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
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
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
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 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 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 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
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 POVAll the time I was hiding, I hadn't thought of how I would come out of my spot and go back out into Dante's room. By now, Dante would be scouring the entire place, searching for me.I massaged my forehead, feeling another headache forming. After fainting and being pumped with a large dosage of sedatives, I had gone through so much stress, which wasn't advisable.Gianni looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Are you dying?"Idiot."No. But I might as well die instead of being here, having to figure out how to go back out there."What was I thinking? And I had knocked both the doctor and nurse unconscious. I'm pretty sure he had seen them, and he would know something was up. So I couldn't even give an excuse. Ah, why did I have to be so dumb?"Gianni, don't just stand there. We have to think of something.""Uh. No. You have to think of something. You are the adult. Leave me alone."The sassy kid spat out, keeping a straight face.Adult, my foot."Maybe I could tell him, uh... I,
Alora's POVI was already anticipating them storming into my hiding place and tying me up, but when I heard Carlos asking Gianni if he had seen me, I knew there was still hope.However, Carlos being in Gianni's room made my stomach churn. He was going to terrorize the poor kid. Or maybe I was wrong because each time he asked a question, Gianni would just give a sassy answer in return.That's my boy.Finally, Carlos had his men search a little and leave Gianni's room.I almost banged on the wall for him to open up so I could check if he was okay when I heard Carlos, now whispering..."Little demon, you are going to fix all this. Or maybe leave it. And if your brother asks you what happened in here, you are going to tell him you were just throwing a tantrum because nobody paid you any attention."Despite the fear bubbling in my stomach, I rolled my eyes. What stupid plan was that? Gianni was no kid who threw tantrums. Dante won't believe that shit."You don’t tell him we came in here, o
Chapter 96Alora's POVI held the weapon in my trembling hand, my heart racing. It wasn't like they were going to die with what I would do, but maybe they would sleep a little bit.The nurse was supposed to walk into my room any time now to administer my medication. I heard the doctor telling her he would take something from the medical bay. Everything was working in my favor.As she got closer to the bed with the sedative, I brought mine up faster, stabbing it straight into her arm and pressing the plunger. She screamed—all useless, though.Carlos had lured out Dante and the others, perfect timing for me. He didn't know he had done me a huge favor. Hopefully, no guards were in the corridor, or else I'd be a goner.The drug didn't take long to work, which meant they were probably using a very good one. This is the mafia, after all. I hid behind the door, waiting patiently for my next target.He walked in, whistling a tune. To think I admired this doctor—one of the best in the field. W
Alora's POV“Doctor, what do you mean?“ I heard Dante's growl as soon as my eyelids fluttered open.“She just isn't feeling well. It happens to people all the time. You know, we can't know what's wrong with her until we get test results. It could be malaria or something.“What...? I exhibited no symptoms of malaria... Do we even have malaria here?Dante seemed to share my thoughts because he asked, "Malaria? Like, hell, does this look like the tropics, stupido?""Don, everything is possible. Let's just wait to get the results.""Calm down, Dante. Just chill.""What the hell do you mean by chill, Luca?"My eyes flew open at the mention of the name.“Alora came ramping in here looking like she had just escaped from a ghost’s grip. You needed to see her, man. Marco, tell him. I thought you were her friend. You should be concerned.""Of course, I'm concerned," Luca responded. "I'm concerned, okay? But worrying like this is not going to make her any better. Let's just calm down and wait fo
