Hope. I fidgeted and tugged at my dress as i surveyed my appearance in the mirror. Sapphires glinted from both ears, and the matching necklace lay against the skin of my neck. “You look beautiful, Hope” I turned to see Damian behind me. I sucked in my breath as i took in his appearance. The excellently tailored black suit fit him to perfection, drawing attention to his muscular build. The white shirt contrasted with his bronze skin, dark hair and golden eyes, and quite frankly, I felt like drooling. “So do you,” I finally managed. He chuckled and walked towards me. “Beautiful? Surely you can do better than that.” “Gorgeous? Devastatingly handsome? So good-looking that I’m tempted to fall on you and tear your clothes off?” I said teasingly. “I like the way you think.” “I wasn’t joking,” i muttered. “Are you ready? The car is waiting for us below.” I took a deep breath and twisted my engagement ring around my finger with the pad of my thumb. “As ready as I will ever be.” He
Damian. I paced back and forth at the foot of Hope’s bed while the hotel physician administered the sedative. She was beyond distraught, and the doctor had moved immediately to prevent further upset. As the doctor stood and backed away from the bed, he looked at me, a grim expression on his face. Fear tightened in my chest. “Is she all right? Is the baby all right?” The doctor motioned me across the room and away from where Hope now quietly lay. “Her injuries are not physical. If they were, perhaps I would be of use. Her distress is mental. If it is as you said, and she has regained her memory, it is that which has caused her immeasurable pain.” I stirred impatiently. “What can be done? She cannot be left as she is. There must be something we can do.” The sight of her pale face and her eyes, so huge with devastation, twisted my gut painfully. “You should return her to your home, to a place that is more familiar. She needs a doctor, not for her physical well being, but one who can
Hope. I was only vaguely aware of the things going on around me. After that first pass into oblivion, i registered being carried into a car. I heard Damian ’s worried voice as he murmured to me, but i closed myself off from him, folding inward. When i next woke up, i knew i was in a bed. As i looked around the room, recognition sparked, and with it, a surge of fresh agony, hot and raw, seared through my body and robbed me of breath. He wouldn’t do this. Surely even he could not be so cruel as to bring me back to the place we had shared and the place he had brutally thrown me out of. I reached for the tears, expecting them to come, but curiously all I felt was an odd detachment, a void of nothingness coupled with the need to get out of this place. When i sat up, my gaze flickered to a chair by the window occupied by Damian ’s sleeping form. He was slouched against the arm, his clothing rumpled and the stubble of over a day’s beard shadowing his jaw. I waited for the rush of ange
Hope. I shivered as i eased down onto the cold stone bench and clutched my arms around my trembling body. I glanced down at my feet but couldn’t summon any rebuke for having gone out in the chill without shoes or a coat. The only thought i had was to get away as quickly as possible. I couldn’t face Damian now. We had spent months together and he had led me to believe we had been happily married. He never mentioned that I even had a family of my own, even though they sold me. Now i knew why I had been drawn to this place. My thinking spot, indeed. Just hours before that last night, I had sat here. I had been right to be afraid. He didn’t trust me. He didn’t love me. And he had left me to my fate with the kidnappers. I refused to allow the memories to roll back in my mind. They simply hurt too much. At least now i realized why I had chosen to forget. All those weeks of living in fear as my kidnappers waited for their demands to be met had paled next to the betrayal Damian had hande
Damian. I strode into the Imperial Park Hotel, waving off members of the staff as they hastened to greet me. The elevator was being held open for me, and i got in and rode it to the top floor. A few moments later, i walked into the luxury suite usually reserved for VIP guests. My brother met me in the sitting area, and I scowled furiously at him. “Why didn’t you bring her back to the apartment?” i demanded. “She became hysterical at the mere mention of it,” Tony said. “She was set to run as far and as fast as she could. I had to promise I wouldn’t take her back to the penthouse.” I swore and closed my eyes. I brought my hand to my face and pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers in a weary gesture. “She is about to break,” Tony said quietly. “Bring your therapist here to talk to her. Maybe she can help.” I looked sharply at my younger brother. “You seem concerned about her.” “She is a good person.” my lips pressed together in a grim line. “It is as you said. There is n
