LUCA'S POV."So that was amazing as expected," I said, dropping my glass and sighing. Scarlett and I had somehow ended up talking and eating through the day, and now it was evening. I had to admit that talking to her had been the most fun I'd had in a long while, and I'd had no idea when I'd offered another bottle of my expensive wine just to get the conversation to keep going.Scarlett nodded, having already downed four glasses and was now gulping down her first glass from the new bottle. Now that I thought of it, she was taking too much, I had taking just two glasses and she had emptied the entire bottle all alone and was on to the new one. "Hey, are you okay? You're taking too much," I gave her a worried look and she just brushed me off. "This stuff is good. I haven't had wine like this before. You were right," she said, her voice louder and bolder. Oh God. The wine was getting to her already. "Yeah, it's good wine but you need to have some water," I got up and went to get her
SCARLETT'S POV.The next time I saw Luca was two days later. He was at the kitchen, sitting on a stool and eating cornflakes when I walked in, dressed for school.It was like he'd purposely avoided me for those two days. Because he was practically nowhere to be seen in the house, or at least not in the usual places I saw him. He was probably trying to give me some space after what had happened. Speaking of what had happened that day, I hadn't been totally drunk back then, just slightly tipsy. But after I'd gotten a crazy idea in my head, I'd decided to go with it—over exaggerate it to see what was going to happen. It had been something I'd seen on a TV show. A girl had decided to test her boss who she had a crush on by pretending to be drunk just to see if he was going to take advantage of her, and when he did, she killed her crush on him and punched him in the face the next day. I'd thought it was going to be great to know if Luca was going to be like that guy and so I'd pretended
SCARLETT'S POV. School went by in a blur, mostly because I was more interested in getting off and getting to Kevin. Today was the day we were going to have that talk for sure. I'd been so focused on my mission, that I'd dodged Abby when I passed by her even though I'd seen her hand raise in a wave. I knew it was shitty of me as her friend and I'd long forgiven her for not telling me about Kevin sooner, but I was blaming everything on my poor state of mind. With everything going on, I just felt like I would be overloading her with my issues if we talked. She had heard enough of my problems already and she hadn't even heard about the new development with my parents. That was going to be too much. When I was done with all the madness around me then I was going to make up for everything. I couldn't afford lose her too when I'd already lost everybody. The moment I shut the car door, I pulled out my phone from my bag and dialed Kevin's number with shaky hands. He answered on the third
SCARLETT'S POV.I drove to the address that Kevin texted to me, I knew it was a house address and that meant that I was visiting him, but I liked to tell myself that I was being brave. Because for all I know the man could be planning to kidnap me the moment I arrived. Anyways, I shut the engine when I got to the driveway and then when I was sure Luca's car was parked safely, I got out of the vehicle and made my way towards the apartment building. Entering the elevator with erratic breathing and clammy palms, I took a deep breath and told myself that I needed to do this. I needed closure with him. It was the only way I could truly move on and forget about him. I also needed to see his face while he admitted everything just to be completely and utterly convinced that he was a bastard. Getting to the door of his room, I pursed my lips before I knocked. Okay, Scarlett this is it. "Scarlett?" He asked from inside in a quiet voice and I rolled my eyes. Oh of course. He probably had so
SCARLETT'S POV. "Scar I'll be taking a while here, please just stay in the living room, okay?" I heard Luca say in the midst of his argument with whoever the man was outside and I didn't respond. Whatever. This was my chance. I got up quickly and then went out of the living room towards his bedroom, from what I could see there wasn't that much in the room and it didn't have a homey feel to it, probably because the guy was juggling between houses because of his career. There were two bedrooms, one on the right and the left and I did a quick eenie meenie miney mo before choosing the one on the right. When I got to the bedroom, I said a prayer, hoping that the closed door was not locked, and to my favour it wasn't. I wasted no time in opening it and going in. The first thing I noticed when I got in was the smell of weed, it seemed like it had been smoked hours ago but the stench was still faintly there. Shit. I never knew Kevin smoked, not to talk of weed. Maybe it wasn't his room,
SCARLETT'S POV. "Get off me, you asshole," I used all my strength to push away away from Kevin but the guy was just too strong. "You're crazy.""You love it," he laughed into my ear. "How do you expect me to believe that you don't want me? You used to love it when I whispered in your ear and played with your hair like this," he tugged on my hair, sending a sharp pain to my scalp that had me wincing. "Stop, you're hurting me," I cried, struggling but his grip only tightened like my pain was fueling him."I'd stop only if you tell me the truth, that you still love me."God what was wrong with him? I shouldn't have come here. I shouldn't have agreed to meet him, but then how would I have known that he was keeping such nasty photos of me in his apartment. "How can I love you?" I sighed in frustration. "You have been lying to me about your entire personality, you've played with my feelings for years and now you're even hurting me.""But I wouldn't have to hurt you if you just give me wh
