GINEVRA I had bolted out the door the moment I heard the whispered words that were shared between my siblings.They had confessed to tampering with someone’s car.That someone had been Julia.When I zoomed off in my car, my fingers had begun moving against my phone’s screen frantically. I had been dialing Julia nonstop. To no avail.With a groan of frustration, I threw my phone to the passenger seat, seemingly giving up dialing the number. In a split second, my foot was pressed firmly against the accelerator.I drove like a crazed woman.Long minutes passed and my phone buzzed. It was Julia.“Aunty, you have to get out of that car!” I panicked. “It’s. . .it’s. . .”My cry had been foolish. I could hear it, the chaos.Tires screeching, her driver’s grunts, Julia’s strained breaths—it had begun.I had been too late.Julia hushed, “remember what I told you, Ginevra. Be smart, be aware, give them hell.” She breathed a shaky breath. “Be good for me while I’m gone, si?”“You’re not going a
GINEVRA Windows wind down, the cool breeze of the evening caressing my skin, opera playing in the background, and my eyes darting around in awe, taking in the beauty of the city. It was one evening. I had craved to live normally for just one evening, I had desired freedom only for one evening–to be alone, to drive alone, to enjoy my own company without constantly looking over my shoulders. I had desired to be with my own thoughts for one evening, but the universe–my enemies perhaps–had other plans.The hours spent at the office had proven to be calming to the soul—with a few joints burnt, and a few bottles of red wine emptied, I had surfed through a few documents smooth and easy like it meant nothing. Got a few minutes of sleep at some point even.It had been a smooth evening until I decided that I had to drive around town. I needed to take in the beauty of Sicily’s sunset without my soldiers hovering over me and scaring away some unsuspecting locals.That too, had been a success.
GINEVRA The morning after a cloud of darkness was dreadful. The brightness of the morning, which I loathed the most, was striking my eyes with such viciousness when my body jerked awake from yet another nightmare. These days, it was Julia who taunted me the most. Memories of her, her voice, the softness of her—she was all over the place. When I woke up, it was Julia. When I slept, it was Julia. Even in my sleep, Julia tormented my dreams. It was unnerving. I had begun going crazy with anxiousness. So crazy that I developed profound hatred for the break of dawn. Since the sun rose this morning, I had been in bed. My eyes wide against the gray ceiling, my head ringing with numbers, desperate to calm my raging nerves. At intervals, sleep had seized me, and I had succumbed to the call of nature. And yet, I couldn’t last longer than five minutes in my sleep.My body was sore all over—too sore that it had become impossible moving my limbs. How possible was it to move when I had be
GINEVRA My body had instantly stiffened with tension when a subtle chaos ensued. The soldiers in the hall shuffled around, more soldiers filed into the hallway, their stance firm, steady, at alert, their hands against the guns that was still tucked into their waistbands. They were prepared for whatever was to come. My eyes met with Cyrus’s rigid form. He had his hand pressed against the earpiece in his ear, and his lips pursed. A few seconds of silence passed, he nodded once. “Stay here. I’ll be right with you.” He whispered. Without allowing me an opportunity for questions, he stormed out the hall. Soldiers followed. Cassandra stepped forward and intertwined her fingers with mine, squeezing gently as though providing me support. As much as I appreciated her gesture, I couldn’t stop my restless mind from running wild with crazy imaginings. With a clear of her throat, Cassandra announced. “Due to an emergency that has presented itself with an urgency to be attended to, we’ll have
RICARDO Regret. I had felt it in my core, my veins, my heart, my bones, through every inch of me. Through the entirety of my being, regret had become paramount. Was it the way her pained eyes bored into mine? Was it the exhaustion and physical pain that had been evident with the way she spoke, walked, or even smiled? Was it the way she held onto me tight, silently pleading that I got her out of this mess? I was ripped apart by all of it. It was my fault, my fault for holding a grudge where there was none. Up until this moment, I couldn’t tell for sure what had prompted my desire to hurt the woman whom I was supposedly attracted to. I had thoroughly pondered on this matter, I thought about it, until I realized. My actions had been as a result of my fucked up mind. All of this sprouted from my need to dominate Ginevra Rodriguez, to own her, to have her surrender to me without realizing it. All of this was an act of manipulation. If she felt weak, if she sensed that I was her s
GINEVRA The dull sound of my phone going off brought me back to consciousness, but that consciousness came with a head jamming pain. My throat elicited a groan, my heavy eyes doing a shit job at taking in my surroundings, my hand sliding around the empty space on the bed in search of the device whose sound had become louder by the minute. My voice, groggy, whispered, “Ginevra speaking.” “Are you high?” Cyrus’s voice blared with anger. With a roll of my eyes, I sat up on the bed, raking a hand through my hair. “I wish I was. Why’re you calling so early in the morning?” There had been a pause. Frantic breaths met my ear, a grunt followed. “Why do I have to be responsible for you per favore. . .” A groan, low in his throat, thick, erupted. “You have to be in Rome for the banquet of the commission.” Shit! With speed, I sprang up from the bed and slid out. My throat had elicited a scream of, “fuck!” As I ran into the washroom. I consumed too many pills yesterday’s night. That much
