounds now. Right?" "Yeah. Her favorite department." I glanced at my cousin and reclined beside him, minding the concern in his husky voice. The lack of good lighting made it difficult to assess whether Ricchar looked as sleepy or bored as I was, but maybe he was just antsy. Like me. It was almost ten. We'd been stuck in the backseat of this rental SUV for the past three hours now, waiting for someone from the Interpol headquarters to call us for a meet-up. Our hotel rooms were on the 20th floor. In the front seat beside the driver, Niccolo looked busy with his laptop again. He must be tracking the newest shipments under Leandro Tomassini's name. And the ones under his aliases. If our hunches turned out right, they w
◆ MILES ◆ [ Nice, France ] "Been friends with Archambault a long time?" "A while," the short-haired man in the collared shirt replied. He gave me and Ricchar a grin that didn't narrow his pale green eyes. Or were they gray? Whatever. Who gives a shit. I only checked to see if he and Kel shared any other physical resemblance aside from their height, slim build, and dark hair. This rich businessman—slash firstborn son of a wealthier drug lord—also looked like a regular at the gym. He must be 6'4" at least. Taller than me, Nicco, and Ricchar. The guy's overall appearance somewhat intimidated me when I shook his hand earlier. Then we sat down with his wife and ordered some food. "You trust him with your life kind of friend?" Ricchar chuckled as he kept staring at our company of one. "Excuse me. Phone call." Niccolo got
◇ 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