I ended up texting Luca to tell him I needed to leave because I had suddenly started my period. When I went back outside, my cheeks were flushed in embarrassment but it was like he didn't mind the situation. We stopped at a drugstore and he stepped out of the car we hired to go get some sanitary pads for me.The next day, I was awakened by excruciating pain in my lower abdomen. I thought towards all the sweets I had the day before and groaned loudly into my pillow.It took all the remaining energy in me to go freshen up in the bathroom before I threw myself back into bed.Luca knocked on the door but I couldn't bring myself to respond with anything audible except for a groan that was muffled by the pillow.I heard his heavy footsteps approaching the bed and I pressed my face deeper into the pillow. It was all I could do since I couldn't sink into the bed and disappear like I would have preferred.“Hey, what's up? Are you okay?” I turned my head slowly so I could talk, wincing as ano
I was one of the lucky ones with just 4 period days. By my third day, I was up and jumping and ready for some Italian action but Luca said I should rest because he didn't want me to do anything that would ‘trigger the pain.’ My period had ended and Luca still didn't want to let me go out. It took me almost thirty minutes of explaining before he finally agreed to let me out of the house to go shopping. He said he had some work to do that afternoon so he sent two men to go along with me. I hated to admit it, but I was getting used to having strange men trailing behind me.“Hi, excuse me. Do you know where I could find La Casablanca?” a girl, no over seventeen years old, stopped to ask me when I was leaving the store.“Sorry but I have no idea, I'm new to Italy as well,” I told her sadly.“Drop it or I'll blow your head off,” I heard one of the men say from behind me. I turned back in one swift motion to see one of the guards holding a gun pointed at the girl who had a syringe in hand?
R18Luca trailed his fingers up my collarbone, his hand wrapped tightly around my neck but not tightly enough to cut off my breathing.I pressed my hand to his chest. His heart was racing nearly as fast as mine. He kissed me again, more intensely than the last time, biting down on my lip. When his eyes met mine again, they were filled with lust. Luca cupped my breasts with his hands as he trailed warm kisses around them. He kissed everywhere but my nipples that were stiff and begging for his attention. A hand snaked underneath him and to my soaking underwear. He let out a deep groan. “Fuck, Nazlynn, you're killing me here.”His long index finger played around with my clit through the fabric and I moaned out. I could feel his hardened length rubbing against my thighs through his jeans. He tucked his fingers through the waistband of my panties. “Up” he ordered and I raised my body up so he could take it off.The fact that I was completely bare beneath him who was completely clothed
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I was not alone. The next thing was that I was wrapped in someone's arms and finally, that the person was Luca.My rapid movement must have woken Luca up because in less than a minute, he stirred from his sleep and then unwrapped his arms from around me before standing up. He mumbled a greeting just before stepping out of the room.I ignored him, glancing down to see that I was naked except for Luca's shirt that was draped lazily around me. I saw that a reddish purple bruise had started forming on my breasts. Memories from last night flooded my head and I let out a squeal, pressing my burning face into the pillow.I stood up and looked at my reflection in the large mirror. My hair was in a disheveled mess, my lipstick was smeared and one earring of mine was no longer on my ear.My skin looked ruined, but in a beautiful way. Like a ruined artwork.The marks all over my body were now more highlighted under the natural light.“I'm leavin
“Fucking hell! Nazlynn, are you trying to kill me?” Luca asked as he walked in and took the gun out of my hands.“I told you to stay far from the door. You're right across from it,” he said, sounding exasperated.Luca noticed that I was shaking and that I hadn't responded to him. He took my face in his hands. “Hey, look at me. You're okay because I'm right here, okay?” he said, boring into my eyes with his.“Did you kill them?” I asked in a low voice. He ignored me. “Who were those people?” I asked again, looking towards the doorway where I could see the hand of a body stretched out on the floor.“I believe they were sent by Matteo but it's nothing to worry about. I'll deal with it.”“Grab your things together. I'll take you to a safe house for the rest of the afternoon and then we'll leave Italy in the evening.”I made a move to leave when his words struck me. “You said you'll take me, what does that mean?” I asked.“What?”“You said you'll take me, you didn't say we'll go to a safe
