MARGAUX WAS STILL CONFUSED when she turned her head to the car’s window. She could barely see the droplets of water hitting and rolling down the heavily tinted glass. They had been driving for hours, but she still didn’t know where they were headed.
‘This day didn’t happen? What does he mean by that?' Exhausted, she let her back fall against the seat. She was hungry, dizzy, and tired, but she couldn’t complain a bit. Instead, she just looked down at her hands, which were resting on her knees.
They were already a few miles outside of Manila when the guards received a phone call from her father. The next thing she could remember was how one of the guards dragged the doctor out of the car forcefully with a gun pressed against her head again.
The doctor begged for her life, cried aloud, and tried to escape. She wanted to help the lady back then, but she couldn’t. The guard that was left with her was eyeing her closely. Terrified, she turned in the other direction and pretended not to witness everything. God knew how staying quiet back then made her feel so worthless. Her conscience was killing her.
That was the last time she saw the doctor, and she couldn’t even tell if the doctor was still alive or not. The only thing she was sure of was that her father didn’t want anything wrong to happen to the amber-eyed man.
Alejandro might have ordered the guards to kick the doctor out after ensuring that the man survived the long trip.
She closed her eyes when a sinister thought crossed her mind. She wasn’t close to her father. She didn’t even know what her father usually ate for breakfast. However, she grew up being told that Alejandro was a good man. Her mother never failed to remind her of that.
"A good man?" Margaux snorted. What good man keeps a half-dead man inside his office and orders his guard to abduct a doctor?
"Kindly stay here, Madam Margaux. I’ll get you a coat." It was that low voice that woke Margaux from her trance. She blinked a couple of times without saying a word, and then turned to the tinted window. It was only then that she noticed that the car had stopped. A little scared, she turned her head to the driver’s seat and saw the guard open the door. He walked out of the car, locked it closed, and then rushed through the heavy rain.
'Chance!' her mind screamed upon seeing the guard leave. She quickly leaned against the window to observe where she was. With her eyes squinting, she gave a once-over to what was outside the car. She wanted to figure out where she was, but the dark-colored window made it almost impossible. She barely saw anything.
It was a few seconds more before her eyes landed on what looked like a villa nearby. With renewed curiosity, she pressed herself a little harder against the window of the car, hoping to see more. She could tell that there were many trees in that place, but the view was too dark. Although there was a light post close to the villa, its light was dimmed by the heavy rain, and she could only make out shapes.
Still staring and thinking, Margaux’s eyes suddenly widened as she finally identified where she was. ‘Mama’s old villa—’
"Oh!" Her own yelp cut off her thoughts. Something heavy fell on her back and pressed her hard against the car’s window.
She was pinned and couldn’t move. She quickly turned her head to see what was trying to suffocate her.
The first thing she saw was her medium-brown hair, soft and unruly. A loud, exasperated sigh escaped her chest upon realizing who owned it. Gracious! How could she even forget about Amber-Eyed?
Trapped in another sticky situation, Margaux rolled her eyes. Should I take this man with me as I escape?
The currently senseless guy lost his balance in his seat. The guards didn’t put a seat belt on him earlier, seeing how sensitive his condition was. Half of his body was wrapped in bondage, and he smelled heavily of medicine.
Margaux bit her lip while thinking. Then, with one deep inhale, she tried to push his weight off of her back, hoping to get more space to move.
She wasn’t able to anticipate what her movements would result in. With a loud, painful roar, the amber-eyed man’s hand mindlessly grabbed the hollow of her waist out of reflex and gripped her hard.
She almost lost her breath when they both fell back onto the passenger seat with a loud thud.
"Aww!" "Cazzo!" Two voices echoed inside the car, one weaker than the other.
Losing her mind again, Margaux tried to wobble away. However, the man’s grip on her tightened even more, along with more painful grunts. It seemed that he was venting his pain on her, and the more she hurt him because of her movements, the more he choked her.
