AMELIA POV Brandon smiles sadly down at me. He's a good person, and he's handsome too. He's just not my guy, and he will make someone else a very happy man one day. Me? I'm jaded and spoilt. And I have no business going into a relationship I'm not ready for. Or one that I don't even want. "So, this is goodbye then?" He sighs deeply like he's lost something important, but we never even began. He should've done the smart thing and stayed far away from me. "Well, of you ever find yourself this side of the pond again, give me a shout." I smile at him and hug him quickly like a friend would. "Now, don't go breaking any hearts in London." He gives me his signature wink. "I'm not making any promises." I watch the good guy walk away to go to the country I won't be returning to, a country that provided me anonymity and a chance to escape. If I knew what was good for me, I would have been leaving with him, go on that date with him, and put the past behind me. Instead, I'm w
ARCANGELO POV I love music. I think when I was in my mother's womb, my ears were more developed than my brothers'. I find music in everything, in the rhythm of the wind, the rustle of the leaves in the park, in the steps of people on a busy street. Music is who I am. Creating music is part of my DNA, getting up on that stage and receiving the energy of the crowd is what makes me feel alive. Fame, however, is a thorn in my side. I have become like a recluse ever since my first album was released. I only go to the studio, to my brothers' places, and home. Then I have the occasional concert. Other than that, I try to stay away from the public eye as much as possible. I have people managing all aspects of my social media, but I do have a fake account to check if I don't see anything Juliet related. Or Amelia. So far, nothing, which doesn't come as a surprise. She never had social media when we were in college. So, color me surprised when I find an article that states she
AMELIA POV I feel like a bird trapped in a cage. I love my parents. They are everything I've ever wanted, and the last four years have been bliss even though I was living in London. When I told my father I wanted to come back, I didn't expect that I would be thrust into the public eye like this. I don't understand why there have to be publicists and talk show appearances. I know that his job is prominent and highly important, but we don't need to be doing all of this, in my opinion. But it seems like I'm the only one who is bothered because even C.J. doesn't look like he's nervous in his navy uniform looking dashing. My mother takes my hand in hers on the car ride over to the studio. "This is the only time you will have to talk about this, I promise. Just this one show." I look out the window of the city that I always dreamed of living in one day, but this was not the way I wanted to explore it for the first time. "Just don't look at the cameras." C.J. says with a smi
AMELIA POV I've been obsessed with Mai's song ever since it dropped on streaming platforms. It's all I listen to. Arcangelo has managed to capture her essence and what it feels like to have lost her. I cry, and I laugh when I'm alone in my bed at night. I also realized that I need a friend. Not a family member, but a real friend who would listen to my problems, someone who I can trust. So I opened a social media account, not in my real name, of course, and I sent Alyssa a DM. I know it's fucking selfish, and I'm thinking more about myself than her, but I'm hoping she will reach out. She's always been on my side, and I'm the one who pushed her away. So, if she doesn't reply to my message, that's on me. The highlights of my day are Alonso sending me random shots. He sends me pictures of what he had for breakfast, the sweat on the floor after one of his training sessions, the television from his point of view in the evenings. I love it. It makes me want to be there w
ALONSO POV We have pre-season games soon, and I have to make sure that I'm in the best shape possible. That also means I have to keep my private life out of the spotlight if I'm going to be taken seriously. Seems like the damn tabloids don't care about my skills on the field. Instead, they've been sniffing around looking for a good story to tell. The alert from Joel comes as no surprise when someone finally figured out I dated the now notorious Amelia Astor in a brief stint in university. I was wondering when someone would figure it out because it wasn't all that difficult if they just knew to look in the right places. He got a heads up from a site that the story will drop in less than an hour on their social media pages. I smile at the attached picture. It's of her and me on the field after we won a game. She looks adorable in her white and blue cheerleading uniform, a big blue bow in her curled hair. We're smiling at each other as if there's no outside world, like we're
AMELIA POV Goosebumps break out over my skin at the close proximity of Alonso so close to me. I took a risk asking him to come to my hotel room, but Nana said I should go after what I want, and I what I want is standing right in front of me like a tall glass of iced water in a faraway desert. I don't even really know what I want. I should've stayed away from all things Moretti, like my parents so nicely asked of me. We're not good together. We were toxic together four years ago, and we're probably going to be toxic together now, but the danger doesn't feel so dangerous in this moment. I should heed his warning. Something in his voice tells me that I'm gluing myself to him if I give into my desires. The hand that was tugging on my hair takes my hand and pulls me into him until I'm flush against him, and it feels like I'm drowning in those hazel eyes. Tonight, it looks like both colors are fighting for dominance, creating a kaleidoscope of brown and green. "Tell me you wa
