LILY I'm sitting on the grass in the park watching children play games with their parents cheering them on. Some children are dancing and running around and taking pictures, and every moment looks like a dance move. The parents rallying around their kids are a mocking reminder to me that I lack love and support. "Hey, can I join you?" I look up to find a young girl standing in front of me. She's wearing a very short skirt and cropped top; she looks older than me, maybe 21 or so. She smiles and shifts her brown hair from her face. I ignore her and look away. To my surprise, she takes the spot beside me, brushing her bare thighs against mine and sending signals to my body. I shift away. We sit down quiet together for a while, neither of us speaking. I'm looking at the kids playing faraway, but I'm not seeing them. From my peripheral, I can see this girl still staring at me. I absently check my phone to find out if anyone at home has called to check on me. My phone is buzzing; I powe
LILY "Lily." Luca grabs my wrist, pulling me into his house and locking the door behind us. "Are you okay? Why would you ever think that coming to me is bothering me?" "I...I..." Tears pour down my face again. I try to move, but his grip on me is too tight. I realized I'm pressed against his bare body, hard muscles sending the wrong signals to my body. His wearing nothing but a man's brief. "You're cold. Come with me." He leads me into his room. He looks at me with eyes filled with pity. "I don't want pity." I wrap my arms around myself when I feel him pulling my dress up. "I don't want to play." "You're soaking wet. I need to get you out of these clothes before you get a cold." He pulls my dress over my head and throws it to the ground. His eyes darken in appreciation of my cold, perked nipples and wet, see-through panties, and despite my pitiful state, my body still reacts, but the lust disappears as fast as it appears. He scoops me in his arms and leads me towards his bathroom
LILY I tie his wrists and then take a few steps back and look at him; a smile grows on my face. I have him exactly where I want him. We are still at a club, in like another room, and it is dark as hell in there (except for the spotlight right above the pole) in the middle of the room. I take a step forward, my legs somewhat wobbly. And a lyric fills the room, a sexual song that always puts me in the mood, you know those songs with the dirty lyrics that just make you want to do those nasty things to that special someone. I begin to dance, my movements slow and sensual. A cold metal pole, and it is so icy, and my hands couldn't stop sliding up and down it, my shirt bunching up and my stomach showing. I feel Luca's eyes on me, hungrily drinking in every inch of my bare skin. But he can't move because his wrists are tied to the chair that he is sitting on. So I just really quickly unbutton my shirt and drop it down to my boobs. They shake with every move I make, and I can feel his
LILY"Mom, what happened to my car?" I yell while entering the house and walking towards the dining room. "Why is my car suspended in the air with no wheels?"My mom turns around from the sink to face me. "Honey, your dad says that's your punishment; no car for you." There's no emotion on her face; she turns around to continue cleaning the plates with a towel."Punishment, what did I do, telling him I wanted to become a dancer?" I'm so pissed right now. Last night I caught Luca making out Mira. I kissed her to spite him. Both of them have been calling me nonstop since then, but I have refused to answer, and now my dad is punishing me for wanting to follow my passion. "Mom, you're not saying anything; you're in on this too, right?"She sighs deeply before untying the apron across her waist and hanging it on a pole. She leans her back against the sink. "Sweetheart, we just want the best for you; no parent wants their child to become a street dancer; there's no dignity in that."I chuckl
LILY I don't know why I sneaked into the house through the backdoor; it's not like my dad didn't hear me drive in and couldn't see his meeting to scold me for my bad behavior, but somehow I feel good for doing it. Instead of taking the turn to my room, something snaps in me, and I take the turn to my dad's study. I'm dying of curiosity to know what's going on. I rest my ears against the door, trying to listen. But all I hear are incoherent muffled noises that make no sense. I can tell they are having an argument or some kind of confusion; everybody is talking at the same time. Maybe something has gone horribly wrong at the firm. I recognize my dad's voice, Luca's voice. Even my mom is in there? What's going on? I lean further into the door, and I don't know when the door is opened, but next thing I know, I'm falling forward into the room, but instead of falling into the room, I land on a heavy rock; its large form blocks my view of the room and shields me from being seen by those
LILY"What is the meaning of this?" My mom yells at me, mirroring my shocked expression."Eh... I was just...""Is this what you do when I'm out?" My dad barks angrily.I look down on my body to discover that the sheet is properly covering my body and my hands are still in my pajamas top, so it doesn't look suspicious. I almost thought they had walked in on me doing something stupid. So what are they talking about now?"You took my car that was neat and clean to school without my permission, and you brought it back looking like an accident victim."Oh, that's what he's talking about. I breathe a sigh of relief and look around. "Dad you make my car impossible to drive without my permission; you also froze my account.""You needed a little punishment and a reminder that you can't always get what you want. If you try to pull another crazy stunt, I will ground you." My dad paces around; he's shoulder looks so heavy as if he is carrying the problems of the whole world on it. "A lot of thin
