Zoey p.o.vEntering the apartment mom and I lived in for years now, the silence that welcomed me was deafening. The coldness of the living brought goosebumps on my body, the memory of when I was daytime kidnapped flashed before my eyes. I shrunk back as sudden fear engulfed me. I shook my head rapidly to push back the fear. I wanted a quiet rest. That's why I begged the driver to bring me here. I don't know if this is a wise choice with the lurking threats. But I want a moment for myself, my personal space to breathe without anyone asking me if I'm okay or just checking up on me. I need to reflect on myself. I walked further inside the house, dropping my bag on the couch, then went to the kitchen. The whole place is untouched, just the way it was when I was last here. Mom hasn't been staying here, that means Marco had people clean this house constantly because everything is neat and clean. I took a bottle of water from the fridge, gulping down it content directly from the bottle
Zoey p.o.v“Marco?” I breathe out, it all felt like the time is slowed down as I raced to him. I didn't about the people around, I hugged him to myself tightly while I sobbed. I cried because I was overjoyed, and I cried because he hugged me back as if he's life depended on it. I had clung unto Marco tightly, too tight for someone who's recovering from a bullet wound. I has been carried away by my emotions that I didn't realize I might be hurting him. I moved to pull back, but Marco's grip on me tightens. “Don't.” Marco's hoarse voice snapped. I have missed the sound of his voice, and my body reaction to his voice. The vibration and goosebumps it brings to me. “Don't leave, stay with me.” He added, drawing me closer. “Okay, I won't let go.” I whispered, my voice filled with sincerity, I relaxed against him, savoring the moment. To anyone listening to us, it might just be words of encouragement. But that was us expressing our emotions through words, and I promised to always stay
Zoey p.o.v“Get out.” Marco hissed. “Huh…. Sir?” she faltered, I was also caught off-guard. “I won't repeat myself again, out.” He barked, startling the fragile looking nurse. She didn't have to be told twice, she bolts out of the room scared. Tension hangs in the air, suffocating to breathe. Neither Luciano nor Matthew wants to break the silence, concerned not to annoy Marco further. “Marco, you need to take it easy, and you need to take your health seriously.” I said, breaking the silence. “You've not fully recovered yet, and you have to allow her to do her job. You've chased every nurse assigned to you, why?” “I don't need her, I have you with me.” He stood up and came to me. He lifts me up with ease and occupy my place then dropped me on his lap. “I'm not the professional here, she is, and you need her more at the moment. So please cooperate with them, so you can get back on your feet.” I scolded him. “Fuck that.” He simply dismissed me, and buried his face in my boobs. Oh
Zoey p.o.vWe've been on the road for a few minutes now, and I'm curious to know where exactly it is we are going to. “So, where are we going to exactly?” I broke the silence, as I adjusted slightly in Marco's arms to get a look at his face. His large arm was around my waist like a ring, trapping me. “A brothel.” He replied distinctively, his focus wasn't on me, it was on something else or better said someone else. A specific Angela. He was so tense, and restless. “Yes, I knew that.” I heard his buddy telling him that at the hospital. “like is it some kind of mafia slang or an actual brothel?”“A brothel as in a real brothel where prostitutes get paid to have sex with a client.” At his response, I fell silent for a while. “Oh! I didn't know you had one of those, strip club that I'm aware of but a brothel?” I was baffled, disappointed even. But who am I to tell him what to do. Before Marco could reply, the car rode to a stop in front of an old modern single - story building. Th
Marco p.o.vI clenched my fists, and struggles to keep my body from shaking in anger. The room feels suffocating, the air thick with tension. My heart pounds in my chest, an unsteady rhythm of frustration. I am pissed, seething with rage that threatens to consume me, but I held back, restraining myself. We are currently in my office in the brothel, a place I didn't want to establish. It was this bitch's idea to build it, with reasons that it could both be a cover-up for some of my business, while does her thing. Her eyes swiftly flickered to my clenched fist, before quickly averted her gaze to my face. I watched as she shifts uncomfortable in her seat, I smirked inwardly. “You don't seem too happy to see me.” She purred in what could be a seductive tone, but sounded like a wounded cow to me. The anger I was trying so hard to suppress, threatens to erupt like a volcano. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath trying to find solace as I imagined Zoey's smiling face. Slowly, the ten
