Dante's POVAlora stiffened in my arms, but that was the least of my concerns. I narrowed my eyes toward the direction she had just come from. Her brother? What could he have done or said?“Alora, is everything okay?” Dang it. I almost kicked myself when the words I just spoke registered in my brain. Why would I ask that when she's clearly not okay?But my girl seemed to be in the mood to rile me up. She pulled away from me and stood at arm’s length, then nodded. “Yeah. Sure, everything’s good. I just remembered something from a movie that made me cry.”Bullshit. I knew Luciano must have said something to her, and I was going to find out. “I know you're lying, Alora. Just go to your room. I'll come, and we’ll talk soon.”“Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about now, excuse me.” Before I could say or do anything, she whizzed past me and ran to her room. The door slamming shut behind her. Well, if she wasn't going to tell me what was wrong, then I’d find out myself.I stormed int
Alora's POVRestlessness had hugged me like a glove ever since I ran into my room. I tried sleeping, but my thoughts were all over the place, and I kept feeling my stomach churn. So now, here I was, pacing back and forth in my room while humming a soft tune.It was doing nothing to calm me down. My pacing ceased when I heard a knock at my door. I trudged towards it and pulled it open. Luca stood outside, leaning against the wall with his hands resting in his pockets."Hey, Alora. Miss me?" He raised a brow and pouted, but I just rolled my eyes and walked back into my room."What do you want, Luca?" I asked in a bored tone, flopping down on my bed and lying facing the ceiling."Ouch, girl, you can hurt a man so bad, you know. Would it hurt to say, 'Yes, I missed you, Luca'?"I chuckled, sitting up to face him. "Why should I lie? You're the last face I wanna see right now.""OMG," he gasped, clutching his chest in a dramatic display of being hurt. "Well, I came to tell you that Dante is
Alora's POVOkay, something terrible had happened. I mean, I was just with Luciano about an hour ago, and he wasn't like this.A black eye, bruised cheek, and a limp as he walked. Since when did head injuries cause this?"Luciano. Oh my goodness, are you okay?" I asked in panic and almost hit myself for being so stupid. He smiled softly but winced as he dragged his feet into the room.I jumped into action, peeling the covers off the bed and tapping on the empty space for him to sit, my eyes wide with worry."Hi," his gruff voice greeted.I blinked twice, my lips pulling into a frown. "Are you kidding me? Hi? Luciano, what the hell happened to you? You look like you just escaped death.""Alora. You always worry too much. I've told you to stop stressing at this age because—""Oh, spare me that crap, Luciano. What the hell is going on?"Luciano went silent, his eyes watching me keenly for a few seconds. "I'm sorry, baby. I've been a jerk."Luciano must be high on something. "Just tell me
Dante's POVIs it possible for a man to feel butterflies in his stomach? Because if not, then I need to see a doctor as soon as possible. The minute our lips touched, I felt a warm simmer in my veins, taking my breath away.Even though I was the one who initiated the kiss, I froze for a few seconds before moving against her lips. All her struggles ceased as she lost herself in the moment—a moment I didn’t want to end.I bit her bottom lip, trying to assert dominance, and Alora let out a moan that sent a rush of heat to my groin. Fucking hell. Even Bianca could never bring out a response from me like this. What is this little nurse doing to me?After a minute, I reluctantly pulled away from her but leaned my forehead against hers, her warm breath hitting my face.I used my finger to pull away some strands of her hair from her face, then in a swift movement, lifted her to sit with her legs on both sides of me. She gasped, her legs hitting m
Alora's POVDante didn't look okay. Whatever had been said to him on the phone had made him pale before letting out a string of curse words while tugging at his hair. When he and Luca exchanged glances and then stared at me, my heart lurched.Whatever had happened, it involved me. Cautiously, I asked, "What's going on, Dante? You don't look okay."He didn't immediately respond but held me by the waist and pulled me towards him. Once I was wrapped in his warmth, he uttered the words that had goosebumps erupting along my skin as a shiver crept down my spine."Alora. I want you to be calm, okay? We are going to handle everything, and all will be well.""What do you mean by that? Why should I be calm? I'm already very calm. Is there a reason for me not to be?" The questions tumbled out of my lips as I detached myself from his arms and gazed at him with curiosity etched on my face."Just know that all will be well, okay?"I hated this, going around in circles instead of just saying what wa
Alora's POVMy heart was pounding, my palms getting sweaty. I tried to scream but was stopped by the man's hand landing on my mouth."Shhh. You don't want to attract the wrong attention now, do you?"My eyes, which were closed due to fear, snapped open, and a smile broke out on my face as I looked into the eyes of my brother."Luciano, what the hell? We've been looking everywhere for you. Are you crazy? Disappearing out of the blue. Come on, let's go. The others have been worried sick for no good reason. Don't try this again, brother. It's hella annoying."The words spilled out of my mouth faster than I could control. I was relieved, knowing that my brother wasn't kidnapped and probably being tortured somewhere."Alora, listen. I have a lot to tell you."Luciano whispered, cutting off my words. He sounded worried, and my doubts were confirmed when he moved towards the open window and pulled the curtains together, causing the room to descend into pitch darkness."Luciano, what's going
