Page 13 of Until You Break
Now he sat in my home, tied up like a dog. Waiting for his owner. I filed the taste where it could work later, though every number on the page blurred. Work refused to hold when his face kept pulling through it. The drink went to the table. I went to the chair. Irritation curled low, warm as banked coal. “Fucking Emilio.” Almost fond.
One tap on my phone and the cellar filled the screen. Sweating concrete. A strip light buzzing. A room designed to be honest about time. He lay like stone pretending velvet. Pride stitched into stillness. Fingers curled under the thin blanket. Chin lifted just enough to argue with walls.
My jaw flexed.
Luca was right. The ghost of his pulse still lived under my thumb. I could count it without touching him and hated that I could. I told myself I was checking the lock. I watched for fifteen minutes. Then twenty. Every minute another hook. Every second a dare. The mic brought me small sounds: a swallow, the whisper of fabric, the clipped exhale when the light stuttered and settled. I shouldn’t have counted his breaths, but I did.
When I raised the volume, his swallow filled the room like a confession. When I zoomed the feed, his lashes quivered in rhythm. The camera’s red dot blinked like it thought it knew my heartbeat. “Enough.” I killed the feed, lying to myself. The images didn’t go when told.
The ceiling held its dark. The city hummed. Eventually exhaustion did what desire refused.
Morning came gray and sharp.The house slid into its rituals. Garlic and bread from the kitchen. Pans throwing their fits. A song from a radio with opinions. Marble cooled my feet as I crossed the hall. Sea air laid salt on gilt frames.
Two guards passed, murmuring about codes. The word port landed and didn’t apologize.
Alessandro turned the corner with a phone and a frown. He ended the call when our eyes caught. “Status?” His tone carried ledgers and guns—the kind of check-in that meant business, not pleasantries.
“Quiet where it shouldn’t be. Too quiet.”
His head tilted. “Heard you went to the roof last night to romance the skyline.”
“I prefer relationships with consent.”
“Since when?”
His mouth ticked. “Mama’s asking for you. She says it’s urgent, which means it’s personal.”
I kept on through the east hall. Oil-painted ancestors stared like they were still trying to invoice me. I knocked once on Mama’s door.
“Inside.” She opened it herself. Silk robe. Cigar smoke. Perfume with an edge. The room held quiet like a glass holds water. The faint clink of porcelain sounded like a verdict.
Outside, a gull cried once. The city thrummed under it.
Her eyes narrowed. I let the silence stretch. She never asked questions she didn’t already know the answers to. “You’re pleased with him,” she said finally.
“I am.” Smug, certain. “More than I expected.”
She nodded once. “He was Isa’s pride. My friend’s joy. She would have wanted him seen, not hidden. Safe, not wasted.” Her gaze cut to me, sharp as glass. “And now he’s yours.”
“Mine,” I confirmed. Possession, pride, truth.
“You’ll keep him, Damiano. Not because I tell you to, but because you want to. That’s what makes it real.” The smoke curled around her ring like it bowed. “The world will know soon enough. They’ll look at him and see you. They’ll look at you and know what he is to us.”
Belongs slid into place. Not a pawn. A gift. “I’ll keep him.”
“In one piece,” she murmured. “In the shape I like.” Her mouth curved. “Good boy. Isa would be glad. Riccardo will choke.”
I turned, pleased to carry her approval like a weapon. Her voice followed. “And Damiano?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t let them mistake it for weakness.”
“I’m not weak. I’m proud.”
“No. You’re precise. Let him be the proof.”
I left her with the smoke and the view, smug enough to smile. The neon mask sat warm in my pocket. Through its hollow eyes, the city already bent to me. And so would he. The world hadn’t seen him yet. They’d learn his name beside mine, under the same light, and they’d understand what it meant when a Valenti flame burned inside Bellandi hands. Mama was right. The world would know soon enough. It would be made official today.