Damian I paced the confines of my New York office as i waited for Rosie to arrive. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be with Hope. Tony had stayed with her, and I simmered with impatience. Her condition hadn’t changed. Even when she had awakened, she had been distant, unfocused, there but not there. It was as if she had gone to a place where I couldn’t hurt her anymore. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the task at hand. When I heard Rosie enter, I stiffened. It was all i could do not to rage at her, not to break her skinny neck. It took everything i had to smile and act as though nothing was wrong, as though i didn’t loathe the very ground she walked on. “You wanted to see me?” she said breathlessly. “I did,” I murmured. I let my gaze run suggestively over her body even as my flesh crawled. Her eyes brightened, and her stance immediately became suggestive. “I have only just become aware of the lengths to which you went to try and get my attention,” i said with a chuckle
Hope I was dimly aware that i was being carried yet again. It wasn’t Damian. I was intimately familiar with his touch. For a moment I panicked, and then I heard comforting words being spoken in Greek and then in English. “Rest easy, little sister. You are safe.” “Where are we going?” i asked weakly. “Some place safe,” he soothed. “Damian won’t allow anything to happen to you.” I wanted to protest that Damian wouldn’t do anything for me, but I couldn’t muster the energy. At some point, I heard Damian and i cursed the fact that i immediately felt safer and that some of the panic abated. I felt the brush of lips against my forehead and then firm hands tucking me into bed. Fingers stroked through my hair, and warmth enveloped me. “You are safe,my love. I will never allow anyone to hurt you again.” “Don’t call me that,” i cried. “Never again.” But i held to Damian ’s promise even as my heart screamed in protest. He had lied to me. I couldn’t believe anything he said. And yet i relax
Damian. I watched her leave and cursed. I felt strangled by helplessness. How could i ever hope to make things right between us? She hated me, and she had every right to. I turned to Tony, who had also watched Hope go, a frown etched on his face. “What brought you here in such a hurry?” I demanded. Tony reached into the jacket of his suit and pulled out a folded newspaper. He tossed it onto the table in front of me . “This did.” I opened it and immediately cursed in four languages. On the front page was a picture of Hope being carried by Tony on the day she had run from the apartment. Underneath were pictures of me and of Rosie with a story outlining the soap opera saga that highlighted every single facet of my relationship with Hope. I threw the paper across the room with vicious force. “It had to be Rosie. None of my men would have spoken to the press.” Tony nodded his agreement. “Since you had her arrested for her theft and her duplicity in keeping the ransom demands from yo
The doorman said. I don’t think it was the same one that had been here when I’d skulked out on Saturday morning…thank God. “Good afternoon,” I told him. “I was hoping that you could call up to Mr. Romo Romalatti’s penthouse and let him know that Alana is here to see him.” “Yes Miss, I can do that. Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back with you.” I took a seat on one of the plush, off-white couches in the lobby. They were arranged around pretty glass tables with expensive looking vases full of flowers. I sat there and watched all the designer clothing clad people bustle back and forth while I waited. Suspiciously, I wondered how many of them were linked to the mob. “Miss?” The doorman brought me back to reality. “Yes?” “Mr. Romalatti asked me to send you up. He said that he’s in a meeting in the conference room next door but you should make yourself comfortable in the suite.” “Okay, thank you so much.” The doorman put me in an elevator that he said
He was a passive-aggressive son of a bitch. Shooting someone in the eyes meant, “I’m watching you,” in our world. I honestly had no idea who it could be that wanted to send me a message so desperately that they would kill my best friend to do it. “Sit down, Sammie.” Tony told me. I took a seat at the table with the others and Tony said, “Does anyone know of any beefs against us?” Everyone looked around the table and when no one said anything I asked, “Why are the Gambino’s absent?” “Carmine is still put off by the fact I won’t consider that fat fuck christopher for boss. He sent word that he couldn’t make it, made up some stupid fucking excuse so I couldn’t accuse him of disrespect, but we all know why he’s not here,” Tony said. Tony’s voice was getting raspier and he seemed like he had a lot harder time breathing every time I saw him. He was dying of throat cancer….but only he and I knew that. The Christopher he spoke so disdainfully of was the son of Carmine Gambino. Carmine ha
129. I wanted to punch him for calling me sweetheart. What was with all of these suddenly over-familiar men? I picked up the photo and underneath it was another…it was one of Sammie and I walking arm in arm into the Glass Towers. It was stamped with Friday night’s date. The elevator Nate and I were riding in stopped and the doors slid open on my floor. I felt like my heels were glued down and I couldn’t move. To my horror, Nate had to take me by the arm and lead me out of the elevator. I think I was in some kind of mini-shock state. I found myself standing in the hallway, still gaping at the photos in my hand. Feeling sick to my stomach, I picked up the next photo and the last one was the best. It was a photo of me in Friday night’s clothes and a flagrant case of bed-head, getting into the back seat of Sammie’s limousine. The photo was clearly stamped with Saturday morning’s date. “What—Where---Why are you having Sammie followed?” I finally spit out.
