Jessica’s POVI should have known Ava wouldn’t let this slide.The moment she got me alone after I had agreed to go on a date with Luca, I could see it all over her face—the disapproval, the concern, the desperate urge to shake me out of what she believed was a mistake.I understood that she didn't want me to have to go through that trauma but I promise I was fine. "You can't be serious about this, Jess," she said with her arms crossed as she stood in front of me like a mother about to scold her child. "A date? With him?" She asked me incredulous. I let out a sigh, I had already anticipated this conversation. I knew she was speaking out of a place of concern but I could handle myself. "Ava—" I was saying. "No, hear me out," she cut in as I saw the way her eyes burned with something close to frustration. "I'm not saying Luca's a bad guy, okay? I actually think he's annoyingly charming in his own way. But you... you've been through so much, Jess. Are you sure you can handle this?"
Luca's POVI stepped out of the bathroom as I rolled the condom packet between my fingers with a lazy smirk already playing on my lips.Jessica had been the one pushing for this, and fuck, I was already getting excited thinking about how much I wanted her—how much I had always wanted her. I guess taking things slowly wasn't in the cards for her. "Hey, you might want to—" I was saying but then I froze.She wasn’t there, She wasn't in the room, on the couch where I last saw her. I frowned as my eyes scanned the living room. The spot on the couch where she had been sitting was empty.Perhaps she was thirsty after the steamy moment."Jessica?" I called out as I glanced towards the kitchen. No response.A strange feeling had already begun to crawl up my spine, the kind of unease that didn’t make sense yet. Maybe she was in the other bathroom? I walked toward the door, listening. Silence.She still wasn't anywhere.Is she trying to play games with me? I wondered. Jessica really wasn't the
Coran's povI remained hidden in the corner, patiently waiting for the intruder that was lurking around to approach my direction. The room was very dark and the reflection of the moon was the only source of light inside but my eyes had grown accustomed to darkness and they were clear as the day.Just as predicted, I noticed a sneaky move towards my direction, I mentally calculated my moves and with a raise of my fist, I landed a heavy punch on the throat of the intruder.“ Argghhh,” a loud groan escaped his mouth, making me maintain a satisfactory expression . I turned on the wall switch for a clear glimpse of who the person was.The first thing that caught my attention was the green snake tattoo on his neck. “ Wait, you are …” I trailed off, trying to gather my thoughts together.I was very mad and furious because judging from the tattoo, the assassin was from the Vein clan and he is a smaller assassin. What were they thinking when they sent a newbie to me?I tried hard to connect th
Coran's pov “ What are you talking about?” She questioned with a glare.I scoffed and moved closer to her, making myself clearer this time around, “ you look fucking hot and I want to bury myself in you,” The atmosphere became heavy as her face distorted in anger, “ did I look like a slut to you?” Her face and demeanor showed that she was trying to calm herself down but deep down, I think that she is just trying to play hard to get.Wrapping my hand around her waist, I pulled her closer to myself only for her to do the least thing I expected from her.“ Who the hell do you think you are to touch me like that, you bloody pervert,” she landed a slap on my face and pushed me away, she then proceeded to roll her eye.“ You slapped me?” I gritted my teeth together with green views visible on my forehead. “ So what? And I will still…” I didn't give her a chance to complete her statement before I grasp and strangled her tightly on the neck. Her face turned red and she began to cough viol
Coran pov The file was carefully placed in my hand and I waved my hand at him to disperse him. Joe bowed and was about to leave when he suddenly bowed.“ Don't forget the meeting tonight,” he reminded me and matched away from my front. I watched his receding back before I finally settled to open the file.The front page contained all her personal information which included her age and who her parents were. I shunned the information off and was about to open to the next page when my eye caught an interesting information. “She stays with her sister?” I mumbled in a low voice and as if that wasn't enough, her supposed sister is a chronic bet addict. A knowing smile crept its way to my lips, without further ado, I closed the file and entered the room.“ What are you still doing there?” I questioned Lucia, who was still acting coyish on the bed.She instantly stood up and dressed herself up before making her way to the entrance, where I stood and patiently waited for her to leave.She w
