Luca would've still thought he knew the meaning of estranged if the last two weeks hadn't happened, because with the way Skylar treated him ever since their confrontation in the boardroom, he might've as well been a complete stranger.Despite the fact that she reported her work to him and they were constantly in meetings with other executives, he might as well be invisible.During the first week, Luca tried his best to breach the barrier she'd placed between them. From saying a hi whenever he saw her to flashing her small smiles to pulling her chair for her in the boardroom, he tried it all. And her only response was always stoic silence or a stiff nod of her head.Finally, he'd decided to give up trying to change the new status quo. He would give her the distance she so craved, but how was that any easy when they had to be close for so many things? Even in the elevators where he could feel the sizzle of awareness deep in his bones, he had no choice but to curb the urge to grab her an
The whole room suddenly seemed to be deserted, because Skylar suddenly felt like it was only her and Luca in the hall, and she thought she would drown in the depths of his cyan eyes.The words he said reverberated in her head, turning her brain hazy in an eclectic blend of shock, disbelief, and anger. Words she would've given anything to hear from his mouth three years ago, yet now only turned her into a conflicted mess.“Skylar, did you hear me? I love you... Vanilla.”The throbbing pain that squeezed at her heart on hearing the endearment he'd used for her years ago was like a wake-up call and a reminder of how much hurt he'd caused. That wasn't love.Bracing her hands against his chest, she glared at him, praying the tears that were burning the back of her throat wouldn't fall and betray her.“Let go of me, Luca.”“Skylar...”“Let go of me if you don't want me to scream.” She bit out through her gritted teeth.A glint of misery dimmed his eyes as he finally unwrapped his arms from a
Skylar stumbled back into the hall, feeling gutted and bloody and bruised and so damn stupid. She couldn't believe she'd allowed herself to even consider the possibility of getting back together with Luca. She'd been such a goner when he professed his supposed love for her, and she had no doubt that she would've allowed herself to be swept off her feet if he hadn't brought up the cheating allegations again.She'd done so well for herself in the past two weeks, put on a nonchalant facade every time she was around him, even when her body had screamed for him. But she'd let him knock all that progress to the ground in less than an hour.Now she felt like she'd taken ten steps forward and a hundred backward. An idiot, that's exactly what she was.But not anymore, she vowed.Uh, didn't you tell yourself the same thing two weeks ago?Ignoring the ugly, unwarranted voice in her head, Skylar beckoned a waiter over and grabbed a bottle of Chardonnay off his tray. Her emotions were on fire and
Luca stumbled into his rented suite, pausing slightly at the door. The ground looked a bit shaky but not too much, so Caleb had definitely been exaggerating when he said he was drunk and would cause a scene. He'd only drunk a couple more glasses of wine and rightly so; everything that could've gone wrong tonight had spectacularly gone to shit. No, not the inauguration– he always knew that one would be a success – but with Skylar. Like always, he found himself spinning out of control whenever she was around.Before the inauguration, he'd had every intention of making tomorrow his last day in Chicago. He would return to Rockford and leave the Chicago branch in the hands of Brandon, leave Skylar's life and try to let go of his anger and reckless frustration in hopes that he'll finally be able to move on.And then her kiss with Alex had happened and that planned had faded into a memory once he realized how scared he was of losing her forever. But now he was back to being torn between stay
“You can never do anything right, can you?” Luca bellowed at his temporary secretary. “Get the fuck out of my sight.”His screaming match with his cousin had left him with an intensified headache and a rotten mood, so his secretary's penchant for overlooking small details had finally ticked him off.He watched the young woman scurried out of his office, practically in tears. Then he sighed, knowing very well she hadn't committed any serious offence. He needed an outlet, and she was the only one around to bear the brunt of his messed up emotions.For the next ten minutes, he tried to focus on work, but it was like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone; impossible when the front, back and center stage of his mind had all been taken up by Skylar.It'd only been some hours, but he missed her terribly, as if it'd been eternity already. He wanted to see her. No, he needed to see her, but he was afraid that the disdain she'd shown him last night would still be in her eyes.He'd seen that dis
Later, Luca sat in a VIP booth in the nightclub of his hotel, Caleb across from him as he complained about Skylar's gullibility.“Can you imagine? She actually believed the bull crap in the magazine. How can she even think I would be engaged to Natasha when I made it so abundantly clear how much I want to be with her?”“Dude...” Caleb began to say when a scantily dressed strip dancer waltzed into their booth, going straight for Caleb's lap. And just like that, whatever Caleb was about to say immediately receded as he run his hands all over the dancers naked ass.Luca glared at the woman, furious at the interruption. “Get out of here.”Her eyes widened, seemingly taken aback by the bite in his tone. But she soon squared her shoulders belligerently and pursed her lips into a stubborn line as she focused her attention back on Caleb.Knowing exactly what she was here for, Luca pulled his wallet out of his pants pocket, whipped out a bunch of dollar nites he didn't bother to count and turne
