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 I can't sleep. I'm struggling to eat, too. My mind is filled with thoughts of Juliet. My body, however, can't take it. I can feel my energy dwindling when I'm working out with my conditioning coach, who is shouting at me to get my head on straight. It's pre-season, and I'm starting on a new team that has just transitioned into new ownership and new management. Nepotism is raining in the media headlines because my family corporation bought the team, and I'm now the franchise quarterback. I guess what ever I fucking do on the field doesn't matter to them. Some even state that I bought the damn Heisman trophy like I didn't win the whole fucking state championship that year. People think having money is the greatest thing on earth, but they don't consider the burden. We've been raised to be hard working our whole lives, but now we have to work even harder to prove that we deserve everything we worked for. "You're really shit today." Dan, my conditioning coach s
AMELIA POV There's something different in the air. I can feel it in my bones. I know it has everything to do with Arcangelo. They have a suspicion where I might live now. I know they will come looking, even if it's just to get revenge on me for what I did to them four years ago. I knew playing with the Morettis would get me burned, yet I still did it. Brandon, my coworker at the clinic I've been working at over the summer, nudges me with his elbow with a smile. "You okay? You've been distracted the whole week." It took only one encounter with a Moretti to ruffle my feathers. My blood is still boiling from that hug from Arcangelo. So many things have happened since I met them. I didn't even know know them for that long, but it felt like my world stopped all over again when I saw him walking up on that stage. He looked like a bad boy with his tattooed covered skin and his hair in a bun with those damn eyes looking like they could see right through your soul. And
ALONSO POV A game is not just a game on game day. No, the game starts long before your cleats touch the grass. You practice with your team for hours, you run drills, you have to learn the playbook and know it better than anything you've ever studied. You work out by yourself to be in the best physical condition possible. So when you step out on that football field on a Sunday night, the actual game is the result of years, months, days, minutes, and seconds worth of blood and tears. And that is exactly why my brothers don't know that I'm in Washington D.C. getting ready for a charity ball, wearing a designer tuxedo that was made specifically for me. If the Astors are truly Juliet's parents, I have to woo them first and maybe throw in a lot of money for their mission children's charity. That is another clue that our suspicions are correct regarding Juliet's true heritage. The Astors have a big charity that actually helps families around the country when their children go m
AMELIA POV The attention I'm receiving is overwhelming. People I don't even know are crying along with my parents. There's an electricity running up and down my spine as I look at the crowd who is standing and clapping for us. When the publicist said it's time I was introduced to the public, and that the gala dinner would be the perfect place, I certainly didn't expect this response. My picture will be all over the media in the morning, and I will no longer be a nobody. Back when Mai was killed, my father pulled some strings, and I was kept anonymous, but now everyone will know everything about me. Poor Brandon is probably regretting ever coming here, but he waits at the bottom of the stairs for me like a true gentleman as my father rounds up his speech. "Are you okay?" He asks me in concern. I just nod. Brandon is perfect. He's the kind of guy I should be interested in. He's calm and steady, and he would make a great life partner to any girl, I think. Even my f
ALONSO POV "Amelia." The name rolls off my tongue like it belongs there. She can change her name. It doesn't mean I wouldn't still want her. My gaze holds hers captive as we gently sway to the music like we're the only people there. I must have forgotten how beautiful she is up close because my heart aches as I look down at her. Her body has changed, and I want to explore it with my tongue. She has a softness to her now that she didn't have before. She has definitely lost some of her athleticism, but I like this new version of her. Her hips are rounder, and her breasts are definitely one cup bigger. She's a woman now, and the man in me is desperate to touch her the way that I want to. "I have so many questions." My eyes rake over every inch of her that I can without looking like a creep. Her hair is a golden halo under the ballroom lights. "Where have you been all these years? I've been looking for you." Those blue eyes I have been dreaming of every single nigh
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