I couldn't believe my ears. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I hadn't just heard what I had, it still didn't work. But somehow, even after hearing it, and clearly too, I still refused to believe it. I couldn't. There was no way I could. Why would I in the first place? Because it didn't sound like her, at all. It didn't sound like Sabrina at all. Perhaps my mind was playing a trick on me. I'd been stressed, mentally especially, and it would be no surprise if it had gotten to the point where I was hearing things and making up scenarios in my head. It happened, right? So perhaps that was what had just happened, because I knew Sabrina, and there was no way she would have said that. Right? For some strange reason, the more I asked myself that question, the more anxiety swirled in the pit of my belly. I couldn't help but feel like I already knew the answer, but for some strange reason, I just couldn't bring myself to answer it. I pressed my eyes shut as I allowed the
WILLOW“Could you move that a little to the right, please?” A frown made its way to my face almost immediately. They’d done what I asked them to do, but it wasn’t looking how I’d pictured it in my head. Gesturing to the vase, I motioned to the left. “No, take it back a bit. Yes, a little to the left.”I stifled a groan the moment they were done. It still wasn’t right. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the perfect position to keep the vase. “That’s fine.” I sighed, finally giving up. The nerves were getting to me. “Just leave it as it is and make sure everything else is perfect. Nothing must go wrong tonight. Do you understand?” “Yes, ma’am.” The maids nodded in unison before dispersing to get everything else done. “You.” I pointed to another maid. “Make sure these glasses are sparkling before I get back.” I ran my thumb over the rim of a glass nestled on the buffer table. From where I stood, it looked clean enough, but I wanted everything in there to shine. Tonight must be
The crowd roared behind me as Bennett grabbed a hold of the ball flying towards him. He caught it with so much precision I found myself grinning from ear to ear at such a mundane thing to do, to me that is. Without further ado, he lunged towards the end zone as he swiftly dodged the opposition deftly coming at him."Go, Bennett, go!" I winced as screams from beside me pierced through my ears, disorienting me for a second. I snuck a glance at where the sound came from and it suddenly made sense. Just a few feet away were the school's cheerleaders, headed by the one and only; Emily Sinclair. Her perfectly blonde hair swished from side to side and I found myself staring at her way longer than I planned to. Shimmery make-up complemented her ruby-colored lips as she wore the widest grin the human face could produce. The fuzzy ends of her huge pom-poms tickled parts of her neck and collarbone as she hopped from one foot to the other, doing well to cover the extravagant v-neckline of her
Alyssa The crowd roared behind me as Bennett grabbed a hold of the ball flying towards him. He caught it with so much precision I found myself grinning from ear to ear at such a mundane thing to do, to me that is. Without further ado, he lunged towards the end zone as he swiftly dodged the opposition deftly coming at him."Go, Bennett, go!" I winced as screams from beside me pierced through my ears, disorienting me for a second. I snuck a glance at where the sound came from and it suddenly made sense. Just a few feet away were the school's cheerleaders, headed by the one and only; Emily Sinclair. Her perfectly blonde hair swished from side to side and I found myself staring at her way longer than I planned to. Shimmery make-up complemented her ruby-colored lips as she wore the widest grin the human face could produce. The fuzzy ends of her huge pom-poms tickled parts of her neck and collarbone as she hopped from one foot to the other, doing well to cover the extravagant v-necklin
Alyssa I stole uneasy glances around me as I walked down the empty hallway, my footsteps echoing around me. With each class I passed, an awful amount of dread washed over me and it made me wonder, what exactly was doing out here instead of being stuck in one of the classes? A gruff huff from in front of me brought me back to earth, temporarily reminding me why I was stabbing classes. Cameron.Cameron Diaz. From my spot behind him I had a good view of his black hair and the messenger bag he shifted from one shoulder to the other from time to time. It irked me, but I figured the least I could do would be to keep shut at least all this was over. My mind wandered to Vivian and I bit down on my lips. The girl would freak out if she caught a whiff of what I was doing and who I was doing it with too. She never liked Cameron and well if I was being honest, no one actually did and it made sense because he hated everyone back. Literally everyone but most especially me and I found that
Alyssa I tossed and turned in my bed, barely able to focus or get my body to stay on a spot. It was frustrating as I willed myself not to stare at the clock. Not the bedside clock on my study desk, nor the giant one that was way high up the wall. I couldn't look. I just couldn't. But what if….No. I mentally chided myself as I lay on my side, my gaze falling on the wall supporting my bed. It wasn't a blank view, but there was only so much stickers and wall posters I could take in all at once. I inhaled and exhaled as I wrapped my arms around myself. I was freaking out and I had no idea why. No, scratch that. I did have an idea but it made no sense why I was freaking out about it. Do you understand?No. It just didn't…."Alyssa." I jerked up at the sound of my name being whispered dangerously close to my ear. Like that wasn't enough, someone's hand pressed down on my shoulder, squeezing it lightly. " Are you okay?" "Olive!" I sat up, my hand flying to my chest. I'd hoped that
