A black widow spider eats the male spider after they have mated. That is what I feel like when I get ready for my "date" with Alessandro Moretti. I have murder in my heart and vengeance in my eyes. I was okay before I laid eyes on him. I was content with my life and where I was going. Then somehow I changed in a matter of weeks and actually thought there could be more to life than studying and working. Only to be left played and looking like a fool. ' Rumor has it that The Devil is engaged. So what was I going to be then? A dirty little secret? A mistress hidden in the shadows? I am not my mother's daughter. I never was, and I never will be. And I will not allow a man to make me like her. "I don't think you should go on this date." Sammy looks at me with concern as I brush my long hair for the last time. I don't look nearly as good as when Phoebe styles me, but I think I did a decent job with the glittery black jumpsuit I went out and bought with The Devil's m
This is the third time I'm riding in this car, which I now know is a Mustang GT something. Yeah, I've now looked up everything I could find of Alessandro Moretti online. He has a brother who is four years older, who also works for the Moretti company. The question is, why did the older Moretti brother not take over when their father retired? The father is re-married to a woman more than twenty years younger than him. I looked up her I*******m handle, she looks like a gold digger to me. Too much make-up, and too much plastic surgery. His mother's whereabouts are unknown. She hasn't been seen in the city in the last fifteen years. Where the hell is she? Dead perhaps? Killed by the father for a younger mistress. I'll probably be killed next. I should send Phoebe a farewell text, tell her to stop making stupid mistakes and tell her that I love her. Alessandro is bristling next to me. I can tell in the hard set of his jaw and the frown between his eyebrows. I expect him to dr
I step away from Alessandro to create space between us. I tend to agree with everything he says when he touches me, and this time I'm not leaving without answers. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not working this time." I cross my arms over my chest in an attempt to ward him off. "Who is that woman?" The bastard has the audacity to smile. "You're jealous, aren't you?" Did he only figure that out now? "Stop deflecting, it might work on other people but not on me." He backs away from me and I sigh in relief. I lose my brain cells when he's too close to me. "I'll order a few different things from my favorite restaurant." He fetches the two wine glasses. "Do you like Italian?" I roll my eyes as I accept the wine from him. "I'll eat whatever if it means you can start being straightforward. And why did you have to get Sammy fired, too?" He takes my hand and leads me back to the living room, pulling me down on the couch with him. "I'll get her another job." He puts
There's complete silence in the room. This is probably the part where he tells me he changed his mind and doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. Because in a lot of ways, I'm still a child, probably a far cry from the women he usually spends his time with. Men like him have women throwing themselves at him. I've never felt as nervous as I do in this moment. It feels like I was dead before he bulldozed his way into my monochrome life. "Why not?" He finally breaks the silence. "You are gorgeous, you can't tell me no guy has ever made advances." I shrug, exhaling. "I never said that, did I?" "So why not?" "Because I've never been interested in anyone before you." There, I said it. I probably shouldn't lay all my cards on the table. This evening taught me that I should always have some leverage. Before I know what's happening, I'm flat on my back with Alessandro above me. My hands immediately go to his muscled biceps, my chest heaving as if I've just run ten miles. His hair
A calmness rushes over me, just like that fateful day seven years ago, when I realized there might be something significantly wrong with me. "Where are you?" I ask as I pick up my bag. If I go straight to the bus stop and maybe get on a bus in the next two hours, I can reach her in ten hours. I should check the bus schedule online. "I locked myself in the bathroom." She sobs quietly. "Okay, listen to me carefully. I need you to get out of there and go somewhere safe, maybe go to that colleague's place you're always talking about." In a lot of ways, Phoebe is just like me. We don't make friends easily because we learned early on that we can't trust anyone but ourselves. She might have always been popular, but she knows how to keep people at arm's length. She's mentioned one colleague about three times in the last year she has worked at the cosmetic counter, but anywhere is safer than where she is right now. "I'm scared, sissy." She breathes into the phone, and I'm again reminded o
The man sitting across from me is an anomaly. Just when I think I have him figured out, he surprises me again. This is what I know now. Alessandro Moretti is far more powerful and connected than I initially thought. And he knows everything about me. I should feel worried about that, but oddly I'm not. I've been hiding who I was from the world for so long now, that the thought that someone might understand me, has me feeling all types of way. The only person who truly knows me is Phoebe, and she has tried her very best through the years to keep me out of trouble and intact. Could it be that he would accept me for who I am? The real me? Do I dare find out? We're currently sitting in a very luxurious private jet and I'm nervous as fuck. Not because of the luxury or because this is my very first time on a plane, but because I might let go of my steely resolve and see where this thing might go. A beautiful flight attendant stops next to my chair as soon as the pilot announ
