Rafael’s POV
I leaned back in the leather chair my fingers drumming against the armrest as I stared at the screen in front of me. It was the club’s security footage played in real time, every camera feeding into the private VIP suite where I sat. It was a habit I had developed over the years of watching, controlling and ensuring nothing happened in my domain without my knowledge. The last thing I cared about at this stage of my life is how a club I own is going. I have so many of them and this one isn’t even the best I’ve got. I barely spend time here watching this. But tonight was different in every shape and form. I hadn’t expected to see her here. The woman I once loved with every fucking feelings I have been hiding. The same woman I worshipped the literal ground she walks on. The woman who had ripped my heart out and left me to bleed for her own selfish benefit. She never turned back to see how I was faring after she had left. She moved across the stage with hesitant moves, her red hair cascading down her back and her body wrapped in nothing but scraps of lace that barely covered her curves. She’s become more curvier since those years ago. She was nervous and I could see it in the way she gripped the pole and in the stiffness of her movements. But that didn’t matter at this moment. What mattered was that she was here and she was fucking stripping to those worthless men. Not that she is also worth a dime now. She isn’t. My jaw clenched so hard it ached and my teeth are grinding. They might turn to dust in no time. I had been keeping tabs on her since her pathetic excuse of a husband divorced her, waiting for the right moment to make my move because i have been planning this revenge before i dropped out of highschool after she had turned me into a laughing stock in the school. Marco is my first target before I come back for her but things are moving better and faster for me. I let her think she had escaped me, let her struggle and let her fall. But this? This wasn’t part of the plan. I allowed her to get a job here when she came begging Vince to help her and to keep her closer, I agreed. But a bartender was one thing and a stripper was unacceptable. The moment she stepped on that stage, every fucking man in the room thought they had the right to look at her. To touch her as if she belong to herself. Vince should have fucking told me before he allowed her on that stage. I might shot the fucker between the eyes if he is not careful. “Get her off the stage. Now." I shot him a look from across the room that made him jump on his feet. For a smug guy, he is so fucking trrrified of me and I don’t blame him. I’ve been rumored to be a bit hotheaded. “Boss I..uh.,” Vince hesitated, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans and he was really lucky I wasn’t in the mood today or he’d be dead for daring to argue with me. . I raised a single brow sipping on my whiskey and he quickly started acting. He nodded and reached for his earpiece, muttering something to security but it was already too late. The moment I turned back to the screen, I saw it. A man had pulled her into his lap, his filthy hands gripping her waist and holding her there like she fucking belonged to him. Adriana didn’t fight it, she fucking wanted it if her expression is anything to go by. She didn’t push him away. She let it happen like the fucking whore she has turned into. It makes me feel no guilt (something I haven’t felt ever) for what I have planned for her. My blood turned to ice as I continued to stare at the screen. She was enjoying this. The anger that had been simmering inside me erupted into something dark and something uncontrollable. I stood, adjusting my cufflinks with a calculated calmness that masked the storm inside me. "Bring him up." I ordered one of my guards or more like my freaking shadow, Nathan. Nathan didn’t even blink and he was already walking out of the room. He never argues with me and knows exactly what I want before I could even say it. Nathan is the closest thing I have to a friend in this dark world I have found myself in. He just likes to keep our relationship professional. My eyes flicked back to the screen, watching as Adriana scrambled off the man’s lap and then she proceeded to grab a few bills before disappearing off the stage. Was that a smile on her face as she held those notes? But I didn’t care about her right now. I cared about the bastard who thought he could put his hands on something that didn’t belong to him. The door to the VIP suite opened and my men dragged the old fucker inside with his face red with indignation. He was still adjusting his belt, the sick fuck. I planned to just break a few of his fingers and maybe shot his both thighs that touched Adriana but for this action, he won’t be leaving this room alive. "You dared to touch what’s mine." I said, voice calm but he shouldn’t have been delusional to think I am anything but that. Any man that has touched her will meet a bad end. Marco is next but I’ll take my time with that. “Yours? She’s a fucking stripper, man. If you don’t want her touched, don’t put her on a goddamn stage.” The man scoffed, shaking his head completely unaware of the mistake he had just made. Hasn’t he seen the guns? “Wrong answer.” I exhaled slowly while rolling my shoulders back as I cracked my knuckles, the