All Chapters of The Return Of The Mafia Lord : Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
75 chapters
Chapter 51
The curtain drawn around the bed suddenly swooshed open. Standing there, breathing heavily as though he’d just run up all twenty floors of the building, was Peter. His tie was slightly askew, and he held a crumpled coffee cup in one hand.“Boss!” Peter gasped, stumbling slightly into the room. His eyes were wide with genuine terror as they darted from Xavier’s pale face to the IV drip. “Thank God. I heard you collapsed, and I just had to rush down here. Are you… are you alright?”Xavier straightened his shoulders marginally against the pillows. “I’m doing fine, Peter. Just a momentary lapse in judgment, nothing to worry about. We’ll be back in the office by lunch.”“Oh, that is a lie,” Ari interjected, crossing her arms tighter. She glanced at Peter, her gaze sharp. “He is not fine. The doctor said he has a severe respiratory infection, and worse, he is severely suffering from malnutrition.”Peter’s brow furrowed in shock. He looked at Xavier, his coffee cup freezing mid-lift. “Is th
Chapter 52
“Boss,” Marcus began, his voice a low, gravelly rumble. “There’s something weird going on.”Gabriele didn't look up immediately from his phone “Weird how, Marcus? Did the shipment get delayed again? I swear, if those dockworkers mess this up—”“No, Boss. It’s Antonio’s tracker,” Marcus interrupted, pointing a remote at the wall screen. A small red dot on the map was highlighted, completely static. “It hasn’t moved. Not one inch since yesterday.”Gabriele finally looked up, a slow, predatory smile spreading across his face, revealing a flash of white teeth. He tilted his head. “Oh? And what’s the location, Marcus?”Marcus rattled off the address: “A residential area near the waterfront, Boss,It's the Eastwood Heights district, where most of the major corporate players live.”The smile on Gabriele's face intensified. He set his tablet down with a deliberate thud. “Go get the boys, Marcus. Every single one. Full combat gear.” He leaned back, his eyes gleaming with malicious satisfaction.
Chapter 53
Before Xavier would be discharged,Ari went to her house first. She packed the few clothes she would be needing for the days she would be staying at Xavier's house. Xavier's discharge papers were processed very quickly and they were given the medications he would be taking. She got into the driver's seat, despite Xavier insisting to drive. She had told him to relax and just use every second he gets to rest. After minutes of driving,she finally pulled up to his house. They both got out of the car and walked to the front door,Xavier stepped aside for Ari who was expecting him to press the lock combinations. "The code is 44-09-17.” He looked at her, his expression serious..”Telling you because you will need it for the time being” Ari nodded and she typed the code into the panel beside the heavy door. The mechanism whirred, and the door clicked open. She let him in first, then pulled her suitcase into the house. “Welcome to my humble abode, Ari,” he said with a wry half-smile, sw
Chapter 54
Xavier shot upright in bed, a cold sheen of sweat coating his skin. The air in the room, cool moments before, suddenly felt suffocating. It was that dream again—the day of Alessia’s death, replaying with brutal, agonizing clarity. Every scream, every flash of light, every moment of sheer helplessness. Regret, sharp and physical, clawed at his throat. He was dimly aware of the sheets tangled around his legs. Why had he fought so hard to regain his full memories if this was the price? Back then, when he was blissfully amnesiac, he didn’t have this nightly torment. Ignorance had been a shield against this level of anguish. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stumbled into the marble-clad bathroom. His hands trembled as he yanked open the drawer beneath the sink, pulling out the bottle of powerful sleeping aids. He didn't bother with careful consideration, despair demanded immediate silence. He tipped seven small, white ovals into his palm, far surpassing the prescribed dosage
Chapter 55
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! The alarm on the table rang loudly, waking Xavier up. He shot upright on the sofa, instantly disoriented. His body was stiff, and a thick, soft blanket had somehow been tucked around him. He rubbed the sleep-crust from his eyes with the heel of his hand. He glanced around the spacious, dawn-lit living room And his eyes landed on the digital clock on the television cable box: 5:03 A.M. He was about to swing his legs over the side of the sofa when he stopped, completely still. A slow, creeping realization washed over him, banishing the last vestiges of sleep. He had slept. Not only had he slept, but he had slept in the living room,which wasn't so comfortable, not his bed. He had fallen asleep without the aid of the powerful sleeping pills he had nearly overdosed on hours earlier. And the most shocking fact of all, there had been no nightmare. Just a deep, peaceful, dreamless void. “What in the hell is going on?” he muttered, the question mor