There's a new intimacy between me and Alessandro when we get in the back of a chauffeur driven car as soon as we get off the plane, waiting for us straight on the tarmac. I'm being treated first class when it's my actual first time even setting foot in an airport. It's weird and exhilirating at the sime time. There's one thing that I'm absolutely sure of now. Alessandro Moretti wants me. He wants me in such a way that he's willing to botch a company's takeover. I've been pursued before, but never at this calibre. And it makes me want to run less and less. This is the first time I've set foot in my hometown in over three years and it makes me feel agitated. I vowed to never return to this shithole of a town where everyone knows everyone's business and how you're looked down on because you have less. Or how the Simpsons are known as the Scarlet Ladies. The ones who can take your man with only a swish of her dark hair and a glimpse of her green eyes. I hated living here
Phoebe is lights out on the plane, her head in my lap. I knew her moving in with that guy was bad news, I'm going to have to find her some purpose in life so she doesn't have to feel the need to get validation from a man. She's beautiful and insanely talented with a make-up brush, I'm sure that can get her somewhere in life. I can feel Alessandro's gaze on my face, so I look up and meet his eyes. There's a new intensity when he looks at me, but he hasn't spoken to me after kissing me in the bathroom. My lips are still swollen from that kiss. It wasn't like the gentle kiss we shared earlier on his couch, this kiss was all-consuming, violent. "Thank you for this." I tell him softly. "I don't know what I would've done without you tonight." That's the one thing I've always tried avoiding in my life. Never ask anyone for anything, so you never owe them shit, but my debt is piling up when it comes to Alessandro Moretti. And I don't think he's the kind of man you want to owe. He smil
I look down at my three babies, where they're all bundled in the same incubator. They were born on thirty-three weeks, but none of them had to be incubated. I'm so proud of them, all of them able to breathe on their own. I was so worried, but they did it. I've never cried so much as I've been crying in the last week. The pediatrician said they should stay in the incubator for at least two weeks, and they were each placed in their own one. But the nurses said when they're apart, they cry, and when they're together, they don't. It's the cutest thing ever. Alessandro can't tell them apart because they look exactly alike. I don't know how, but I know who is who. Their father proudly named them, and right now, Arcangelo's mouth cutely yawns, even though they're sleeping. One week until we can take them home. Right now, they've wearing onesies courtesy of their aunt saying Thing One, Thing Two, and Thing Three. I miss Phoebe in the house, but she has to follow her own path, and she
FARRAH "I'm so sorry, Thomas." My bodyguard is a lone figure at the grave of his wife. "Me too." He says softly with his head bowed. "I was so busy with..." He doesn't complete the sentence, so I take his hand in mine and squeeze his. "It's okay to say it." "I was so busy protecting others, I didn't take care of my own family." He completes the sentence on a sob. "You know that's not true." I tell him. "You were looking after all of us. You just didn't think her past would catch up to you." "But I should have!" He turns guilty eyes to mine where I'm sitting in a wheelchair next to him. "That's what I was trained to do, and I failed my own wife." He's going to feel guilty for a while, probably forever, so I don't say a word. Alma's killer was from a religious society who has been following her and Thomas's lives for a while now. They believe that she betrayed her country and her religion. She would have been stoned to death if she was in her own country. The government has tak
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Trey looks worriedly at me, his eyes darting back and forth in the dark street. "This ends tonight." I go over my body again, making sure for what seems like the hundredth time that I have all my guns and hand grenades in place. It seems like the fuckers are playing right into my hands. Thanks to Enzo's intel, I have the remaining four elders all under one roof in one night. By now, they must know that Fabiono is dead, but they still think I'm inside that jail. They probably know it was me, too, so they're most likely having a meeting to decide what they're doing next. Little do they know, I'm striking while the iron is still hot. Trey shakes his head, his eyes on the surveillance footage on his phone, all courtesy of Evan. Farrah was right, I did orchestrate Evan's bullying so I could be his savior. It was one of the best things I ever did, too, because I now have access to a satellite that gives me vision all over the world. And I have a gre
