My mafia love

22~ Revealed.

Kelly's POV:

The mansion itself had become strangely familiar during my recovery, so familiar that I occasionally caught myself forgetting that I had once been terrified of every corridor and every locked door. Adam and Derrick still drifted in and out of my days with their usual brand of chaos, turning even the simplest conversations into arguments that somehow ended with both of them insisting they were right, while Sasha continued checking on me often enough that I suspected she had quietly adopted me without informing anyone. It should have felt comforting, and in many ways it did, but there remained one problem I couldn't seem to solve.

Cade.

No matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise, my thoughts always seemed to find their way back to him.

I hated it.

I hated the way I noticed him before anyone else entered a room.

I hated the way his voice seemed capable of cutting through every distraction around me.

Most of all, I hated the fact that despite everything he had shown me, despite every warning he had ever given me about exactly who he was, some reckless part of me continued searching for evidence that there was more beneath the surface.

Unfortunately, that reckless part of me was becoming increasingly difficult to silence.

Three days after our conversation in the gardens, I found myself curled up in one of the library armchairs with a book resting open in my lap, although I had spent the better part of an hour staring at the same paragraph without absorbing a single word. My attention drifted constantly, moving from the pages to the windows and back again until the sound of footsteps approaching finally pulled me out of my thoughts.

Adam appeared first, looking far too pleased with himself for someone who hadn't spoken yet.

The expression alone made me suspicious.

His grin widened the moment he saw me looking at him, which only confirmed my concerns.

"Before you start complaining, I'd like it officially noted that this wasn't my idea and I argued very passionately against it," he announced while dropping into the chair opposite me with all the dramatic flair of a man preparing to deliver devastating news.

I lowered the book slowly.

"The fact you're speaking like that tells me I'm about to hate whatever comes next."

His grin remained firmly in place.

"You're attending a charity ball this weekend."

I stared at him. He stared back. Neither of us spoke for several seconds.

Eventually I placed the book down entirely before asking why on earth anyone would think that was a good idea, because surely nobody could look at my recent history and conclude that being placed in a room full of powerful strangers was the natural next step.

For once, Adam's expression softened slightly.

He leaned back in his chair before explaining that ever since Anissa's death, speculation had been spreading throughout circles that neither of us would ever belong to, and the longer I remained hidden away inside Cade's estate, the more attention my disappearance attracted. According to him, people were asking questions, rumours were multiplying faster than facts, and several organisations had already begun trying to determine whether I was alive, dead or being held somewhere against my will.

The explanation immediately made me uneasy because I didn't know so many powerful strangers knew of my existence after i'd been living a life so peaceful and alone.