Alora's POV"You were looking for me, Don?" Alfonso muttered, strolling towards where I stood with Dante, an aura of authority radiating from him. I think the only people who weren't fazed were Dante, Vittoria, Marco, and me.The rest of the men bowed their heads and stepped backward to make way for him to pass through. Uh-oh. This means he's a highly respected mafia man. Will they believe me if I tell them the truth?"Where were you, Alfonso? I sent you to be with Alora for her protection, and yet you left her alone? How could you be so reckless?"Alfonso glared at me before bowing his head. "I'm sorry, Don. I had an emergency and needed to use the restroom. I pleaded for her to wait for me, but she ran off by the time I came outside."What the hell? He's lying so confidently. Such a stupid lie, I know nobody's gonna believe him.Or maybe I was wrong. Because Dante's head snapped to my face, his eyes growing darker. "Alora, why would you do that? Your brother is missing, and you go a
Dante's POVAs the cars disappeared in the distance, I turned to Marco, whose eyes I had noticed on me the whole time. Vittoria was standing by him too, both staring at me with twisted faces."What?" I asked in an annoyed tone, feeling frustration biting at my chest.They both exchanged a glance before turning to me. Marco cleared his throat. "Don, I don't know what to say, but I don't feel too okay about this."I quirked a brow, nodding for him to explain himself."What Marco is trying to say is that, um... well, do you think Alora is lying? What if she isn't?"My gaze drifted to Alfonso, who was standing and talking with some of the men in a corner. I observed him for quite a while, as if I could decipher if he was guilty from just looking at him.As if noticing my gaze, he turned towards us, and his usual stoic expression transformed into a smile—a rare sight he only showed to his close friends."Hello, everyone. What's going on?" he asked, moving to place a hand over Vittoria's sh
Alora's POVIf anything could have told me that Dante didn't like Anton, then the forced smile on his lips definitely did.Despite this, they gave each other a bro-hug."Man, you have been missing. Office duties?" Anton asked again."Yes, Anton. I have been very busy in the office managing a lot of things," Dante replied.If they were talking about the "office," it probably meant Anton didn't know Dante's true identity. Or maybe he thought I didn't know. Well, it was up to them.While I stood there, all I could feel were my nerves coiling at the thought of what Dante had in mind for me. Damn Luca—why hadn't he told me Dante had left the house? Or maybe Dante had caught on to us earlier than I thought, and there was really nothing we could do to escape it.The men kept discussing for a while as if I didn't exist, and I took that as my perfect opportunity to disappear. Slowly, I slipped down the hallway, moving silently like a pro.I was about two doors away from them when Dante, even w
Chapter 70Alora's POVI was doing it.I was succeeding.I had actually escaped the tight confines of the mafia mansion. My legs were hitting the pavement hard as I tried to get away.Nobody was chasing me. Yet.But even as I ran, I felt like someone was about to pounce on me and take me back to the mansion. The look of disappointment and rage on Dante's face propelled my legs forward until I finally spotted a cab.Hailing it, I told the driver to follow Vittoria to the place she had just gone to. The device in my hand was indicating not only her journey but the time it would take for me to meet her.“Right here, sir. Thank you very much,” I said, handing the driver his money. Yes, this time I brought money with me.Although I was doing something risky by being here, a thrill was coursing through me. For the first time in a long time, I felt alive. The desire to explore the city hit so hard that I almost forgot my mission—follow Vittoria, record her, and send it to Luca.I didn't know
Alora's POVI walked into the mansion on trembling feet, relieved that I had managed to fool Vittoria into thinking I was fine.Then again, I doubted she would have noticed anything was wrong. Her attention had been glued to her phone from the moment she saw me until we got into the cars and left the mall.Enough about Vittoria—the real issue was, how did he keep finding me?I checked my hands and neck, searching for any bracelet or jewelry that could have a tracker, but there was nothing. I would have to ask Gianni or Luca about the different ways the Mafia tracked people so easily.Unless… he wasn’t tracking me through something on my body at all.Which could only mean one thing—one of Dante’s men was working with my father.That possibility made too much sense. My father had been finding me at the most unexpected times, even knowing about my private date with Dante in the garden of his mansion. Something was definitely off, and we needed to get to the bottom of it.But now, he had
