David Totti shot up from his king-sized bed as he heard the door to his bedroom being opened, his hand immediately reaching for the gun he kept in his drawer. He turned to his wife, she was soundly asleep, totally oblivious to what was happening. The bedroom was relatively large but he could feel someone staring back at him from the shadows. His feet hit the plush carpet in a hurry as he moved towards the switch. It was a risky move which could put his wife in danger but he was willing to take it. It was better to fight an opponent you could see. Just as his hand hit the switch, he heard his wife scream. He swirled round to see the intruder put a bullet between her eyes. He tried to move his arm but he couldn't, his whole body went stiff. The last thing he ever saw was the intruder's right arm as he struck him with the sledgehammer.According to the police report, they found blood-spatter stains, consistent with blunt force trauma, near the south of the bedroom.Forensic evidence sho
Alessandro’s POVI listened to the police officer as he spoke. Two months ago, Maya had set off in her car and made her way to the private art studio I bought in her name when she turned eighteen but she never returned home.The police were yet to find any credible lead or her body either and only the people in the mafia knew the truth but we were all tight-lipped about it. We didn’t need to spill anything to the police because we could handle the situation and take revenge by ourselves.I just wished they’d drop the case and never bug me about it again but I didn’t want to act rude and give them any incentive that I was trying to cover up something so putting up with them was the best thing I could do right now. Before she died, she begged for a meeting and after several weeks of delay, I finally gave in but when she never showed up, I knew something was wrong. I tried calling her but her phone went straight to voicemail. I called her friends but no one had seen her, Mike was nowhe
I closed the door of my pickup truck as I scaled the stairs, two at a time, and made my way into the conference room. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the large screen. I briefly glanced at Syrius, his face was set with concentration and anger as he chewed on his bottom lip, his eyes narrowed into slits."I got here as fast as I could. Has anyone traced the E-mail with which the video was sent?" I asked.To apologize after scarring me with Maya’s severed head, Syrius had brought me into his circle much to his associate’s surprise but they didn’t dare argue with him. "We hit a dead end. But, it doesn't matter anymore. They made their intent clear already, this is a statement of war." Syrius bit out."I know for certain that these same guys are the ones behind the constant attacks on our businesses. They couldn't have done all these without having an inside man.""If you believe there's a mole in your organization. Why haven't you taken him out yet?" "How do you know we're not?" Abel, Sy
The war between both sides of the Mafia began, and the war shook the whole state. Eventually, Alessandro's side won, but that was because of Gianna, who used Syrius's obsession over her to play him and lead him to his death.I could feel that sharp pain again, intensifying with each passing second. It was getting difficult for me to breathe and I decided it was because of the eagerness coursing through my body. The docks were quiet, you could only hear the sound of the sea as they rocked the boats, swaying them gently.I checked my watch once more as we hurriedly walked to the motorboat Syrius had arranged a few hours ago with a former business associate of his and a friend of mine.Five o'clock.We drove for nearly two hours to get here. Naturally, it should’ve been a little close to three hours but Alessandro did it in record time. We spotted Syrius on a motorboat that was yet to take off. "I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you." Alessandro’s voice rumbled.I watched Syrius
For the first time in months, I felt a sense of relief wash over me completely, serenading every inch of my body as I felt at peace. It had been a long, ugly battle that resulted in the deaths of a handful of people but it was worth it in the end. Syrius had been dealt with and defeated. His body was never recovered from the explosion but it was clear to everyone present there that there was no way he had survived it–Alessandro testified to it himself. He had triggered the explosion. As much as this battle was won to help me claim my birthright, I also knew that Alessandro took his revenge on Syrius to avenge the death of Maya who had been murdered in cold blood. It's been a week since Syrius was killed and I hadn't had the chance to celebrate this victory with Alessandro yet. He had sent me home with instructions not to leave the grounds until he returned. I heard a knock on my door and I glanced at the watch. 02:45 AM.Who could it be? The mansion was quiet, there was no comm
“I’m pregnant,” I whispered, holding my palms to my face as I felt a mixture of emotions coursing through me. I’d been pregnant for over two weeks now since I did the strip test twice to confirm if it was real but I hadn’t told anyone about it yet—until now.Andra and Aiden screamed at the top of their lungs as soon as I spoke, they both rushed over to envelop me in a bone-crushing hug, Andra was kissing me all over my face much to her delight and my dismay.I'd made a quick stop in Greece to see a fashion show and I had gotten into the country a couple of days ago with Andra and Aiden who had escorted me. We were having a fun day out and they were just discovering that I had been pregnant for two weeks now. I had earlier thought that I was down due to accumulated stress but after Aiden had forced me to go to the hospital, the doctor had dropped the bombshell on me with a flurry of congratulatory messages. Andra on the other hand was dividing godmother duties with a couple of my f
