AMELIA POV Nana holds her phone away from her ear as my mother shouts at her from the other side. I hear the words "you better come home," but Nana just rolls her eyes at my mother's dramatics before she ends the call. "This girl has some nerve." Nana mixes the champagne into the orange juice like she didn't just hang up on her daughter. "She forgets that I'm her mother." I take a nervous gulp of the mimosa and shift in my seat. I'm deliciously sore from the night before. I even missed the morning after feeling of being pounded by Alonso. "Do we have to go back today?" I want to know because there's a key with my name on it and a security code to give me access to Alonso's apartment. I wonder what his place will look like. The last time he shared a house with his brothers, so it would be interesting to see what his individuality would look like. Do I still wonder about Alessi and Arcangelo? Yes, I do, but for some reason, my curiosity for them has died down slightly ever
ARCANGELO POV "I'm telling you, man, you have got to see this girl!" Shane excitedly tells me over the video call. "She is fire! Think Beyonce and Amy Whinehouse's love child!" Shane doesn't seem high or drunk, and I trust her judgment in seeing great talent. "Okay, when is she performing again? " Shane talks to someone next to her before she looks at me again. "In two nights. Apparently, the record execs are circling around her like vultures, but she hasn't found what she's looking for. You better be here in two nights." "I'll be there." She says goodbye on an excited squeal, making me chuckle. I thought things would be awkward between us after what happened in London, but she's been going about things like nothing happened. Maybe it's like she said. It was just sex. I check the time on my laptop and get up from my desk on a curse. I love my job, I love producing music for the handful of artists I work for, and I love being the head of the record label. But it is fu
AMELIA POV My heart is still thumping wildly in my chest at almost being watched by the other two brothers again, and my clit is throbbing from when Alonso was rubbing it over my panties. I'm nothing but a slut, because I can't help thinking what might have happened if Alonso didn't stop. I saw how Alessi's eyes burned on my exposed breasts and how Arcangelo was rubbing his hard-on over his black jeans. I knew they still wanted me. They made it very clear, and I can't help but imagine what it would feel like if all three of them had their hands on me. I would've loved to be a fly on the wall in that hallway. What is Alonso telling them? He returns from the hallway, his eyes angry on me and his defined muscles tense as he quickly approaches me. His expression reminds me of the time he fucked me out by the swimming pool, and my body instinctively prepares itself for the impact. My back his the counter, and he steps in front of me, his bare chest pressed against mine as hi
ALONSO POV Amelia looks like a real-life angel against the dark backdrop of my charcoal sheets, her blonde hair all over her pillow and mine. Her lips are swollen from my kisses, and soft air escape between them with her mouth slightly open as she's sleeping deeply. I wish I didn't have to get up and get going, but I've been lying awake for too long now, and I have to get up. This is one of the few times I'm not looking forward to doing my job, and the season hasn't even started yet. I'm already wishing it was off-season so that I could spend at least one day in bed with her. I love having her here in my space, and I have this crazy feeling gnawing in the middle of my chest that I want it permanent. I want her hair splayed just like this every morning when I open my eyes. I want my dick to harden with her ass in my crotch and my hand on her breasts. I'm no longer questioning if I'm insane for feeling the things I'm feeling. She's it for me. Now I just have to convinc
ALESSI POV Arc and I are losing whether we accept it or not. Amelia is willingly spending time with Alonso and Arc and I are trying to force our way inside, just like in university. We're going to need to reassess and reevaluate. I know she wants me. She was definitely attracted to me when I followed her into that bathroom stall. The difference is that Alonso actually has her number. They're in contact, and they're definitely already fucking again. I don't know if I'm feeling impressed or jealous. Maybe a little bit of both. The question is, am I going to hang on in the competition, or am I going to tap out? "Hey, a few of us are hitting up that bar everyone is hanging out at." One of my colleagues tells me in the locker room after a grueling shift. I lost two patients I was in charge of today. Two. And one surgeon had me tell the family. Granted, the man was already in his eighties, but he had kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, and they were all absolutely deva
ARCANGELO POV I hate having to operate with bodyguards, but my father keeps on reminding me that I'm kind of a big deal now and I need the protection. Fans have done crazy things to artists before. Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish my life was as uncomplicated as Alessi's. I wait in the back of the car as one of the guards goes to check if the bar is secure for me to go inside, even though the owner has sent reassurance that everything would be good before the time already. They upped the security, too, but I guess I shouldn't complain. The bar isn't crowded as it's a weeknight, but there's an energy in the air that is tangible. Shane waves me over from where she's sitting at the bar and launches herself into my arms when I stop in front of her. She kisses me square on the lips, but that's just Shane, and she does it to everybody. "I'm so glad you came out!" She pushes a beer towards me. "I think you should give me a new job at the label of talent recruiter, becau
