Sofia.After, I had successfully brought him in as in dragged the stranger to my home and put him on the fairly small couch that can barely contain his bulking and muscly frame. I ran to my bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit to see to his wounds. My hands shook as the familiar scent of the crimson liquid tainted and stuck to my hands and clothes from having too much contact with the injured male.The feel of blood on my hands was triggering but I needed to help the green eyed spicemen heal in any way that I could.Slowly taking his tattered, dirty, bloody suit jacket off and his no longer white shirt, I began attending to the small cuts on his abdomen, chest, and arms and stitching up the deep gash on his torso. It bled so much and it freaked me out but I somehow managed to disinfect and stitch it up to have it finally warped in a thick layer of gauze.I worked in silence and tried to shut down my racing mind as it started to conjure dangerous thoughts and doubts considering the s
Sofia."Angel," he rasped out making my eyes widen, reaching behind me to grab the glass of water from the tray.I took my hand off of his warm cheek and heard him growl lowly.The sudden action made me almost throw the glass of water at him, but luckily he grabbed it and gulped it down. Impressed with his quick reflexes, my brain stuttered. Did he just....actually growl?"Want more w-water?" I asked him softly taking the glass from his hand and helping him into a sitting position, hoping that it was more comfortable.He looked over at me for a few seconds with unknown emotions swirling in his eyes then replied with a husky 'yes' and I obliged getting him more water to gulf down."Y-you need to have some food, you must be h-hungry and if you don't like what I had made, then, I'll make you something else-" he quickly interrupted my awkward word vomit, saying that he'd have whatever I made him, which made me blush again.I averted my eyes away from his beautiful jade ones that shone with
Author's POV.They hated the way this had to be done but reluctantly decided to take Sofia with them. Nikolai and Nial had arrived at her cabin an hour ago, finding Nadei in a dazed state as he gazed down at her.Their eyes widening, mouths gaping like fish out of the water, hearts almost jumping out of their chests. The two brothers inspected the small girl noticing everything and nothing about her.She was...perfect. They couldn't get over her beauty and kindness as Nadei was more than happy to tell them about how sweet she was while helping him. And they noted the change in his face as he talked about her like he had known her for years, the life in his eyes had finally returned and she was the cause of it.The pretty little angel was the reason why their older brother was smiling and they wanted that too.However, the hopefullness was overshadowed by the huge amount of guilt gnawing at their hearts. The only thing on their mind was how Sofia was going react at their selfish act of
Sofia."Language, little girl!" Was the first thing that came out of Nadei's mouth when he regained his cool to what I had said.I flinched seeing his seething form approaching my slightly trembling body on the bed to grip my hand in a powerful hold, discarding how I struggled to not break into hysterical tears.The other two stood winced at the aghast look on my paling face.Pulling me from the headboard that I was backed against to stand in front of their towering frames that seemed, even more intimidating at this closeness.I shook my head at Nadei's unwavering grip and slowly pulled my wrist away. I couldn't help but want to hope for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. So, I only lowered my eyes to the ground and attempted to avoid looking at him- them.I never liked having eye contact with others because it made me feel awkward and shy. And this was even worse. So much worse."Look at me," the still unknown man with the pretty brown eyes, softly, stated. "Look at me, Darli
Sofia.I had been roaming in literal circles for the past thirty minutes to get them to lose my trace and confuse them into buying me some time to figure out whatever the hell I was going with this.I walked for a few minutes before stopping in my tracks when I heard distant yelling and shouting. Damnit, they were closer than I thought, the three idiots caught up to me.Curse you short legs!My feet padded across the damp dirt as I tried to get my running pace back on track to warm up my shivering body and avoid stepping on any more rocks and twigs.I started to feel the blood oozing out of the small cuts on my feet from running barefoot in the middle of a forest and to be honest it wasn't the worst of all this so far, till now.I always hated running, even in PE classes at school it was my least favourite thing to do, to put it fairly but yet it seems as if it was the only thing that I had been doing my entire life.The irony.I halted mid step when I heeded the loud and fast footstep
Sofia.Nadei kissed the spot behind my ear, my moan was muffled by Nial's lips. He pushed his tongue in tasting every single spot in my mouth tangling our tongues together his caressing mine hungrily.No. Why the hell wasn't I stopping this?Feeling myself getting lost in the feel of Nial's soft, addictive and devourable full lips and Nadei's small sucking and kissing on my nape. I didn't fail to notice another pair of lips moving my shirt to the side to get attached to my jaw and collarbone kissing, licking and sucking my supple skin.My knees buckled ever so lightly from the amount of pleasure I was feeling and Nikolai's arms gripping my waist brought me back to earth. What the fuck?I finally gathered what's left of common sense in me and quickly pulled away from Nial to push away myself out of their possessive grip. I glared at them before directly meeting their eyes just to be startled by the lovey-dovey awe-struck look on their stupidly gorgeous faces.Making me even more confuse