A few days later, I was resting out beside the pool. It had been a strenuous week and I was trying to use up my free time before I would need to get to work again. Things were speeding up already, the plan was in its final stages. Alessandro had decided that the time for sitting back was over and we needed to be on the front foot for once. Everyone had taken their stand and anytime from now, war cries would be called out in the streets and lives would be lost on both sides fighting for what they believed in. I had been gearing up to join in the fight because it was clear that even though my father had signed the indenture, he wasn’t going to give up so easily and I couldn’t just sit and wait for them to come at us, I wanted to contribute out there in the field but Alessandro had instantly rejected my offer. He wanted me here, safe and with soldiers to guard me and the baby growing inside me. It made no sense to me because shying away from the same people I was to lead after givin
Alessandro continued. “Lydia, meet Gianna, my wife who I told you about, she’s been an amazing partner right from the start.”I reluctantly stretched out my hand to take Lydia’s, who hesitated for a few seconds. “You’ve never mentioned her in any of our discussions before.” I reminded Alessandro, a forced smile plastered on my face. Alessandro opened his mouth and snapped it shut before recovering from the shock. “Well, my bad. I guess we never had that much time to discuss our previous personal relationships and the like. But Lydia is like family to this mafia, she’s been coming ever since our childhood days and she’s our honored guest here whenever she makes time to be around.”“I see,” I mused, uninterested in knowing anything about her. I remained silent and engaged in a stare-off with Lydia. I didn’t need a soothsayer to tell me Lydia had previously been involved with Alessandro's mistress. Lydia looked smug as she provocatively looked at me, I was still seething in jealousy
Alessandro's POVIt's been a week since Gianna left and we've searched virtually everywhere she's ever been to and reached out to nearly everyone she's connected to here in the United States but we haven't managed to find her just yet. My best guess was that she had left the country or worse. Yoda had pleaded with me to refrain from any negative thoughts but I knew better than to leave any angle exposed anymore. I had to prepare myself for the worst-case scenario and that was it.The board meetings that my half-brother had incited ended with me putting a gun inside his mouth and threatening to kill him and every member of his family if he ever dared to use this situation to make his move for my crown ever again. He'd been the number one name on my suspect list but after a thorough investigation, he was found clean and I moved on to the next target–Lydia. She'd somehow gotten news that I was about to hold her hostage and she managed to leave the house amidst the commotion. It wasn'
Alessandro's POV"What the hell did you just say to me?" I yelled, pushing myself off the chair as it clattered to the ground noisily. "I–I, She's, I–" The guard stammered, making me more irate as I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall."I'll give you one more chance to talk and if you don't, I'll kill you," I said in a menacing tone before releasing my hold on his neck and watching him crumple to the floor, coughing."Where's Gianna, my wife?" I asked again."She's missing." It felt as if my whole world had come crashing down on me. I was so close, so close to actualizing my dream so why did this have to happen at this point? "We've searched the grounds and we've managed to track the car she escaped into the airport but there's no CCTV footage of her ever getting into the airport and her name isn't on any flight list. We've run multiple checks into possible aliases she might used, but we've come up with nothing. Her phone was found inside the car and her mess
My eyes flung open as I let out a huge sigh of relief as I tried to normalize my haggard breathing. It had been all a dream, a very bad dream that I had just woken up from. I peered around the room, trying to figure out where I was and at the same time I was struggling to see with all the bright lights making their way into my eyes. Segments of the dreams flashed before my eyes, accelerating my heartbeat for a few seconds before I calmed down. It was only a dream, none of it was real. I wasn’t going to die. I tried to get rid of the bad dream that I had just woken up from and I was trying to figure out where I was. I was lying on a bed in a white room, the environment seemed oddly calm and peaceful enough. I lifted my hands towards my eyes to see that I had a cannula with a drip stuck in my left hand. I was beginning to piece everything together from my state, the room, and other equipment that was coming into my line of sight. I couldn’t do this anymore. Waking up every morning a
