"Anastasia!" he shouted back, cheerfully. We have always suspected of the crush he had on Anastasia. He liked her from the second he could talk. I remember how for months he'd been asking if Anastasia could come visit us here in Italy. Now that she's here, I could just feel his excitement.She bent down, but instead of kissing his lips, she kissed his cheek. A pout was present on his face, but it didn't last long when Valentino walked in side-by-side with Alex."You still trying to get a kiss from my wife?" Valentino asked, smirking slightly. Andrea looked over at him before narrowing his eyes. "If you hadn't come first, she would be my wife right now."My eyebrows raised as I watched him roll his eyes. I hoped Valentino's lifestyle wouldn't rub off on him, but it seemed like there was no way of stopping how much he was exactly like his uncle. I thought my son would come out like the man I had him with, but who would have guessed that he'd turn out to be the complete opposite?"I hear
VALENTINOAs I held my weeping baby brother in my arms, I could only stare out at the mess. The blood and dead bodies were littered in front of me, breaking my heart. The faces of my pregnant mother and my stepfather would be burned into my memory forever. I was going to have a sister—our family was going to be complete. Then, in just a blink of an eye, they were gone, leaving me with my younger half-brother, Alex.I could still remember sitting there at the kitchen table eating my favorite soup. My mother had the most beautiful smile on her face as she talked about the weather outside. She loved the rain, she loved everything it represented. As she went on and on about the old times when she would go outside and play in the rain all on her own, I rolled my eyes. Her words were strange, but I wished I could take it all back now. I wished I would have paid more attention and asked more questions to keep that smile on my mother’s face, but I didn’t. I ignored her.Everything happened wa
AnastasiaI was prepared to become a woman when I was just a little girl. Childhood vanished before my eyes. That’s what happens when you rid someone of love. You open the doors to darkness without letting them realize there could ever be color. I want to say that I blamed my mother, but the only way I could do that was to also blame her mother, and then the mother of her mother.The heat that escalated through my body only seemed to grow as I tried to ignore it. The longer I tossed and turned, the more the temperature pricked my skin. A sigh escaped my lips as I just lay there in a pit of sweat, hoping it wasn’t affecting my sister as much as it was affecting me.“Nana,” Aria called out from the other side of the room. “Mum didn’t pay the electricity bill again, did she?”“Stay here, I’ll figure it out,” I whispered before getting up from the mattress.We weren’t fortunate enough to own anything to lift our bed off the ground. We were lucky enough to simply have a mattress.I walked
I looked over at Aria to see that her nose was bleeding. The longer I watched her, the quicker I realized that her eyes were shut as she stared at Mum. I couldn’t help but also notice how unevenly her body seemed to sway.“Aria, are you okay?”I hurriedly walked over to the restroom, grabbing as much toilet paper as I could. Promptly, I held it up to her nose as my heartbeat seemed to race. My brows were furrowed as hope began banging on the door to my heart that Aria would be okay.“Nana, I don’t feel too good,” she whispered. It wasn’t the first time she had her nose bleed. She had been having them for the past few weeks. However, I had never seen her so drained before.I walked her to the bed, and I helped her lay down. My eyes scanned her body and saw many bruises and red spots. She looked terrible, and my constant work made it challenging to notice any of this.“We need to take her to a hospital, now!” I exclaimed.“For a nosebleed? Really, Anastasia? It’s probably just the heat,
AnastasiaLeukemia. My little sister had stage four leukemia. No matter how hard my mind tried to grasp that there was almost nothing the doctors could do, I failed.I stared at my sister, who was sleeping soundly due to the medicine the doctor had given her. I couldn’t help but pace back and forth around the room as I tried calling my mother over and over again. At first, it seemed as if she were ignoring my calls, but it soon turned into every call I made going to voicemail.Throwing myself on the chair, I brought my hands up to my face as tears streamed down my face. I could only focus on the dust that fluttered around the room as I thought about not being able to see my sister again. Never in my life could I imagine having to bury my little sister. She was always supposed to outlive me.A knock sounded on the door, leaving me with a mere moment to wipe my tears away before it opened. A woman strolled in wearing a smile on her face. I knew she could see how I had just been crying
“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll figure it all out like I always do. I’m going to go call a nurse,” I said, touching the top of her head before walking out of the room. One of the nurses automatically perked up from behind the desk. She walked around the counter to come toward me.“She keeps clutching her side in pain,” I informed her. She quickly nodded before entering the room. Her eyes were immediately on Aria as she began to do something with her IV.“I’ll be right back with some more pain medication. Dr. Flores is one of the best oncologists in the nation. He is eager to meet you, Ariaandria. He’ll be here as soon as he lands,” the nurse stated with a bright smile. Once she finished changing the IV, the nurse exited the room.“Don’t you have to work today?” my sister asked.One thing I love about Aria is her intelligence. I knew that when she spaced out, it was her intellect putting things together. Her mind had a way of solving the impossible equations of life.“I’m chucking a