Exactly how I'd gotten up this morning, I had no idea, but now that I was awake, I wasn't quite sure I liked it either. If I was being honest, I had no idea of what I liked or wanted. I had no idea of anything, anything at all. Except for the fact that Bennett cheated on me. With Emily. And it'd been going on for a while now…“Stop it, Alyssa!” I scolded myself immediately. I must have done that a little too harshly and out loud too, because moments after my mini outburst, a couple of students threw me a barrage of weird glances. It was either that or they'd heard all the tea from the school's blog site. My bets were on the latter though. “ Just fucking stop it.” I sucked in a deep breath. Honestly, it was literally easier said than done. If I was being honest, I had no idea how I was able to survive the hours between yesterday and today. After Cameron had jilted me to go do other important stuff, I found myself wandering around campus. It went on for a while, until I somehow wan
I stood rooted to my spot as I tried to come up with a reasonable explanation as to what was happening. Maybe I was being delusional and simply hallucinating? Or perhaps, somehow, I'd managed to cry myself into a state of shock where anything and absolutely everything could be possible. Because tell me why, I just had to be surrounded by literally the very same people I didn't want to see. “Alyssa?” My blood ran cold at the sound of my name. It was from one person and if someone had told me a time would come where the sound of my name on his tongue would no longer give me butterflies, I would have laughed my head off right at that person. I guess fate did have it's many ways of fucking you over. “ Is that really you?”I pressed my eyes shut, trying my possible beat to tune him out, but it didn't work. The more I tried,the more memories of us started to surface in my mind. “Please look at me.” No matter how mad, how heartbroken I was, I doubted I could stay away from him.
The night was dark, with only the gentle light from the moon shedding and casting its warm glow over the earth. Stars littered the night sky, and against the pitch black backdrop of it all, the scene above looked nothing short of a beautiful painting. The sound of leaves crunching underneath someone's feet cut straight through my thoughts. Immediately, I turned to the side, and standing a couple of feet away from me, was a black wolf, tall and mighty with its beady eyes staring down at me. A couple of moments passed as we both stared at each other, none of us daring to move. Something swirled in the pit of my stomach and before I could make sense of all that was happening, I found myself transforming back into my human form. My fear heightened when I realized whoever it was, was still in its wolf form. I didn't have to think too much because I'd barely mumbled the rest of the questions, before the wolf morphed into his human form, and the moment he did, a huge smile made its wa
I gently pushed the door to my bedroom shut. When a small click reached my ears, I heaved a sigh of relief. I had no idea why I'd just done that. Mum was probably halfway to slumber town now, so why was I so worried that I would have woken her?I sighed again, before gently clasping my hands together. A slight tremble rocked my fingers, but I kept them together, going they would stop soon.Luckily for me, it didn't last long. The moment I witnessed the last of it, I headed to my study desk in the corner of the room and pulled out my books. I had a test in the morning, and AP Chemistry, isn't something you just waltz through with an empty brain. I knew there was trouble the moment I read the first line and was unable to grasp anything. After trying for the second and third time, and still nothing had changed, I just knew I was cooked. There was no way I could focus on studying, not when there was something on my mind. No, not something. Someone.Zayn.No matter how many times I t
Silence filled the air, except for the tip of my fingertips drumming against the steel table in front of me. I had no idea why this man, Shadow, had gone with steel tables. Did he not have any class? I understood that he ran an underground business and was trying to keep things tough and scary, but who said the affairs of the underworld couldn't be spiced up with some class?Take for example. I was a perfect fit Or perhaps the steel table wasn't such a bad idea. Now that I thought about it, it wasn't exactly useless. Let's say Shadow's warehouse happened to get raided by a rival group right now, this steel table could actually come in handy. Just by flipping it over, it could actually give Shadow ample time to bring out his gun and attack. “Why don't you take a picture?” I let out suddenly, causing Shadow to flinch. I watched as he blinked back a couple of times, obviously trying to readjust his eyes to his surroundings again. A sly grin made its way to my face immediately a