Alessandro has been trying to talk to me ever since I walked in on the moment he was having with his secretary. He’s called me dramatic and deemed my actions as a result of my pregnancy hormones but I knew I wasn’t driven by emotions rather, but by the truth. I knew what I saw when I walked into his office and I knew Alessandro as well—to some extent and that included knowing he hated being touched inappropriately and that meant the secretary wouldn’t have flung herself at him if it hadn’t happened before. It was pretty obvious that they had a relationship. I didn’t know what nature and I couldn’t bring myself to ask him but it was far from formal. Something had happened between them before or during our marriage. “You’ve refused to speak to me ever since you got back from Alessandro’s office, Gianna. I’m worried and I don’t like the look on your face.” Lydia had incessantly bugged me about telling her what happened but I didn’t know how to express the shame I felt. I feel so stup
It was almost as if that particularly good week didn't exist because everything went downhill after that. I had believed that my marriage was going to experience a turnaround and everything would be back to the way it once was before I got pregnant but it was all in my head. I exactly pinpoint what went wrong because there were so many things happening at the same time and I didn't have any control over any part of it. It all started when I had a brief talk with Lydia–telling her that my marriage was back on track my insecurities seemed to have vanished away and I was planning on doing something for Alessandro that would serve as a form of apology for even thinking that he would cheat on me with his secretaries. "I never pegged you as a lover girl, Gianna." Lydia laughed as she sipped wine from the glass cup in her head. "Well, I've always been one. Besides, I don't think I've done a lot of things for Alessandro for a while now. He's always turning down my offers, claiming he ha
A week had passed since my late-night discussion with Luciana and I hadn’t stopped thinking about her last words before she left. Gianna isn’t Mara, she never will be.If I wanted her to stay, I had to give her a good reason that wouldn’t make her want to leave if the chance ever arose. I had to make her feel loved and make her see that I was in love with her as well, hoping that someday she would fall in love with me and become mine when we were certain that this was what we both wanted. Lydia had been feeding me some bits of information and I didn’t know what to make of it. She was a close friend and she’d always been around for the past two decades so I was pretty sure that she wouldn’t want to lie to me but hearing what she was saying about Gianna was a lot for me to take in.I felt bad after brushing off her offer of having dinner earlier so I had to make it up to her by coming home earlier than I’ve done for the past few weeks but I was reluctant to talk to her yet.“I’ve been
Alessandro’s POVI was starting to catch feelings for Gianna despite our initial agreement and I didn’t know what to make of it. I didn’t want it to happen but it seemed I could do nothing about it despite how hard I tried to keep a leash on my feelings, it kept on gnawing at me, forcing me to see her in a different light. It’s been nearly a year since I stumbled upon her in the club and within that period, she had grown into her own woman. Maturing beyond her years and becoming a favorite in the pack. Her pregnancy was starting to show even more and it added to her beauty if that was even possible or maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me, trying to force me to acknowledge how I truly felt. She rarely spoke about her former home anymore but I knew she hadn’t forgotten. The baby was the only thing on her mind right now and when she’d given birth, she’d focus on taking control of the mafia.Oftentimes when we’ve spent the evenings taking a stroll through the woods, I’ve come
Lydia’s POVIt had taken me several months to come up with this plan and I wasn’t going to fail. Not now, not ever. Everything I’ve ever worked for depended on the success of this plan and I was willing to risk everything and anything to ensure that it succeeded. Not everything I told Gianna had been a lie. The truth was that we were a lot more similar than I would’ve loved to admit but that was the truth. I had a father who wanted to hand over everything we built to my brother who was unfit for the role despite my protests, he wasn’t going to change his mind and I didn’t have it in me to stay calm and watch everything be taken away from me. What neither Alessandro nor Gianna knew was that I’d left home for the past three years and I’d been bouncing around countries, trying to build a name for myself before going back to Russia to claim my birthright. During my visits to the United States with my family when I was a teenager, I fell in love with Alessandro, who was a decade older
Having Lydia around wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and for the first few weeks, she had carried herself accordingly. A small part of me had believed she was here to take Alessandro from me and despite the conversations we’ve had in the past, I wasn’t quite convinced until I saw it for myself. We’d grown closer as the days went by, she often joined Delight, Andra, and me in the gardens now and then as we shared a bottle of wine and traded jokes about our love lives.My relationship with Alessandro was deteriorating rapidly as we had both preferred to act delusional about the incoming split rather than discuss it like civilized adults. He would often give me the excuse that he had a lot to do at the office and between that and combining controlling Syrius’ investments, he never had any time for me. Every morning before I woke, he’d be gone and his side of the bed would be cold.I couldn’t talk to Yoda about this and I couldn’t tell the girls either, so I kept it within myself,