Anastasia POVI fell asleep in a hard chair right beside Aria’s hospital bed. With a groan, I lifted my head from the palm of my hand as my eyes began to adjust to the light. I could hear my little sister’s voice, but it was just taking my brain a while to process her words.“Okay, that sounds terrifying,” Aria said. With those words, I immediately snapped out of whatever trance I was in before I looked up at my sister. Her head angled toward me as she shot me a gentle smile. I couldn’t help but notice her cracked lips and the alarming paleness of her skin.“Morning, my little emoji. The doctor is finally here,” Aria said. She had a great way of not showing how much pain she was in. If someone random were to walk in, they never would’ve been able to guess that her organs were dying.“How do you come up with yellow things like that on the spot?” I asked, chuckling softly. My hands rose to my face just to make sure there was no drool on the side of my mouth as I tried my best to fix my
The second we open our hearts to having faith or putting trust in someone, we end up being reminded of why that voice in the back of our head screamed at us not to.“Thanks,” I gritted out, my voice shaking. I wasn’t sure what I was thanking him for, but the word flew out of me because it was the only word that didn’t sting.“I want this to be easier for you, I really do. Trust me when I say that I’m giving this one hundred and ten percent, Ms. Smith,” he pleaded. He gave me one last look of sorrow and then proceeded to walk over to Aria. “I’ll see about starting you on that chemotherapy in about thirty minutes.”After she nodded her head, the doctor turned on his heels and walked out of the room. I watched his retreating figure before my eyes shut tightly.“You have work in an hour. You should go home and get ready,” Aria stated calmly as if her oncologist hadn’t just told her that her world could possibly end within two months. It left me puzzled. How could she do such a good job at
You never needed me, you only needed to believe in yourself.”I could feel my eyes blurring as I looked at my imaginative Aria. “You need to let me go. I have always loved you, my banana, but now you love yourself enough for the both of us.”“Goodbye, Aria. I love you,” I whispered softly.Valerio looked at me with a small smile just as the doors opened. My eyes were quick to look at Valentino, who seemed just as nervous as me. Valerio and I walked in slow strides toward the altar with my smile never leaving my face. As we were walking, my eyes were brimming with tears of joy.We continued down the aisle until we finally made it to the altar, where Valerio kissed my cheek.“Who gives this woman to this man in marriage?” the priest asked.Valerio glanced at me before taking my right hand and placing it into Valentino’s.“I do,” he answered.I smiled at him once more, feeling so thankful to have met him. He then took my left hand and placed it in Valentino’s as well after I had passed m
ANASTASIAIt was definitely not a ‘woo’ experience. Being dressed in an all-white dress that looked so beautiful and elegant should’ve made me feel like a queen. I didn’t feel like a queen at all. My belly was swollen with a baby girl and I couldn’t help feeling nervous.As I stared at myself in the full-length mirror, my hand rubbed my giant baby bump. There was a frown on my face as I looked at myself. I was marrying the man I loved with all of my heart, I was going to have a baby, and I should feel like the happiest person in the world—why was I so scared?“Are you okay?” Isabella asked, coming into the room with Sarah.“Yeah, I just…”Suddenly, I began to cry. I tried my best to not mess up my makeup, but it was already too late. Everything was going to change after this, and I knew it.“Sarah, can you go get her mom?” Isabella asked before walking over to me and bringing me into her embrace.She held me tightly as she rubbed my back up and down.“Don’t cry. If you want, I’ll go s
I got down on my knees and quickly undid his slacks and pushed them down. His erection was long and thick, just perfectly in front of me underneath his boxers. He grabbed my hair and kept my face level with his cock. I pushed down his boxers and bit my lip at the sight of him.I began to stroke it once it was free. I braced myself with my hand on his hip and gripped his shaft with my other hand. I began to jerk him off, slowly at first. When he pulled my hair back, I took that as my cue to stroke him faster and grip his cock tighter.Soon, I started to blow him in earnest. My tongue swirled around his shaft as I brought it into my mouth. Bringing his cock deep into my throat to the point I was at his base before I pulled back while running my tongue along the underside of it. Suddenly, I was bobbing my head faster and faster before I looked up at him. He let out a groan while tossing his head back and shutting his eyes. I sucked him gently, which resulted in me taking his whole shaft