Luca's POV I was ignoring her, and I couldn't explain why.In all my years with every single person I have had an encounter with, I have never slept beside them on the bed.From flings to submissives once in a while to the few relationships I had been in. It was an unspoken rule for me. After sex, you leave or I leave, there was no way we would sleep in the same room.But with Nazlynn, I found myself drifting off after her pussy walls had milked me completely dry. Waking up with her beside me threw me off and I had to leave the room in a frenzy before I did something I would regret like kissing her good morning.“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked me when we were on the flight back home. “You're all nice and sweet one moment and the next moment you completely switch up!” she exclaimed in irritation.I brushed away the strong urge to turn around and hold her in my arms. To apologize and tell her that I was acting out for no reason but I didn't.She smacked the seatbelt from
I was taking a stroll in the compound when Luca came back that evening. Dropping the basket of flowers I had carefully picked to place in the vase on the kitchen island, I walked briskly to catch up with him.“Luca,” I called out but he strode into the house without as much as a backward glance. I had thought he would go wherever he was going and back with a clear mind but clearly I was wrong. Gone was the man who'd held me close that last night in Rome. In his place stood the stranger I was used to, a cold and distant stranger.All the men outside who had seen the brief encounter, or rather the lack of it, between me and Luca, avoided my gaze completely as I went back to pick my basket."I have work to do," Luca announced flatly, already heading towards his study when I entered the house. "Have dinner without me."I watched him take one step after the other, fighting back tears. "Fine," I muttered, more to myself than to him. Two could play this game.I fought the urge to have Gabri
I jerked my hand away from Mathias' instinctively, my heart racing. "Luca, I…" But Luca wasn't listening. His gaze was fixed on Mathias, who had risen to his feet, hands raised placatingly."We were just talking," Mathias began, but Luca cut him off with a sharp gesture."Save it," he spat. "Both of you. Inside. Now."As Luca turned on his heel, storming into the house with barely contained rage, I exchanged a confused look with Mathias. What had we done?The air was heavy with tension as we entered into a room at the far end of the hallway. I saw a confused looking Jenna and Elena staring at our retreating form until the door slammed shut behind us with an unmistakable finality.Luca paced like a caged animal, his jaw was clenched so tight, I thought he might lose a tooth. When he finally spoke up, his tone was deceptively calm. "Mathias, you're my friend and that's the only reason why I'm not standing here with your blood covering my fist."“Both of you, explain.”I opened my mout
You're really not going to talk to me at all?” I heard Enzo ask, making me sigh.I had come down the staircase the next morning only to almost bump into him at the bottom. I increased my pace so I could disappear from him as quickly as possible, but Enzo just wouldn't let me be.“I thought I made that clear enough, but apparently I didn't, seeing how you're currently trying to talk to me,” I replied with a fake smile.“Nazlynn,” he called out softly, taking a step in my direction.My eyes searched his. I could still see fragments of the little boy who had left for Atlanta years back, but I could also see something darker. The kind of darkness that you are bound to be exposed to while working with the mafia.I was one to talk, considering how I'm married to a mafia don who is the rival to my biological father who is also a mafia don.“I'm not ready for the conversation you're trying to have, Enzo. I would like to get through one day without reminding myself of how I failed you as a si
I was going to respond to the message Alice sent, but then I got distracted by something that Gabriel said, and I kind of zoned out from everything until we got to the house.I knew when Enzo arrived because half of the staff went into a frenzy, trying to prepare a room for the guest. I wonder what he would be referred to as someone who works for the boss or the boss’ wife's brother. Either way, he's getting a wonderful welcome party.Once I got home, I picked up a sleepy Hailey from her nursery and headed to my room. I wanted to take a nap, and I always slept better when I was smothering Hailey in my arms.Some hours later, a knock woke me up. I saw that my girl was already up before me and was staring at me with her eyes that were an exact copy of mine.I swung the door open with a scowl on my face, ready to have a go at the person who has just interrupted my sleep and possibly, Hailey’s. I was certainly not expecting to be met with Luca's expectant face.My face softened visibly.