sharp sound slicing through the silence of the VIP suite. The bastard had no idea who he was dealing with. I turned to Nathan and without having to say a word, he started action. The first punch landed square against his jaw snapping his head to the side. Blood splattered onto the white floor a sharp contrast to the sleek luxury of the room. He barely had time to groan before another hit struck his gut, knocking the air from his lungs. I stepped back watching as my men did exactly what they were trained to do. Fists crashed against bone, the wet crunch of cartilage breaking filled the air. The bastard tried to scream but one of my men grabbed him by the throat squeezing just enough to cut off the sound. No one touched what was mine. No one disrespected me and goes away like that. I’m glad Vince is watching by the side and looks like he is about to fucking throw up. Next time he argues with me, I might not even give him the grace of getting punched. He’d just get a bullet straight. His body went limp with blood dripping from his split lips and his nose broken at an unnatural angle. His suit that is expensive and tailored was now stained crimson and torn from where he had tried and failed to shield himself. Fucking Pathetic. I pulled out my gun, sliding off the safety with a quiet click. The sound alone was enough to send a shiver of awareness through the room. Nathan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes flicking to me for permission to continue. “Hold him up.” My men obeyed, dragging his half-conscious body upright so he could face me. His swollen eyes barely opened with blood bubbling at the corner of his lips as he gasped, struggling to stay awake. I should have let him bleed out on the floor. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted her to see what happens to any man she allowed to fucking touch her again. I had given her freedom for years but it’s time for her to pay for all she’s made me go through. I gestured toward the door and within seconds, Adriana was pushed into the room. Vince should not have done that either. Only I have the right to hurt her. She stumbled forward, her red hair wild as usual with her lips parted as she took in the scene. Her wide eyes darted from me (it lingered as shock went through her) to the bloody mess of a man in front of her then up to me again. Tears pooled in her lashes and I almost smirked at that. I didn’t look away because I wanted her to understand what was going on. She wasn’t just some worthless stripper. She wasn’t a forgotten woman trying to survive because I never forgot her. She was mine whether she fucking liked it or not. She took a shaky step back her breath hitching in fear. I tilted my head, letting the weight of my next words settle in the room. And then without breaking eye contact with her, I lifted my gun and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed deafening in the enclosed space. The bastard’s body jerked once before going completely still with blood splattering across the marble floor and onto my shoes and onto her dress. Adriana gasped, a strangled noise escaping her throat as she clutched at her stomach horror painting her face. I threw my gun back on the table stepping toward her. She flinched and this time around I couldn’t stop myself so I smirked. I’m not sure what reaction is better. The shock from seeing me after so many years or the look on her face after I killed a man that tried to touch her? I’ll take both for now. “Now you remember, don’t you Adriana? You were mine then. And you’re still mine now.” I murmured, my voice low as I held her jaw tightly in place despite the tinge I felt where our skin was connected.Adriana’s POVThe gunshot still rang in my ears. It was a sharp and deafening sound that didn’t just echo through the club but through my entire body. My knees buckled before I could stop them sending me crashing to the floor in a gracelesd heap. But I barely felt the impact. All I could do was stare. The body lay crumpled and lifeless. Blood seeped across the marble floor all dark and damning and the scent thick in the air. I swallowed hard as bile rise in my throat. He had a family. A wife and kids maybe. Someone who would wait for him to come home tonight. Someone who wouldn’t know that his last moments were spent groping me which he died for. . And Rafael had killed him just like that. Like he didn’t mean anything to the world. My Rafael. Except he wasn’t mine. Not anymore. The boy I once knew and the one who used to whisper my name like it was the most sacred thing in the world, the one who held me like I was something precious and fragile. That Rafael was gone. And in his
Rafael’s POVAdriana knelt in the middle of the room shivering. her once vibrant eyes were now hollow and distant. Her cheeks were streaked with dried tears but there was no emotion left in them. Nothing. She just stared unblinking as the strippers’ hands roamed over me with their touch meant to entice, to seduce and yet none of it mattered. Not to me. Not to her. She was empty. A shell of the girl I once knew. The Adriana I remembered was always full of life and was always wearing that radiant smile., always laughing and always promising me things that never meant a damn thing. But now? Now, she was lifeless and cold, a ghost of the woman she used to be. And it wasn’t hard to guess why. Being married to Marco Marcini did that to a person. I almost pitied her. And the key word here is fucking almost. Then I remembered everything like a scene that wouldn’t leave my head. It keeps replaying time and again. I remembered how she had walked away from me without a second glance. How sh