LILY"It's all my fault I'm so stupid.""Nothing is your fault, Lily." Tiffany wraps her arms around me. "Should I get you water?" She stands up and starts heading for the kitchen. "You're stressing too much." "No, I don't want water." I snap. "This is all my fault; if I had not posted that picture on social media, none of this would have happened."Tiffany folds her wrist on her waist and stares at me. "You don't know that for sure.""Of course I do; that is what the officers said at the station; that document that I posted was given to my father in confidence to be kept private. Guilt was eating me alive in that station; that is the reason I had to run out of there and back to my home. Will my father be sentenced to prison?"Tiffany doesn't answer. I know her silence means yes. I rub my puffy eyes. "He can't be punished; it's all my fault."Tiffany sits in front of me. "You know no one knows you posted that photo online besides the two of us.""I used one of my fake profiles; they
LILY"Go, I'm coming behind you.""No, we were going together.""Oh. No." I shake my head and try to push Luca to move out of my room."Your mom already knows that I slept over." Luca sticks his hands into his pocket and gives me the bored look."What? How does she know?" He shrugs. "I bumped into her last night when I went to drink water.""Ohhh, so she thinks we're..." I am unable to complete my statement."She thinks that we're?..." He prompts me to say more."Oh, forget it.""Say it." He moves away from the door and closer to me."That we're seeing each other." I blurt out.He strokes my jaw slowly. "Is that why you're so tensed?" He pulls me closer and rests his hands on my ass. "If it makes you any better, I told her that I slept in the guest room. And that I came around because, with Smith's arrest and everything that is going on, you two deserve to feel safe and not vulnerable."I gulp. "Thank you." I try to pull away. "Now, you can go."He tilts his head to the side, studyin
SAMANTHA'S POV I feel so stupid right now. After everything my husband has done for me, this is how I repay him—by ditching him on our wedding.The grumpy officer bangs heavily on the metal gate of our cell. "Wake up; your family is here; you are going home." He unlocks it and holds it open for us. I tap my girls to wake up, and I rush over to the officer. "How did they know that...""Don't ask me any questions." He spits.We all run out of the cell to meet everyone. Luca looks pissed, Lily looks really mad, and West... well, West looks disappointed. In me. "I'm sorry." I try to touch West's hands, but he flinches. "It's 6:45 am. The wedding is by 7:00 am." West walks out without another word to me. Lily and Luca walk out as well. Great! I collect my property and rush out to join them in West's limousine, with Stacy, Alice, and Maria following behind me.It doesn't take up to five seconds for us to reach the mansion, or maybe it's just my thinking, but I don't dare to check the time
SAMANTHA'S POV "Come on, wear something hot." Alice tugs at my arm."Are you crazy? I'm a married woman.""You are not yet a married woman; it's still tomorrow. For what it is worth, today is your spinster's eve."I'm not dressing indecently, and that's on period. This is a little too much now." I light the dress with the tip of my finger to show how disgusting it is. "This is the kind of thing I should wear for my honeymoon, for West's eyes only, not to a damn club full of people.""Huh," Alice shakes her head. "You have not really enjoyed your life; now you are getting married?""Why are we even still going through? Lily is not coming. The men are having theirs in a cafe, and we are going to the club. I don't know why, but I don't feel right about this. I don't know what my mind is making me feel like something bad has happened or is about to happen. I don't know if it has something to do with Lily warning me to be careful. "Of course we are ladies; we have to go to a club." Alice
SAMANTHA'S POV "How do you feel?" A voice calls out to me. "Sam." The voice is familiar. "Are you still asleep? Wake up!"I stir on the bed, obeying the order; my eyes fly open; the room is too bright. My eyes close on their own accord; taking time to get acquainted with the light, they reopen, and that's when I look around. I'm on a hospital bed? "Why am I on a hospital bed?" I mutter to myself. I can't really remember clearly the events of the last few hours, but I know I'm pregnant. My fingers roam across the bump on my belly...but it feels flatter. I look down. "Where is my baby?""Relax. Our baby is fine." The familiar voice reassures me as I feel a set of strong fingers wrap around my fingers. West.I turn to him and notice a plaster on his shoulder; red backs and bruises on his exposed skin bring back the ugly memories. I was kidnapped; I was taken care of. Tiffany brought a doctor that tried to cut my belly open; my West helped me push out our baby. I smile. "Thank you, honey
