VALENTINO ~~~~~~~~♧♧♧♧♧♧I walked into the living room to find a sleeping Jasmine in Sofia’s arms “You didn’t tell me you had a child. Where’s her mother?” Sofia asked. “She’s not mine. Her mother is dead.” Sofia gasped. “Poor baby. Are you going to keep her?” “I haven’t figured that out yet. I’ll be really busy for a while, so I won’t be able to look after her.” “I can do that. I can take care of her. Since I’m the only one at home, we can keep each other company. She’ll need a nursery.” “I bought some things for the baby. Byron will set that up for you tomorrow. I need to get some sleep.” “Okay. Goodnight.” “Goodnight.” I made my way to my room, coming to a stop when I saw the painting Carlo had brought wedged against the wall. I picked it up, examining the painting for the first time since he had brought it here.I didn’t see the fuss about the painting. It looked like something Fiore would splash money on just for the fun of it.
VALENTINO ~~~~~~~~♧♧♧♧♧♧“Keeping an eye on you? Why would I?” Bradshaw asked, glaring at me. “Same thing I’m asking myself. How did you know I set some hounds loose on a man? I only told that to Fiore in the message I sent to him this morning since he wanted to know how his men died. Are you, by some chance, working with Fiore?” “W- what? W- why would I do that?” He sputtered. “Same thing I’m asking myself. How do you know what I did to those men?” “So you do admit to killing those men?” Bradshaw deflected my question. “I never denied it. What’s your point? Oh, I forgot. You stated that already, and it was just a pile of bullshit.” “How dare you disrespect me like that?” Bradshaw snarled, pushing forward in his chair. “Well, since we’re hellbent on sticking our noses in each other’s businesses, why don’t we talk about how Lucian Sterling died at your party?” I shot back. Eloise had always been a peaceful woman but had it been Bradshaw’
VALENTINO ~~~~~~~~♧♧♧♧♧♧“Tino, someone has been knocking on your door for minutes now,” Ravenna said. “I don’t see how I’m going to go meet said person with you splayed over me like a starfish. Besides, the knocking has stopped.” “It could be your mom.” “Or Byron. The baby definitely cannot be the one.” Ravenna scoffed, slapping my chest and climbing off me. “Don’t try to be a smartass.” She looked at something across the room. “When did you get a painting in your room? That reminds me. Nero wanted me to take a painting from you.” I raised a brow at her. “Take or steal?” “Take. Definitely take. I was going to, but then things happened, and you helped me. I couldn’t do it, so I told him no.” “That was why you wanted to sleep with me so badly that night. So you could have a look at it, and probably get a fake one to replace the original.” “That was my exact thought. How did you know that?” “I knew about it from the start. I just want
RAVENNA~~~~~~~♤♤♤♤♤“I thought you said you were going to be busy today. What was so important, you had to pull me away from my house?” I asked as I kicked the door to his office shut behind me. He turned away from the glass wall. “You wanted to leave here for a while, didn’t you?” “I think your memory is quite touchy. You said you were busy.” He curled an arm around my waist, pulling me against his chest. “I’m trying to do something nice for you and you’re questioning my sanity.” “I wasn’t before, but I think I might now. Why am I here?” “Because you drove yourself here. Isn’t that obvious?” “You have a serious problem,” I said as he hoisted me up, leaving me with no choice but to wrap my legs around him. “You wanted to leave for a couple of days. I have a place we can head to.” I grinned at him. “Careful, Mr. Berlusconi, or people might think you have a heart,” I teased. There was no doubt I was the only one he showed this side of him
VALENTINO ~~~~~~~~♧♧♧♧♧♧“You have the gold. I have the market. In exchange for that, I get a cut out of the money.” I leaned back in my chair, chuckling to myself. “And you expect me to say yes to this because you think you have the ultimate blackmail material? I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but I’m not Ciro or Fiore.” I knew letting her in was a bad idea, but Ravenna had insisted. Now I was the one suffering the consequences of listening to her. “I know. That’s why I’m here. You’re a powerful man. That’s the type of man I need as an ally to achieve my goals, and you also need a powerful ally by your side.” “And that’s you?” “Yes. Soon, Gina will step down. I’ll have control over The Sisterhood.” “No. Whatever it is you want to tell anyone, go on.” I’ll bet she had nothing on me and was just going on what Ciro must have slipped out during late-night pillow talks. Another thing that bugged me was how Ciro knew about the g
VALENTINO ~~~~~~~~♧♧♧♧♧♧“Note to self. Question the credibility of Anthony’s information before jumping into action,” I said to myself. “It was just this one time. I helped you find that Sawyer dude, and I helped Ravenna find the man that tried to kill her,” Anthony said with a grin. “It’s not my fault we’re trapped in this...” He trailed off likely because he didn’t know where we were. “Basement?” He asked. “You were the one that made me drop my guns. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you.” “I didn’t ask you to!” “We’re in this situation all because of you.” Backtrack to five hours ago. We had arrived at the island, and Anthony had taken us to his villa. An hour after that, he had suggested we go meet the jeweler. When I set my eyes on him, I knew there had been something off. Especially when he’d asked us to drop our weapons. I was strongly against it, but stupid Anthony had dropped his and waltzed right into the house wher
RAVENNA~~~~~~~♤♤♤♤♤“Have you checked out the flash drive Eloise gave you?” Valentino asked, running his brush through his hair. I stopped mid rubbing sunscreen on my thighs. “I believe someone said not to trust the information because it could be a trap.” He cocked his head to the side so he could look at me. “And I believe a certain someone told you not to trust him and you agreed not to.” “And I believe that said someone has done nothing to make me not trust him.” “Raven- “ “I don’t even see why this is turning into an argument. Besides, I thought you were going to get your father.” “I didn’t say the information wasn’t worth checking out. Sometimes, you take my words seriously, and other times you don’t.” “You can’t exactly fault my decision. You know who Lucian was.” Lucian had been strongly against me when he was alive, and I wouldn’t put it past Fiore to do something as fucked up as using Eloise to execute a plan after her husband
VALENTINO ~~~~~~~~♧♧♧♧♧♧She loved me? I couldn’t believe that. It was probably the orgasm talking. It wasn’t new knowledge that people formed an attachment with people they were fucking and often confuse the hormones coursing through their system for love. “Let’s see if you say that when the hormones wear off in a couple of hours. Come on. Let’s go get you cleaned up.” “Why did you decide to get your cock pierced?” Ravenna asked out of the blue as I patted her body dry after the shower. It was such a random question that it pulled a chuckle out of me. “Fantasizing about my cock again?” She reached between us, stroke my hardening cock in her hand. “What can I say? It’s a magnificent cock.” I shook my head at her, pulling her hand away from me. “You’re insatiable.” We dried up in silence, then climbed under the covers in silence with her sprawled over my chest. “You still haven’t answered my question,” she reminded me. “Ciro made me