Silent love

Chapter 61

On the previous chapter...

She didn't say anything. But she stored it away like a blade under the ribs.

Just in case.

Silvio's lips tightened, jaw flexing subtly. With slow care, as if shutting a door on a bad memory, he locked the screen.

The device vanished back into his jacket pocket, the movement smooth, controlled.

No hurry. No panic.

Just the weight of what that message meant hanging in the air.

He exhaled, low and steady. "We'll head back through Taranto. Let Riccardo run point on the west shipments. I want everything clean".

Fiorenzo didn't notice the shift. He was already leaning back again, closing his eyes. "Wake me when we get there".

But Seraphina kept watching Silvio, just a moment longer.

He looked calm.

Too calm.

And that was how she knew something had changed.

                                  ʚ ɞ

The air outside was thick with late-spring heat and the perfume of lavender fields, sun bleeding over the hills like something soft before the storm.

The car was black, matte, and humming low as it pulled up to the hotel where the Accorsi twins stayed. From the outside, it was all vines and clean stone and the illusion of calm.

Inside the car, no one was calm.

Silvio sat in the front passenger seat, one hand resting on his thigh, the other spinning a ring around his finger. His light blond hair was cropped close, buzzcut clean and sharp. His icy eyes were hidden behind mirrored lenses, and his earrings flashed like warning lights every time he turned his head. The beard was trimmed to perfection.

He looked like the kind of man who could kill with a look and write it off as an accident.

Fiorenzo was at the wheel, long fingers loose on the steering wheel, his hazel eyes scanning the road like he didn't care and noticed everything. He had that lean Italian arrogance to him 6'3 but slouched, like height was optional and power was casual. Black curls a little messy, jawline a little too perfect.

In the back, Seraphina sat like she belonged on a throne, all elegance and death in tailored black trousers and a silk blouse that caught the light like oil. Her grey eyes were unreadable. Her legs were crossed. Her presence was a warning.

Then the front doors opened.

And they stepped out, the Accorsi twins.

Cecilia was first, heels hitting the stone like a dare. She wore black lace and nothing underneath that mattered. Her dress hugged her like it knew her secrets. Her long black hair was loose, her black siren eyes gleaming with something unholy.

She slid into the car like she owned it, didn't bother saying hello. Just clicked the door shut behind her and exhaled like she was already bored.

"So". She glanced at Seraphina, then Silvio. "What dickhead is she marrying now?"

Seraphina didn't even blink. "Guess you'll find out soon enough".

A second pair of heels followed, lighter, more amused. Chrysanthe was dressed in pale silk, white and pearl details catching every glint of sunlight. Her long platinum-blonde hair was braided with little silver clasps, her blue almond eyes lined in soft shimmer. She looked like a doll that might stab you mid-lullaby.