GINEVRA My orbs glistened with a deep, dark shadow where demons resided, two hands, fingers dark, pressing firm against my throat. On one hand, was disbelief, and on the other, hatred. I couldn’t come off it. I was completely engulfed. I couldn’t breathe. I wanted—needed this to be a dream, and even so, it wasn’t going to be a sweet dream. I was in a black hole, surrounded by nothing but darkness. That smile plastered across his face—Ghost had been mocking my present state. I was pathetic. The palpitations of my heart held anomalies, my eyes, tear-filled, closed shut in a blink, and yet, darkness remained. It was a lie, everything that was shared between Ghost and I. It was all a lie. ‘I desire to make a powerful enemy out of you’—those were the words which he had spoken to me. Power, he gave me. But instead of becoming enemies, we had sealed our alliance by pleasuring one another. So I thought. All this time, with every kiss, every stroke, every moan, every release, every
GINEVRA A dirty smirk marred my face, my eyes squinting with mischief. “Oh, there’s one theory which I’d absolutely love to test out.” The frequency of my words held seduction, the kind that had Ricardo’s eyes glazing over with lust. Ricardo’s front pushed into me, his bulge straining against his pants. “Oh yeah?” I blinked up at him, batting my lashes demurely while my tongue had been slowly gliding across my bottom lip. “Mmhmm.” He groaned. “And what theory might that be, princess.” I chuckled. Typical men. My left hand cradled his face, my thumb stroking with tenderness. Ricardo leaned into my touch with a moan. “It is a shame, Ghost.” I tsked. “If only you weren’t such a liar, If you hadn’t betrayed me, I wouldn’t have had to do this. . .” The implication of my words were yet to be deciphered by Ricardo when I pushed my blade into his stomach. His eyes snapped to mine, and I shot him a smile as I continued to bury my blade into him. In a split second, I was flung across
Hello guys, we have finally come to the end of the story between Ginevra Rodriguez and Ricardo Sanchez.Like I said at the beginning of this book—the TW—this book is not your traditional romance; therefore the end is justifiable.Their love wasn’t built upon truth and transparency. Ginevra lured Ricardo in because she had a mission, and Ricardo had lied to Ginevra from the first day they met.The both of them got off from hurting each other, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. And no level of love could ever salvage such wickedness.I love love, and I love the concept of love—because it’s a beautiful emotion. But sometimes, love has to be shut off to get things done.There was no way I’d let Ginevra go through so much in her life for this one mission to wipe out the Sanchez’s only for her to change her mind because of love.Never!First, the love was shitty. Second, she had come a long way for something like love to deter her.When I first completed this book, both Ginevra and
GINEVRA In my last moments when Izzy begged me to have a rethink, my eyes zeroed in on Raul who had a stoic expression, but ropes of tears were untamed against his trembling cheeks. Dominico was not a man who hid his emotions; therefore, he was sitting on the bare floor, his eyes bloodshot red from all the tears he had cried. Paulo who was in a way my support system. . .he was crumbling. There wasn't a word enough to describe the pain his features held. Harley who was a mess. I wouldn't have ever imagined a day when Harley opened herself up to me in this manner. Everyone who loved me stood before me but there were two people whom I loved, and yet, they weren't there. My son and my husband. If ever I was given an opportunity to speak to Ricardo one more time, what was I going to say? "Ricardo, I'm standing by the edge and my only wish is to see your ghost, to hold your hand one last time. Because I'm running wild and the thought of you tears me apart. My heart is broken, my leg
IZZY GONZALES As we drove through the private road, my mind had drifted to Ginevra. She had always made it a point to stay locked up in her room this past week, but this morning, she had suddenly joined us for breakfast. She made jokes and laughed a little too hard. I found it suspicious. She wasn’t the type to make those kind of jokes and wasn't she supposed to be depressed? She had just murdered the love of her life and she was making jokes? Something had to give. I cleared my throat. "Did anyone notice something suspicious about Ginevra this morning?" They all hummed. "She was all over the place and I caught her looking at us like it was the last time she'd ever see us." Raul spoke. "And when I went into her room, I saw some droplets of blood. She was even in a white dress and was styling her hair to look like a princess." Paulo added. "Ginevra doesn't like white dresses and she hated it even more after her marriage to Ricardo crumbled." Harley commented. White dress, styl