AMELIA POV I'm a prisoner in my own home. After spending the night at Alonso's place, his driver took me back to the hotel, and I even went through the back entrance again, only to find my father waiting for me in my hotel room. He was not impressed with me, and I felt like a scolded teenager. My grandmother objected to us leaving, but I quietly packed my bag, and we came home with him. I couldn't bear seeing the disappointment on his face. He's never looked at me like that. I don't go down for breakfast like usual. I opt to stay in my bedroom and sit on the wide windowsill, looking out of the window to the garden beneath. I love the garden, but today, it just seems dreary and dull. I have to get to New York. It's Alonso's first game tomorrow, and even if it's only pre-season, I know it's a big deal. The team is new and already burdened with criticism from experts and fans alike, and I just need to be there for him. There's a knock on the door, and my mother peeks in
ALONSO POV Swimming calms me down, so even after the team left after we viewed game tapes and talked game strategies, I stayed behind and swam in the pool. When my body is finally tired, I hoist myself up and find my father standing there with a towel. "I thought I'd find you here." He smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes and he hands me the towel. "You good for tomorrow?" "I'm good." I frown at him. "What's wrong?" Ever since my little visit from Charles Astor the other day, my father has been trying to find out everything he can on the man. My dad was definitely not very impressed that he came to our establishment and handed out threats. "I wouldn't have done this if I didn't think it was necessary." There's a ruthlesness that seeps into my father's eyes. "But tomorrow there is going to be a reporter after the game that will ask you if you've ever sexually abused a woman, and I'd rather you're prepared for that shit storm when it hits." The blood in my veins tu
ALONSO POV "The NFL has decided to suspend you until after a thorough investigation has been done regarding the pictures." I faintly hear Uncle Kevin's voice over the white noise ringing in my ears, and I take another swig of my father's expensive cognac that I swiped from his alcohol display. I gather he has enough money to replace it. The bottle is abruptly grabbed from my hand. "I'm not going to stand by and watch you kill yourself." My mother takes her own swig from the bottle and then slams it down on the table. "For fuck's sake, Alonso, this is not the end of the world." I shrug nonchalantly. "Might as well be." There's a hole where my heart used to be. My career is literally being flushed down the drain. All the hours I spent in the gym, all the plays I studied, the millions of game tapes I've watched. I've always loved to party, but I always only had two light beers. I could've been fucking it up, but I was so focused on that one dream. Then Juliet came al
AMELIA My stomach clenches in agony, and I screw my eyes shut, not wanting the light streaming from the open curtains to penetrate my soul. If it wasn't for Miss Daisy, those damn curtains would've never been open in the first place. I don't need light. The darkness was just perfect for me. I'm officially a prisoner in my own house. I'm even wondering if it is my house. Did I ever belong here in the first place? I might be an Astor by DNA, but I didn't grow up with them. As much as I love them, and as much as it was none of our fault what happened, the truth remains that when I was molded into a person, it wasn't under their hands. Yet I felt like I belonged when I met them, but I feel even more at home when Alonso holds me down and fucks me ruthlessly. Or when he transforms into a huge teddy bear afterward and snuggles me. Do I believe that Alonso did that to that girl? Yes. I also know that she was probably begging for it, too. I was jealous at first when I
ALESSI POV I failed. I failed to protect my brother. Now, my family is trying to do damage control that may not succeed. Alonso is a fucking mess. Yesterday morning, images were shared on every social media network of some idiot influencer who had bruises and bite marks all over her body after spending the night with Alonso. The bigger problem is that the influencer is now nowhere to be found to tell the damn media that whatever happened between them was consensual, even though the images may look alarming. Apparently, she sent the photos to a friend to brag about her night with the infamous Alonso Moretti, and now it has blown up in his face. If you look at the photos alone, it does look like the girl was attacked. It's classic Alonso behavior, though, and the same reason I diligently checked out everyone he slept with in college. I clearly can't be everywhere at once anymore, and now we have a catastrophic problem. Brands are threatening to end their contracts w