Ava's pov I dragged my tired self out of the bar while the scene from before refused to leave my head.‘ Who the hell does he think he is?’ I lamented and flung my ratan bag which contained my customs across my shoulder.The rest of my walk home was filled with how I was going to manage tonight's pay so that I will be able to clear his hospital bills.“ Be patient, she will be back soon,” the voice of my aunt can be heard from inside, making me pause in my stride. This is the first time that I will be hearing her speak with someone inside the house and that wasn't teg only baffling thing, she sounded very humble and respectful unlike herself.I placed my hand on the door knob, prepared to open the door when I heard a low chuckle from who I suspect to be her companion. This woke something in me and I lazily dragged my gaze across the street.I was beyond shocked to see a row of men dressed in black suits, standing across our house, looking unfazed and unmoved. What the hell is going o
Ava's povHis words got to me and made me shiver lightly, “ Don't be scared baby,” he said in a low voice while running his hand on my lap.I felt very repulsed by his actions and instantly shifted away from him, “ please, be proper,” I warned.He paused and stared at my face in an amused expression, “ seems like you are forgetting something, I am the boss here and I bought you already,” he said between gritted teeth.His tone was full of mockery which made my eyes welled up, who thought I was going to be in this kind of hard situation. I fondled tightly with the hem of my dress while trying my best to hide my nervousness.He moved closer to me and placed his hand on the side door, caging me in his hot masculine scent. He stared down directly at my soul before he spoke, “ you don't have to be So shy, bet you will be naughtier on the bed,” he naughtily said, licking his lips.I felt very uncomfortable with what he just said that I choked back on my spit. Thankfully, he could feel that
Coran's pov“ Sir, I just got a report that Viper clan's men have infiltrated the clan so I want to inform you before I rush over,” this was the message Joe passed over to me that changed my mood totally. I entered the room back and changed out of my current outfit, I didn't say anything to the timid girl that was shivering beside the bed stand. Just as I was about to leave the room, I gave her the last cold gaze and slammed the door behind me .“ Where are you off to sir? And will you be back tonight?” All these bombarding questions were from Mrs Kris whose body was almost blocking my way.I let out a silent curse and managed to give her a short response. “ I should be back tonight.”Just as I was about to exit the room, something reoccurred to me,“ by the way, get some maids to clean up the dirty girl in my room.”I didn't wait for her acknowledgement or response before dashing out of the house. All the cars and men were ready outside as instructed by me earlier and all I had to do
Luca's POVI stepped out of the bathroom as I rolled the condom packet between my fingers with a lazy smirk already playing on my lips.Jessica had been the one pushing for this, and fuck, I was already getting excited thinking about how much I wanted her—how much I had always wanted her. I guess taking things slowly wasn't in the cards for her. "Hey, you might want to—" I was saying but then I froze.She wasn’t there, She wasn't in the room, on the couch where I last saw her. I frowned as my eyes scanned the living room. The spot on the couch where she had been sitting was empty.Perhaps she was thirsty after the steamy moment."Jessica?" I called out as I glanced towards the kitchen. No response.A strange feeling had already begun to crawl up my spine, the kind of unease that didn’t make sense yet. Maybe she was in the other bathroom? I walked toward the door, listening. Silence.She still wasn't anywhere.Is she trying to play games with me? I wondered. Jessica really wasn't the
Jessica’s POVI should have known Ava wouldn’t let this slide.The moment she got me alone after I had agreed to go on a date with Luca, I could see it all over her face—the disapproval, the concern, the desperate urge to shake me out of what she believed was a mistake.I understood that she didn't want me to have to go through that trauma but I promise I was fine. "You can't be serious about this, Jess," she said with her arms crossed as she stood in front of me like a mother about to scold her child. "A date? With him?" She asked me incredulous. I let out a sigh, I had already anticipated this conversation. I knew she was speaking out of a place of concern but I could handle myself. "Ava—" I was saying. "No, hear me out," she cut in as I saw the way her eyes burned with something close to frustration. "I'm not saying Luca's a bad guy, okay? I actually think he's annoyingly charming in his own way. But you... you've been through so much, Jess. Are you sure you can handle this?"