SCARLETT'S POV. Kevin and I have been in an uncomfortable silence for a while now, after what I'd said, the guy had just gone silent and brooding, leaving me wondering what his next move was going to be. "I can't believe dad did all of that," I whispered out when I couldn't take the silence anymore. "I can't believe all the people I've been holding dear to my heart have just been lying to me. I feel so stupid and pathetic."This brought Kevin out of his silence and he came to crouch down in front of me. "I'm not as bad as you think I am, Scar," his voice sounded sincere, but I knew not to trust him."How so?" I rose an eyebrow. "You kept the fact that my father was sleeping with young girls from me just so you could keep dating me for my money.""I told you Scar, that was at the beginning," he stressed. "That was before I got to fall in love with you. I never wanted anything to do with that man, but when it was the only way I could get to stay with you, I had to blackmail him. I'm
SCARLETT'S POV.Getting to my car was difficult after Kevin had pushed me out. It had been so difficult, because my legs were weak and my heart heavy from all I'd uncovered. It hurt so bad, I feared my heart was going to shred to pieces inside. It was like a knife was continuously being stabbed into my chest while I just watched. I wanted to scream, to trash things, to vomit, to rip my hair out, but I stopped myself. If I was going to break down then I needed to reach the mansion first and get to my room. Once the car door was shut, I took one last glance at the deserted surroundings of the apartment building before I pulled out, wondering how in the world I'd taken such a big risk. The guy could have killed me in there. Once properly on the road, I took a deep breath and focused on driving. As I drove, I went back into thinking about everything Kevin had said and how he'd acted so crazily. It was still shocking to me to hear that he had been collecting money from my dad to keep
SCARLETT'S POV.The moment Luca's lips touched mine, I melted into a puddle. My knees had gone weak and I feared they were going to buckle soon if I wasn't careful. Damn. The man knew how to kiss. He made sure that he ravaged my mouth with intensity, showing me with the kiss just how much he really wanted me. From my face, his hands travelled to my spine and then all the way back up to my hair and then he pulled. Shit, the force of the action caused a sting, but it was sweet. The pain was delicious. I loved it. He continued to kiss my mouth like his life depended on it until he decided that he'd had enough of it and wanted to taste my neck. Once his mouth touched there, I straight up melted into him, to the point he had to hold me up. "Woah," he laughed, amsued. "I haven't even touched you. You don't even know all the things I have planned for you.""Stop being cocky and kiss me," I demanded, pulling him back to my mouth and he let out a satisfactory growl."You're so damn sexy,
SCARLETT'S POV. THREE HOURS LATER. The party had started to get heated. People were popping in from every corner now. And the place started to get a bit crowded and tight. Many had decided to go out to the garden but it still felt like we were at a concert or something. It had been a bad choice Matt had made to organise the party at the house. The set-up was beautiful no doubt but it was becoming too suffocating. Or maybe it was just my body's reaction to Luca sitting beside me on our table.The rest of the guest looked like they didn't mind at all. Maybe it was just me actually. "So, how has therapy been?" Luca's voice sounded so close to my ear and I practically jumped in my seat, embarassing myself further. "It's been really good," I smiled tightly. "Uhh... The therapist has been really good and understanding. I-I feel like a totally different person now."I could remember giving him the same response some time ago when he'd asked. Shit. Why was I acting that way?And where t
SCARLETT'S POV. Abby arrived not long after and after we were both done getting ready and checking each other out, we said goodbye to mum and headed for the venue in an Uber. Matt's two storey house was flooded with people when we got in, it was crazy that the guy knew that much people. "Shit, this is way more than I expected," Abby said, looking around the garden that was filled with several cooperate looking people. "Yeah thank god that you convinced me to wear this dress," I said, looking at the dresses of the other women aroun. It was like we'd come for some sort of fashion show or something. "Exactly why you should always trust my opinions," she smiled, smoothing down the skirt of her royal blue dress. She looked amazing actually in that dress and her hair slicked back. We both looked amazing actually. "Come on let's go inside," I pulled her hand and we both walked with our heads held high into the house where soft music was playing from the speakers. "Sheesh, nice design,
