AMELIA POV Henry smiles at me as we stroll along the gardens on my parents' property. "You look really good." "Thanks." I smile back genuinely. In my whole life, I have never felt this good, I've never been this free. It's like a puzzle finally clicked in my mind after hours and hours of therapy with Henry. I laugh more. I smile more. There is still an ache in my heart for Mai. And for them. My parents still don't know the whole truth about the man who I thought my father was, and I don't think I will ever tell them. I don't want to ruin what we've built. They're such amazing people, and if they find out what I've been through, it will absolutely crush them. My grandmother already feels guilty for not protecting me when I was born. She believes if she looked better after me after I was born, I would've never been taken by Raquel. But that's just wishful thinking. We don't know if that would have happened, so I'm not living on what if's anymore. I'
ALONSO POV - FOUR YEARS LATER I'm drunk. Yet, I don't stop drinking. I take another shot from a fake pair of tits that are displayed for me on a silver platter. I feel unhinged tonight, the memories I'm trying so hard to suppress banging at the back of my head. So the alcohol, the tits, the blonde hair that is fake as fuck, and the long legs are all a diversion. A diversion, so I don't have to think about her. It's been over four fucking years since she disappeared from my life, and I'm still thinking of her. She's a living parasite in my brain. I have everything I've ever wanted. Well, not everything everything, but I'm well on my way. Fingers that look like talons rove over my stomach, up my chest, around my neck, and into the back of my hair. Her body follows suit, and she glues herself to my front, the fake tits not even squished with how hard they are. Her breath warms my ear, and I have to admit that she doesn't smell half-bad. "Do you want to ge
ALESSI POV I'm dead tired. The kind of tired that you feel to the bone and my feet drag as I head to my apartment close to the hospital where I'm working as an intern. I'm a smart guy, or at least that's what I've been told my entire life, but medical school is kicking my ass. I'm honestly questioning why I didn't just go into business, I could've been working for my family right now, trying to figure out how to infiltrate another market. Instead, I chose to be a slave, and I haven't seen my brothers in person in over a month. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so drained because when they're around, I feel invincible, like I can finally figure out cancer. I sense something is different as soon as I unlock my door. The smell of a delicious steak wafts through the air, and my stomach growls. All I had time to eat today was a bowl of oatmeal that tasted like cardboard. Slow jazz music is playing on the surround sound speakers, and I try to tame my irritation down.
ARCANGELO POV I hold Shane's head down a little longer than necessary, and she gasps for breath when I release my dick from her mouth. Mascara runs in trains down her cheeks, and all I can think of is that she's going to need to fix that before our slot. She's not even supposed to be here, but she jumped at the chance when I said she could join me on my trip to London. Now she's getting railed from behind by the band's lead singer that I just signed last week. I've known Shane since we were students, and her antics to get my attention is becoming too desperate. I'm not a traditional guy, and girls can do what they want, but I don't want my girlfriend to have a reputation of being fucked by every popular band in the world. She's hot, I can't deny that, and she knows how to suck cock, but she's going to need to take it easy. Once upon a time, I thought I could maybe date her. We're both musicians, and we understand how the other one works. But now that's just not a pos
AMELIA POV C.J. shakes me in excitement. "You didn't tell me Arcangelo will be performing too! This concert is lit!" I'm numb. This can't be happening. I've been running away from the Morettis for four years, and then out of the blue one shows up on my doorstep. And he's singing my song. The song he wrote for me, that he gave to me in his effort to say goodbye. From time to time, I give myself the guilty pleasure to look them up. I've heard Arcangelo on the radio, and of course, he blew up as soon as he released a song. He's that good, so his fame was inevitable. When C.J. came to visit me, I bought us concert tickets on a whim because he liked the band playing. Never in a million years would I have thought Arcangelo would be here, too. And he's looking right at me with those hazel eyes, too far for me to extinguish if they're more green or brown right now. C.J. stills and look down at me in concern. "Oh shit." Yeah, it probably hit him right now.
ARCANGELO POV Holding Juliet in my arms feels like coming home. It feels even better than being on stage or in the studio. A cleared throat makes me lift my head, and I look into the angry face of the guy that I saw had his arm around her. I'm equally pissed off when she steps away from me, right back into his waiting arm. Is this her boyfriend? Her husband, perhaps? Is this who she ran away with when she disappeared after we heard the bomb that she used us to get revenge on our father? Did she bamboozle us so bad? Those blue eyes I just sang about lowers, hiding their depth from me. The guy holds his hand out for me, and I look at it skeptically. Am I supposed to shake the hand of the man who gets to have his hands on her, and I can't? His blue eyes are hardened steel as he keeps holding his hand out until I eventually shake it. "I'm Charles Astor the second." His voice is a deep baritone that makes you want to stand straight and acknowledge his presence. Char
ALONSO POV I'm hungry and irritated when I make my way to Arc's place. I still can't believe we're actually not staying together, but everyone is staying close to their respective jobs, so I have to take it, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it. I feel like a part of myself is missing every single day when I'm not with them. I let myself in, and I'm surprised to see T.J. there. T.J. has become the head of our family's security, and his father has retired to Thailand, living his best island life. He deserves it, too. "What's up?" I walk over to him and hug him briefly. "Is there some security issue we should know about?" Arc said it was urgent. "Let's wait for what Arc has to say." He taps me on the back. "He's in the shower. He said there's some food in the oven." And that is why we should be together. We know each other like the back of our hands, we are interwoven together. A nice steak and grilled vegetables await me, and I get a bottle of water from t
ALESSI POV Summer is standing at the nurse's station, laughing with her colleagues. I'm sure they're talking about me, because ever so often they look my way and continue with the giggling. The resident doctor looks at the nurse's station, then at me. "Anything we need to know, Moretti? Seems like you have the nurses' panties in a twist." The other interns around me start snickering, and I have to refrain from rolling my eyes. "No, doctor." I was an idiot for waiting to start medical school, but I could afford to do my honors and my masters, and I thought, why not? I don't regret my decision, and the only reason the resident is being an ass is because he feels threatened by me. He also puts me on the crappiest cases, but that doesn't stop me from doing my ultimate best. Even if I have to work harder than the rest. I'm going to need to get that key back from Summer. If Juliet, or whatever her name is, is coming back in the picture, I can't be entangled in any situatio
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