GINEVRA Another day of restlessness, another day of pain, another day of anguish, another day of regret, and another day of nightmares. I jolted out of bed with a wince and a painful ringing in my head. I was sweating profusely and I felt so damp between my legs. This was the first time I had been able to shut my eyes in one hundred and sixty eight hours and I couldn't even do it peacefully. Just as I was about to grumble, a scream tore out of my throat at the pain that coursed through my bones. I wasn't bothered. I was already used to being in constant physical pain since the day I made the biggest mistake of my life. One might think that all I had to do was cry, except, I hadn't been able to cry. I searched for that softness, and yet, I couldn't find it. And the only thing that gave me the confirmation that I was human after all, was the physical pain that would engulf every part of my body, limb to limb, every second of the day. And night. My pregnancy suddenly had suddenly g
THIRD PERSON The beautiful woman walked silently, tiredly, and defeatedly into the car that was waiting for her outside. She was drenched in blood. In the blood of her lover, in the blood of her husband and in the blood of her baby's father. And in her hands were his eyes. How could she do this? She wondered. What was going through her mind when she agreed to take his eyes? What was going through her mind when she decided that the best option was to kill her own lover? Her eyes were continuously darkening by a fraction with each passing second until she was completely overtook by the darkness that loomed. She sat in the car and her friends stared at her like she was a maniac. She paid no attention to them as her eyes were focused on those eyes she fell in love with. She was looking at them in awe as well as in disgust. She was immediately handed the tab that displayed the video footage of the man she loved as he sobbed and begged to be graced with her presence even for a minute
RICARDO What was this feeling? Why was this happening to me? Why did I have to be born into the clan of monsters? Why did I feel betrayed by the woman I loved? Questions after questions plagued me as my woman sobbed against my laps. My Ginevra, my love, my life, my treasure, the light in my life, the bane of my existence, my girl, my woman. . .my wife. Learning that my father had taken away a better part of her broke me into unimaginable pieces and I didn't want her to pardon me. I wanted her to walk out of here knowing that she didn't dedicate her life for this just so she could fail. I loved her, and she loved me, but I couldn't let her fail just because of love. What had love done to us? What had that stupid emotion done for us? It did nothing but strip us of our existence. It hurt and ruined us in ways that were despicable, so, why would she fail because of that? I had to rile her up in some way and I knew that a few harsh words could do the trick. I knew how she had litt
GINEVRA "Let me tell you a little story, Ricardo." I bit my lip and heaved out a breath before continuing. "There was this girl, only six years old at the time. she lived in her very beautiful castle back in Russia with her father who loved the fuck out of her and her mother who loved her too but was too much of a drug addict to care for her little girl." I waited a few minutes to get my emotions under control before continuing. "One day, her father took her into the forest for his hunt but when they returned, their castle had been invaded by bad men. That little girl ran into the house and immediately lost her mind when she saw her mother laying on the floor. At first, she thought that it was one of those days when her mother would overdose and pass out so she began calling out to her. ‘Mum, why are you on the floor. Come on, you'll catch a cold, let's get you to bed.’ She called out but there was no response. She didn't understand what was happening until her father held her moth
GINEVRA Today was the day I was going to fight the war I had prepared for all my life. It was the war that had kept me going, it was the war I hated to fight but was forced to indulge in, and it was a war between my love and my hate. Looking at the house where the man whom I loved was seated in, the love I had for him rose to its peak and so did the hate I felt towards him. Those two emotions, as strong as they were, played with my sanity until I was at the verge of collapsing. I had to ask myself questions that were too difficult, questions that required that I searched deep into my heart to find answers. Did I want this? Did I not want this? Those questions plagued me, but my mind had already been made up. Regret might probably come later but for now, my hate had already won the battle. It had been two months since I was almost killed by the Sanchez's. Two months since my house was blown to bits, leaving nothing but ashes behind. The memories I made with Julia, the memories I
GINEVRA If I was unaware of my conjugal endeavors last night, then the aching between my legs was all it took to jog my memory this morning. I couldn't complain. I was sore but in a good kind of way and those ocean blue eyes boring into mine with so much excitement in them were enough to make my heart melt. "Are you going to say something or would you rather stare at me like a creep for the whole day?" I grumbled, making a screeching sound as I stretched myself awake. Ricardo chuckled. "I could stare at you the whole day without getting bored." A kiss on my temple that had me smiling sheepishly. "Did you have a great night?" "What do you think?" "I think I wore you out a little too much, which is why I've made you the perfect breakfast." His tongue glided across my neck and he hummed his approval at the taste of my skin. "Why don't you go freshen up and I'll set the table." . . . "Oh my, Ricardo!" I smiled. "That breakfast was amazing. You're such a good cook. Thank you so much