Adriana’s POVThe neon sign outside the club flickered casting a dull red glow on the wet pavement. I stood beneath it, breathing in the thick and smoky air with my arms wrapped around myself as if that would somehow make this easier. But nothing about tonight was easy which is something I have been thinking about for weeks. The bass from the music inside thumped through the walls with that kind of deep pulse that settled in your bones. Or maybe it’s because of what I’m about to do. It is also the kind that made men loosen their ties and women forget they had limits. I know cause I’ve seen it. The kind of music that turned this place into an escape or some sort fantasy for some. Except for me, this wasn’t a fantasy and it has never been for the past six months. It is a place I have to come to so I’ll be able to keep food on the table. This was my last option because there are no other options in the first place. I adjusted my thin jacket, barely feeling the cold anymore. I canno
Adriana’s POV The dressing room was suffocating and filled with thick clouds of cheap perfume and sweat with the overhead lights casting harsh glow on the women thattmoved around me with practiced ease. My hands trembled as I adjusted the thin straps of the red lace lingerie the club provided, tugging at the hem as if that would make a difference. It didn’t. Nothing could hide how exposed I felt. "You'll get used to it." a voice said from beside me and I startled at the sound of it. It’s definitely feminine but it’s also husky like she’s been smoking for a while. I turned to see a blonde adjusting her lipstick in the mirror. She was beautiful in a way that made me instantly aware of how out of place I was. Her confidence and the way she owned her barely-there outfit was effortless. Meanwhile, I could barely stand to look at myself in the mirror without cringing seven ways to Sunday. "V said to make sure you’re ready and told me to help you out since today is your first day.” Sh
Rafael’s POVI 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, he
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 POVThe night air licked across my skin. My nipples hardened as his gaze dropped like a curse had been cast. And then I moved. One hand on his chest and the other on the back of his neck. I started to roll my hips, slow and dirty the way I used to back when his mattress was on the floor and the world was nothing but broken promises and our sweaty skin under fluorescent lights. I knew exactly how to move and how to make his breathing shift and how to feel the stiff line of his cock grinding between us and press down just right. He let me take control and let me perform like I used to, back when love was reckless and money was just a dream. His grip landed on my hips alk hard and possessive, holding me in place as I moved. Not guiding me but just anchoring me. And he gripped me so tight I knew there’d be bruises tomorrow and i wanted them. I wanted to look in the mirror and see him everhwrre.He didn’t say anything at first. Just stared like I’d risen out of a ghost story. L
Adriana’s POVEven the street was alive today. The kind of alive you don’t get in places lined with marble columns and guards standing still like statues. This was a different kind of wealth we has. Neon lights flickered above paper food carts and cheap folding tables. And in the middle of it all, Rafael parked the sleek black Aston Martin like it belonged here.But it didnt. But maybe that was the point. We walked side by side witj my bare thighs brushing against his sweatpants every few steps. I was barefoot in his hoodie with no bra and no underwear and he kept looking down at me like he didn’t regret a single second of dragging me out here like this. People looked at us because they always do. But no one said a word, not when he was the one towering beside me like a dark king among mortals. I feel so petite and small beside this big man here. “There, let’s go to that stall.” I pointed at the edge of the street. The guy manning it had a beard that looked like he fried it with th
Adriana’s POVMy legs were still shaking when he finally let me go. I was strung out and breathless and my thighs slick and trembling from the force of it. His hand gripped the back of my neck, teeth grazing my shoulder as we came together our bodies writhing in a tangled mess of sweat and need and heat. The headboard slammed against the wall once and teice. And then nothing but the sound of ragged breathing and skin sliding against skin. He didn’t kiss me after because he never did.He just groaned low in his throat with his chest rising and falling as he held himself above me for a beat, his dark hair falling in damp strands across his brow and lips parted. I stared up at him almost dazed with my body humming with pleasure and my skin flushed and covered in his scent. He looked like sin. And maybe I did too.Eventually he collapsed beside me, one arm slung lazily across my waist and we lay there in the quiet. I let my fingers wander to his hair (thick and black and always a little
