Her Pov:I was just about to get up on my feet when the door swings open and Leonardo gets in. His gaze runs over me as he watches me. His dead eyes beholding first shock, and then his eyes they darken as he moved closer, taking in the situation. " What the fuck do you think you are doing Rosalina?" He hisses as he moved to me.I don't answer him as I ignore him and get up on feet. A whimper leaves my mouth as my feet touch the cold ground, and I stumble as I feel the whole world roaming around me. I am about to fall to the ground, losing my balance before a hand slips around my waist, breaking my fall." Are you okay?" He asks me as his gaze softens as he watches me with something that is very unusual. His dark hair fell to his forehead as his breath fans over my lips as he held me so close to him.I push him with all my strength as I struggle to stand on my feet, taking him by surprise. " What the fuck, Rosalina? What happened?" He asks me as I can see his eyes turning almost sha
Her Pov:Someone's touching me. The sensation pulls me from the depths of sleep, and my eyes flutter open. At first, the figure before me is nothing more than a blur, shrouded in shadows. But as my vision clears, the features sharpen, revealing a face I didn't expect to see. My breath catches in my throat, shock rippling through me like a cold wave.Antonio is standing beside my bed as he slowly runs his fingers on my face. I jerk away from his touch as a sudden rush of pain shot through my nerve, but I don't bother. My eyes locked on him as I took in a deep breath." What the fuck are you doing here?" I whisper after gathering my courage."How are you doing, Rosalina?" He asks me as his voice filled with fake concern. He again tried to touch me as I flinch away. " None of your fucking business.." I snap, my eyes darting to the closed door of the room before settling down on him again. " How is it not my business, sweetheart? You went as far as slitting your wrist for me, and you are
Her Pov:With that, he leaves me alone in the room and closes the door behind him.I go to the wasroom and finish my morning business before throwing a blue crop top and jeans on as I leave the room. David is waiting outside for me as he's leaning against the wall, watching something on his phone.He gives a warm smile to me as he sees me on the door and I follow him down the hallway. My mind is not in peace as I still dont know what Antonio is doing here. My eyes fall on david. He has to know something about it." Um.. David?" I take his name at a low tone as he looks at me over his shoulder. " Yeah?" He asks me as he looks at me cautiously. " What is... I mean, what is Leonardo doing with Susan? Is she here?"" Yeah, she lives in here with Antonio... I mean her husband, you know.. They were on vacation to Paris.. But now they are back to living here..." He answers back at me nonchalntly as I tried to digest what he just said." Wait.. Do you mean they live here? Are they going to s
Her Pov:“But if you want me to listen,” he continues, his voice now a seductive command, “you’ll have to ride the horse with me first.”My eyes widened in disbelief as I watched the determination on those features. He can't be serious. I am here to talk about such an important topic, and he is not only taking it lightly, but it's almost like he's mocking me.But before I could say something David's phones ringtone interrupts me as he takes a glance at it before looking at Leonardo. " I have take it." He looks at me with a teasing look on his face." Enjoy Rosalina.. " With that he leaves me alone with the devil himself." Are you kidding me?" I ask him with my voice laced with dubiety. He raises a brow. " Have I ever?" He asks me in his deep, unyielding voice. Well, he never had. But it doesn't change the fact that what I need to tell him is very important, and the sooner I tell him, the better it would be." But... But I don't know how to ride a horse.." I whisper as I watch him on
Her Pov:My eyes are locked on the news at the TV as a cold sweat runs down my spine. Drugs dealing! This is the type of people Leonardo is associated with... Or has rivalry with... To have rivalry with someone, you have to be at the save level of theirs. And from what I feel.. Leonardo is not at the same level but beyond the level of the king brothers. Kings who are the biggest trading companies, but he has to be even higher than them. This is why, within some hours, they are in handcuffs.It can be that I am overthinking, but I have a feeling. A gut feeling that whatever I am thinking, this is it. I don't know why I even feel so shocked so confused... Wherever we drive to, there are cars following us full of guards... He literally fired openly on cars in broad daylight and killed someone just before my eyes.He is much more dangerous... He's a lot more dangerous than I thought. If it's his doing and he could take down the kings brothers just because they bothered him, then what wi
Her Pov:" To my room Rosalina..." My eyes snap back at him as he's causally taking off his boots. " Why would I go to your room when there's a spare room?"He kicks the boots away as he is on me in a span of a second. " You are greatly mistaken.. Rosalina... if you expect me to explain..." I look up at him as he's looking down on me, our eyes locked with each other. He's not even touching me, but the tension is brewing as I couldn't keep my eyes locked with him, and I tear it off as I look at the room I used to stay in.I look back at him, and his gaze is still fixed on me. Unyielding and piercing through my soul. " What if I say no?" I mumble, trying to keep my voice steady." Then..." He moves his face closer to me and stops just inches away from my face. His eyes move down to my lips as they linger on them for a bit before moving back to my eyes again." You will be responsible for what happens next." He whispers in his deep voice in his heavy Italian accent before he takes a ste