She wanted to move fast and run away, but the car’s confinement made it impossible. Although she was petite, the man with her was huge. The car’s backseat was choking with them squeezed in there.
One of the unconscious man’s hands landed on her chest, the other around her waist. His face was buried on her cheek, and she could feel how his overnight stubble was grazing her skin. She hitched her breath upon feeling a bulge under her buttocks. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what that bulge was. Their legs were oddly intertwined in a rather intimate way. One of his knees ended up folded between her open legs, accidentally rubbing her.
Given another situation, she swore that she would give this man a twin-slap—no, make that a quadruplet-slap. However, the vulnerability and innocence of his responses made it clear to her that he wasn’t aware of anything at all. He was drugged.
Not knowing what to do, Margaux checked if she could pull her arms from under them. Unfortunately, what she did earned a tortured cuss from him. Her wrist was pressing on his left side, and that was where his wound was. He stirred a bit under her, and she gawked when his knees accidentally rubbed between her legs again.
She was shocked and afraid. She swallowed hard to control the foreign sensation in her center. Then, she quickly turned to him to check how he was, completely forgetting their proximity at the moment.
Their faces brushed against each other, and it was too late to pull back. Her lips had already landed in the wrongest place possible—his cold, pale lips.
Her eyes were still bulging out of their sockets when a clicking sound came from the driver’s seat door, and the guard from earlier peeked in.
"Ma’am Margaux, here’s your... coat."
*****FROM: margaux.montenegro@gy.comTO: alejandro.montenegro@montcorp.comSUBJECT: Where are you?Dad, How are you? Why aren't you answering my calls? The guy you asked your guards to bring here is doing well. He was feverish last night and was babbling incoherently. Your guards get Doctor Liza here every night, but they couldn't last night. It was raining hard, and Julio called in, telling us that the bridge they had to pass through broke. You shouldn't be worrying too much, though, because the guy's fever went down at around three in the morning after I gave him a sponge bath.*****MARGAUX'S FINGERS FROZE from typing on her laptop. She blinked a couple of times as she reread the last seven words of her email. Then, as if something had woken her with a slap, her eyes widened, and she began banging on the keyboard's backspace key anxiously.She rewrote, 'After our maid, Alberta, gave him a sponge bath.' She then cunningly looked at the old woman, who was busy chopping salad greens
MARGAUX PURRED when something soft and warm traced her spine. Her consciousness began to drift in and out of sleep. It was like that until those lips found the dimple on her back and bit. "Mmm..." She unwittingly buried her face in her pillow when thousands of sensations peppered her skin. "Do you want more?" "Yes." As if that was the only cue the man behind her needed, his hand instantly found one of her breasts and squeezed. The heat that traveled from his palm to her flesh was heavenly. "Oh, yes!" "More?" "Please!" "As you wished." With one swift move, the man grabbed her shoulder and pinned her down. The bed they were on was soft, but the man next to her... was lean. The brute unceremoniously dove for one of her sore breasts, just in time for her nakedness to be exposed to him. Forcing a sweet moan from her, he tenderly bit the underside of her breast, playfully leaving a mark. He wetly kissed the same skin to relieve the pain. "You like it this way, huh?" "Yes," she sai
ROME GRUNTED LOW upon waking up. He forced himself to open his eyes, but doing so just made him feel worse. So he shut them again and gave himself another minute to rest.His head felt like it was cracking, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't because of a hangover. He owned a club. He would be ashamed if he died just because of Bacardi. Moreover, his whole body felt sore and stiff, as if he hadn't even moved for a month.'A month?' His body immediately sprung out of bed with that thought. However, a sharp pain surged from his side and made him groan. Shaking his head to dismiss the pain, he quickly moved to the side of the bed and tried to get out of it.He cussed between gritted teeth when his knees buckled under his weight. It was good that he could hold on to the bedside table just before his face hit the floor.Dizzily, he managed to drag his heavy feet to the nearest window. Then, with his body safely leaning on the wall next to it, he tugged hard on the curtain and ended up cu