Sofia.I didn't even realize it when Nadei sat on a chair in their fancy dining room and pulled me onto his lap not noting my discomfort.I looked up, glaring at him. My anger and confusion were blinding my rational side, suddenly not fearing him anymore. "Let me go, I'd like to sit down. Over there." I pointed at a random empty chair.Looking down at me with amusement struggling to pull his arm that was pinning me by the waist to his front, he answered with a sharp 'no' making me scowl at him and stare at the other two across from us with a pointed glare."Let.Me.Go.Now!" I shouted, insisting on every word as I dug my short but neatly clipped nails at his hand getting tired of this stupid mouse and cat crap.He growled. It sounded feral, animalistic. A fucking warning and my eyes widened as my chin got held between his long fingers. Here comes the pain. I shuddered anticipating the worst as always.His voice was strained and angered, "Stop moving or I'm going to do something you won't
Sofia.I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and I sobbed harder clinging to the person not even caring that it was one of the trio. Burying my face in his chest inhaling his calming earthy and minty scent making my waterfall of tears stop to gather my willpower.I knew that I was hugging one of the monsters that decided to cage me again. But I didn't care enough to push him away knowing that I'd use any type of comforting.I was a touchy sensitive person and hugs always made me feel good. They pulled me to earth and brought me a sense of calmness but this wasn't the case this time.Feeling my tears and sobs subsiding to small sniffles. I hurriedly pushed his hands away standing up stiffly to lock gazes with his pretty hazel guilt-filled eyes.Nikolai.If he felt guilty, so why not just let me go?And why did I feel safe in his arms despite my growing resentment for him and his brothers?Shaking my head out of the intrusive thoughts, I peeped at the other two giants, halfheartedly mumb
Author’s POV.The car was a coffin on wheels.Blood slicked the seats, thick in the air—iron-heavy and suffocating. Aurelio was slumped between Nadei and Renzo, his body unnaturally limp, his skin so pale it looked like wax. His chest barely moved, each breath a shallow, ragged fight. The bullet wounds—one in his side, the other in his chest—kept pouring, no matter how hard they pressed down.Luca was driving like a madman, tires screeching as he weaved through the streets. Nikolai was in the passenger seat, turned around, his hands pressing over one of the wounds with brutal force. It wasn’t enough."Fuck! He's losing too much!" Nadei snarled, his voice raw, desperate. His hands were drenched in Aurelio’s blood, his grip unrelenting. "Where the fuck are the doctors?"“We’re almost there,” Luca gritted out, but the panic in his voice betrayed him. He was flying through red lights, pushing the engine to its limits, but it wasn’t enough.Nothing was going to be enough.Aurelio coughed,
Author’s POV.The night smelled like death.Gunfire cracked through the air, cutting through the darkness like a jagged blade. The warehouse was an inferno of noise—bullets tearing through metal, shattering glass, bodies hitting the concrete. The scent of blood, gunpowder, and sweat clung to the air, thick enough to choke on.They had walked into a trap.Nadei knew it the second they stepped inside. The way the shadows shifted wrong, the unnatural stillness before the first shot rang out—this wasn’t just another hunt.This was an ambush.Sokolov fucked them over."Cover!" Nikolai’s voice was sharp, cutting through the chaos as he dove behind a stack of crates, returning fire.The enemy was everywhere, moving like wraiths between the rusted machinery and stacks of abandoned shipments. The dim industrial lighting cast long, distorted shadows, turning the battlefield into a hellscape of flickering shapes and shifting figures."Where the fuck are they coming from?" Renzo snarled, ducking
Nial.The warehouse smelled like blood.It clung to the concrete, soaked into the rusted metal, crept into the cracks in the walls. It was inescapable, thick and suffocating, and yet, I breathed it in without flinching. Sokolov had been here for two days. Two days since we’d dragged his broken body into this room, tied him up, and left him at the mercy of Sofia’s brothers.Two days, and he was still alive.Disappointing.I stood near the entrance, my fingers wrapped around the hilt of my knife, watching as Valentino worked. He had always been the worst of the four when it came to things like this—where Luca was calculated, Renzo was efficient, and Aurelio was ruthless, Valentino enjoyed it. There was no cold detachment in his actions, no professional distance. He liked the suffering, liked the way men broke apart under his hands.And Sokolov was breaking.The Russian was barely recognizable. His face was swollen, split open in more places than I could count, one of his eyes too damage