Her Pov: I stand there for a bit more to learn what he actually is talking about. But after that one line he continued on his native language, so I didn't understand anything. But when it felt like he's going to hang up, I silently ran to the bed as I got inside it, covering myself with duvet as I squeezed my eyes close. It wasn't needed, though, because Leonardo didn't come back to bed. He took his laptop as he sat on the divan, probably working on it. But I couldn't sleep back. How could I sleep? He's not just dangerous... He sounded like a criminal! Like a cold- blooded, practised murderer!I don't understand why I am getting so shocked... But I can't help it. Even when I saw him shooting a person in cold blood myself and leaving him there. But still, somewhere in my mind, I hoped him to be a better person. I don't know why... But I did... Even though he proved me wrong several times but that 1 per cent of my mind didn't let go of that hope.And no, I feel like a fool. A certifie
Her Pov: My fingers tighten instinctively around my passport, gripping it as if it’s the only thing anchoring me to reality. I could hear the heavy, deliberate sound of breathing behind me, sending chills racing down my spine. Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet, my movements careful and measured. My hands slipped behind my back, clutching my passport tightly, hiding it from view.As I turned, my gaze met his. He loomed over me, his presence overwhelming, his eyes dark and calculating. The menace in his expression was unmistakable, his towering figure watching me with an intensity that made the air around us feel suffocating.A slow, unsettling smile spreads across his face, a stark contrast to the storm brewing in his eyes. He moves with a calculated ease, slipping off his coat and tossing it carelessly onto the bed before lowering himself onto the edge.“The house is in quite a state today,” he says, his tone deceptively light, almost conversational. “I didn’t realize you had such
Her Pov:"Don't fucking touch me..." I hiss and his eyes darken so much they get just like the night.Dark... Unsettling...He tilts his head a little as a smirk takes over his face. A smirk is so dangerous. As he leans over me, his mouth reaches just to the shell of my ear as his hand squeezes my hands painfully."You..." His voice is low, a dark promise against my skin as his hand drifts up my thigh, slipping beneath the soft folds of my baby pink dress."Don't..." A breath catches in my throat as his fingers graze the sensitive flesh of my inner thigh, teasing, lingering."Get to..." His lips ghost over the shell of my ear, warm and tantalizing, sending a shiver down my spine."Stop me."I try to push his hand away, my fingers wrapping around his wrist in a feeble attempt to resist, but he doesn’t yield. Instead, he presses me back, pinning me against the cold railing with nothing but his presence. A gasp escapes me—a sharp intake of breath, equal parts defiance and submission. His
Her Pov:The glass slips from my fingers.Time slows as it falls, spinning through the air before crashing against the marble floor. The sound of shattering fills the room—a sharp, piercing noise. But I don’t hear it. Not really. Not over the deafening silence that rings in my ears, the blood roaring through my veins. I don’t even feel the icy droplets of water splattering against my bare skin, the tiny shards slicing against my ankles.Because all I can see is them.She is draped against him, her body moulded to his like she was made to fit there. A short red dress clings to every soft curve, vibrant against her golden skin, her blonde hair cascading in waves over her shoulders. She is stunning. Effortless. Everything I am not. And her hands—those delicate, manicured fingers—are cradling his face with a familiarity that makes my stomach churn. Like she belongs there.And him?His lips.His lips are on hers.The breath in my lungs vanishes, like I’ve been punched in the chest, hard en
Her Pov:It has been two weeks since I found out I was addicted to drugs. Two whole weeks of living through a walking nightmare, clawing my way through withdrawal, fighting demons I never even knew existed inside me. The past fourteen days have been nothing short of hell. My body revolted against me, turning into a prison of agony and desperation. Sleepless nights melted into torturous days, where reality blurred into something grotesque. Nightmares didn't stay confined to sleep; they slithered into my waking moments, twisting shadows into monsters, whispering voices into my ears that weren’t there. My own mind betrayed me, playing tricks so cruel I lost touch with what was real and what wasn’t.I would wake up drenched in sweat, heart hammering against my ribs, gasping as if I had just surfaced from drowning. My skin burned and froze at the same time. My stomach twisted into knots of nausea that never truly left. Some days, the weakness was so severe that even the act of standing