I stood rooted in my spot, my blood boiling. I didn't even bat an eyelid when the sound of Alessandro's car driving out of the compound reached my ears. My mind whirled with a million questions and a thousand more thoughts. How dare he? How could he even do such a thing?I'd always perceived Alessandro to be a heartless and ruthless monster, but the last thing I expected was him bringing a little boy into the equation. Leo was still a little child for fucks sake!I pressed my eyes shut, and the moment the darkness engulfed me, I regretted it immediately. Leo's bruised back and face filled my vision, his wounds taunting me. I shook my head as I imagined his wails and sobs.Leo was a delicate boy, the best kid in the whole world. He didn't deserve any of that and that wasn't even the worst part. The part that made my blood boil and crack at the same time was the fact that it wasn't his fault in any way. I'd brought this up on him. Me, I did that. Strip. Alessandro's authorita
My heart leapt to my throat as the sound of something scurrying along the floorboards reached my ears. I sucked in a deep breath as I sunk deeper to the edge of the wall, my back coming in contact with the bed's fluffy headboard. As I hugged my knees, I rocked back and forth, hoping the little gesture would calm my thumping heart and calm me down a bit, even if it was in the tiniest of ways.It didn't work. It wasn't working. Not at all. Not yet. I sucked in a deep breath as I allowed my heartbeat to return to its steady pacing. I heaved a sigh when it finally stabilized. I was tired, tired of living like this. But did I have any other choice? I wasn't sure. I didn't think so. It'd been two days since I walked out on Alessandro. Tao days since I'd locked myself in my room and refused to come out, and even as time ticked by, I still wasn't sure if I regretted my decision. A frown appeared on my face at the thought of a sour memory. No matter how hard I'd tried to forget a
Fear raked through my body as my heart steadily picked up its pace. Cold chills raced up and down my spine as I stared wide eyed at the scene in front of me. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if I was cursed or something. Cursed to always find myself in situations like these. But that wasn't the part that bothered me. A little curse here and there never hurt anybody. Hell, maybe I'd even cursed myself. I did have a knack for messing around with Ouija boards and all when I was little. The part that bothered me was how I always managed to find myself in situations like these, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it. After Dagger had dropped the bombshell and given me an ultimatum, I was stumped. I went blank. He couldn't get my attention until he poked me with something. I didn't think much of it, but now that I did, I couldn't shake off the feeling he'd done something. Ejected a tracking device or chip into my body maybe, or perhaps he'd even poisoned me. The ideas were end
I watched as the blue flames lit the tip of the cigar that was tucked in between my fingers. As I pushed the flames closer to where I wanted it to be, something caught my eye. How the hell I was able to notice it was strange to me, but now that I'd seen it, I just couldn't ignore it. Just in between my fingers where the cigar sat, Red hue tainted my skin. I wasn't exactly sensitive and I barely bruised, so this was definitely a discovery. A sly smirk made its way to my lips. I didn't even have to think hard to figure out why the skin in between my fingers was pink, or better still, turning red. For the past hour, or more, I'd been replacing rolls and rolls of cigars the moment I exhausted the last one. At some point I'd lost count of how many of the smoke machines I'd inhaled, but I knew they were a lot. I was pushing myself and maybe if I didn't hold back, I would finally know my limit. If I actually had one, that is. I exhaled a huge puff of smoke, after inhaling for a coup
My mind reeled with a million and one things all ar once and I swear if I didn't find a way to stop it, I just might run mad on the spot. I'd just told them I knew Alessandro. Shit. If I was being honest, I had no clue if I'd done the right thing or not. I suspected foul play the moment I realized I wasn't Alessandro’s captive. Who else knew of my existence? Papa had taken a wide step back from indulging in businesses that were a norm in mafia families, so there was no way I could be in someone's radar. But the moment he knew I recognized Alessandro, I just knew I was in deep shit. I hated Alessandro, literally everyone did, even Antonio. But as I stared at the murderous glare my captor wore as he arranged an array of weapons I didn't recognize, I quickly came to the conclusion that there were more people that hated the man. Even more than I did. And it shocked me to the bones.Who the hell was he? Was he working alone? What was his relationship with Alessandro? And what
Chapter 82Destiny's POV I was anxious, and literally nothing I did was calming me down. Instead, the more I tried, the more I failed woefully at it too. There wasn't any technique I hadn't tried. I had tried counting to ten and back again, and even making a conscious effort at trying to regulate my breathing, but it just wasn't working. It was a surprise how Carter hadn't noticed how fidgety I was. Or maybe he had, he has just decided that he wasn't going to comment on it, and even that didn't sit right with me.My stomach churned, pulling me out of my quick monologue. Before it could let out another sound, I folded my fingers in front of my belly. I wasn't exactly sure it was going to do anything, but it was too late to try to take back what I'd just done. So instead, I fixed my gaze as I tried to remove the invisible dirt that had found their way underneath my nails. The car was silent, save for the gentle hum from the engine. The civilization that whooshed by also seemed to