Adriana’s POV The room felt eerily silent after the strippers left leaving the lingering scent of cheap perfume and sweat clinging to the air like an unwanted memory. My eyes followed them as they strutted out with their hips swaying in exaggerated movements all traces of their earlier hostility (of course towards me) disappearing the moment the guard slipped them their payment. They giggled whilst whispering to each other as they disappeared through the door not sparing me another glance. Just another job for them, another night of easy money. Something I wanted to try but didn’t have the confidence to go through. I, however, couldn’t move from the floor. My body refused to cooperate. I remained kneeling in the middle of the cold floor with my hands clenched so tightly in my lap that my knuckles had turned ghostly white. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there staring down at my trembling fingers but the weight in my chest grew heavier with every passing second. I guess The shock
Adriana’s POVThe guard's grip on my wrist was unforgiving with his fingers digging into my skin as he dragged me forward without a word. He didn’t spare me a glance or acknowledge the way my legs stumbled to keep up with his brutal pace. There was no hesitation and no care just relentless force like I was nothing more than cargo being transported. The hallway blurred past me, my mind racing as I struggled to make sense of why they wouldn’t even let me see where I was being taken. What the hell is Rafael playing at? What kind of game is this? I wasn’t told about any of this. The muffled pulse of the club’s music faded and then we wree swallowed by eerie silence. The further we walked, the more the world I knew disappeared and is replaced by something darker and shadier than I’d expected. Was this not just about revenge? Was I not just an old wound he wanted to reopen for the sake of making me suffer? Because this felt like something else entirely. Then suddenly the dragging stopped
Adriana’s POVThe grip on my wrist was merciless as if the guard was dragging along something less than human. He didn’t look at me and didn’t acknowledge the way my feet stumbled against the polished marble floors. He simply moved forward knowing I had no choice but to follow. His silence was unsettling. No threats, no taunts just a firm hand that refused to let me go while guiding me deeper into a world I had no business being in. As we stepped inside the grand estate I felt the shift immediately. This wasn’t just a house. It was a darn fucking fortress. A kingdom where Rafael ruled with an iron fist from the looks of thinsg. The air itself seemed heavier and thick with something unseen but deeply felt. The guards stationed around the entryway barely flicked their eyes toward the one leading me but they acknowledged him in small ways by straightening their backs or nodding in respect or stepping aside with silent obedience. They didn’t just respect him but they knew him. He was
Adriana’s POVI clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as I forced myself to stand my ground. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was rattling my ribs but I refused to let Rafael see an ounce of fear. He would suck me in like the cruel man he has become. “You need to let me go. I have somewhere important I need to be reight now.” I demanded my voice steady even with the chaos in my chest. I need to do this for my daughter. His lips twisted into something cruel and mocking and before I could react, his hand shot out. A gasp slipped past my lips as his fingers curled around my jaw, not squeezing but firm enough to remind me that he could. That he was stronger, that he was in control. He tilted my face up toward him, his grip was forceful as he studied me with those cold, merciless eyes. "Let you go? You think I would do that?" He echoed with wicked amusement laced with venom. “Why? What’s waiting for you out there?” “I have…” I started but he didn’t even allow
Adriana’s POVSix years ago…I left the house as soon as the sun crept over the horizon with the weight of last night’s revelation pressing heavily on my chest. I barely slept, tossing and turning as my hands unconsciously drifted to my stomach as if trying to feel for something or some kind of proof that my world had truly changed. Marco had already been up when I slipped out of bed, working on his laptop in the dim light of our shared bedroom. His brow furrowed in deep concentration, jaw locked and fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. He had barely looked up when I murmured that I had errands to run, only nodding absently. He was too preoccupied with proving himself to his father. I knew how much pressure he was under. His father was a cold and ruthless businessman and never saw him as capable enough to take over the company. The only reason Marco was even in consideration was because of me. Because I had convinced his father that he was competent enough to be the next CEO.
