LUCIANO Sitting on the edge of the bed, I stared at the bathroom door for minutes and then at the red tissues lying on the floor. Rose’s body had been rigid when I had cleaned her blood. The way I had dived into her, she had felt more pain than she had been letting on. How could I be so daft? I sh
ROSALINEI would burn in hell for this. No, not even the devil would take me for the way I had betrayed my people. If my brother learnt of my little crusade with the enemy, it would be worse than hell for me. If I had known I would wake up in De Luca’s bed, naked and smelling of him, I would have ne
LUCIANO“You look pissed,” Pietro said, pushing the few loose strands of his hair back. “It better not be because of Belle. Father would know.” I did not speak. He looked at me as I stepped out of the car. The journey from Chicago to Toronto had left me completely exhausted. “You’re getting married
LUCIANO“Don’t you think Cartel’s going out of hand lately?” Pietro asked, and I held the swaying punching bag. Creasing my brows, I turned to him and he added, “We’ve had three attacks this week. They’re taking our soldiers hostage, thinking it’d have us bowing to them.”I groaned. “What about our
ROSALINE I would have to carry the label of Washington hottie’s bride-to-be after the entire article that Underground Writer 101 had written about De Vitto and me. We were not even a couple yet, nor was I sure about tying the knot with him. This blogger was nothing but a nuisance. I could bet the ones behind this blog were married women with absentee husbands that whored around, leaving them with nothing but their silly old wits and their annoying habit of poking into other people’s lives. I took a deep breath to calm myself. I had made a promise to myself last night to not think about this article… which I was mostly failing at. Adonis and Bella’s reception had been a total disaster. None of us had expected a tiny kid to create such a hassle. At least the week that had followed was quiet. Adonis and Dom had been busy finding out about the Bratva hideouts. However, uprooting them from their territories would need more than them going on a murder spree. For today, I hoped everythin
ROSALINE I tried my best not to scamper off to the ladies' room and hide. Dom was out of sight, and so were Adonis and Bella. Julian had promised to stay with me, but he had gone off with Dom as well. This was bad. I could feel someone walking toward me. I was certain it was Terenzio. Through my peripheral vision, I could not see much, but that weighty walk did not belong to any of the men I was utterly comfortable with. “Excuse me,” came a gravelly voice, and I straightened. Oh, fuck! I twisted my head gracefully to look at the figure. It was indeed De Vitto, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips and his gaze strangely soft on me. “I saw you standing here all alone and thought of giving you some company.” I faked a smile. “How thoughtful of you.” I hoped that that did not sound like a mock. He extended a hand toward me, and I accepted. “Terenzio De Vitto.” “Rosaline Guerra.” Up this close, he looked much like every other Made-man with his tall height and muscles, bu
LUCIANO “Let’s start with all the things I wouldn’t have done to you, shall we?” I said, before pulling her into the washroom. I was determined to meet her today, ask her why she had not told me who she was or if she had taken me for a fool, which I was, given the way I had been so worked up about
I pulled back and met her gaze, both our chests heaving because of breathlessness. Lowering my head, I whispered, “I believe getting the dress dirty would be a problem.” She released a shaky breath and nodded. “Then we better get you out of it, shall we?” She did not wait for me to do anything and
“Thank fuck, you’re here,” Pietro sounded. “She didn’t take an epidural or whatever the fuck that is.” “What?” Rose had told me about it, how it could reduce the pain. But if she had not taken it— A loud cry sounded from the other side of the door, and my breath hitched. “Luciano, you need to go
LUCIANO “Have our men withdrawn from New York?” I asked, scrolling through the articles on my laptop. “It’s been eight fucking months since the break.” The inactivity in the east and west, both Cosa Nostra and Outfit, had been very nerve-wracking. Since the dramatic outbreak between Belle and Adon
I smiled. “What do you plan?”“Do you have any plans?”“Nothing big, but I was hoping to buy a country house.” Her smile lit up. “I mean, we certainly can’t raise this kid and our future children in a penthouse. They need a proper environment, sizeable space to run around.”“Our future children? How
Luciano was at the altar, his hands behind his back, his curly, dirty-blond hair pushed back, and behind him was Pietro, dressed in a tuxedo, since he was the best man along with Rione, and Lys and Sabina were the bridesmaids.I met Luciano’s stare and every thought I had left my mind. Even with all
ROSALINEI was not sure why I was doing this. What I knew was my attempts would go in vain and I would be shattered yet again, but I had to try one last time. I had to call Dom.Standing in front of the long mirror—dressed in an off-shoulder sheath-wedding gown with netted sleeves and hair properly
“Even my extra weight?”“Yeah, even my child’s weight.” Smirking, he added, “I liked you with the pink hair. What else could you possibly want?”“Okay, my pink hair wasn’t that bad.”***“There’s a tradition we should talk about,” Luciano said, coming out of the washroom in nothing but a towel wrapp
My eyes widened. “Shit! That was you?”“Do I look that different now?” he asked with his head tilted to the side.“We were in the garden with very low-quality lighting. I did not see your face properly. You were alone, and I thought of keeping you company.”“By asking me to fetch you a drink?”I nar
ROSALINE[SIX MONTHS LATER]I doubted I would ever stay in the studio apartment, except for when I was working. The good thing about this place was it was right above my own office for wedding planning and coordination. After months of research, I was finally into it. Besides, I enjoyed planning the
“I hate it when you try to be one.”Soft laughter tore out of his throat and I licked his bottom lip. His mouth parted immediately but I had other plans. Drawing my face close to his cheeks, I kissed him and then traced my tongue down the stubble to his jawline.He closed his eyes and released a sha