A surge of rage sent Luca bouncing off his seat and lunging for his friend. Grabbing Caleb by the collar of his Lacoste, he brought him up and glared into the other man's eyes as the sense of betrayal sank in.“You wanted to take Skylar away from me. You tried to take Skylar away from me!” He growled in disbelief.“You said you wanted nothing else to do with her. You weren't together anymore.” Caleb shot back defensively.“That's not a fucking excuse, you bastard!”Pushing him back, he slammed his fist against his mouth, sending the other man tumbling back into the sofa with a thud. He squared his shoulders, expecting Caleb to fight back, but his friend merely felt his bursted lip and let out a sigh.“I was always attracted to Skylar, you knew that." Caleb said silently. “I just didn't realize how strong my feelings for here were until the two of you started dating. But I never once tried to make a move on her while you were still together. But when you said you were done with her–”“I
“Aww, I can't believe he's gone. He was like my ideal man.” Alena groaned wistfully. “I'm sure I could've made him fall for me if he stayed here long enough.”“How did you know that?” Skylar asked her secretary as casually as she possibly could.“I heard Brandon and Evans talking. He went back to Rockford and asked Brandon to take over.” Alena replied. “I wish he's just gone on a trip or something but seeing that the headquarters of all of his businesses is in Rockford, I doubt he'll come back any time soon.”“I see." Skylar looked back on her computer when she realized that her secretary was staring at her intently, as if she was trying to guage how much the news bothered her. “Thanks for the coffee, Alena. You can get back to your desk.”She needed Alena to leave before she could see the sudden tears that were burning through her eyes. A stupid urge to cry she had absolutely no business feeling. Luca was gone, so what?He would have left anyway. She had no doubt that in his obstinacy
Hey guys,This has been a long journey of a little over three months, and I know that reading this story must've been a bit frustrating because of my unscheduled updates where you never know when to expect the next chapter in a day. But y'all stuck with me, and I'm so grateful for that. Thank you so much for the patience.There were times I wanted to give up because writing was so stressful but all your comments kept me on my toes, along with all those beautiful gems you gifted me. They're truly appreciated.A few of you might not agree with some directions I decided to take, but I realize I can't satisfy everyone. I do believe in second chances as long as the other person is remorseful and willing to change. And I tried to be as realistic about the whole thing as possible.That being said, this is my first story on here, and I'm not perfect. There's always room for improvement for my future books, so do let me know; Where did I lack? What could I have done better? Were there issues yo
The first clue read: YES! YES! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE A DAY OLD, SO LOOK FOR THE FIRST TREASURE WHERE THINGS GET COLD.So Skylar did remember. Grinning like an idiot, Luca figured the first one out easily. It was obviously the fridge. But they had two. One in the kitchen and another at the corner of the wall near the dining table. He took a chance on the one near the dining area, and he was right.His first treasure was there, a somewhat rectangular gift wrapped up so that he couldn't see what it was. Attached to it was the second clue.It read: A MAJESTIC THRONE THAT NO ONE WANTS, YET WE ALL HAVE TO RULE OVER EVERY OTHER DAY.His brows drew together. A throne? Since he was standing around the dining table, his eyes went straight to the chairs there first. But the clue said no one wants it, so it definitely couldn't be those chairs. It took him five minutes of running all around the ground floor before he finally figured it out. When he did, he burst out laughing. What the heck? So the t
ONE YEAR LATERLuca was pissed.The day hadn't gone exactly how he'd envisioned it, and he'd been complaining the whole evening. The unfortunate listeners of his lashing out were Caleb and Abhishek.“How could she just forget?” He grouched. “Everyone remembered. My mum, Ella... Heck, even you guys remembered. And she forgets?”“Uh, with all due respect, your highness, your mother gave birth to you. She's the most inclined to remember when it's your birthday.” Abhishek had the very salient idea of mocking him, becoming the recipient of Luca's very unhappy glare.Caleb wasn't fazed though. “Dude, why are you making this a big deal? I'm sure Skylar had stuff on her mind and things to do, and she must've forgotten. Just remind her when you get home. No big deal.”Luca transferred his glare to the other man. “No big deal? It's not like we're 60 or something. We've just been living together for a year! How the hell does she forget my birthday? She didn't have to remind me when it was her bir