Rafael’s POVThe heavy thud of my footsteps echoed down the grand hallway as I made my way to my home office. The entire mansion was silent but the air was so fucking thick. It was thick with the kind of tension that came when something big was about to go down. And something was about to go down. I could feel it in my bones. It isn’t just one thing. One has to do with having my highschool sweetheart under my fucking roof after years of watching her from afar and the other has to do with the shipment we are about to conduct. Nathan and two of my senior guards were already waiting for me when I pushed open the doors. They stood stiffly in front of my mahogany desk, their expressions unreadable and their backs straight as steel rods. They were disciplined and trained to be alert at all times. It’s been rumored that I’ve got the best trained men and there is not an ounce of doubt in that. These are men I gathered from the streets. Men that were doubted by their own loved ones and they
Rafael’s POVI stood at the edge of the bed watching the slow rise and fall of Adriana’s chest and making sure she was still breathing. The bandages on her shoulder were clean, the color returning to her face little by little but she still looked so fucking fragile and too pale against the dark sheets. A part of me hated seeing her like this all weak and vulnerable. Another part of me hated that I cared enough to stay here and that I did what I did. It’s just that the thought f someone hurting her that wasn’t me didn’t seat well with me. Nathan hovered by the doorway with arms crossed and his jaw clenched so tight I could hear his teeth grinding. He hadn’t spoken much since I brought Adriana back but his eyes had said enough. “She’s stable. There is nothing more you can do for her now.” I said in a firm but low voice knowing I had to keep it down. “She almost died.” His fingers curled into fists at his sides. I think he has repeated that for the billionth time now. “I fucking kn
Adriana’s POVThe first thing I felt was pain. A deep throbbing ache that pulsed through my entire body but especially in my shoulder, where fire seemed to have lodged itself beneath my skin. I tried to mov but even the smallest shift sent sharp, biting agony through my limbs. A groan slipped past my lips before I could stop it. Where the hell was I? I forced my heavy eyelids open blinking against the dim lighting. The ceiling above me was unfamiliar, all dark wood and old-fashioned molding. The bed beneath me was softer than I expected witg the sheets cool against my overheated skin. The faint scent of antiseptic lingered in the air mixing with something darker and something unmistakably metallic. My blood. Memories crashed over me in waves. Starting from the party. The Brotherhood. The secret meeting. The gunshot. And nathan. I had thrown myself in front of him. Why? That question lodged itself in my mind, refusing to leave. Why the hell had I moved? Why had I risked my own life
Rafael’s POVThe moment the first shot rang out everything shifted. Chaos erupted in the club AND people scrambling for cover along with the bodies pressing against each other in a frenzied panic while drinks are spilling and tables overturning. The scent of sweat and alcohol and gunpowder thickened the air clashing with the heavy bass that still thumped through the speakers, oblivious to the mayhem breaking out. My instincts kicked in immediately, one hand reaching for my gun as I scanned the dimly lit space for the source of the attack, my mind already calculating the angles and the possible positions of the shoote followed by the exitsa nd the threats. And then I saw Adriana. She wasn’t running. Wasn’t ducking for cover like any sane person would. She was moving toward Nathan. A sharp slicing fury cut through me as cold and swift as a blade. What the hell was she thinking? The idiot wasn’t even trying to protect herself and wasn’t thinking about the consequences of throwing he
Adriana’s POVThe world was dark. Thick and suffocating like an endless void that stretched on with no sense of time witj no sound and no thought. Just emptiness. It felt like I was floating all weightless yet at the same time something anchored me down, something heavy pressing against my chest, pinning me to a reality I couldn’t quite grasp yet. My mind drifted in a sluggish and unfocused way that was trapped in a haze that refused to let me surface. Then, a voice that was sharp and furious reached me dragginv me up and yanking me out of the abyss with a force that sent a violent jolt through my entire body. “Adriana!” A white hot bolt of agony that tore through my shoulder ripping a strangled gasp from my lips. It wasn’t just my shoulder anymore but it was everywhere. A raw and pulsing fire radiating outward burning through my limbs and curling deep into my bones making every shallow breath feel like I was inhaling shards of glass. My body felt too heavy like lead had been po