Dante's POVVittoria was a nervous wreck.Vittoria trembled.For the first time since I had become Don years ago and appointed her as Underboss, Vittoria trembled.It wasn’t something to take lightly because she was my Underboss—the person in whose hands I had placed my mafia.So what exactly was wrong with her? Why was she acting so off? Doing things she had never done before… going out at odd hours?I didn’t want to have her tailed. No.Loyalty was a very important aspect of trust and belief in my mafia. None of the top people were ever to be suspected.These were my family.But at this point, it seemed like I was going to have to go back on my word and send my men to find out what had Vittoria so occupied—occupied enough to be nervous when I called her to ask why she hadn’t been around much.The knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts. I had been tapping my pen incessantly on my desk, my mind struggling to piece together what Vittoria was up to.“Hey.”Luca’s head popped in. “A
Alora's POVDante is onto me. My dad is onto me. It seems like the whole world is onto me at this point.What the hell am I supposed to do?Maybe I can find someone to confide in. Yes, that’s what I have to do, I thought to myself as I paced up and down in a room in the medical bay. The nurses were in the other area.They had asked me why I was here when I clearly wasn't working much anymore—thanks to Dante. I told them I needed to practice something small and for them to give me privacy, which they had done, thankfully. I wouldn’t want anyone to see me in this state.I thought I’d been masking it quite well—the fear in my eyes. But it seems like Dante noticed.What the hell? Just how does he notice everything about me?I didn’t want him to know. Dad said not to make anyone suspect.No. I was not obeying my dad. I was just scared of what the outcome would be. His words still rang in my head even today."You are going to act like my beautiful little spy in that mansion. Get me all the
Dante's POV"Where is Vittoria?" I asked two men who were in the gym. Normally, this was her gym time, as she didn’t train with everyone else."No idea, boss.""We don’t know, Don," they responded.This was the fifth time I had looked for her in the mansion. What is going on? Her movements had just been… weird and too frequent.The Vittoria I knew only went out when there was a mission. She didn’t even have much of a social life, had no female friends, or anyone she would want to hang out with. I know her first female friend is Alora, which is why she values their friendship so much.Maybe I could ask Alora about Vittoria? Girls gossip, right… so she’d know something.Who am I kidding? Both of them are the same. Ever since we came back from the date, Alora has been avoiding me. Now, I had taken it to heart. It is definitely my fault.What could I have said during the date that would make her so worried and scared of me? Damn it, I knew it. I shouldn’t have spoken so much. Now, I have
Alora's POVDespite all the pacing I had been doing up and down in my room, I still hadn't calmed down. The time was ticking by, and she was nowhere to be seen. I wonder what could be delaying her arrival.I don't know what’s wrong with this girl. She just seems a bit off these days. But that is beside the point now. I need to focus on this emergency, and then I was going to ask her what exactly had her so occupied that I barely saw her, even though we basically lived rooms apart from each other.Finally, after another excruciatingly long wait, I heard a knock on my door before she pushed it open, strolled into my room, and slumped down on the bed like she owned the place."Who dares summon her royal highness? How mayest I be of help to you low—""Vittoria, this is not the time for jokes, okay? We need to do something now.""Oh, Alora, I'm tired. I didn't sleep last night. I was out the whole time.""That is none of my business, Vittoria, okay? Get up. You need to help me out here. Co
Alora's POVMy laughter slowly died when I noticed that Dante was glaring at me. I scooted closer to Gianni, who wass justl staring at our exchange as though he was in the most boring moment of his life. How can this kid put on such a brave facade at such a tense moment when the Mafia Don's icy eyes are digging our graves already"Alora, for the last time, I'll ask-""Brother, I went out with Alora. You should also ask me where we were, right?" Gianni cut in, making my eyes widen.Is he having a death wish?"Gianni, stop!" I exclaimed, horrified at his nonchalance.But he just turned to me and rolled his eyes."I'll tell you where we were," he said to dabte, and my heart started thuddingng.Oh, shit. I just hope he doesn't throw me under the bus. We made an agreement That if I took him out, he was going to keep my own secret."Yes, I took him out. We went to see Cherry," . "I haven't seen her in a long time.abd I promised I'll pass by today," Gianni saids, confirming my words.Dante
Dante's POV No. It can't be what I'm thinking. Alora can't have escaped and taken Gianni along with her. She has no reason to. Yes, I understand she wants to leave the Mafia at all costs. But Gianni? That's my brother. She wouldn't dare. She cannot take away the Prince of the Mafia. I'm not involving him in it, but he's still a member. A valuable one. The men were returning from the sites where I had sent them to check on her. Everywhere. And no one could find her. Not even one person. The gardens had been checked. The gym. The medical bay. Every place in the Mafia. Going right to the computer room. And lastly, the dungeon. Alora hates that place. She wouldn't go there for any reason. Where the hell is she? Did they really step out of this mansion? With all the danger looming around, it's certainly the last thing I expected from her. Marco stood beside me, clicking fast on his laptop, trying to trace Gianni and Alora. I don’t know how, but it seems they have removed the bracele