Semua Bab Nikolai’s Tainted Nun : Bab 61 - Bab 70

Chapter 58 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai and Vincenzo did not return that day. Or the three days after. Neither did Luigi come. Stacy and I had fallen into a pattern. If there was one thing you didn't have to guess about Stacy, it was the fact that she liked to talk. A lot. After learning she was an only child of a filthy rich widower, raised in the harsh reality of the mafia world, I understood why. Kegan worked on his laptop for most of the time, avoiding us both as much as he could but never being too far away should we need anything. I traced the rim of my glass with my finger, watching ripples form across the surface of the super-cold liquid. I missed my life, as boring as it was. I missed Maeve. I missed Mother Beatrice. I missed not having a lot to be guilty about. Yet, I also missed Nikolai. The phone he gave me lay silent on the table beside me. I'd stopped checking it obsessively yesterday, tired of being disappointed each time the screen remained dark. No messages. No

Chapter 60 ⟿❂⟾ Nikolai ⟿❂⟾ Rage is a cold thing when you know how to harness it. I learned that lesson at twelve, when my father caught me crying after I'd been beaten by three older boys. He didn't comfort me, nor did he let my mother. Instead, he tied the boys down and forced me to brand their foreheads with a curling iron. "Anger is a luxury for fools and children," he'd said. "Power comes from control." Right now, I felt that familiar frost crystallizing in my veins. My feet tapped the floor repeatedly, the only outward sign of the amount of rage I actually felt inside, so much that it had developed a tune by now. "ETA three minutes," Manuel announced. He’d insisted on coming back with us and getting back to work now that Travo was buried. The earlier we found and took care of our enemies, the better. Vincenzo hadn't spoken since we'd received Kegan's call. His silence was more telling than any tirade. His pregnant wife had been shot. If I hadn't insisted on bringing Syl

Chapter 62 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ Two days had passed since the attack. Two days of hushed conversations between Nikolai, Vincenzo and Kegan, of men in dark suits coming and going at all hours. Two days of Nikolai being everywhere but with me. We'd moved to a different safehouse—a modernist glass and concrete structure perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. It was more remote than the last place, with security systems that made Fort Knox look like a child's piggy bank. It was beautiful in a cold, imposing way, much like the man who owned it. I stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and watched seagulls dive and soar over the crashing waves below. Despite the breathtaking view, I felt hollow and empty. "Penny for your thoughts?" Stacy's voice came from behind me. I turned to find her approaching slowly, one arm in a sling. She looked better than she had two days ago. Color had returned to her face, and her movements were more fluid, less pained. "

Chapter 64 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ Inside the room, I tried to distract myself with a book, but the more I tried, the more the words blurred on the page. Eventually, I gave up and decided to take a shower, hoping the hot water might actually help me relax. I turned the water as hot as I could stand it and stepped inside, letting it wash over me. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind, but the whole conversation at the table just seemed to be on replay in my mind. First it was powers, then birthmarks. Did they think I was some psychic? The very idea was absurd. I was no saint, no prophet. I was just... me. Whoever that was. I don't know how long I stood there, lost in thought, before I heard the bathroom door open. I froze, my hand automatically reaching for the towel hanging just outside the shower. "It's just me," Nikolai's voice came through the steam. "Don't stop on my account." I pulled the towel around me anyway, turning off the water and stepping out of the shower. Niko

Chapter 66 ⟿❂⟾ Sylvia ⟿❂⟾ I must have fallen asleep eventually, because I woke to sunlight streaming through the windows and the sound of activity in the house below. I sat up, disoriented for a moment before the events of the night before came rushing back. Nikolai. The interrupted 'therapy'. The conversation we had. The figure I thought I'd seen in the trees. The conversation at dinner. A knock at the door made me jump. "Miss Sylvia?" a woman's voice called. "Mr. Gianni asked me to bring you breakfast and some fresh clothes." I wrapped myself in the robe I was still wearing from last night and opened the door to find one of the household staff with a tray of food and a garment bag draped over her arm. "Thank you," I said, stepping aside to let her in. "Is Nikolai—Mr. Gianni—around?" "He had to step out early this morning," she explained, setting the tray on a small table by the window. "He asked me to tell you he'll be back by noon and that you're to stay in the