ALONSO POV I felt on top of the world right after the win. I showed the assholes who said I was just a rich kid who was overhyped. I had the girl I always wanted waiting for me, and they showed how she and my mom hugged on the jumbotron. For a second life was everything I ever wanted. Then, like an ice-cold bath, reality came knocking on my door when Uncle Kev reminded me that we still had the press conference afterward and that things might get sticky there. Now I'm sitting next to Uncle Kevin waiting for the vultures to spew me with their questions, my leg bouncing nervously. Uncle Kevin's hand reaches underneath the table to squeeze my shaking leg, and I still. The first question is aimed at him. It's entirely professional. How he feels about the future of the team. How he developed the team so that we played so well. My eyes rove over the sea of reporters. Which one of them will bring up the alleged sexual assault? It could be any of them. Was my father able to s
AMEILIA POV I'm nervous when Alonso takes me up to his family's box. This will be the first time I will face them after everything went down, and they undoubtedly know what I tried to do. Even though the triplets don't hold it against me, I still don't understand how they don't, I don't know how their parents will treat me. They have every right to treat me as the piece of shit I am. Maybe everything I'm experiencing right now with my real parents is my punishment for trying to break a family apart. I'm so worlds away from that girl, I still can't believe I carried that vengeance in my heart. I was lying awake most of the night, my head tucked in the crook of Alonso's neck with his breathing softly rustling my hair, and all I could think of was how I did him wrong. I had sex with his brothers, the same brothers whom he shared a womb with, and who means the world to him. And even years later, when I saw them again, I still had this pull towards them. I don't know why it feel
SUMMER POV My heart hammers in my chest as I look up into the gorgeous eyes of Alessi Moretti. Is that disappointment that flashes in its depths at my words? Alessi Moretti was everything I never knew I wanted. He was like a knight in shining armor when he first showed interest in me. I've received plenty of interest from men at the hospital ever since I started working there over two years ago, but I never took the bait. You see, I've always been looked at as the pretty girl. The one every boy in school wants to have sex with, but not commit to. Once, I let myself be that girl, and I got discarded and forgotten about. I vowed that no man would ever make me feel like I'm disposable again. Yet, I fell for Alessi's beautiful exterior and gallant gestures. I should have known he was just like all the other assholes who were just out to use me and discard me. I've never felt so dirty after he told me that he wanted his keys to his apartment back. Keys I never even asked
ALESSI POV I'm feeling jittery, and nervous as fuck. Usually, I would tell my brothers as soon as something as big as an ex-situationship being pregnant happens, but now is not the time. I'll tell them after the game. My mother narrows her eyes at me like a hawk. "Is everything okay?" You can't hide shit from her. "Everything is good." I lie. Everything is shit. I can't believe I'm going through the same shit again! And unless Summer was really sneaky and fucking someone behind my back in the hospital, there is a big chance that child might be mine. I ran away like a fucking coward after I looked into her chart. Memories of my mother placing Bailey's child into my arms and the panic attack that I almost had when I looked into his face came running back to me, and I couldn't breathe. I had to get out of there. I've been avoiding her at work, and I think she's been avoiding me too, but I know that I'm going to have to address the issue as soon as possibl
LOLA POV My eyes go to Arcangelo for probably the hundredth time as I go over the contract with not one but three lawyers present. This can't be happening. Not to me, at least. Good things like this don't happen to people from my part of the woods. People always ask me why I don't just sign with a label and get Cassy out of the dump we stay in, but I wasn't about to sell my damn soul for a record contract. This contract is different, though. It allows me to have control over the kind of music I want to make and the image I want to portray to the world. It's unheard of, is what it is. My father was a musician, one of the best. The music he wrote got stolen, and he never saw a dime of the money it made. So you can call me shaded. Because of this industry, my father became a drug addicted alcoholic who ruined everything in his path. Including me. I had to learn from a very young age that I had to take care of myself because the adults in my life wer
ARCANGELO POV I look in the rearview mirror as I drive from the studio to the hotel I booked for Lola and her "kid," who didn't end up really being her own child, but her little sister. Cassy is a five-year-old hellion who has been entertaining me for the last two days ever since I put them on the company's private jet and brought them to New York. The last two days have been a whirlwind, and I don't know if I've ever laughed so much as I did in these two days. We've been in the studio ever since we arrived on Friday, and after she sang Mai's Song in that bar, I did the unimaginable and let her record it and made it into a duet. My music has always been personal. Every word of my lyrics, every note that I pen down comes from my soul, and sure, I've written songs for other artists before, but never one as deeply personal as Mai's Song. The way Lola sang that song like I had written it for her made me feel compelled to let her sing on it. I haven't asked her what happe