GINEVRAFear had erupted deep in my soul.With every click of my heels against the floor, came fear.With every rattle of chains, came fear.With every strained whimper, came fear.I trembled tremendously as I walked through the tunnel-like structure leading into the holding cell where Maxwell was held captive.Cold shivers coursed through my bloodstreams as I had a recollection of about a week ago, when I was in the same situation as Maxwell. I was held hostage by the same man, I was familiar with that evil smirk plastered across his lips, I was familiar with the stench of blood and human feces, I was familiar with the smoke from his burning cigar, I was familiar with those chains, and I was familiar with the fear in Maxwell’s eyes.But I wasn’t familiar with the way my heart almost leaped with joy at the suffering of another.I was unfamiliar with the way my adrenaline pumped.A few hours ago when Maxwell was delivered to the Pakhan during the procession of his daughter’s funeral, t
GINEVRA When I told my father that helping his son escape Don Viktor’s wrath came with a price, he had imagined that price to be money.It was after all what the average human pined after—money.But for me, money was not an issue. Julia left me a shit ton.So, when I had demanded that ownership of the Rodriguez group of companies be passed down to me, it caused a stir of trouble in the Rodriguez home.Gustavo came at me, Sophia Rodriguez—my mamá—came at me, and my eldest sister came at me.Selfish.Insensitive.Greedy.Fool.Wicked.They had all called me names, slapped me across the face even. And all I did was wear a smile. I wore a smile with pride and sat there until their ranting died down.Mio padre knew, he knew there was no way out of the mess his son had caused him. So, when his extremely loud family had the decency to keep their tongue at bay, he simply got the documents ready and his companies were transferred under my name.It took hours, but I waited. I had no issue wait
GINEVRA The day of the hijack.“Padre Nostro, che sei nei cieli, sia santificato il tuo nome.”My shoulders slumped. “Venga il tuo regno, sia fatta la tua volontá.”My knees burnt against the ground as I had been kneeling for too long. “Come in cielo, così in terra.”The metal rosary dug into my palm, drawing blood. “Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano.”I shook. “E rimetti a noi i nostri debiti.”I quaked. “Come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori.”I feared the unforeseen. “E non ci indurre in tentazione.”I murmured to myself. “Ma liberaci dal male.”I begged for redemption—a chance to be saved. A chance to walk away from this unscathed. “Amen.”I rose to my full height, swallowing the lump in my throat, firmly holding on to my last string of courage.Walking out of my room, energy surged through me, adrenaline pumped, I became more resolved—more determined to emerge a winner in my conquest.Seven days had rolled by quicker than I had anticipated, and today, after so many
RICARDO Twelve days before the hijack.I was born with a purpose.During the days of my mother, as related to how the story was told, women were looked down upon.There weren’t allowed to be involved in the business that concerned the men—those businesses included running the family, and bringing honor to their name. Sometimes, because of the strong affiliation to crime, drug trafficking and every other thing that had a connection to criminal activities were also handled by the men. Murder included.But my mother was a woman who was born different. She wanted different. She craved different. She was rebellious, too rebellious to be regarded a woman.Unfortunately for her, her father wasn’t a very flexible man. He needed her disciplined, he needed to tame her. And his idea of taming his daughter was marrying her off to a man she barely knew. My father.Their marriage wasn’t born out of love, but out of a business alliance.My mama’s world had shattered, and she began to desperately se
GINEVRA By my dressing table was a huge mirror, and by that mirror, I stood. Confused out of my mind, tears brimming my eyes, my body trembling, and an emotion that had no explanation surging through my veins. For hours, I had been standing in front of that mirror. Unable to move, unable to blink, and unable to properly function. Tears brimmed my eyes some more, stinging at the corners, wanting to slip out. I blinked rapidly, holding the tears in.What had I gotten myself into?What was I doing wrong?I had desperately sought after power all my life, and now, I had that power, I had gained myself quite the reputation—I was something. And yet, I was miserable.With great power, came great pain. The power I had achieved was my undoing.I blinked again, taking in the reflection of me as repeated flashbacks of when I pulled open the back doors of the truck came afresh in my memory, disorienting my conscious state.The many pairs of eyes belonging to women and children that had fearfull
RICARDO Pacing back and forth in my office, rage enveloped me, my blood rose in anger, and my chest constricted with rage.How was I so oblivious to the disgusting activities that was happening right under my nose?How had I been completely blind to my mother’s wickedness?How did my father get away with constantly playing the victim?Questions after questions plagued my mind. I was losing my grip on the last string of sanity I had left. My life was a mess. My life was a complete mess.Desperately needing to calm my present disorderliness, I continuously poured myself one glass after another of scotch. The burning liquid hadn’t helped me at all.Nothing seemed to be working in my favor.I was doomed. My life was doomed.Human trafficking?Human fucking trafficking?!How could they do this? How could those monsters that birthed me do a thing like this?And I had been a fool. My papá must’ve been having a good laugh all those years when he had successfully played the victim, when in tr
GINEVRAOne week later.“Oh. . .Hi, Cassie! Why’re you just standing there? Come in.”My personal assistant strutted into my office and began assisting me with the files I had to organize before I retired for the day.With Cassie by my corner, my work ran smoothly. She was an angel, specially sent my way to make my life a little easier than it had been. She had always been there to help me whenever I ran into any unforeseen problems with the business.Cassie cared for me like a sister, and it hadn’t taken too long before I began letting her into my deepest, darkest secrets.Of course, not every information was shared, but she knew enough. Enough to know that the legal businesses my family ran was a front for something far more dangerous.Letting Cassie into that part of my life was my way of baiting her—I threw her a bone and waited for her to fall into my trap, but she instead proved herself worthy enough to earn my trust.Cyrus’s distrust for her was just his paranoia and she had pr
GINEVRA Ghost’s body had been a place of extreme comfort. I snuggled into him, my body wanting to merge with his. Wondering what it was about the young man that made me weak, a scoff escaped me. I had never shown weakness before any man, I had never opened myself up to anyone in the manner which I had done with Ghost. But with this dazzling young man who had just saved me from my poor excuse of a father, I desired to be protected. I wanted to be a girl for him. “Can I ask you a question?” He chuckled. “You just did. . .but go ahead.” “What’s your name? Your real name.” Ghost fell silent. His jaw ticked and his eyes glazed with anger. He placed me on the backseat of his car, his thumbs stroking my cheeks. His face inched close to mine. “You don’t wanna know, Ginevra.” ‘I want to. That’s why I asked.’ The words hung on the tip of my tongue, but Ghost had slammed the door shut before I got the chance to speak. With a heaving chest, I watched as Ghost slid into the driver’s seat
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