LILY'S POV"Everybody in this van is bleeding and needs medical attention; please, driver, speed on!" I tap on Maria's seat.Maria triples the speed of the car, flying over road bumps and bumping into lightweight trees, and we are lucky we are still driving in the lonely part of the city; else those light trees would have been people.I turn to Samantha, whose eyes are now shut. "Sam?" I look up to West, who is holding her in his arms; his neck is hanging loosely to the side. He is asleep, and his shoulder is bleeding. "There is no first aid box in this van?" I turn to Danny, who is being attended to by one of the females in his gang, Clara. He signals me that she will come to us soon. I turn back to Samantha, whose eyes are still closed. "Samantha. Samantha!" I shout and shake her body, drawing the attention of Luca and West. "What is wrong?""Is she okay?""She is not answering." I reply to them, my eyelids wet with tears as I continue shaking her."Samantha!" West rested his head
WEST'S POV"Run!!" Luca shouts. "Go with the baby and Sam."Thank goodness, I'm a hulk; I place my baby on my back and wrap another cloth over her tightly on my chest. I do everything with demon speed. I lift my fiancée in my arms and walk out through the back door. I check both sides; it's really cleared. I memorized the map in my hands before shoving it into my pants pocket, and we started moving out through the bush tracks.We are still in close range of the building when a voice calls out. "You need any assistance, though, man?"I turn to my left to find a redhead watching me. I shake my head. "I don't need help.""Why? We could really be of help."The next voice is from my right side. Another man is watching me. That's odd. No one was supposed to be on this bush track. Don't panic. West. Don't panic. I ignore them and try to refocus on my task. "West!" That voice is familiar. Too familiar, and that is because I have known the bearer my whole life, or almost my whole life.I turn
WEST'S POVMy first thought is to carry her out of here and take her to a hospital, but the van we brought is packed more than 100 miles away. There is still a set of bodyguards waiting for us at the entrance or already coming after us, but the way I'm seeing Sam right now, I don't think we have the luxury of time to waste. We will deliver the baby!I fold the sleeves of my hoodies, and my eyes land on the bedside desk, which looks like an operation table because of the things on it: a syringe, a pack of hand gloves, cotton wool, a pad, towels, a blanket, and a knife. "Is it safe to use this?"She nods. "They brought a doctor. She wanted to force my baby out."What? Is that how devilish Tiffany can be? I want to find her and kill her right away, but I have to wait and attend to Sam first; she is more important. I stretch to the table and open the pack of gloves, and I remove a pair.A loud gunshot pierces through the air as violent men rush in. I cover my body partially over Sam, look
LILY'S POV"Oh my gosh! I feel like I'm in a movie scene right now. I told you, Maria. I felt like something crazy was about to happen to us." I look around the silk van that was arranged by one of my husband's friends. It is screaming top assassin machinery with the black leather seats, speaker, radio, and TV on the top and dark-tinted glass and all of Maria's electronic gadgets and wires, and oh, don't get me started with the demon speed of this vehicle. "Well, here we are." Maria laughs. She had successfully arranged the fake business deal between us and Viktor. "Yes, Clara, keep moving." She says.We watch Clara and Austin carry briefcases each and confidently stroll through the gate. The empire is in the middle of nowhere with tall bushes surrounding the skyscraper kind of fence. It's the kind of building that screams danger from afar. The guard by the gate is well stocked with rifles and arms on every part of his chest and arms. We can see him stretch out his hands to Clara and
LILY'S POV"Welcome in! I hear you have news about my sister. How is she? My husband informed me of your arrival." I adjust the denim dress I have on as I step aside and open the door wider for the guest to enter in."Hi, good morning." He enters in, tall and tough-looking; the man I believe is Donny walks in. "Your sister is perfectly fine." Assures me.I move to close the door, but a tougher-looking man enters in, and another, and soon a small battalion is congregating in my living room. I look around in confusion; my husband had only informed me of one man, Donny. "Welcome all." I smile, trying not to look receptive."After they are all seated, it doesn't take long for the familiar sound of my husband's car to roll in. Luca, West, and Maria, a girl Tiffany had introduced to us as her friend from New Voices Co, help themselves into the living room, and we begin the business of the day.Donny takes the floor to talk to us all on the current state of affairs. "Sam is in Vicktor's camp
SAMANTHA'S POVTiffany! I should have ended her when I had the chance. I rise to my feet angrily, causing the chair to stumble and fall backwards. "A restraining order couldn't fucking do it?" Sam. Is Sam missing? No. I start pacing around, tousling my hair like a lunatic. Where do I find her? Tiffany! I'm so mad at myself to think that I waited this much precious time chasing after dust when... How do I even find Tiffany?"What is going on in that mind of yours?" Luca's voice draws me back to reality."I...." How do I put everything I'm feeling in one word? "Tiffany...Sam. Sam is missing!""What?""How can Sam be missing?" Two distinct female voices cry from the doorway.I turn around to see two ladies rushing into the office. Alice and Stacy. "Do you know where she went to from the mall?""Home." She turns to the other girl. "Isn't it, Stacy? Where else will she go? What happened to her? The girl's eyes look so glassy as if she is about to cry. Why?Luca stands from his chair. "I w