THE DAYS DRAGGED SLOWLY for Margaux. Just like the other nights, she’d been twisting left and right for hours and still couldn’t sleep. Not knowing what to do anymore, she closed her eyes and stopped moving. But then, even pretending to sleep didn’t help—her mind remained restless and wide awake.Finally giving up, she grumpily sat on her bed and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She checked the time and instantly frowned upon seeing what was on the LCD. It was past three in the morning. Although it was still dark outside, the sun would eventually show up in more or less two hours.‘Good job for another sleepless night, Margaux! Four in a row. What are you trying to do? Get a Guinness Record for not sleeping?’Annoyed, she rolled her eyes before sliding out of her bed. She marched towards the mini-living room with her phone in her hand, then made a free fall onto her luxurious cream-colored couch. Soon enough, she was already checking her emails on her phone as if she hadn’t d
"OH..." MARGAUX’S MOAN SOUNDED THROATY upon waking up. Her head felt like it was breaking, and she surely knew why. Getting hangovers wasn’t foreign to her since she studied in New York City. In fact, there had been numerous times when she came home crawling from wild college nights.‘Argh! Did I really drink that much?’ she asked before yawning and pulling her quilt up. The soft mattress under her was heavenly against her aching back. Furthermore, it had this delightful scent, urging her to bury her face in the sheets more. It smelled like menthol shampoo — fresh.Wanting to sleep some more, Margaux tried to curl her body into her favorite fetal position. However, her back and chest immediately ached as soon as she rolled to her side. Thinking that the pain was just due to an upcoming monthly period, one of her hands unconsciously groped at her swollen breast."Good morning, cara mia.""Good morning too, caro— Shit!" Margaux’s back sprung abruptly out of bed. Her view immediately spu
WHAT DID SHE JUST CALL ME?’ Rome froze while staring at the door. He wasn’t the type to be easily surprised by anything. But then, Margaux has been proving herself exceptional at it since last night.Smirking, he shook his head bemusedly and laughed. ‘Crazy woman.’ He didn’t lie to her when he said that she was still a virgin. The truth is, she was still technically a virgin until now.Thinking about what happened between them, he rested his back on the couch and closed his eyes. Then he cursed her name over and over inside his head after everything came rushing back to him like a tidal wave.At thirty, Rome had already seen and bedded more than enough beautiful women. None of them ever made him as hungry for sex as Margaux did, though.Women were nothing but cheap, disposable items to him. He used them once, and then he trashed them. But Margaux was like an expensive wine that not many people could afford. She was the perfect mix of innocence and wildness.Her lips tasted divine. T
IT WAS ALREADY PAST EIGHT IN THE EVENING when Margaux stepped out of their villa. She had been grumpy the whole day. Her phone was missing, and she couldn't find it no matter how hard she looked.To be honest, losing the phone was nothing. She could always ask Alberta or any of their guards to get her a replacement whenever she wanted.However, she was waiting for a critical phone call. What if Alejandro suddenly remembered that he had a daughter who was waiting for him to explain everything he was up to?'Dream on!' She rolled her eyes.Soon enough, she reached the hilltop where her treehouse was. She was still frowning when she dropped her bag on the ground and gave the whole place a slow once-over. She wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be anyone present when she vented her frustrations.She then knelt in front of her bag and pulled out a bottle of chardonnay. She opened it and drank straight from the bottle, like a superb drunkard.Getting her fill, she slipped the wine back
MARGAUX'S BACK BOUNCED against her bed after she made a free fall. She remained to stare at the ceiling for a while, as if waiting for something to appear there. Letting out a breath, she then pursed her lips while thinking, ‘Who the hell are you?’She had wasted her whole day surfing all the social sites she knew about: Facebook, WeChat, Instagram, etc.Her curiosity about Rome was ticking inside her like a time bomb. Still, she didn’t have the guts to ask him questions directly either. Instead, she opted to stalk him online, hoping that there was any information about him readily available. Her efforts ended up being useless. Finding anything about Rome was like finding a needle in a stack of hay— it was like the man didn’t exist at all.Rolling to her belly, Margaux reached for her laptop and started typing again. She badly wanted to know him. Moreover, find out about his connection to her father.She typed his name on the search engine for the nth time and waited for a few seconds