SCARLETT'S POV.FIVE MONTHS LATER. This was the fifth time I'd checked my appearance out in the mirror and I was still nervous. God, why did the thought of him still make me so nervous? I finally made up my mind that I looked really good in the dress. It was a red dress that Abby had picked out for me two weeks after I'd been discharged from the hospital. It had been crazy expensive and I'd wanted to abandon it because I couldn't pay, but then Abby had offered to pay, saying that it was a gift to me, celebrating my release from the hospital and the fact that I could finally walk on my own two feet. I'd been discharged from the hospital way earlier than the doctor had expected. The doctor had told us that my case was very special and unusual, and he'd never seen anything quite like it before. He'd made sure that I'd spent another two weeks extra in the hospital just to make sure that there were no further complications. And finally after a whole month and a half of being in the hosp
LUCA'S POV.After Belle left I stayed for a while outside, watching the sky as it got darker and darker. I kept thinking about Isabella and dad, and everything that had happened, but this time I found that the more I thought about it, the more I started to see Belle's point clearly. That was the problem, I was holding onto the pain and bitterness for too long, I didn't even know how to stop doing it. I'd thought I was ready let it all go for Scarlett, but today had made me realise that there was still a part of me that wanted to be mad at her, at somebody for everything. It wasn't fair at all to Scarlett. She didn't deserve to get hate for something that she knew nothing about. After a little more time reflecting, I slapped my palms and decided that I had to go talk to her. About everything. Just let it all out. And see where we can go from there. I made my way back to the room where I saw Marilyn and Scarlett hugging from the glass doors. Abby just stood watching them with tears i
LUCA'S POV. On getting outside, I bumped into a nurse that was carrying a tray and we both let out string of curses. "Shit I'm sorry," I said, getting down to help her pick up her tray. "I'm so sorry."She picked up the last piece of equipment and looked up at me. "It's fine. Why are you in such a hurry anyways? Is the hospital on fire?"I turned down my lips. "No of course not.""Then why did you almost knock me all the way to hell?" She asked, smirking. "And why do you look like a wounded puppy?""I'm just in a really shitty mood, I don't even know how to feel," I said, wondering after I'd said it, why. Why did I just tell her that? The nurse balanced her tray and gave me a look of sympathy. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" I thought about it for a long while and decided, "no, not everything at least."The nurse smiled. She had such kind eyes and an equally kind smile, funny enough, she kind of reminded me of Isabella so much. They had so much similarities in their facial
LUCA'S POV. I wasn't sure if I'd heard properly. Had Marilyn just talked about Isabella? Isabella, my sister. How the heck did she get to know."How did you?" I started but then trailed off, stunned. "You know about Isabella?""Yes I do," Marilyn offered me a sad smile. "Wait... Isabella?"Scarlett questioned, she and her friend looking completely lost. "That's... What did he to her?"I couldn't respond. I couldn't say anything more actually. It was like my throat had gone completely tight and no sound could come out. What the heck was with that reaction?"What he did to all the other girls," Marilyn answered. "She used to work as an intern at the company, and your dad he... h-he was abusing her for the longest time.""Fuck," Scarlett gasped, voice shaking. "How? W-why was she? Oh my God... Dad is such an asshole."Abby looked horrified by the news too, she went over to offer Scarlett some comfort when she saw the was her friend was reacting. This was not good for Scarlett. She didn
LUCA'S POV. "Thanks so much for your time, officer," I reached out to shake hands with Raymond and he reciprocated. "It was my pleasure," he smiled. "I'm kinda pissed though, that that turned out so easy."I smirked at him, thinking the same. "Yeah, that was a waste of so much planning. I thought I was going to get my movie scene moment, but I guess not ..."Raymond chuckled. "Go back to your wife now. You don't want to miss anything, do you?""Yeah, sure I don't," I threw him a salute. "I'll see you when I see you then."I was about to leave but then he stopped me by saying,"Hey hold up."I turned around and rose an eyebrow. "What's up?"He gave me a weird look. "Aren't you a little bothered about what happened though, I mean you guys are related because of Scarlett.""What do you mean?""Ramson Damien?" He questioned. "You haven't heard yet? He's been arrested after several charges that have been pressed against him.""What?" I gasped. "How the fuck did I not hear of that yet?""
LUCA'S POV. "Why are you not scared?" Penelope asked, eyeing me from head to toe. I just shrugged. "You're not really very scary now that I know you're the one.""But you saw what I did to Scarlett," she sounded really pissed. "Wasn't that scary enough for you? I'm pointing a fucking gun to your head actually.""Yeah, I know," I stuffed my hands into my pocket and bounced on my toes. "I'm still not scared of you or that guy. Who is he anyways? Your lapdog?"The guy behind her growled at that and came towards me so fast to throw a punch. He landed the blow, but immediately he did, I got mad and decided that I could actually beat the shit out of him.He landed another blow to my cheek and then he tried again, but I dodged and realised that if I wanted to have the upper hand, I had to find a way to take him down. "You stop that now, tiger," Penelope warned, pointing the gun at the two of us, confused. I used the opportunity I got once the guy turned to look at her to my advantage. Ti