Carina sat at the table and faced her parents. Her hands trembled with joy and relief as she pushed the check across the warped kitchen counter, covered in happiness by a plastic sheet of yellow sunlight. "Eric and I want you to take this to pay off our debts," she announced. "There won't be any arguments or protests. We've been talking about this for a long time, and we're lucky to have that much money. We want to share. It makes sense. is very big to us, so please accept this as a gift from us."The identical stunned expressions on their faces brought stinging tears to her eyes. How many nights had she stayed awake, feeling guilty for not being able to help her parents out of their difficult financial situation? Like her siblings, she hates helplessness suffocating her. She had decided to make a deal with Eric and her overwhelming emotions right now were worth it. This is a payment for safety and security, for her family to alleviate a deep pain she has struggled with since her fath
"I'm serious. I had a few minutes to think. And it was perfect. You're both too self-respecting, so you know he's not going to sleep with anyone else. This is how you got it. You can't have the sex you need, and then after a year, you just have to say goodbye, no hard feelings, no complicated stuff . It wasn't because she was confused by Anna's suggestion No, it was just the opposite. The idea appealed to her. She lay awake at night, picturing him in the room at the far end. His naked, muscular body stretched out on the bed, waiting for her, her hormones screaming for that fantasy. Ended up in a mental hospital at the end of this year.Cause: Single status. Anna snapped her fingers in front of her and pulled Carina out of her daydream. "You've disappeared from me again. Is Eric coming tonight?" "Oh, yes, your brother's probably going to love this sort of thing tonight. Or maybe he'd prefer a root canal or a prostate exam." "How are you two living together? Apart from that physical
Eric made his way through the bookshelves by himself. A certain guy in black clothes is reciting poetry into the microphone, talking about the connection between flowers and death. The scent of coffee mochas hit his nose, the sounds of a flute and the faint howl of a wolf drifted into his ears. All his impressions were on his wife.Her ebony-black hair fell loose and wild behind her shoulders. Her black-framed glasses really accentuated her blue eyes, which widened slightly to her surprise as she watched him approach. The sweater hugged every inch of her attractive breasts, then fell loosely around her hips. A tight black mini skirt stopped at thigh level. At the second glance, Eric corrected his opinion, the skirt was much shorter than he had previously thought, because that piece of fabric was quietly pulled up in a comfortable sitting position. her and now it can barely cover her. Knee-high black leather boots fully complemented her outfit. Those strong Amazon legs of hers were wra
She threw her head back and laughed. Eric really didn't know if he was annoyed by her amusement, or drawn to her by her undisguised beauty. This is a woman who loves life and laughs until her stomach hurts. None of them will be a calculated smile or a shy little smile. However, he hated it when she laughed at him. Even though he had grown up, she was still able to pull him back to the time when he was trying every day to be cold, and she was hindering his every move. "Funny, I don't remember touting my body. Did I miss something?" He frowned at her irresponsible expression about their trouble. "You know what I'm trying to say. The night of last night's party got out of hand, and I'll take all responsibility on myself.""How generous you are." "Can you stop your sly mouth. I'm trying to tell you that I've crossed the line and it won't happen again. I drank too much, and felt angry at Conte. . "Apology accepted. I'm also sorry for being a part of all those scenes. Let's leave it beh
Anna snorted. "One thing is for sure, you and I will do it right away without thinking, because we will never pass up a single chance. But Al is different. He feels happy just by just doing it. share - he doesn't need the glories of publishing His poetry has been printed in several magazines, and he even joined a group of critics but all of them are for others rather than for himself. That's our problem too, brother. It's always been like that.""What?""We're the only ones to take. I guess it's partly because of our unhappy childhoods." They both watched Carina as she escorted the guests out the door with her usual sense of humour. "But Al always finds a way to do the opposite. There's nothing he wouldn't be willing to do for others."Anna suddenly turned to face him. Her eyes shone with the menace he remembered seeing as a child. Her fingers pointed directly at his chest. "A warning for you, man. I love you so much dear brother, but if you hurt him, I'll kick your ass myself. Got it
Eric closed the door behind him and fell into the leather chair. He stared at the drawing board and curled his hands into fists to fight the restlessness. He wants to be creative. He envisioned materials like limestone and brick, combined with undulating glass and sparkling smooth curves. Those images danced behind his closed eyelids at night, and here he is, the owner of the Dreamscape company, and stuck most of the day in board meetings. treat.He cursed under his breath. Okay, so the board members pissed him off, with the crappy tactics of the desk people and the ideas of the diggers. Most of them were against the contract for the waterfront project, believing that the company would go bankrupt if he took the job and couldn't meet it. And the board was right. You only have a simple solution.Don't let failure.Conte's party will take place this Saturday night and he still has nothing to secure a business meeting between them. Hyoshi Komo also did not call back. Trapped in a block,