ALONSO POV If there was one woman that had been put on this earth to taunt me, it was the one in my arms right now. From the first moment I saw her on that green turf confidently flying through the air, something inside me happened. I don't know what. Maybe it was the heavens opening, or a ray of sun through the clouds on a stormy day, or perhaps the appearance of a rainbow while it's still drizzling. Something inside me changed that day, and I was too much of a fool at the time to realize the enormity of it. I was a boy four years ago. Now, the man in me realizes what I almost lost, and it's not happening again. I could see that her body had changed at the fundraiser, but now I'm bearing witness to how much. I have so many things I still want to know, but all of that can wait. She wore the lingerie I sent her. I used to spend hours online to find the perfect sets that I would love to see her in. It was only fitting that I started the obsession again, and what
AMELIA POV Alonso looks down at me with fire in his eyes, and it feels like I've put my finger into an electricity socket and I've come alive again. The last four years are wiped away as I drown in his eyes when he lowers his body on top of mine. He braces himself on his forearms and lowers his forehead on mine. I feel everything. His breath on my face as he gazes deep into my eyes like he's trying to climb into my soul. Again, I get the feeling that this is a different Alonso, in the past he would have been inside me by now. He kisses me reverently. "Remember what I said earlier. Are you sure you want to do this?" My pussy is practically weeping for him, of course I want to do this. How the hell is he practicing so much self-control? "Yes!" I literally sob. "Please fuck me." He growls and kisses me hard, then he enters me in one go and I clamp up around him, my unused muscles screaming as he plows straight to the end of me. He breaks the kiss and keeps his body s
ALESSI POV In my life, I have never seen something more perfect than my twin daughters. Love like I've never experienced before took a hold of me when these two tiny little girls were born. I've always been my brothers' keeper, the one with the solid head on his shoulders. I think those titles were just preparing me for this role. A father. "Are they supposed to be that small?" Alonso peers through the glass of the incubator. "Are they sick? Why are they in the baby growing thing?" Arc joins Alonso to peer through the glass to the perfection that is my daughters. "It's just procedure." I enlighten them. "They were born on thirty-seven weeks, but they're healthy and perfect." Utterly perfect. They look like their mom, but babies' faces change every single day. "Dude, you have to tell me how do I get Summer to marry me."I tell Alonso. He managed to bag Amelia, even with all the shit that was going on at the time. "You just ask her." He tells me without
AMELIA POV What was supposed to be the happiest time in my life has become one of the worst. Alonso is lying with his head in my lap, my fingers running through his hair as we're waiting for news from the doctors who are operating on Arcangelo. Bailey striked again. This time, she got caught, and her fucking parents can't get her out of this one this time. The shooting is on every social media site, it's trending on the internet. Videos are circulating around from fans. I feel so sorry for Lola. She's still wearing the dress she performed in, clutching Cassie to her chest as if she might lose her, too. They gave her something to wipe the blood from her arms, but there's a faint streak of it left on her cheek. The world would be a worse place if Arcangelo died. I kiss Alonso's cheek, and his eyes flutter open, sorrow in the swirl of green and brown. Alonso would not be the same person if he had to lose one of his brothers. They're all an extension of each other, and I pra
ALONSO POV I'm in seventh heaven. I know the bomb will explode very soon, but right now, I'm blissfully holding my wife in my arms as she's coming down from another orgasm. My wife. I fucking love the sound of that. It's not the way I wanted to do it. She deserves a big wedding with a designer dress and a big, fat diamond ring, and I promised her that I would give her all of that, but she said our wedding was the best. I thread my fingers through hers and kiss the diamond wedding band on her finger. I've already arranged appointments with jewelry designers for her engagement ring, and then I will do it the right way. "I fly out tomorrow afternoon with the team." I reluctantly tell her. "I want you there, but I also don't want you in the open where Bailey can easily get to you." She sighs and nuzzles her face in my neck. "I know. Maybe I'll arrange to see my parents while you're not here." "No!" I say definitely. "We face them together, I'm not sending you into the lion