ANASTASIASeven months later“I am really going to miss you guys,” I told Isabella and her big baby bump.She was going to name her baby boy Andrea, and I wished I could witness it all. That day after she was shot, she learned she was pregnant. It hurt to think about how we could’ve experienced everything at the same time, but Valentino helped me let that hurt go.Her recovery was very fast. She was able to walk again in less than a month, seeing as the bullet didn’t hit anything too major. Isabella was quick to forgive Valentino, and the same for Alex.Isabella placed one last small bag into the trunk of the car. It was the last day I would be seeing her. She didn’t want to stay in the lifestyle Valentino and Alex were born in, which I understood. I only wished I didn’t have to miss so much with her gone.“We will make sure to visit at every possible chance.” Isabella smiled. My shoulders fell as I looked at her. It was really going to be lonely without her there.“You ready?” Alex a
I couldn’t even allow myself to have an expression. Everything still felt so wrong. Being happy felt wrong. He lifted my shirt off of me before taking off the shorts that the hospital had given. The fresh panties I got from the hospital were already covered in blood, and as I looked down, I sucked in a breath and started crying once more.He was going to realize that I’m incapable of doing something like carrying his baby. I was a disgrace, which is exactly why Aria should be alive instead of me.“Shh, it’s okay,” he whispered before bringing me into his chest.I knew what he was doing—he was trying not to allow me to see it, but it was stuck on repeat in my brain. It was my baby.He peeled off my panties, which only resulted in me crying more as I wrapped my arms around his neck and sobbed into the crook of his neck. He pulled them down until they were off my legs before allowing his hand to climb up to the clasp of my bra. He undid the clasp and then took it off of me.When I turned
He walked right past me as if I meant nothing.As I leaned against my car, I broke down. Sobs were bubbling out of me, and my tears were falling nonstop. Suddenly, a hand gripped my shoulder, shocking me to turn around. Seeing that it was Alex, surprise stirred in me“Are you okay?” he asked. I hiccupped as I nodded with a small smile. My tears still wouldn’t stop falling.“Isabella is going to be fine. They have her sedated to make things less painful for her, but they said she will be awake by tomorrow,” he informed me. I was glad she would be okay, it felt nice to finally receive some good news. “I feel bad for the way I spoke to my brother. He may not be the best person in the world, but he’s done a lot for me and so little for himself. Even if he almost killed my girlfriend, I know he’s beating himself up for it more than anyone else could. I know my brother enough to say that he didn’t mean anything he just said to you. He gets like that sometimes, where he pushes people away. D
ANASTASIASarah had gratefully gotten the location where Isabella and Valentino were. My heart dropped when she told me they were at the hospital. I prayed they were both okay.I hurriedly made my way to the hospital, the place I’d really begun to hate with every fiber in my body. The moment I arrived, I could see Isabella being pushed through the halls. My jaw dropped when I noticed she was covered in blood. Nurses and doctors were rushing her into a room, and I tried to follow but was pushed back.“Isabella!” I shouted, tears falling from my eyes.I tried to find Valentino, but he was nowhere to be found. Worry clouded my mind as I hoped he wasn’t hurt.I picked up my phone and tried dialing Valentino’s number again, but it wouldn’t go through. It kept going straight to voicemail. This undying need to scream settled within me. I couldn’t handle the thought of losing someone I loved again.“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re going to have to go back to the waiting room,” one of the nurses
I held my gun with a smirk on my face. It had been so long that I wanted to see him with the barrel of a gun pointed directly at him. It was karma. I remember when I had been in his same position twenty years ago—scared and hurt.“She did.” I laughed. “Isabella, come here, doll.”She hesitated, but with one look at the gun in my hand, she came over to where I stood.“You told me you were going to prove to me where your loyalty lies, so do it. Prove it to me,” I growled.Her eyes widened when I handed her a different gun. It was small, but it could cause just as much damage as any gun could.“What? No! This isn’t part of the plan!” Isabella shouted. Her eyes were wide as she held the gun. Despite it being small, it looked big in her tiny hands.Suddenly, her dad made a move at her, leaving her to aim the gun at him. Her breathing was heavy as she stared at her father. There was a quiver as she held the gun. Perspiration coated her forehead and her chest was rising and falling dramatica
VALENTINOWhen my brother told me about his suspicions of Isabella possibly being pregnant, I almost lost it. There was no way he wanted to take part in the plan we had been constructing our entire lives. Even when I told him that Dmitri was coming in a week with plans to bring down our entire organization to get his daughter, Alex didn’t care.It didn’t make sense to me how he could be so careless over that girl. I wished I actually wanted to respect my brother’s request for us to drop the mission, but I couldn’t. He didn’t have to go through the nightmares of that day―I did. Luckily for him, he couldn’t remember the way our mother’s eyes stared at me as she begged for someone to help her. He wasn’t able to understand that our whole family looked to me in order to save them, and I didn’t. Alex was so fucking lucky that he didn’t have to go downstairs and clean up all the splatters of blood left in the house. He didn’t have to live through that shit, but I did.To think that he wanted