Chapter 94Alora's POV“What?" I asked Carlos again, hoping I'd heard him wrong. "What did you say?""I said... Um... I want you to forgive Rosa, okay? For saying things about you. She's probably just tired... That's how she's always been. When she doesn't know someone, she... she tends to be rude.“He was lying. I'd heard him well the first time. But I couldn't be stupid. It was time to leave."Okay, thank you. I'll be going now," I said, already turning to continue my trip to Dante's room."Wait, I have a question to ask you."For shit’s sake, couldn't he let me be?"What is it?""Did you, by any chance... you know... overhear... a conversation you shouldn't have?"I froze, my face paling. Dang it. He was onto me. I fisted my palms so tight I almost drew blood."W-what?" I let out, thankful that my stutter was almost inaudible."I asked if, uh... you overheard a conversation you shouldn't have. Maybe you were passing by... and you heard voices and decided to check on whether Luca wa
Alora's POVNo time to spend thinking of where to go. I dashed down the vacant hallway. Just as I rounded the corner, I heard the creak of a door as it opened. I didn't continue running because I knew the pounding of my feet on the floor would alert them that I really was there."Come on, man. I'm not sure there's anybody there.""Are you sure you heard someone?" Rosa asked Carlos."I didn't hear, but I saw something that looked like a shadow, and it's no longer there. There was someone."My breathing came out harsh in gasps, and I knew I had to make a getaway before one of them screwed me over."I really doubt there's anybody here. Alora is sleeping with Dante, and these other rooms are all vacant for now since the men are cleaning up. Let's just forget this, Mom and Carlos.""Well, I do hope you're right, and nobody heard what we were saying. Now, remember to do your work well this time. Come on, darling. Let's go."My eyes bulged. Shit, they're coming this way.No, no, no, no, no.
Alora's POV"I love this position, babygirl. Maybe we can make it our favorite?" Dante whispered only for me to hear, letting out a wink.Realizing just how close we were in front of others—who would never stop teasing me—I jumped down from his arms, almost injuring my knee in the process."Did you get it? Tell me you got it," I heard Vittoria exclaim.When I turned to face her, I noticed her and Marco chuckling among themselves while he held out his phone.Get what... Could it be a picture? Oh, hell no!"Give me that!" I jumped, trying to seize the phone, but Marco just held it higher, tossing it toward Luca, who caught it. By the time I could get to him, Vittoria had it in her hands, waving it."Don't worry, Alora, we won't do much with it. We'll just use it on your wedding day to embarrass both of you. Calm down."My frustration grew even more, and I tried harder to get on my tiptoes to grab the picture. Damn, why is she so tall? Plus, the boots she was wearing weren’t making it an
Chapter 91Alora's POVLife in the mafia was as unpredictable as could get. One would be sleeping peacefully, dreaming of how she was cuddling with the mafia don while he planted kisses on her cheeks as he watched her sleep. And the next minute, she is being whisked away to a safehouse because there’s been an attack on the main mansion.The first gunshot sounded like it was in my dream. The second set a tremor to my chest and the third had me awake and panting like I’d run five miles.Dante wasted no time in pulling me up from the bed and out of the room, down to his office.By the time we got there, Gianni was already there with Luca and a group of dangerous men, eyes blazing hot and ready for battle. How fast did they move from the other hallway to here? Were they anticipating this?"Keep them safe, Luca, and come right out," Dante ordered.Luca nodded and motioned for us to follow him. I cast one glance at Dante, seeing him filling his gun with bullets. His eyes rose to meet mine,
Dante's POV"Damn, Dante, you failed, man. You failed big time. In this one, you were a big-ass failure."Marco repeated for the fifteenth time on the other side of the table. Luca smirked, and Vittoria snickered."I won't fail at shooting right through your eyes. Wanna test how good I am at that?"Marco raised his hands in mock surrender, stifling a laugh. "Chill, man. It just—""What the hell is wrong with you guys? I didn't fail. I did exactly what you asked me to do, which is rare because I don't take orders for no shit.""You don't take orders, Dante. We know that. I didn't order you. All I said was, act like Alora doesn't matter much to you. How hard could that be? If I was told to act like Marco didn't matter to me, hell, I would do that and score 100%. Not that he even matters to me," Vittoria said.Marco picked up a magazine and chucked it at her head. She caught it and shot back, leading him to do the same and almost starting a fight if I hadn’t caught the thing mid-air."Yo