SCARLETT'S POV. After a small chat with Grace at the kitchen, I whipped myself some food and then went back upstairs to get ready before Luca got back. He had promised that the meeting was going to be brief, so I wondered why it was taking him so long to get back. When I was seated in the living room, watching a reality show, Luca stepped in, work bag in his hand and a scowl on his face. I shot up instantly and went to stand in front of him."Is everything all right?" I asked, glancing around his face to see if I could get a hint of anything, but I couldn't. "Are you okay?""I'm fine," he said, not looking at me. "So, I see you're ready to go. I'll just go up and get ready quickly, I'm sorry for the hold up, the meeting was more hectic than I expected.""Oh, uhh there's no problem, you can go," I gave him a small smile and he simply just walked out, heading up the stairs. I really wanted to know why he had been mad while coming in, but maybe as he said, it had been because of the h
SCARLETT'S POV."Scarlett dear ... Scarlett, sweetie?" I didn't realise I had zoned out completely until Dad's voice started ringing in my ears. What the hell was wrong with me?"Dad, oh my God. I've missed you so much," I snapped out of it and reached out to pull him into a hug. Dad chuckled as if relieved and said, "Scarlett my dear, I've missed you too. So much. How are you?""I'm fine Dad," I lied, knowing that I was far from that, but I didn't want him to get worried about me. "How have things been around here?"Dad took a glance at Luca before he focused on me again, "well, things haven't been the best but we've survived, haven't we?" I nodded and pulled away from him, going back to mum who was looking at the two of us with a strange look in her face. I knew that there was something up with her, and I had to find out before I got to any other thing. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you," Dad said, eyes bright and delighted. "I hope you've been eaten well and—""That's enough, Ramson
SCARLETT'S POV.The air in the room was tense as Luca and dad sat across each other, looking as if they were ready to go into fight mode if we didn't hold them back. "What is the problem with you, Ramson?" Mum asked, crossing her arms with disappointment evident on her face. "Why did you attack him like that? That was so unnecessary.""Very unnecessary, Dad," I concurred, trying to get Luca to look at me but he didn't, he just continued to frown at Dad. "The bastard deserved it," he defended, snarling. "How can he come to my house and insult me like that?""Yes he insulted you, but you shouldn't have gone all violent on him. That was wrong," Mum said, shaking her head. "He doesn't deserve anything but that," Dad yelled. "He took my daughter away from me just because I couldn't pay him back the money he so generously handed to me. Oh God. I should have suspected it back then when he'd been so eager to help me out.""Yeah, you should have," Luca smirked evilly. " It was dumb of you t
SCARLETT'S POV.My head was spinning and I felt like I could like any moment from now if I didn't get out of the house fast enough, away from those traitors, those literal monsters."Scarlett I beg you please just calm down," I heard mum's voice but I didn't even have the words to say to her. I was beyond disappointed, I was ashamed of her even. How could she know about something like that and be okay with it? I heard her continue to call out to me but I didn't want to face her yet. I needed more answers and explanations before I could burst out of the place. "So you really are a monster?" I went to face dad straight up, watching as he held his head down, grinding his teeth. How dare he grind how teeth? He had no right to be mad. I was the one who was lied to, I was the one who had been fooled her whole life by both her parents. "So you have never been a good man? So..." My voice broke as I processed everything. "So ... you did all that to those young girls? How could you be so cr
LUCA'S POV.Immediately Scarlett walked out of the house, I turned towards Ramson and made my way to stand in front of him. He was way shorter than me, so that helped in intimidating him like I wanted to. I scoffed when I caught the pissed off frown on his face, and the way he balled his fists as if trying to control his anger. What the heck did he have to be angry for? Scarlett was the only one who deserved to be mad here. She was the one who had been lied too and kept in the dark about everything. Heck, how didn't I see it so clearly sooner? The more I looked at the man and thought about everything that had happened here, the more I realized just how much I'd wronged Scarlett. God, I'd wronged her so bad. These people were horrible parents and she shouldn't have had to suffer because of them. I shouldn't have brought her into my revenge plan at all. I'd regretted my actions the more her mother continued to attack her for not supporting her scumbag husband, and I felt like the le
LUCA'S POV.I made up my mind. I was going to tell Scarlett everything about Isabella."Scarlett, there's something you need to know," I started carefully. Scarlett rose an eyebrow. "what is it? What else do I not know about?" Could I really tell her? "Scarlett... Your father—"The sound of commotion coming from the front door had me cutting off and frowning. "You can't go in, ma'am I'm sorry, please step back," I heard the familiar voice of one of my employees, and I scrunched my brows."Ma'am please step back, you can't..."I gave Scarlett a confused look which she mirrored before I went to see for myself what was happening. When I pulled the door open, a deep frown settled on my face as I took in the reason for the disturbance. "What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked, making sure my displeasure was evident in my tone. Penelope Cruz looked up at me with those crazy long lashes and I wondered how I'd been so crazy about that feature of hers in the past. How the hell had I
SCARLETT'S POV. After finding out that it had been Penelope Cruz Luca had been talking to at the door, I'd gotten mad and then rushed up to my bedroom to go vent out some of my anger and frustration. But then when I'd gotten there and taken a well needed deep breath, I'd felt myself calming down and had decided that thrashing things was not going to solve anything.Maybe I actually needed to see a psychologist. Smashing things and going all crazy whenever I was mad was not a good thing. And the fact that I'd tried to end my life that day still scared the shit out of me. I had flopped down on my bed and switched off my cellphone after seeing all the messages from a few school friends, asking how I was doing. I knew they were only trying to get more information on the hot topic of my dad and I really wasn't down for that shit. The news has started to spread even more widely now and I feared that my life was never going to remain the same again. I was going to be known as the sick ass
SCARLETT'S POV. "Okay, spaghetti is on the stove, do me a favour would you?" "Sure.""Get me some tomato sauce and a bottle of oil from the cabinet while I season the meat.""Okay," I went towards the cabinet and stretched out my hands to open it but of course, I was too short. Looking back and seeing that Luca was focused on seasoning and rolling the meatballs, I sighed and tried standing on my toes. When I saw that it was hopeless, I gave up and went to look for a stool that I was sure I'd seen in the kitchen once. When I saw it I quickly grabbed it and set it in front of the cabinet. "You're that short?" Luca looked away from his meatballs and smirked at me. "Have you seen how tall this is? Not everyone is a six foot god like you, mister." "Hmm, you see me as a god? That's nice," he smirked cockily and I rolled my eyes. "Whatever," I looked away and opened the cabinet, but after grabbing the oil I noticed that the tomato sauce was at the far back. I had to raise on my tiptoe
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