VERNERO POV
A few days had passed on and the swindler stayed hidden in the shadows. To avoid attracting unnecessary attention, Enzo had to leave for work and come back at his usual time. And that meant working out the rorter case late at night. It was so infuriating knowing that there was someone who could harm us and our girl just right under our nose, but then still managed to stay so well and hidden.To ensure Leigh’s safety, I doubled up yet again on the security, guards, and systems. Although we were battling some kind of unknown force here, I didn’t want to bet with her safety. She was my whole world and I couldn’t risk anything happening to her. But I continued digging, hard and very attentive. One thing that was for sure was that if I found him, good heavens. Just the mere thought of it tore a very violent shudder from me, the excitement and that thrill of inflicting pain!Sitting in my office, I was going over all the possible people that could be involved in
HINT! HINT! HINT! The swindler is a "he". And he is related to the twins. I hope you enjoy this one too. I love you all guys, Huggies, RARE
LEIGH-ARIThe gun training didn’t work out as planned. Although I had been thrilled by the idea of learning how to use a real gun without shitting myself, it was safe to say I sucked in all ways possible when it came to it. I mean I didn’t even know the basics. Apparently, there was a badass way of holding a gun and how you should deal with it. Such as rolling it with on hands and fingers and shit. And man Verzi looked so damn hot when demonstrating. I had managed to drop my pistol on my toes at least a few thousand times that Verzi had to put something to protect my poor feet.I sucked so bad that I didn’t know how to hold a pistol, I didn’t when it was the right time to cork it, pull the trigger, and shit. At times I pulled the trigger without corking it, and then nothing happened. I even gave up on myself after trying forever. I was thankful that Verzi was so patient and lenient with me. He cradled me gently and tutored me without even feeling drained. But damn! In
LEIGH-ARIFrom the deep slumber of stupor, I felt I wave of icy coldness covering me. It took a second for my mind to register that my body was completely drenched. The biting cold caused wild shivers to erupt intensely, pulling me back from the dark world. My senses slowly connected with my body, my mind regaining itself. My ears were ringing loud, and my head felt like it had been banged against a hard concrete for at least a million times. My body was pinioned in a very cramped position making me immobile in all ways. I tried to move my arms, but what felt like cold chains held me back in place, and that explained why I felt like I was tied down.An aggrieved groan escaped my much-patched throat, causing it to hurt even more. I willed my heavy eyes to open but everything was just so blurry and unclear.“Rise and shine princess.” A voice called out from somewhere behind me, ringing painfully in my already disturbed ears. The unending throbbing in my head made it feel
XANDER POVFeeling utterly spent, I plopped myself on the lush bed in a hotel room which was rented under the name of some innocent citizen who had no idea how cruel this world is. Although I was a prick who felt guilty for not feeling guilty, pointing a gun and threatening the poor lady didn’t sit well with me. But I couldn’t use my own name; else the renowned Cattanio Twins would find me in a split second and eunuchize me without a second thought. Toying with them had been the best thing ever. I knew the east was well off gone, and as much as I hated to admit it, they did a good job at running the underworld shit. I was tired honestly. The blood on my hands was crying out loud, haunting me every day and night. I knew I couldn’t just leave; I was part of this world now and there was no going back. It was that kind of a thing that once you are in, there’s no going back. It was a vicious hole where you just kept falling and falling and falling deeper into the bottomless ab
LORENZO POVThe trepidation piled up with each heartbeat, my knee kept bouncing rapidly against the hard ground and my muscles clenched so tight I felt like I was going to have dead ass cramps all over my body. I didn’t even want to look at Verzi to know how he was, I already knew. He was a whole bughouse with emotions sending him over the edge. A lot of things flashed through my mind like a tape recorder, the otiose trip to Milan, had it been Xander’s plan? To get us away from Ari so that he can take her? And my girl, where was she? Was she still... God forbid that.I couldn't even begin to imagine what I was going to be if anything happened to her. The loud rumbling of our Chevy Camaro sounded from a distance. I looked to Verzi to find him already gathering his paraphernalia with a very angry face. I felt for him, in more ways than he could ever imagine. I wasn't being a dick for not being his shoulder. It wasn't that and it would never be that. But I wasn't the stro
VERNERO POV"SHE IS DYING!" Valerie's scream jolted me out of my daze pulling me to the moment. My body trembled at the sight of Leigh-Ari who laid limp in our arms, her head cradled in my blood-covered hands."You have to let the paramedics take her." Someone called out pushing me to the side. I robotically stood up and absent-mindedly watched as they strapped Leigh-Ari on the stretcher, rolled it out of the warehouse, and placed her in the back of the ambulance.The heavy sense of nothingness settled heavy on me, numbing everything from the inside. At that time, my heart stopped beating, my mind stopped running, everything stopped and I seized breathing. In that anathematized minute, I was dead. I wasn't living. The fire burning inside me had been extinguished, breaking to the ground the very remaining stem of my being when Leigh's body went limp in our arms. A very weak, tired hand clasped my shoulder,"Are you coming?" Enzo inquired in a very broken voice. My
LORENZO POV"Sir, you can't go into the ER while the doctors are treating the patient. Kindly wait here and we will get back to you." A very stern nurse called out trying to push me from the doors which were engraved with huge block red letters.I robotically just stared ahead, staring into nothing in particular."Hey..." Someone gently tugged on my shirt, I looked back to find Val looking at me with a very concern-filled stare, she wasn't judging. She was being the stronghold I needed at the very moment."She's is going to be alright. She is a fighter." She informed in a small voice, adding a little bit of smile. I turned my head and looked at the door yet again. Everything just felt so hallucinatory. Nothing about this whole vendetta made sense. It was as if someone had just pulled a cruel prank on us, and I was still recovering from the aftershocks. Or I had been too happy and caught up in the moment forgetting how cruel and unforgiving life actually is.I just cou
BACK IN DARK WOODS RAQUEL POV~~~FLASHBACK~~~I had just left the gym and was on my way to the east wing where my bedroom was. I rounded the corner and my mind drifted back to my lady. Although sometimes she made me want to scream because of how brainless she got, I liked her a lot. I mean just a few days back the mines nearly split her open, and I had just told her not to go into Dark WoodsShe was a very good person, sweet, very kind and so warm. Being around her never made me feel left out and I felt more comfortable with her than any of the girls here in Dark Woods. As a hard clodhopper who only knew how to hold a riffle and burst someone’s brain from at least 3km away, I never really clicked with the models and bikinis and martinis. I was gung ho punk and preferred my things a little way too tight.My lady never made me feel left out or ridiculed me for things I loved. She never, even for a second, made me feel like I needed to be someone around her. She was jus
VERNERO POVThe night is dark and full of terrors!I understood that saying more than anyone could ever fathom. I knew it intimately and felt its meaning in and out. For I have lived it before. One time through my sad hateful life, I breathed in darkness and breathed out terror. I ate darkness and dumped out terror. Darkness broke every ounce of humanity in me, turned it into terror, and made sure it reined all over my body. It took everything from me until I was but the darkness that had swallowed me whole.Lorik Cattanio, the man whom I once looked up to as a father, the one whom I had dreamed of him being my superhero, happened to be my worst nightmare. He was the darkness that took residence in me, snipping every little fiber of my being and replacing it all with maliciousness, remorselessness, the emotionless devil that feasted on the pain and screams of those I had trampled upon.For the very first time since he turned me into this, the sparkle of hope and light ha