Marco p.o.vThe car ride back home was tensed, whenever I reaching for Zoey she flinched like I'm dangerous. Yes, I am a dangerous and vicious man to the world, I could kill without batting an eyelash. But I would die before a hair on her head gets hurt, I won't fucking harm her. In fact, I would destroy anything that poses like a threat to her. The second she came down from the car, she raced to the door to escape me. She has another think coming her way if she thinks she can escape me. “The hell is wrong with you.” I had her trapped between the door she just burst through and myself. “Let me go.” She demanded, but I'm having none of it. I'm fucking tired of the cat and mouse chase. “Let go of me.” Zoey hissed, irritated, I was getting pissed. We were fine before we went to the brothel, what made her this angry. “I won't fucking let go, not until you tell me who pissed you off.” I equally hissed. “You've been distance since we came back from the brothel, you even flinched when
Marco p.v.o“I'm going up to freshen up, I reek of that bitch's blood. Be gone with your women before I come down.” I teased my dad and uncle, knowing fully that they can't do shit when it comes to those women. They are practically whipped, and so am I. Complete head over heel for my woman, I think loving our women fiercely runs in the family. “Try telling them yourself.” Uncle hissed at me, I laughed at the expression on their faces. Making my way up the stairs, I stopped when a maid was scurrying away, scared of my presence, obviously. She was petite, and looked fragile and naive. Maybe one of the older maid's daughter, recently introduced to the work. “You.” I called out to her, freezing her into a statue. I saw her trembling, obviously thinking she had done something wrong. “Turn around.” I instructed. She didn't move, trembling even further like I was holding a gun to her head. “Don't make me repeat myself.” I hissed, getting irritated. I'm not a beast, I don't harm the inno
Zoey p.o.v“Marco.” I called harshly, slamming the door after me. Marco wasn't fazed by my out burst or the deafening sound from the door. He took his sweet time giving me his front profile, and raised an eyebrow at me. Which pisses me. “What?” His voice was soft and tonic, but at the same time authoritative. I pursed my lips into a thin line, I wasn't all that angry anymore. I don't know how it happened, I just found myself less angry. Nonetheless, I still want to throw tantrums. “Why are they moving my stuff.” I asked, my voice was barely above a whisper. It wasn't as firm as I hoped for. His gaze lazily swept over my body, causing a familiar sensation to crawl over my skin. “Zoey.” He called daringly. His says something else while his lips say the opposite. “I asked them to, is there a problem?” He frowned. “Yes, there is.” I fired back. “Oh…. Really? Where is it.” He teased. “I didn't permit anyone to move my stuff.”“You don't have to, I did. You are my woman, and you
Melanie’s POVI didn't realize I wasn't saying anything until, Mom said, "Hello… are you still there?"I cleared my throat and replied, “Uhm… yes, I am. Sorry about that I got a little distracted.”“That’s okay, but did you hear my question,” she asked.“Could you repeat it?” I demanded, wanting to be sure that I heard her right."I asked if you would like to come home for Thanksgiving," she said.A few weeks ago, I would have been elated. Scratch that, I would have been over the moon an jumping on the chance to see my family but now, as much as I wanted to see them, I didn’t have the freedom to say yes.I could literally feel, Mom’s impatience through the phone, she was anxious for my answer and I had to be careful with my next words."I would love to come home for Thanksgiving, Mom," I replied slowly.“This wasn’t the kind of reaction I was expecting when I asked you the question s
Melanie’s POVRalph helped me carry my bags inside the house but he didn’t go past the living room. He dropped the bag at the foot of the stairs and left after a bidding Alice and I a quick goodbye.“What’s the bag for?” Alice asked, eyeing the bag suspiciously.“Why? Do you think it’s a bomb?”“Don’t joke about things like that, Melanie,” she said.I laughed and shook my head. “Nothing of the sort. I just stopped by my apartment to grab a few of my things,” I said.“Were you running out of clothes here?” she asked. “I thought your closet was fully stocked.”“Yes, the closet was fully stocked and the clothes re beautiful. More expensive than I’ve ever owned in my entire life but I wanted my own clothes. Something that was mine so I stopped by my apartment and had tea with Phoebe,” I explained.“But you saw Phoebe yesterday,” she said.“I know that but there’s no hard rule that states
Melanie’s POVI frowned in confusion. Orange was becoming listless on my lap so I let go of him and he was all too happy to jump away.“What do you mean by shade of gray?” I asked."This girl, the hypothetical one, seems to be the kind of person that sees life in black and white while the boy lives in the gray area," she said.“Is that a bad thing?” I asked."Not necessarily. Like I said earlier, it depends on the shade of gray," she replied. "I've lived on this earth long enough to know there is more to this world than just good or evil and most times, we need the gray area. The gray area allows us to make mistakes, and realize and recover from those mistakes. Some people survive in the gray area and there's nothing wrong with that."“So when does it become a problem?”“It becomes a problem when innocent people are involved especially if you derive joy from hurting the said innocent people. If that’s the