Panicked, she threw the knitted bedspread over the chair and closed the door behind her. Then she darted up to the front room and stopped right in front of him. "Greet."He looked immediately suspicious. A lock of blond hair fell on his forehead and his eyes narrowed, as if he couldn't believe she could be so kind. Guilt writhed inside her, but she ignored it."Greet". He looked around the house and she held her breath. "What's up?""Nothing. I'm going to cook dinner. Unless you're tired and want to go to bed right now."One of his eyebrows shot up at her hopeful tone. "It's already six o'clock.""Yes. So, I suppose you have a lot of work to do, don't you? I'll bring you food upstairs to the office if you want."Now, he looked completely exasperated. "I've worked enough for today. Now I just want to relax with a glass of wine and watch the football game.""Is there a Mets team playing?""Don't know. They're not eligible to play in the playoffs anyway. But the Yanks still have a chance
Eric stood on the dock and watched a row of boats bobbing in the water. Irritated waves kept rising and crashing against the shore as a harbinger of winter. The orange sunset crept through the menacing darkness and splashed brightly into the light arch of the Beacon Newburgh bridge. He reached into his Armani jacket and inhaled the clean, fresh air. Calmness seeped through his body as he stared at the mountain he loved so much, and once again, he knew this was where he belonged.Ten years ago, this riverside area was plagued with drug dealers and addicts. The beautiful waterfront was littered with trash, the elegant brick buildings stood in the wilderness, their windows broken like a scream for help. Finally, investors also saw the potential of this area and began to throw money into a recovery dream.Eric and his uncle took the time to carefully monitor the project. Somehow, they suspected that a profitable opportunity would eventually come to Dreamscape. First a daredevil opened a b
It's just a feeling, but I've been feeling it for a while. Someone is following me. I contacted Kudo, and he seriously sent some scouts to see if I was in danger. He was supposed to see me in a few days, in the name of investigating a fake case. During that time, he wanted me to behave normally. He didn't want my stalker to find out I knew.Kudo said he had heard several reports of people targeting Raymond's allies. Raymond has been missing for over a year and his government is not happy about it. They think the FBI has something to do with his disappearance. Of course they have no proof. Kudo didn't seem too upset about that, though. The culprit is clearly an unknown person. He freed eighteen women from sexual slavery.When I first heard the news, I immediately thought it might be Eric, and my heart felt like it was being squeezed by someone. Kudo didn't say it, but I think he might as well suspect Eric. It showed in the way he asked if I was likely to know who the person was or if s
Johnny sits across from former Miss Yena Ruiz. She looks terrible. Her long dark hair was pulled back from her face and pulled into a messy bun. She has dark circles under her eyes and doesn't eat much either. The lack of food kept her in the hospital for another 72 hours, but they couldn't keep her once she decided she wanted to leave. Agent Sloan was also in the room. The revelations of the case were hard to swallow for her, too, and Johnny wished there was some way to comfort her without misleading her into thinking he was seducing her. She went to his room after visiting Yena at the hospital, and learned about his last conversation with Yena. They discussed the case for a while, but then she wanted to talk about the night they had sex, and he had to tell her frankly that it was just a one-night stand. She called him a coward. He called her even worse. “Is this the last piece of paper?” Anne Caliph asked. “Yes,” Johnny said. “Once you step out of this room, you will be Anne Cali
“Why don't you let me decide for myself what is right? I want to stay with you.” I said choked. My heart rate increased, and I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. You're giving me a chance to go back home, back to my life, back to what I said I wanted - but all I can think about is, it doesn't matter if That means I'll never see you again. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and pressed his forehead against it, “You don't know what you want, Nana, and what you want, you're just brainwashed into wanting them.” I immediately inhaled, trying to protest; He raised his hand to stop me. “I've been doing this for a long time - manipulating people to my liking. That's why I think I love you. Because you broke me and then put me back together and made me believe it. This is not an accident. Once you've left everything behind…you'll see that." I could barely see him through the mist of tears clouding my vision. Eric believed what he said. I could hear it in his voice – but he was w