His Pov:And I’m still paying her back.Even now.But here’s the truth I’ve been avoiding—the truth that stings like a blade pressed against my throat.I didn’t remember Aunt Rachel.I only remembered the debt.I buried her somewhere deep, in the same place I shoved all the emotions I refused to feel, all the memories too painful to hold. She was lost in the graveyard of everything I had to kill inside myself just to survive.But then—I look at her.At the woman sleeping just a few feet away. At the slow rise and fall of her chest, at the softness in her face now that she isn’t watching me with those sharp, searching eyes.And suddenly, she’s there.Aunt Rachel.Because of her.Because of the words she murmured so carelessly, not realizing they were pulling something out of me, I thought it was long dead. Not realizing how easily she’s stripping away the armour I’ve spent years building.She doesn’t even know.She has no fucking idea what she’s doing to me.She shifts restlessly, her
His Pov:My grip on the spoon tightens, the metal cool against my skin as I absorb her words. My gaze sharpens, studying her carefully, measuring the weight of what she’s just said."Even when she was sick most of the time?" My voice is quiet but firm, edged with something I can’t quite name—curiosity, disbelief, maybe even fear. I test the question as if pressing on a bruise, unsure if it will bring relief or pain.She meets my eyes, and for a moment, I think I see hesitation flicker there. But then she nods slowly, deliberately, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Yeah."I wait for her to elaborate, for her to fill the silence stretching between us, heavy with things unsaid. And then, as if sensing my need for more, she does."Even then. Because love isn’t about convenience," she murmurs, her voice steady, but there’s something raw beneath it, something real. "It isn’t about ease or perfection. It’s about staying. Even when it’s hard. Even when it hurts. It’s about choosing them,
Her Pov:"I have only ever cooked for you."The words roll off his tongue so smoothly, so effortlessly, yet their weight settles thick in the space between us, heavy like the scent of something simmering too long on the stove—rich, intoxicating, impossible to ignore.He doesn’t look at me, but he doesn’t have to. He knows I’m staring. Knows my lips have parted just slightly, knows my breath has hitched in my throat.He can feel it—the shift in the air, the way the room seems to shrink around us, pulling us into something close, something intimate. The way my fingers tighten around the edge of the counter, as if bracing myself for the impact of something I don’t quite understand.Because there is something here. Something unspoken, something undeniable. It coils between us like the heat from the stove, like the scent of charred sugar and slow-burning longing. My pulse hammers against my ribs, and still, he doesn’t look at me.But I know he feels it, too.And for the first time in what
His pov:“Say it.”My voice is low, rough, an unrelenting command wrapped in a whisper. “Say you’re mine.”She stiffens, her breath coming in uneven gasps, her lips trembling as if she wants to speak but can't force the words out. Her hands, small and delicate, tremble at her sides, fingers curling as if gripping onto invisible resolve. Her lashes flutter, her throat bobs in a shallow swallow, and I see it—the war raging inside her.She won’t say it. Not yet. But I need to hear it. I need the syllables to spill from her lips, to wrap around me like chains, to solidify what I already know to be true. She belongs to me. And soon, she’ll understand that. She’ll surrender. She’ll accept it. She has no choice—I’ll make sure of it.A slow smirk tugs at my lips as I move, scooping her into my arms with ease. Her body is light, fragile against mine, but she gasps, startled, her fingers fisting the fabric of my shirt near my chest. I feel the tremor in her touch, the unspoken question lingerin
Her Pov:"Good girl." He murmurs.. I barely register the words at first, but when they sink in—when I hear the way he murmurs them, low and satisfied—something inside me snaps."Good girl."The moment shatters, and I am dragged back into reality with a force so jarring it makes my head spin. What the fuck am I even doing? How could I have parted my lips for him, given him the chance to take control again?Again.My stomach twists violently as shame and fury war within me. Just this afternoon, his hands had been on me, fingers tracing my skin with a possessiveness that made my knees weak.I hadn't resisted. I hadn't fought. Instead, I had melted—melted into his touch, into his heat, into the way his breath had ghosted over my skin like a promise he had no intention of keeping.But him—he’s cruel.He felt it. I know he did. The heat between us, the raw, unspoken hunger. And yet, just when the fire threatened to consume us both, he had pulled away. Like it meant nothing. Like I meant no
Her Pov:"What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Rosalina?" His voice is a low growl, rough and edged with something I can’t quite name. His breath fans over my lips, scorching and suffocating, as his darkened eyes pin me in place. His jaw is tight, a muscle ticking as if he’s barely holding himself back.My throat constricts my chest tight with the realization that even death is not an escape. Even in my most desperate moment, he still found me, still pulled me back from the abyss. There is no outrunning him. No hiding. No freedom from the force that is him. And that realization sends a bolt of frustration through me.With a strangled breath, I shove at his shoulder. "Why do you care?" I hiss, my voice shaking with a mix of anger and something far more dangerous.But before I can push him away, he moves—faster than I can react. His hand clamps around both of my wrists, forcing them above my head in one swift motion.My back collides with the cold wall, my pulse hammering as his b