Melanie’s POVI wasn't in the mood to go home yet so an idea struck me when I was walking out of the hospital after my shift.“Good evening, Ms. Jones,” Ralph greeted as usual. “Hope you had a nice shift.”He normally doesn’t ask me questions about my work so I knew what he really meant was whether I enjoyed my time with Aria."You don't get to ask me questions when I'm still mad at you," I responded.He nodded. “Fair enough. Ready to go home?”“Actually, I don’t want you to drive me home yet,” I said.He frowned. “Your shift is over and you don’t have any plans,” he said."And when did you become my boss?" I asked."I'm not but I am responsible for your safety which means knowing everything that has to do with you," he said.“You’re annoying, have I told you that before?”“I know now,” he answered. “Please get in the car, let me take you home.”"You will drive me to the house, just not immediately. I want you to drive me to my apartment," I said.“Why do you want to go there?” he ask
Adriano’s POV“And you don’t have any leads on where the other warehouses are located?” I looked at my dad and said, “No, we don’t but Nik is on it so it’s only a matter of time before he locates the rest.”“You don’t expect them to do nothing about this attack do you?” he asked.I sighed in frustration and glanced at my uncle, Luciano for help but he was intentionally avoiding my gaze.“I’m well aware of that, Dad, but try as they may, they can’t hurt us. We have too much influence to let that happen.”“Never underestimate a desperate man, Adriano,” he chided.“I know. You’ve me that several times.”"And do you think he won't move the girls from the other locations?" Uncle Luc asked."I'm actually hoping he does. That way, there is a chance he might make an error and we can track him. It also puts all the girls in one location which honestly makes the job easier.""And the security is more complicated.""Your last raid was over within a minute because the security was shit and you h
Melanie’s POVI knew Hayley was going to have a lot to say when I got back to the nurses’ station on the ICU floor and I was right.“Damn girl, that was the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” she said.“I’m glad you had fun,” I said.“That being said, if you don’t marry him, I will.”“Hayley!”"What!? I'm not being funny. I mean look at his sister. Any woman who is able to raise a girl child with so much wealth and turned out to be so pleasant is the kind of family you want to marry into."“Can you please stop talking about my marriage when I’m not even engaged to the man?” “With the way it’s going, it’s only a matter of time before he pops the question,” she said. “Has he introduced you to the rest of his family?”I shook my head. Aria was the only one I’ve met and I hoped it remained so. The thought of meeting his family was quite scary.I was already lying to enough people as it
Melanie’s POV“Yep, I have a crush on a hot doctor,” Hayley answered.“I like talking about boys that aren’t related to me,” Aria said, “Tell me more.”"You're the one that always brings up your brother in our conversations," I argued. I had to defend myself.“That’s because you get all pouty and quiet if you’re not talking about him,” Aria replied.“Uh…huh, that’s why she’s letting him keep her up all night,” Hayley said and Aria turned her head so fast I thought she was going to snap it.“What did you say?”“I mean look at Melanie, she has sunken eyes and has been slow all day. I can only think of one thing that’ll have a person looking like that in the morning and it has a happy ending,” Hayley explained.I watched, Aria's shoulders relaxed in relief that I hadn't told, Hayley exactly what went down last night but I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she would think I told Hayley
Melanie’s POVIt didn’t come as a surprise that, Hayley was right.When Aria called and I asked her if it would be possible for us to meet in the hospital instead, her response was, "I didn't expect anything else."I also informed her that we were going to have company and she was totally fine with it. Now, Hayley and I were seated at a table at the cafeteria, five minutes into our lunch hour.“Do you think she’s still coming?” Hayley asked. “She’s five minutes late.”I waved her off. “She’s probably stuck in traffic,” I said. “You know how it gets during rush hour.”Hayley sighed. “Okay, I’ll wait five more minutes and if she doesn’t show, I’m getting something to eat and you look like you need another cup of coffee.”That would be correct. Although the breakfast and coffee helped a lot, I found myself getting tired when I wasn’t even halfway into my shift for the day. Then I had another cup of coffee bef
Melanie’s POV“You didn’t get enough sleep, huh?” she asked.“It’s not what you think,” I said."Oh, it sounds like you were busy with your hot, Italian boyfriend which ended up with you being sleep-deprived," she said. "Now it makes sense why your eyes look so huge."I sighed. When was I going to learn to keep my damn mouth shut?"Okay, I am sleep-deprived and it has something to do with, Adriano but I promise it's not what you think," I repeated. "You need to get your mind out of the gutter."“Girl, my mind lives in the gutter and it’s beyond saving so don’t even bother,” Hayley said. “Now tell me, does Adriano look as bad as you do or is it just you?”“Hayley!”"What?! I'm just trying to find out to what degree he tired you out last night. On a scale of one to ten, with one being not at all and ten being out of this world, which is it."I shook my head. “I don’t know why I even bother