ALESSANDRO As soon as I stop in front of the quaint cottage, a shot gets fired from me from somewhere in the house, and I duck. I slowly get out of the driver's seat with my hands in the air. If this guy is as dangerous as Thomas said he is, I will be dead in the next second. "My name is Alessandro Moretti, I believe my wife is in there." I shout, hoping they can hear me. I take it as a good sign when I don't get shot at again. The front door opens, and a sight for sore eyes greets me. I run to that door as fast as I can, and then I scoop Farrah in my arms, her smell that is uniquely hers enveloping me. "What the fuck did you do, asshole." She sobs in my neck. "Are you okay? I thought you were in jail." I pull back so I can look at her. There are dark circles under her eyes, and she looks tired, but she's always the best thing I will ever see. "What are you doing on your feet?" I ask her. "You're not supposed to be walking around. You're supposed to be still." She hugs me ag
ALESSANDRO Dario is waiting for me when I walk out of jail the next morning. I don't like the look in his eyes. "What's wrong?" I want to know immediately. He holds the keys to his car out for me, and I grab it. I may be the younger of the two of us, but I've always been the one that was in control. He's never seemed to mind. It's just how our personalities work. "Farrah is gone." The earth drops from beneath my feet for a moment, but I take a deep breath. With Farrah, I've found that there's always an explanation. I get behind the wheel and wait for him to get in beside me. "What happened?" "One of her bodyguards was found with a single stab wound. Luckily, he's not dead." Dario sounds worried. "The hospital's cameras were conveniently out of order for about two hours, but both her and Phoebe are gone. And the other bodyguard." "What about Thomas?" "Still missing." I'm trying to keep my cool, but I bang on the steering wheel. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!" Thomas has a few numbers I
FARRAH "Oh my God!" I scream. "T.J!" Damian doesn't even stay at the crash. He just swerves his car and goes around the wreck. "What are you doing?" Kevin shouts at him. "You have to stop, we have to help her!" "Are you okay? "Damian looks at me in the rearview mirror. "I'm fucking fine!" I'm about to lose it. We just left a kid there in a crashed car. "We have to go back and help her." Damian is still calm as he grabs his phone from the console and dials 911. He calmly tells the operator that there was a crash with the address, and then he disconnects before the operator can ask any questions. Phoebe is sobbing next to me, and I feel my own tears wetting my cheeks. We just left Alma there. What if she was badly hurt? Who was that behind the wheel of the truck, and why did he crash into her? The windows weren't even tinted of the car. If they were looking for me, they would've been able to see I wasn't in that car. "The three of you better listen to me and listen to me carefu
FARRAH "Is something going on here that I should know about?" Damian looks accusingly at me in Dr. Sanchez's office. "I've been calling Abe with no luck." Abe is the other bodyguard who's currently on shift. "I think that was my husband's uncle on the way to my room." I gulp, my heart rate skyrocketing. "I'm not sure, but with everything going on with my husband right now, I think he might be trying to hurt me." Hurt is a mild word, but Dr. Sanchez is in the room, and she already looks freaked out. I don't want to worry her any more than she already is. "And you were planning to do what exactly?" Damian wants to know. "I need to get out of here." "Against my advice!" Dr. Sanchez looks at me like I'm crazy. "What if you need blood? You do realize how serious your condition is, right? You are not just risking the lives of the babies, but yours, too." "I'm a sitting duck in the hospital." I shake my head at her. "And if someone kills me, there will be no babies or me anyway. Trus
ALESSANDRO Edward Whittle looks like I'm going to jump him any minute. But like I told him, I'm not here for him. He deserves to go to trial for what he's done, to be torn apart by the public and sentenced. Killing him would be a mercy he doesn't deserve. The asshole starts crying after I don't give him any attention, and I look at him in utter disgust. Those girls in that container were crying, too. I wonder how many girls he's smuggled in containers over the years. What has happened to those girls, were they still alive? Edward Whittle should get life in prison and become the bitch of a thousand men. And even that punishment won't be enough. He follows me around like a little puppy when it's dinner time. The dude jumps at the tiniest noise. That's what you get when you play on the wrong side of the law, and you don't think of the consequences. The inmates seem to know who I am and avoid me, so I get my food that looks like someone puked on it in peace, with my entourage of o
FARRAH "You can't leave the hospital." Phoebe drags both her hands through her hair. "We have to come up with something else. Plus, I think you're being paranoid." I don't know how to explain it to her. All I know is that my gut is never wrong, and I can feel that impending gloom. Nobody is hurting my babies, I would kill them first. Even if I have to do it kicking and bleeding. "I'm not paranoid." I sigh. I wish Alessandro would let me in on his damn plans and stop leaving me blindsided. "Call in one of the bodyguards." Phoebe looks at me skeptically, but do as I ask. The guy is well-built and looks like he belongs on a magazine cover and not outside my hospital room. He nods his head at me. "Mrs. Moretti." I'm still not used to being called that, but I do like the ring to it. "Do you know where Thomas is?" I ask. There's no way he just dropped off the face of the earth. "No ma'am. Thomas just gave us strict instructions that the door should be guarded at all times and that