“Enzo,” I breathed out without turning back.“I'm home, sis. Not at the best of times, but I'm home,” he said, taking steps closer to me.I pressed a hand to my lips to conceal the sob that was threatening to break out. Slowly, I turned back to see a face that I had not seen physically in about eight years. Enzo was right there, standing in front of me.“How did you….?” I said, making a beeline for him, but then I stopped. Memories of the events from the past few weeks came flooding back into my head at once.“Nazi, please, don't turn away from me. I just want to give my big sister a hug after all these days,” he said, his eyes searching mine for any form of forgiveness. I made sure he wouldn't see any.He took a step closer to me, but I held a hand up to stop him. “How did you know where to find me?” I asked.“I called the boss when I landed at the airport. He told me you had just left the house and were headed here. Turns out, the trip from the airport here takes less time than fro
“Thrilling isn't it? To have found out that everybody had been lying to you,” the message read.“Who are you?” I typed in a frenzy. “Why are you doing this?”“Just a concerned citizen who doesn't like getting lied to. Something I figured you and I have in common.”My nostrils flared. Whoever this was, the person clearly knew a whole lot about me, and I didn't know anything about them. “I want to know who you are. Do you want to meet up?” I asked, biting down on my fingernails.“Making friends is not a part of my job description, sweet pea.”I kissed my teeth in irritation. “What job description?”“You.”That one word chilled me to the bone. I swiped away from the chat and quickly blocked the number from calling or texting me before I could allow myself to give it an extra thought. And that was the end of that chapter for me. I completely closed my mind to everything the person had said to me.It's been almost three weeks since Luca and I had the biggest and most emotional argument t
It took me a few minutes of staring at the screen before I decided to turn off my phone and ignore it. I left Hailey under Tracy's care and headed for the gym without taking the bath that Maria had already prepared for me.Between the music blasting through my earphones and how fast the treadmill was, I was in my own world.The treadmill was on the highest speed it has ever been on. Somehow, it felt like I was running away from all my problems and for just that moment, I felt better. I felt hopeful like I could forgive Luca, forgive Enzo, forgive my mother, forgive Vincent, and lastly, forgive myself.I wasn't sure how long I was on the treadmill, running on a spot until Mathias appeared out of nowhere and turned down the speed of the treadmill.“Hey, hey, hey,” he said as I turned to glare at him. “Don't kill the messenger. I'm just here to check up on you.”“Why did you turn it down? I didn't ask for anyone's help,” I said with a scowl on my face as I took off my earphones that were
It had been two weeks since Luca dropped those bombs on me. Enzo had been blowing my phone up nonstop. A part of me was hoping and praying that Luca was lying about the whole Enzo thing, but barely twenty minutes after I asked him to leave me alone, Enzo started calling me.My brother wasn't playing football in Atlanta like I thought. Instead, he was a member of my husband's mafia. How much crazier can this get? At least it made sense now why Enzo did not mention anything about getting threatened by Luca's people or the time when they made me believe he was shot. It was all part of their ploy to get me to stay here and what better way to do so than to threaten my brother? I couldn't even speak to Elena or Sabrina. What would I say? How does a person even start a conversation like that with her friends?I had told Luca to give me space to process things and I clearly needed a lot of that space. He didn't agree too easily though.“You'll need to leave. This room, this wing, maybe even
“What do you mean Enzo?” I asked incredulously.I had stopped pacing and was now standing a few inches away from Luca, waiting to hear what he had to say. My heart was in my throat, choking me internally.“Nazlynn, I promise you, I was going to tell you everything soon. This is not how I planned for you to find out. This was certainly not a part of it,” he said, standing up so we could be on the same level. “I would appreciate it if you explained to me what you meant when you mentioned my brother. You don't know Enzo. You've never even met the guy. Hell, I haven't even seen the guy in years, so how are you speaking about me on the phone with someone you've never met?” I asked all in one breath.Luca is either the worst at starting an explanation or has plans on giving me a heart attack because his first statement threw me off balance so much that I could have crumpled to the ground if only it registered at first. “Enzo works for me, Nazlynn,” Luca said.I fixed my gaze on him. Then
“You're right,” Luca started.“What did you say?”“You're right,” he repeated. “I already knew.”The sob that I had been holding back all this while rose up to my throat, and I choked it back forcefully.“Your mother was in Italy when she got pregnant. She and Vincent were dating then, and he worked for a man there. The man admired your mother, and during one of their encounters, you were conceived. It was—”“Hold on. Hold on. How do you know any of this?” I asked him, shocked at the words that were coming out of my husband's mouth.“Can you just let me say what I know? I promise I'll explain everything to you.”I kept mute. By all means, speak away.“It was an amazing time for Vincent. He had no idea he wasn't really your father, and your mother couldn't bring herself to tell him just yet. When she did, he ran for the hills. He was scared of what his boss could do when he found out about it. Vincent was a coward. He left your mother when she was far along in her pregnancy.”“Your rea
“No,” I whispered to myself, scooting away from the journal.“No, it's not possible,” I said again, louder this time. But there was talk about the mafia, about being scared, being in danger, and now, there's the name Santos. It couldn't be.I reached for my phone and pulled open a Google search then searched some keywords from one of the headlines I had read. Nothing came up. It was like all information from that day had been wiped off.Santos? The Santos that I have heard of? No way.I pulled up a search for the name Santos, and I was faced with about a hundred thousand of them. Pulling my hair in frustration, I flipped the remaining pages of the journal.Hoping and praying that I missed something the first time and that I would come across another page that would explain things. There was nothing. Just blank pages.My hands were shaking when I picked up my phone to call Luca. I hardly ever called him, so when I do call, he knows it's something serious. He picked up on the first