Adriana’s POVThe moment Nathan disappeared down the stairs the tension in my chest coiled so tight it was suffocating. My hands were clammy and my heartbeat slamming against my ribs like a warning drum. The corridor around me felt eerily quiet despite the distant murmur of voices downstairs. Every second that passed only made the unease in my stomach twist deepe and I knew— I couldn’t stay here and do nothing. Fuck what Nathan said. Ugh I’m not a martyr but I hate when I’m not in the show either. I edged away from the marble pillar pressing my back against the cold wall as I listened for any movement. Nothing. Not yet. But I wasn’t stupid enough to believe I had time. The men I overheard weren’t hesitating and if I stood here, waiting like some helpless fool I might as well have pulled the trigger on Rafael myself. I forced my legs to move with each step ligh and carefully controlled. My bare feet barely made a sound against the polished floors as I crept forward inching toward
Adriana’s POVThe first thing I noticed when I stirred was the smell of old paper and polished wood was thick in the air and mixed with something richer. Leather, aged whiskey and a faint trace of cigar smoke clung to the atmosphere like a second skin. My eyelids were heavy my my head pounding with a dull, relentless ache as if someone had cracked my skull open and stuffed it with cotton. Everything felt off and so freaking unfamiliar. My body was sluggish and my limbs weighed down by exhaustion and remnants of alcohol. Where the hell was I?Blinking against the dim glow of a single antique lamp, I forced myself to sit up groaning as a fresh wave of dizziness hit me. The room around me was large lined with towering bookshelves that stretched high toward the ceiling and each packed with thick, leather bound books that looked expensive. But never read. Aesthetic much. A heavy wooden desk stood near the window with papers stacked in neat piles and a crystal decanter of dark liquor sitt
Rafael’s POVThe room was thick with the scent of cigar smoke and the quiet simmering tension that always lingered when the Brotherhood gathered. The low amber glow of the chandelier casting eerie silhouettes over the faces of men who had built empires on blood and fear and unwavering loyalty. I sat at my usual spot at the long mahogany table with fingers drumming idly against the polished surface my gaze locked on Don Vittorio Romano. The man with a similar last name to mine but we still don’t share a single thing. The Capo dei Capi. The man who despite his failing health still had the audacity to challenge me. He leaned heavier in his chair than usual with the weight of his illness pressing into his bones but the bastard still had fire in his eyes. A lesser man would have taken his condition as a sign to keep his mouth shut and to pick his battles wisely but Vittorio had never been a lesser man. He was a relic of an older time and stubborn in his ways and perhaps that was why
Adriana’s POVThe weight of the room settled heavily on my shoulders thick with cigar smoke and the scent of expensive whiskey. The men around Rafael weren’t just powerful but they were dangerous in a way that made my skin crawl and their presence filling every inch of space with something coldu. Anthony had told me their names earlier but now, standing here I could put faces to them. I had expected them to be closer to Rafael’s age all young and ruthless but I quickly realized that most of them were older and seasoned in their brutality strike wickedness. These weren’t men who had stumbled into power but they they had built it, brick by bloody brick through years of survival, deception, manipulation and violence. The Capo dei Capi was still lounging in his seat like a king surveying his court as he had introduced them with a lazy flick of his fingers as if they were nothing more than pieces on a chessboard. First, there was Vincent Bianchi an older man with silver hair and sharp
Adriana’s POVThe air inside the place was thick with smoke and power and the kind of power that wasn’t flaunted with empty arrogance but carried with lethal assurances. These men didn’t need to boast about what they had done to get here and the way the world bent around them spoke loudly enough. The weight of their presence alone demanded submission. Not the same as the men around Marco.I could feel it pressing against my skin like an invisible forve reminding me that I didn’t belong here and that I was an outsider in a room full of men who thrived in shadows. The club itself was exclusive and far removed from the kind of places Marco used to take me to. This wasn’t a playground for wealthy businessmen or politicians pretending to be untouchable. This was something else entirely like a den of wolves. The music was a deep and pulsing thrum in the background but it did nothing to dull the tension crackling in the air. The lighting was dim, casting long shadows across the room amd m