Jessica’s POVI wasn't supposed to be know what he was going to say. At least, that’s what Ava had whispered to me the moment Luca showed up and Coran had called him away to speak with him. Ava had reached for my hand when I wanted to follow them and she had tried to pull me away from going with them. “Leave it to Coran,” she had urged me in a low but urgent voice. “You really don’t need this right now.” she had said to me and she was right, I didn’t need this. I didn’t need Luca showing up at Coran’s house, invading a space that had finally started feeling safe for me. I sure as hell didn’t need the way my heart stuttered the moment I sst my eyes on him, nor the way the world suddenly seemed to shrink down to just his presence the moment o noticed him standing there. But none of that stopped me from standing up and ignoring Ava’s grip."I'm just going to check up on them and let them be." I said to her as I ignored Navia's eyes on me and I quietly followed Luca and Coran as they d
Luca's POV I wasn’t supposed to be here,I know that much but the moment I heard Navia casually mention a barbecue at Coran’s place—and the fact that Jessica might be there, I shut my thinking.I already had it planned out, I was visiting a friend in Milan. An old pal, but upon hearing that she was going to be at Coran's place on Saturday, I just knew that this was my chance to see her and if I got lucky, get to speak to her. I had called, rescheduled my visit to Milan for a few more days and prepared to visit Coran's mansion when no one was suspecting. I had spent days trying to figure out where Jessica had disappeared to and everyone refused to tell me, they were all acting clueless. Not Ava, not Coran, and definitely not Jessica herself as she had somehow either deactivated her phone or blocked me from contacting her. It was like she had vanished into thin air, and I had been left with nothing but restless nights and this growing frustration that gnawed at me at every thought of
Jessica's pov The afternoon sun was warm and it's golden rays were sprawled over estate as I pulled up to the gates of Ava and Coran’s mansion. I had debated coming because I was a bit hesitant for reasons I didn’t want to acknowledge, but Ava had been persistent, She kept texting and bothering me. Begging that I came. What had finally pulled me to the bathroom was a particular voicemail she sent to me. "Jessica, it's just a casual barbecue. You need to get out of your apartment for once," she had insisted over the phone. "And before you ask—no, Luca won’t be there. He’s traveling to Milan for a few days. You won’t see him, I promise." Those were her exact words. That promise had been the only reason I had agreed on visiting. Well, plus the fact that it's been days since I last saw Coran. He wasn't one to bother me, but I knew he wanted to see me as well. Now, as I stepped out of my car and adjusted my sunglasses against the blinding sunlight, the sight of the grand villa stole
Luca’s POVI was still at the hospital with my mind still reeling from the photos Nadia had shown me earlier, when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I didn’t even check the caller ID before answering.“What?” I snapped impatiently into the receiver speaker. “Get to my house. Now.” Coran’s voice was sharp and his tone left absolutely no room for argument. I frowned. “What the hell is this about?” I demanded. “You know exactly what it’s about.” His tone was controlled, but there was an edge of something that resembled a hardly contained anger under his voice. “Get here, Luca. Or I’ll come to you.” he threatened. The line went dead before I could respond, I let out a harsh breath as my jaw clenched. What was this? I get that Coran could be overbearing and too demanding at times, this could probably be just some emergency. Perhaps an integral part of his Mafia family like Lorenzo was in an emergency and needed to be treated on as soon as possible and he needed my help but whatever thi
Chapter FourJessica’s POVI sat curled up on my couch with my knees tucked to my chest while staring blankly at the untouched pizza box on my coffee table. The TV was on and some mindless show was playing with the volume on mute.My fingers dug into the soft fabric of the blanket which I had wrapped around me. It was more or less a very feeble attempt at comfort that did nothing at all, to say the least to ease the chaos inside me.I had locked myself inside my apartment since last night and had tried to use that as a means to shut out the world. My phone was off and my laptop was closed. The only sound that filled the space in my apartment was the occasional drip of water from my kitchen faucet. But even with all the silence I simply couldn’t quiet my mind.Because all I could think about was him.Luca.I clenched my jaw as my stomach twisted with what felt like guilt and self-loathing.They had become my companion now. Admittedly, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed every single second of i
Chapter 3Luca's POV I walked into the hospital the next day and was greeted by the usual sterile scent of disinfectant that instantly filled my lungs. The place was as busy as usual—doctors and nurses moved around with purpose, while patients were wheeled down corridors. Conversations naturally blended with the occasional beep of heart monitors. A typical scenerio of a busy hospital. As I stepped my foot into the office room, something felt off... Jessica's usual cheerful self wasn’t anywhere to be found, everywhere was quiet and sad. I swallowed hard as I dropped my folder bag on the chair.I carefully checked the locker room, the changing room and even the damn supply closet where she sometimes stay whenever she wants to avoid paperwork. Nothing.I clenched my jaw as I pulled out my phone, prepared to call her.The call went through but soonest, I got the same response I have been getting since the previous day... Voicemail.“Jess, where the hell are you? Call me back.” I said in
Chapter TwoLuca's POVI let out a groan and stirred as sunlight filtered through the half-open blinds of the hotel room and another tired moan escaped my lips. My body felt warm—too warm. I reached out instinctively and my fingers grazed the empty sheets beside me. The place felt warm but the spot was vacant. I let out a frown as I turned my head. The bed was unmade and the sheets were in disarray. I took in a deep breath and instantly I recognized the unmistakable scent of jasmine and vanilla that still clung to the fabric. It was a very familiar scent. Jessica’s scent.And then realization hit me. .JESSICA'S SCENT! Holy shit.Now fully awake, my eyes widened as fragmented images from the previous night surged through my mind. The wedding. The drinks. Yes. I remembered them all. The laughter. And then, .....her hands tangled in my hair. The feel of her lips against mine. The sounds she had made. The heat. The urgency. The way her body had melted into mine, as if this we had don