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Chapter 1 American Dream

Sera

Jim Harrison. Tall, blond hair, big baby blue eyes. And dimples that showed off every time he flashed his dashing white smile. Everything about him screamed American Dream-broad shoulders and a finely defined jaw, well-fitting Levi jeans, and the kind of face that made me envision a life where we got married, bought a condo in Jersey, and adopted a Golden Retriever named Buddy. Jim would train him to heel, sit, and stay. I'd let him sleep at the foot of the bed. We'd argue about it, but Jim would eventually forfeit and lose a quarter of his half of the bed. Buddy deserved the best.

I'd been crushing on Jim on and off for the better part of a year, but so had every single other teacher in the Ardmore, Pennsylvania district. Yet, somehow, on a sunny Thursday afternoon in October, Jim walked me out to my car after our students left for the day and started flirting with me. Reality turned to sand, running between my fingers.

Finally.

"Sera?" He laughed, waving a hand in front of my face. I snapped back to the real world in an instant, totally aware of the way my cheeks burned.

"Long day," I mumbled, flashing him a warm smile as I adjusted the heavy weight in my arms. "Did you say something?"

"I was just asking what you have planned this weekend." He gave me another smile that showed off the extensive and expensive dental work he'd had done as a teenager. He had a million-dollar smile most actors would envy.

"Grading," I replied, shrugging as I adjusted the numerous folders I was carrying in my arms. "I've been at it all week. Midterms, you know."

Jim smiled again, that dimple making my knees go a little weak as his eyes met mine. Of course, he wouldn't be able to empathize with the hell that was middle-school midterms. He was the beloved gym teacher, after all. While all of the teachers at Jefferson Middle School slaved away for a week straight, our fingertips stained with red ink and our eyes rimmed with dark circles, Jim threw dodgeballs at unsuspecting thirteen-year-olds and drank coffee in the teachers' lounge.

"What about the dance?" he asked, leaning on his shiny blue Subaru.

"What dance? Oh, God. The Fall Formal?" I set my papers on the hood of my beat-up Volvo station wagon and sighed heavily, running my hand over my face. "Is that this weekend?"

"Didn't some of your classes do the posters for the dance?"

"We might have done some editing." I massaged the crinkles between my eyebrows. The days had been blending into the weeks lately. How it was already October, I had no idea. I'd just been getting my footing at Jefferson as the eighth grade reading teacher. There were protocols and structures my education hadn't set me up for, not to mention temperaments and behaviors of students. The last six weeks had been dedicated to trying to bond with said students. It had been a tricky task, but I finally felt like I was finding my footing. Perhaps I'd gotten a little too cocky. After all, I was supposed to chaperone the dance.

There go my weekend plans.

"Well, I'm going," he mused, and something in his eyes gave me pause. "Maybe we could-I don't know-Grab a drink afterward?"

My heart started to race. "Like, all of us chaperones?"

"I was thinking just me and you, if you're cool with that.

I felt pretty smug all of a sudden as I causally leaned on my car, stealing a glance at my reflection in the frosty windshield. My thick, gently curling dark brown hair had fallen loose from the claw-clip I was in the habit of wearing, dark tendrils falling over my shoulders. I met his gaze again, noticing the way his eyes dipped to follow a single curl that rested above the swell of my breasts and curved over my tight sweater.

"Sure." I grinned. The crush I'd been harboring for him rushed to the forefront of my mind. Jim was a good guy. The kind of guy who took you to get ice cream and who you'd want to bring home to meet not only your family, but your Nonna. Well, maybe not my family, including my Nonna, but still.

"Cool, it's a-it's a date," he stammered a bit, cheeks shimmering a pale rose as he winked at me and climbed into his car.

"See you tomorrow," I said with a short wave as he pulled out of his parking spot. I sighed as I turned back to my car and fished for my keys, grumbling under my breath as the cold started to bite my skin.