128. After about an hour of that, I made myself a pot of coffee…it was going to be a long day. It had been three days since Alana had walked out. I had made a grave mistake by allowing myself the pleasure of making love to her when she was too drunk to have the capacity to consent. I truly hadn’t meant for that to happen. I tried to tell myself that I was beyond the point of rational thought as well, but truthfully I wasn’t drunk, at least not from the alcohol. I was intoxicated by her. I’d been researching her and watching her for so long…every fantasy I’d had for the past year had been wrapped up in Alana. I had just completely lost my mind the moment I was actually allowed to touch her. The fact that she was allowing me to, and even encouraging it had really sent me over the edge. It was wrong though…I was wrong. I knew from the time I’d spent watching her that she wasn’t a big drinker, and she definitely didn’t sleep around. I should have had more respec
127. Sammie had stood there looking at me after I’d pulled back. I remember that he had this really sexy grin on his face and instead of being angry, I was turned on. I had smiled back….I think and then I’d put my hands around his neck again and pulled myself back up to continue the kiss. I slid my tongue back into his mouth and that time he sucked on it. It was erotic. His hands were all over me and as I washed my body and slid my palms along my sides and across my breasts I shuddered at the memory. We started stripping each other at that point, a little at a time while we kissed. I could feel his erection pressed up against my hip and I remember that when I moaned he had whispered in my ear so close that I felt his hot breath: “Just you wait, Bella. I’m going to make sure that it’s the best you ever had.” The sound of his voice and the feel of his breath against my ear sent me into another frenzy. In the shower, my hand drifte
126. “We would act as a couple so that no one wondered about my meetings with a reporter, and we could avoid the fear of getting caught if we tried to sneak around and communicate secretly. You could also be a part of “family” events and get to see and know the people that we’ll be “talking” about first hand. This won’t be a week-long process, Bella. This organization was hundreds of years in the making. It’ll take years to break it open.” I was glad I had finished my meal already…I would have choked on it. Years? This guy was nuts if he thought I would agree to be his fake fiancé for years. I stood up and picked up my purse. Sammie stood up as well. For a second, remembering where I was and who I was with, a dagger of fear stabbed me in my chest. He must have seen it on my face because he stepped to the side, clearing my path to the door. He wasn’t going to force me to do this. I was ashamed of myself for putting myself in a position where t
125. “With clothes on,” she said. I laughed and said, “Yes, I’m going right now to get dressed, then I’ll order breakfast.” She only nodded, but she hadn’t let go of the doorknob. I half expected her to be gone when I got back, but to my delight and relief, she wasn’t. I found her sitting on the sofa looking out the window. I sat down in the chair across from her and smiled. She shot me a look that should by all rights have set me on fire. “Was this all some big pick-up game to you?” she asked. “A pick-up game? No, Bella. We both had too much to drink. I’m not normally a heavy drinker and last night I was looking for some liquid courage. Once you report what I have to tell you, life as I know it is going to implode. I wouldn’t have had the audacity to expect that a woman like you would ever want to be with a man like me.” She raised an eyebrow, obviously not convinced. I wish she could see inside of my head because I meant every word. I know what I am. I’ve known sinc
124. I woke up in a strange place, in a strange bed, next to an extremely hot – and gloriously naked – strange man. …What happened last night? My mouth tasted like cotton and I had an icky sweet taste in my mouth that literally made me want to vomit. My stomach felt bloated, my head was pounding and I couldn’t hold my trembling hands still if I tried. There was light streaming in from the giant windows that surrounded the bed and it was doing nothing but making my head pound worse and darkening my already foul mood. I sat up slowly, not wanting to wake the strange bedfellow next to me. I tried to shake out my hair, but it was a tangled mess. The motion of sitting up had made me nauseated and once again I had the feeling that I was going to throw up. I looked around me, wondering where the bathroom was. I was humiliated enough just waking up here, the last thing I wanted to do was hurl all over hot guy. I needed to get the hell out of here. I slipped out of the bed and st
123. Even not knowing exactly what Shane had planned for her, Mia was still relieved to see him when he entered the basement two days after Wallace had taken her from the street. Her first thought was he looked like hell. His normally robust tanned skin was pale, and his face looked gaunt, though he couldn’t have lost much weight in the four days since she’d seen him, even with a gunshot wound. Her gaze darted to the sling encasing his left arm, where she could see the bulky bandage covering most of the left side of his chest and clavicle underneath the thin fabric of his T-shirt. It was insane, but she had to physically bite her tongue to keep from asking how he felt and fretting over him being out of the hospital already. The reality of her position and situation made it easier to rein in the concern. She lay on the cold concrete, naked as the day she was born, with her hands cuffed to her ankles, which were spread by a metal bar. It was an obscene, undignified pose, b