The sun was soft as it shone over Reiti, Paso, Italy. Just like all the good days inside that villa, the gentle waves hitting the shore could be seen from where the Don sat. The mild breeze was playing with his hair as he silently sipped his wine. Soft white curtains were swaying on every open window too, making them look as if they were dancing peacefully with the mild tune he was humming. Alla mia Amata, of course."Papa?"Alejandro pretended not to see the tiny boy climbing on his lap. Instead, he covered his face harder with the newspaper in his hands, as if he were busy reading it. Nonetheless, his senses were at full alert, and he discreetly lowered one of his legs down to make sure that the child would have something to grab on to and wouldn't fall. Only God could describe how the child's mother turned into a monster whenever the child got hurt."Papa...""I'm reading, Romano," he said, dragging the child's name, copying how the baby dragged his. "Lots of news lately that could
It was the worst battle he had fought. A war where he couldn't tell who was with him and who wasn't. A battle where he had to keep firing his gun while holding his cara and staring death in the face simultaneously.He lost count of the number of bullets his body took for her. His whole body was numbing, but then he just couldn't let go.His mind was empty, unable to recognize who his enemies were. Alejandro's soldiers were fighting like a group of hungry beasts. The group that broke through the gate minutes ago, which he had recognized as Marco's, was just as ferocious.He noticed one of the groups protecting him when he rushed to the parking lot. Some of its soldiers caught bullets for him, willingly giving their lives to assure that he would get where he needed to.He was in so much pain. But it wasn't because of the random bullets digging into his flesh. He knew that pain so well. It wasn't for him, but for Margaux. It was for the child barely holding on inside her.The whole world
"MARGAUX..."Alberta's voice didn't reach her ears when the now-familiar stab crushed her nerves again. Automatically, her hand found the back of her hips, trying to keep them from splitting in two. The drop of sweat that fell on her fist, resting on her lap, looked blurry. Her tummy was in pain—so much pain that she had to burst out of breath to stop herself from groaning."Are you alright?""Are you done talking?" She tightly closed her eyes. She saw double, and it was the last thing she needed."I said, I'm sorry."She didn't reply. She understood what the old woman, kneeling and crying before her, was saying, but then it just wouldn't entirely register with her. More so when everything in her mind was Rome and him alone. All she remembered was that Alberta mentioned something like 'the Don's son and mother.' Or was it mother that she said?Whatever it was, she felt her heart crunch painfully hearing it, but not half as much as the one she was trying to tolerate while sitting there
THE VILLA WAS BUZZING at five in the morning. The scent of food combined with flowers was lingering in the air. The tables—hundreds of them—were carefully wrapped in meticulous white linens. The maids were like bees running back and forth, carrying plates and silverware. Violinists, called out at the most unholy time of the day, were cramming to learn the best and most beautiful music they would ever play: the Alla Mia Amata."You missed the timing; it would mean something different." The Don was in the middle of the crowd, looking down at the poor violinist."S-señor?""It's for my son. Perfect it," he ordered in a cold voice. His amber eyes were piercing, silently warning the musician to get the proper tempo or else it would be the last piece he would play. "You have to perfect it," he gritted, making the musician's knee shake at once with the terror that engulfed him."Y-Yes, señor." The musician barely opened his mouth, reaching for the paper before him to read the complicated n