Chapter 56
Xavier sat at the head of the table, looking impeccably sharp. To his right, just slightly behind him in a corner chair, Ari sat upright. Around the table were the fifteen core Directors. They exchanged uneasy glances, their hushed conversations breaking the silence. Mr. Davison finally leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. "Mr Stewart,we appreciate the urgent summons, but the lack of an agenda has us all a bit on edge. Could you shed some light on what this meeting is actually about?" "Indeed,Mr Xavier," chimed in Mr. Chen, a logistics specialist. "Our schedules are tight. This is about the quarterlies, yes?" Xavier raised a hand, a calm, measured gesture that instantly commanded attention. "Gentlemen. Please, be patient," he said, his voice quiet but carrying an unmistakable weight. "I promised an important meeting, and I assure you, it will be the most important discussion we've had this year and as a matter of fact,fun" Just as the Directors settled back into their se
Chapter 57
"Did you see his face?" Ari finally burst out, unable to contain her satisfaction when she was alone in the elevator with Xavier. She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. "When you asked him why he did what he did. It was priceless! I thought he was going to faint right there. I bet he was praying for the ground to swallow him!"She gestured emphatically. "It'll teach him, and every other backstabber in this company, not to mess with me. I'll make sure they regret it."Xavier leaned against the back wall of the elevator, feeling a bit tired, a genuine, easy smile finally gracing his features. "It makes you that happy, does it?" he asked, his voice low and amused.Ari stopped her pacing, meeting his gaze. "Of course, sir. You cleared my name, and you exposed a viper who almost cost me everything. It’s the happiest I’ve been in months."Xavier nodded. "Good. You deserve it." He checked his watch. "Did you make the reservations for lunch at The Meridian, as requested?""Yes
Chapter 58
When Ari finally emerged from the ladies' room, having carefully cleaned up,she walked into The Meridian's dining room. She immediately spotted Xavier in the corner booth, calmly sipping water while pressing his phone.Xavier glanced up, gave her a brief, reassuring nod, and simply gestured to the empty seat. He didn't mention the inconvenience, the quick dash to the store. He acted as if nothing had happened, “I was waiting for you so we could place our order” he simply told her.But for Ari, the rest of the day, and particularly the lunch, felt terribly awkward. She was intensely conscious of the expensive suit jacket—now draped carefully over her chair back—that had saved her from public humiliation. She hated that she had been caught unprepared, a word that described everything she strived not to be. She knew, rationally, that the early arrival of her cycle was something she couldn't control, but the feeling of disgrace lingered. She yearned to explain that it was ten days early,
Chapter 59
Xavier and Ari stepped out of the car. Neon lights painted the street in garish blues, reds, and greens. A throbbing bass beat vibrated up through the pavement, pulling a steady stream of people toward a single, massive doorway.“Alright, let’s do this,” Ari announced, her eyes bright with anticipation.They joined the end of a slow-moving queue. Xavier immediately looked uncomfortable, adjusting his roundneck. He’d paired it with dark cargo pants and sneakers making him look younger. Ari,by contrast, had changed into a knee-length black dress,professional but sleek and low heels.“They still do this draining process?” Xavier muttered, leaning in so Ari could hear him over the music.“Oh, yes.The gauntlet of ID checking is a rite of passage,” Ari replied, a smirk playing on her lips. The line crept forward. Finally, they reached the front. The bouncer was a massive man with shoulders that seemed wider than the doorway, his face set in an expression of practiced boredom. He barely gl
Chapter 60
“Watch it, lady!” a young woman snapped, her eyes barely visible under a heavy fringe of synthetic hair.Ari was shoved, her black dress a perfect target for spills and clumsy elbows. Then came the murmurs. Not shouted, but hissed—low enough to be cruel, loud enough to cut through the music.“God, what’s she doing out here?”“Like she doesn’t have kids to take care of.”The words struck her like physical blows. The urge to flee, to crawl back into the safety of the dark corner, was overwhelming. Her shoulders sagely slumped. She had thought a night would be great. Now, she regrets ever getting out of bed. She regretted not just staying home and finding a new soap opera to lose herself in. It would have been a thousand times less painful.“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she began to whisper, an automatic apology escaping her lips, not even sure who she was apologizing to. But before she could retreat, a hand—firm, warm, and strangely possessive—grabbed her wrist.Ari gasped and spun around