I'd just put my key into the driver's side door when I heard a vehicle peeling into the parking lot. I looked up, alarmed, and spotted a white van with heavily tinted windows barreling over potholes in its haste to drive right at me.

Shock clouded my senses as I yanked on my door, but it was too late. The van hadn't even come to a complete stop before two men hopped out and rushed at me, their faces hidden by black masks. I yanked on the door again, prying it open, but one of the men grabbed me by my hair and pulled me backward so hard I lost my footing completely as I was dragged over the gravelly parking space between me and the van. I tried to get traction with my heels, digging them into the ground, but the searing pain in my scalp was distracting, and I grabbed at gloved fingers wrapped around my hair.

A hand pressed against my mouth before I could scream, and before I had time to register what was even happening, a bag came down over my head and a rope was tied around my neck. The gloved hands yanked the rope tight, securing the bag around my neck. I choked on a yelp as I was thrown into the van, my head cracking against something hard, cold, and metal.

"Wait," I pleaded, the word tasting of acid and coming out in a hoarse, desperate cry.

You have the wrong girl!

"You sure she's the one?" came a male voice somewhere nearby.

"Yeah, that's a Bianchi, alright. I could spot one from a mile away."

My blood ran cold. Maybe they didn't have the wrong girl. Maybe they had exactly who they were after. But why now? After all this time...

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Chapters
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1

Chapter 1 American Dream

10/01/2024

2

Chapter 2 My Blood Runs for the Family

10/01/2024

3

Chapter 3 Angel at the Auction

10/01/2024

4

Chapter 4 Mano Di Morte

10/01/2024

5

Chapter 5 Less Risk, More Reward

10/01/2024

6

Chapter 6 I'm Not Interested in You

10/01/2024

7

Chapter 7 I'm Your Daddy Now

10/01/2024

8

Chapter 8 Please Help Me

10/01/2024

9

Chapter 9 Gabriele's Girls

10/01/2024

10

Chapter 10 Don't Waste Your Breath

10/01/2024

11

Chapter 11 Don't Make a Sound

12/01/2024

12

Chapter 12 An Unexpected Lifeline

12/01/2024

13

Chapter 13 Let Her Starve

12/01/2024

14

Chapter 14 Daddy's Princess

12/01/2024

15

Chapter 15 She Fell For It

12/01/2024

16

Chapter 16 Find Him, Then Let This Go

12/01/2024

17

Chapter 17 You've Been a Bad Girl

12/01/2024

18

Chapter 18 Killian in My Bedroom

12/01/2024

19

Chapter 19 Can I Come In

12/01/2024

20

Chapter 20 Who Are You Here For

12/01/2024

21

Chapter 21 Sera's Knight in Shining Denim

12/01/2024

22

Chapter 22 I Don't Need To Be Saved

13/01/2024

23

Chapter 23 Kissing Death

14/01/2024

24

Chapter 24 Taste Her Fully

15/01/2024

25

Chapter 25 A Shred of Kindness From an Unlikely Source

16/01/2024

26

Chapter 26 Coming In Hot

16/01/2024

27

Chapter 27 Black And Red

16/01/2024

28

Chapter 28 I'm Free

16/01/2024

29

Chapter 29 He Wanted Me To Leave

16/01/2024

30

Chapter 30 Ricci Versus De Luca

16/01/2024

31

Chapter 31 What Is He Waiting For

16/01/2024

32

Chapter 32 Let Her Go

16/01/2024

33

Chapter 33 Sera Escapes

16/01/2024

34

Chapter 34 Why Did You Kiss Me

16/01/2024

35

Chapter 35 I Owe You

16/01/2024

36

Chapter 36 Retaliation And Promises

16/01/2024

37

Chapter 37 Sera Says Too Much

16/01/2024

38

Chapter 38 You Know How To Play This Game

16/01/2024

39

Chapter 39 Life Father Like Son

16/01/2024

40

Chapter 40 Don't Like To Share

16/01/2024