ARCANGELO POV I must have died and gone to heaven. I have the girl I've been pining over up against a wall with her full, succulent lips eagerly moving under mine. She was a vision tonight in the elegant black dress with her dark curls spilling everywhere. Her lips were painted a fiery red that enticed me the entire time, and I just couldn't stop myself anymore. I tried being respectful because she has a child. My plan was to make her fall so irrevocably in love with me that by the time I did kiss her, she wouldn't be able to resist me. I wanted her to trust me implicitly, to make her feel that I would never let her down, that I'm solid. I hope I did enough because just this one taste of her is making me addicted, and I don't think I would be able to stop touching her now. She groans underneath my mouth, opening those lips like a flower, and I take that opportunity to plunge my tongue inside. She tastes like mint and desire, and a groan rumbles from my chest. I think I might
LOLA POV I don't exactly know what is going on with my life right now. It's like I'm in a twilight zone, part of a family in an instant. Arcangelo refuses to let me and Cassie go back to the label's apartment, and at first, I felt slightly awkward being at his parents' house, but everyone else handled it like it was completely normal. I understand that Alessi's ex-girlfriend apparently almost killed Alonso's girlfriend a few years back, so everyone who might be in danger right now has to stay here. But I'm not even his girlfriend. I'm just one of the artists he signed. Right? Wrong. I've never experienced anything that I feel for Arcangelo. The sexual tension is brewing underneath the surface whenever we touch. It's in the songs that we write together, in the way we gaze into each other's eyes when we think nobody is watching. Every night, after a big dinner, and I've given Cassie her bath and taken a shower, we climb into his bed. About an hour after when Cassie is f
ALONSO POV I can't believe one girl has the power to have all of us on our toes. I, for sure, never thought the sweet girl that we grew up with would turn out to be some obsessed psychopath. Apparently, Evan and Sammy Micheals have Bailey's son. They took her son from her when she was starting to talk about us again over the phone. My parents are pissed because they weren't even warned. Let's just say that the friendship between the Morettis and the Micheals would never be salvaged again. "What's with the security?" One of my teammates asks as we finish up at the stadium. "You good man?" Fuck, I love this team. We're new, and certainly the underdogs, but we're becoming a family. They've been concerned about me ever since the allegations of sexual assault. It's dfficult being in the public eye, and they all know how it feels to be under such scrutiny. "I'm good, but there's someone who's a bit too obsessed, just being cautious." "Be careful out there." He claps me on the s
AMELIA POV "Bailey Micheals has been sighted by Alessi Moretti yesterday." I hear the words coming out of my father's mouth, but it's like it doesn't register at first. I blink rapidly, trying to make sense of what he just said. "You said she would never set foot in this country again!" My mother jumps from her chair in front of my father's desk. "You promised!" "She didn't come in with her real passport. We're scouring security footage to try and see which airport she came through." My heart starts beating rapidly after it missed a few beats. Fear rushes through me in an instant. Bailey is going to kill me. "You don't have to worry about anything." Dad looks at me. "There's no way she'll be able to get to you here." Just another reason to keep me locked up in my gilded cage. I can't do this anymore. It feels like I'm going fucking insane. Even when I'm strolling in the garden, I can feel eyes on me like a hawk. I know I said that this is what I have to
ARCANGELO POV I'm in bed, and Bach is playing softly through the surround sound, but I can't fall asleep, my mind on the dark-haired petite beauty that is in my building. Lola is on my mind twenty-four-seven. She's the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last person in my thoughts before I close my eyes. Working with her has been nothing but astonishing. We've been writing music about love, loss, happiness, hurt, and so entwined in our own little bubble that the assistants have to remind us to eat. I have never met someone who understands how I make music like she does. It's like she was always tethered to my soul, and I just had to find her in the cosmos. Even Cassie crept under my skin. She calls me her prince charming, and I'm not mad about it. I wonder what they're doing right now. Cassie is probably asleep already, maybe Lola, too. What would it feel like if they were here? Would Lola listen to classical music with me while I run my finge
ALESSI POV I feel slightly guilty for being this happy, but fuck, I can't help it. My internship is coming to an end. I still have the two-day assessment coming up before I'm officially a resident, but I've been working for this all my life. I'm prepared and ready. Then I have this gorgeous woman roaming my apartment with my babies in her belly. Granted, she's currently shooting lasers at me while I'm calmly sipping my coffee before I have to leave for my shift. "You don't get to decide if I work or not, Alessi!" Summer shouts at me, pink blotches appearing on her cheeks. "You're completely taking over my life! First my apartment, and now this!" I might have told her supervising nurse that she will probably have to hire another nurse soon, seeing that Summer might quit her job. "I was just thinking about the future." I shrug. "You're mine, and I have to take care of you. Carrying twins is not going to be easy on your body, you think you can work the shifts you do being se