Nial.The house had never been this quiet before.Not since Sofia and the kids had come into our lives, filling every corner of our world with noise, warmth, and something we never knew we craved—peace. A twisted kind of peace, given our lives, but peace all the same. Now, standing in the dimly lit living room, the quiet felt suffocating. Like the silence before a storm but this time the storm was ragging inside of every single one of us.Jade was asleep upstairs, curled up in the mountain of stuffed dinousaurs Sofia kept buying him, despite his insistence that he was "too big" for them. Lorelai had dozed off hours ago, wrapped in Sofia’s arms, while she ran her fingers throughour little girl's hair, murmuring soft lullabies in Italian. I had stayed just long enough to watch the way she melted into our children, her love for them so deep it left something aching in my chest.Then I had left, unable to shake the restlessness thrumming under my skin.My brothers were scattered throughou
Nikolai.It started small.A conversation here. A passing look there.At first, I thought it was my own exhaustion playing tricks on me. The last weeks had been heavy, slow in some ways, too fast in others. Six weeks since Arsen had nearly died. Six weeks since Sofia had looked us in the eyes and told us she wouldn’t choose—because she couldn’t.And somehow, none of us had walked away. We never would.I had expected the distance between us and Arsen to stretch, for the resentment to fester even more, but that’s not what happened.Instead, it was the quiet things.The way he stepped back when tempers ran high. The way he never inserted himself where he wasn’t wanted but was always just there when it mattered.I noticed it first when Nial had come back from hunting one of Sokolov's consiglieres, stiff, a rare tension lining his shoulders. He didn’t talk about it—not to us. Not to anybody. He just went straight to the back porch, standing in the cold, watching the night sky like he did w
Sofia.The air in the room was thick with unspoken words, heavy with the weight of a decision that could change everything. The dim light barely reached the corners of the space, casting long shadows against the walls, but none were as dark as the emotions brewing between me and the men standing behind me.The men who had built a life with me. Who had fought for me. Protected me.And now, I was asking them to make room for him.For Arsen.The man they had every reason to hate. The man I had every reason to hate. But I couldn’t.Not after everything.I sat beside his bed, my fingers curled tightly around his hand, unwilling to let go. He was stable but still unconscious. The bandages covering his torso were proof of the fight he had barely survived, a reminder that I had nearly lost him before I even had the chance to face the truth.I loved him.And that truth wasn’t something I could run from anymore.Behind me, my men were silent, but I could feel their presence like a physical weig
Sofia.The weight of the room pressed down on me, thick with unspoken words and unresolved tension. Arsen’s shallow breaths and the scent of antiseptic—it all felt suffocating. But more than that, I felt the suffocation in my chest, in my heart. The space between us was growing larger by the second, and I was helpless to stop it.I could feel the heaviness of my thoughts, the constant battle inside me between the love I couldn’t deny and the anger I couldn’t quite bury. I wasn’t sure what was worse—loving him or trying to pretend I didn’t feel anything at all.But I had to face it. I loved Arsen. No matter how many times I tried to bury it, no matter how many walls I built around my heart, it was still there, pulsing, undeniable. And now, as I sat beside his hospital bed, watching him fight for his life, I couldn’t pretend any longer.The door to the room creaked open, and I didn’t need to look up to know who it was. Nadei’s scent, the heavy weight of Nikolai’s presence, the quiet foo
Sofia.Every breath I took felt like a struggle, as though I couldn’t quite fill my lungs with enough air. The room felt smaller than it should have. The air thicker like a gloomy fog setting over me.I paced, walking back and forth along the hall, running my hands through my hair in frustration. The quiet had become unbearable. The silence that once felt like solace now felt like an invisible weight pushing down on me.I wasn’t sure what I was waiting for, or what I even wanted to happen. But I knew I couldn’t stay still—not after Nikolai’s words, not after everything I had seen, everything I had felt.The door to the room where Arsen lay was cracked open. I could see the dim light from the hallway spill inside, casting shadows across the floor, the walls, the bed where he lay. I had been avoiding it all night, but now, I couldn’t stay away any longer.With slow, deliberate steps, I crossed the threshold and stepped inside.Arsen still looked like he was drifting between life and dea
Sofia.The safehouse was too quiet.Even with security outside, even with the occasional sound of footsteps in the halls, the silence felt wrong.It had always been like this—a cold, calculated kind of quiet, designed for function, not comfort. The walls were thick, reinforced, soundproofed. No outside noise. No echo of the life that existed beyond these walls.I had stayed here once before. Years ago.Back then, silence had been a luxury. A moment to breathe.Now, it was suffocating.I moved through the dimly lit halls, my bare feet light against the marble. The scent of coffee lingered in the air, rich and bitter, but when I reached the kitchen, I found the pot empty. Someone had been here recently.I exhaled sharply and filled a glass of water from the sink, bringing it to my lips with slightly unsteady hands.“Drinking water instead of coffee? That’s new.”I didn’t turn at the sound of Nikolai’s voice. “You’re one to talk.”The chair scraped against the floor as he pulled it out,