I was just unbuttoning my shirt when it happened. There was a huge explosion and something hit me right in the face. I reached up to touch my cheek. The breath left me in a heartbeat. Eric was above me, screaming, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. Looks like I didn't hear anything. My head ached. I bumped it to the floor when Eric lunged at me. Bricks flew everywhere. “Nana!” Eric shouted as he shook me. It pierced the silence in my head. BOOM! Another flood of rubble flew towards us. Eric lay on top, covering my face with his hands while burying his head near my shoulder. There's someone out there shooting at us. My eyes drifted to the door and I could see huge holes in what used to be wood. We rolled to the back of the bed. My whole body was shaking and I had no idea what was going on. Eric was pushing me and I cried out in pain. “Get in the tub!” He shouted. Then he pushed me again. I managed to get up on my hands and knees. Crawling towards the bathroom, I squirmed in
The mansion is very quiet, strangely quiet. No Felipe. No Celia. No Raymond. Eric didn't answer and I didn't ask any questions.It was very hot outside, even though it was only early morning. I realized I hadn't stepped outside in a long time, under the bright sun. I am wearing clothes. I was…free. My footsteps stopped when that realization hit. FREE!“The truck isn't far, keep going,” Eric said coldly.I felt myself choking, an excited laugh escaping my lips, “Where are we going?” I said with tears of joy in my eyes."Please don't ask. Just go with me.”I looked at him, the pain on his face was so intense. Now is not the time to argue with you. Whatever he was doing, it seemed like a big deal. It will change everything between the two of us, but he is begging me to go with him, and when the man you love asks you to go with him – you will.We walked less than a mile, but I was amazed at the overall scale of Felipe's mansion. Whatever his business is, it's probably making a profit. We
Fear aside, I parted my lips and let his tongue invade my mouth. He groaned as I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him down on top of me. I tug on his dirty shirt and he pulls away from the kiss just long enough to pull it over his head. Sand and blood, I'm sure, fell on my face, but I just wiped them off with the back of my hand and continued to kiss Eric. His hands were everywhere at once, touching my hair, pulling me close, squeezing my breasts. His pillow hill slid between my knees, pushing them apart. I opened my legs and let Eric's lower belly press against me. I can feel his masculinity, confined in his jeans, pressing against his inner thighs. As we pounced on each other, a part of his wild personality seeped into me and before I knew it, I pushed him aside. He grabbed my shirt and let out a sound I understood to be a warning. “Yours, Eric. I promise," I said. I grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head, exposing my breasts to Eric. His mouth came in, causi
Eric has been gone for hours. I sat on the floor, next to his gun, waiting for something to happen, anything. So many times I thought about leaving the room and looking for him, but still tried to convince myself to give up the idea. Eric told him to wait. So I wait.A sense of dread began to rise as I saw light seeping through the curtains. The sun was rising and Eric hadn't come back yet. I wonder if Celia will return, but I doubt it will. The bridge between us has been completely burned down. The only consolation was knowing that she would keep Felipe from harming me.Suddenly, there was a very loud thud at the door, and then another hour. My heart almost jumped in my throat, but then I remembered Eric said he'd knock twice. I reached for the gun, just in case.I watched the revolving door handle and when the door swung open I could barely absorb what I was seeing. Eric stood in the doorway. His body was covered in mud. Blood stains everywhere.“Eric?” I managed to whisper, but sti
“There will be no trial,” Kudo said. He started walking again, a fist resting on the back of his neck. “I know how it is. I don't want to believe it, but I know. I've been arguing with my boss for the past few hours. There will be…” Kudo seemed very flustered. “There will be a lot of arrest warrants, I'm sure. Those who are auctioned will no doubt be taken to a shelter, but… no justice will be served. Not the kind that those victims deserve.” "How can that be?" I sobbed. “How could you let that happen?” “Raymond is a senior officer in the Pakistani Army, Nana. His government will not allow a scandal to get out. They agreed to let our government take part in the raid on the condition that they keep their men out of the way. When the chaos is over, it's up to them to decide who's present and who's not, that's how international political organizations work." I felt like someone had just hit me in the chest with a heavy wooden stick. For the second time in my life, I understood Eric's
“Are you sick?” Eric whispered. His blond brows furrowed nervously. I've never seen him like this. He looks so happy and peaceful. I reached up and stroked his beautiful face. "I am fine." He wiped my eyes, "Then why are you crying?" "I don't know," I replied and continued to run my hand over his face. "I think I'm just happy." He smiled, "Strange reaction to happiness, but that's okay." He bent down and licked away one of my tears. I squirmed, “What are you doing?” I laugh. "I'm curious," he whispered seriously. "About what?" “Will happy tears taste the same as sad tears?” he replied. His words made me cry harder. I can't control them. I am overwhelmed by everything. "And?" I managed to ask. "I think they're sweeter," he replied, kissing me, "but maybe it's just your face." We burst out laughing. I heard voices. I sat up in bed. For a few seconds, I forgot where I was. The room is very small. There are bars on the window frames. The bed wasn't Eric's. “I can't come back