Licking her tongue down his neck, Skylar groaned along with him as she stroked his hard-as-granite dick. God, she loved how his dick felt in her hand. So warm and meaty and hard and just so damn good. She found herself salivating, her mouth's wish to get reacquainted with his delicious member.Without hesitation, she dropped to her knees, sliding his pants and boxers down to the middle of her thighs. His erection bounced out, the huge member bumping against her face Grabbing it, she licked him from the base up to the tip, reveling when he let out a sharp sound of pleasure."Fuck, Vanilla." He groaned. "Open that mouth of yours. Just like that."Taking the tip in, she swirled her tongue around it for a bit before taking him further. Just like she remembered, she could only get half of him in without gagging, but almost four years of not doing this didn't mean she'd forgotten how to work within her limits.She had Luca groaning and gasping for air as she bobbed her head up and down, let
Once Alex left, Luca refused to talk about anything having to do with him. He claimed he wasn't upset, but his actions afterwards proved contrary.He drove her to her house so that she could get dressed for work, but he barely said a word to her.Laura was horrified when Skylar told her about what Alex did, but the nanny ended up also concluding that Alex definitely didn't have bad intentions. That only seemed to tick Luca off some more.He drove to the company in brooding silence and didn't even give her a goodbye kiss when he parted to go check out some issues with Brandon Wood, the new branch CEO.Then again, Skylar was definitely not prepared for any PDA that would blow up the secretaries' group chat with gossip. She knew most of the people in the company thought she climbed up too quickly and had always linked it to her having an affair with Hector Lancaster. She didn't want them seeing her with Luca and making all sort of bullshit up to suit that narrative again. Luca didn't say
Alex caught the swaying of Nicole's body before she let go, so he had enough time to react and catch her in his arms."Hey. Nicole? Nicole?" He called out softly, realizing she'd passed out.Lowering her onto the couch, he held her cheek in his hand and tried to shake her gently, but she didn't react in any way.Panic shooting through him, he gathered her into his arms, ready to take her to the hospital. He didn't know what was wrong with her, but he wasn't about to take the chance of waiting for her to wake up first.Getting out of the apartment, he was just heading towards the elevator when she finally stirred in his arms."Nicole, you're awake. Thank God!" He said but he didn't stop the journey to the elevator."Alex, where are you taking me?" Nicole groaned."To the hospital.""I'm conscious now. I don't want to go to the hospital." She said and began squirming in his arms just when they got to the elevator, wordlessly demanding to be placed down.Alex obliged and placed her on her
Chewing on a bowl of popcorn, Nicole sat on her couch, fast-forwarding through scenes of the K-drama she was watching on her TV. There was only so much of the goofy, cute banter she could enjoy before she got tired of the lack of story progression.Just when she got to a scene that looked to be exciting enough, her doorbell rang. Pausing the film, she set her bowl of popcorn aside and went to get the door.Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when she opened the door to find Alex. Partly because she hadn't expected him and secondly because his face looked like a mess. He had a black eye, other bruises, and stitches marring his face."Hey, Nicole." He flashed her smile and winced like it hurt him to do that."Alex, what happened to you?!" She exclaimed, scanning his face in horror."Uh, I got beat up?" He chuckled a bit, obviously trying to deflect the gravity of the situation with humour."I can see that!" She said, "But who did that to you?""Can I come in first?""Of course, of c
The muffled sounds of a screaming match yanked Skylar out of her deep sleep. Groaning, she snapped her eyes open and tried to focus on the altercation. She couldn't hear much, so she slipped out of bed and approached the door, the voices getting clearer the closer she got."You have some fucking nerve showing your face here, you imbecile!" That was Luca, and he sounded very angry.The sudden sound of screeching couches and painful groans snapped Skylar into action. Realizing she was just in her underwear, she quickly grabbed the dress she remembered wearing yesterday which had been thrown on the bedroom sofa and slipped it on. Opening the door, she rushed out of the bedroom and came to a startled stop at what was going on.Luca was beating the hell out of Alex who was lying helplessly on the couch. His body was vibrating with aggression, and he seemed to be channeling that aggression into every punch. Alex's face already looked like a bloody mess, yet his blows were so heavy that she
Before the tentacles of doubts could bury its roots inside his mind, Luca held himself firm and shook his head, slicing through it until it was completely dead.No, he refused to believe it. He refused to believe that Skylar had done this to him. It just couldn't be.She loved him. Over the weekend, she'd shown him that with so much passion he'd felt it within his soul. There had been nothing like uncertainty about her love.Besides, during their fight regarding his marriage proposal, she'd told him that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him too. She wouldn't have never said anything like that if she didn't mean it.And he believed her. He wasn't going to make the mistake of jumping to conclusions again. He'd been there before, and where had that landed him? In hell, for four fucking years. There was no way he wanted to go back there.There had to be some plausible explanation as to why she was in Alex William's house sleeping in his arms in that state. An explanation that