Adriana’s POVThe city was still l shadows when I arrived at the docks. The air was thick with salt, diesel and smoke curling off the half charred remains of what used to be one of our primary shipping conyainerd. The smell hit first of plastic, oil, blood and then came the sight of bodies being zipped up and loaded into vans. I stepped out of the car and unbuttoned my coat and walked through the carnage like it was routine. Because it was. Ever since I got introduced to this world, dead bodies and blood has become a thing you see everyday. “Any witnesses?” I asked.“None alive. Whoever did this was clean and professional. No security footage and no prints.” Nathan met me halfway with his jaw clenched and eyes sharp behind the scar slicing through his left brow. “Then they weren’t sending a message.” I crouched beside the twisted metal of the container door. Black soot flaked under my fingers as I reached for the scorched wood beneath and that’s when I saw A playing card nailed in
Rafael’s POVThe house was quiet when i returned and it was eerily so, the kind of silence that settles only in the deepest hours of the night. I stepped through the front doors, loosening the buttons of my dress shirt as the soft click of my shoes echoed down tje marble hall. I didn’t stop at the bar for a drink. Didn’t pause to check the security reports or glance at the monitots. My feet carried me toward the east wing with a certainty that required no thought.That wing (mine) was hidden from most of the estate and tucked behind an ornate gilded door and a hallway that curved just enough to swallow the noise of the rest of the house. It was my sanctum and only few people are allowed there. A place I didn’t allow many to see. Not even most of my men.But Isabella was there. Her small back was straight on the bench snx her tiny fingers dancing across the keys of the piano I’d hidden away for hero. She saw me and lit up. Her eyes twinkled with joy, a soundless amd sparkling expressio
Rafael’s POVShe had finally fallen asleep tangled in my sheets, bare beneath the thick comforter witj lips parted and lashes resting softly on flushed cheeks. She looked innocent there almost too innocent for what we’d done hours ago and how wanton she had looked. Like the whore I had made her years agop. I stood at the edge of the bed for far too long whilke watching the slow rise and fall of her chest and her scent still clinging to my skin. My cock still ached to be buried in her again. But I forced myself to tuck the covers around her and smooth the hair from her temple and leave.Duty called and I’d ignored it long enough. Since Adriana was shot, I’d stepped back from everything. The Brotherhood and the meetings and the responsibilities. Romano didn’t complain, not openly because he knew why I’d gone dark but everyone knew he was preparing to hand over the reins now. The old bastard was throwing a ball. A final, dramatic gesture before he stepped down and left the throne wide
Adriana’s POVThe room was silent. His arm was still draped heavy around my waist With one leg thrown possessively over mine like even in his sleep, he needed to pin me down and keep me in place. But hid breathing was slow now as I waited. Waited until the moonlight faded into a pale wash of early dawnuntil I could feel the faintest tug of morning air through the cracked window. My body ached. My thighs were sticky, my core sore and every inch of me used and branded by him. And I couldn’t stay even for one second longer. I needed water all over me. I needed space from him. And I needed to scrub his scent off my skin even though i already knew it wouldn’t come out. This is the last step I shouldn’t have taken but here we are. Holding my breath, I peeled his arm off me inch by inch while wincing when he shifted but didn’t wake. I slid out from under him, my feet hitting the cold floor as I rose slowly with my muscles trembling with exhaustion and overuse. I grabbed the oversized
Adriana’s POVI didn’t sleep not even after he left me shaking and gasping and laid bare and boneless on the bed. My body was sore in the best way. All stretched and marked nd used but not used up. Not even close. I lay there in the dark with the sheets tangled around my waist still feeling the weight of him inside me. The feel of his hands on my hips. The aftershock of that last orgasm is still twitching through my limbs. But it wasn’t enough. Not when my thighs still trembled with the memory of his voice in my ear. Not when every inch of mt skin felt too aware like it was waiting for his hands again. I was flushed anx damp with sweat and my hair a mess across the pillow. And I couldn’t stop replaying it all and his hot growl. The way he looked at me like i was prey. The unhinged hunger in him. And how, for one terrifying glorious moment, I thought he might actually break me in half. I was still thinking about all of it and still clenching around the memory of him when I heard th
He bit my other thigh his eyes locked on mine. And then finallyhe gave me what I needed. He latched onto my clit and sucked hard like he wanted to remove the pulse there. I cried out like I was losing my soul.He pressed his palm flat against my belly pinning me to the bed as he ate me with slow and devastating precision. His tongue moved in lazy circles, his lips tugging and then two fingers slid inside me curling just right. When he scraped his teeth across my clit and i fucking came.It was explosive and earth shattering. I shattered screaming his name and bucking beneath his mouth as waves of pleasure tore through me but he didn’t even stop. I remember when he used to go on and on till i am about to don’t. Even as I sobbed and shook, he ripped open the fly of his jeans with one hand on the bed and the other at his crotch. I saw the thick length of him in his fist all huge and flushed and ready. I missed his cock so fucking much. And then he shoved himself inside me in one brutal