MICE PLAY IN THE ABSENCE OF CATS. Same as how the envious smaller gods play in the absence of bigger gods. This part happened somewhere between sacred nights and mornings."The Montenegro child has already shown up." A young man gently pushed a pawn across the chessboard. Then, stopping his move right next to the White Queen, he settled the piece and looked up at his competitor."Oh, she did?" His playmate, an older man in his seventies, countered that move by moving the White Queen to eliminate the pawn.That made the young man chuckle. Languidly, he pressed his back against the leather seat he was sitting on. "Yes, Papa. The soldiers found her.""Molto bien..." Satisfaction flooded the old man's voice. He mirrored what his son did. He stretched his back and relaxed, grabbing the wine glass on the table. One sip, and he then asked, "How about God? Did he already show up?""Not yet, papa," the younger man answered, giving his father a brief look before gazing back at the chessboard. "
It was hard to tell if hell was actually a burning place. At three in the morning, hell looked nothing like what the Bible said. It was just pitch black with phone rings and voices.[Hello? She's on her way, God.]"Good."[Should I send the soldiers to meet her?]"Don't. Wait for her to enter our territory."[God?]"He will run after her. Wait for it."...'DRIVING TO THE VILLA. Will talk to Dad. Be back tonight. Love, Margaux'A three-sentence note on the mirror, a little heart smiley, and her name written using her red lipstick were all it took for Rome's mind to melt into broken letters.He was tired, and her arms were warm, so he slept. He should not have.Who would have thought that it would take only a short while for her to slip between his fingers? Like sand seeping down and falling where she shouldn't be?'You lured her...' He blinked his eyes, trying to balance himself as he reached for her name. His fingers were trembling when they touched the cold mirror, hoping that it
DARKNESS.Not a single drop of light illuminated the heavens that night—not the moon or even a single star. There was nothing except for silent voices talking in pitch-black."He saw us watching him, didn't he?"[He is smarter than I expect, God.]"Of course, he is!" Pride dripped from that unknown voice as the speaker chuckled. "He is the one and only Romano, after all."[Okay... So what's your next order?]"Drag them back." The god yawned, sounding a bit bored, before adding, "Make sure that the Amati is there once I come..."...ALBERTA WAS CALLING...No, it was better to say that she was bombarding Margaux with her calls. Hundreds of them in the past twelve hours. Nonstop.'Should I tell Rome?' Lifting her eyes from the vibrating phone on her hand, she looked up and scanned the unfamiliar room before her—unpainted walls, grey, and way less colorful than the skin of its late owner, Tat."Why are you just staying there? Why don't you come here?"She jerked upon hearing the man sit
GOD WAS MOVING. He was moving his chess pieces so accurately, and no one could tell what was next."Burn it," he ordered before sipping wine from his glass. His voice was calm, just like the wide ocean before him. Santorini mornings had always been perfect anyway, more so, his mansion there. Whitewashed houses line the most beautiful mountain in the world, meeting the blue Aegean waters as they calmly hit the shore.It was heaven with a demon living in it."Burn it down and..." the God chuckled while letting the sweet breeze mess with his graying hair. "... break his other leg. Make sure that he wouldn't have anywhere else to go."...'Cazzata!'Rome's cuss remained unspoken as he watched his headquarters, 'The Romans', burn through nine different TV screens. Thick, dark smoke was rising from the same building he had worked so hard for. From the aerial shot taken by the news channel, he could see the showcase of his bar getting licked by fire. His people were screaming and getting t
"I want to see you both in that dress, Cara."Rome felt his chest tighten just by calling her. Could he tell her what was pressing him down on that bed? Or could he at least tell her what was choking him while begging her to wear that dress again? He hoped he could. "Please...""I-I don't have that dress anymore."'This is horrible...' He closed his eyes. Finally finding the energy to move his head. He opened his eyes again and looked at her. He saw Margaux looking back at him over her beautiful shoulder. His gaze then glided down her back, mingling a bit longer on the hollow of her spine, before settling on her hips.Involuntarily, the corner of his lips lifted, although that smile didn't reach his sad amber eyes. 'My baby's growing fast.'"Stop smiling like that while staring at my butt, Caro."Margaux's irritated voice aired, forcing him to look up at her face. The same beautiful face he would love to kiss the rest of his life if he were lucky enough to have some more time left.'L