SCARLETT'S POV. My legs were shaking as I made my way towards the Jeep that was waiting for me at the usual spot, all the while knowing that Abby was looking at me with worry in her eyes, but I didn't turn back to look at her, I just kept going, walking with my head a jumbled mess.I couldn't even tell what I was feeling. Everything was all over the place. All my thoughts were making my heart ache, and I actually felt like I was going to choke, or explode or just straight up puke all over the floor, creating a show for everyone to see. To say I was shattered after what I'd heard was an understatement. I was completely broken, so deeply hurt that I wondered how I was ever going to deal with the information I'd just absorbed. How was I going to get used to it?"Scarlett?" Abby called, voice holding so much concern and fright over my horrible state. I didn't want to turn back because a part of me was angry at her for ruining my day, for ruining the fantasy I'd created in my head about
LUCA'S POV. I couldn't believe it, I'd been right about that asshole, Kevin all along. I'd just always had the feeling that he was up to no good, and even though Raph had said that he wasn't quite sure if he was one of the guys who had been sitting in their apartment back, I just knew that it was him. It had to be him. I never liked the guy. And now I felt bad for Scarlett. She literally almost killed herself because of the guy. Heck, she loved him so much, even I who knew nothing about love could tell. I wondered how she was going to feel when she got to know about his true colours. I was going to make sure that I got to the bottom of everything with that guy. If he and his roommates were tying young girls up and gagging them then that meant he had to be punished by the law. I had developed a soft spot for girls in those kind of situations ever since what had happened to Isabella. I could understand how it felt to know that a man was ruining your sister, and I didn't want anyone
LUCA'S POV. My heart was racing at an alarming speed, and the collar of my shirt was sticking to my neck and back because of the heat I was feeling. God. I had to calm myself down. I wanted to calm down, but I just couldn't, Scarlett was shaking in my arms and before we'd broken in, she had been about to swallow so many fucking pills. Shit. I felt a rush of all the feelings from the day I'd heard about Isabella's death, and my heart pounded faster.What if we hadn't broken down that door fast enough? Would Scarlett have really ended her life just like Isabella? What could have driven her to having such thoughts in the first places?Was I seriously asking that question? Of course she had been frustrated! Everything I'd put her through was bad enough to make her contemplate ending her life. Oh Hell. I felt like such an asshole. Could I have possibly been the reason why she wanted to end her life? Gosh, I hoped not. "I think we might need to take her to the hospital... Umm... maybe ...
SCARLETT'S POV.I had no idea when I'd fallen asleep but I woke up with a pounding headache and a dry mouth. I winced when I turned my head towards the couch where Luca was sitting, and felt a sharp pain in my neck. Shit. I was messed up. And it was all because of Kevin. After what I'd heard yesterday, I couldn't quite explain what had come over me. But I knew that immediately I'd gotten into my room and shut the door, all I'd wanted to do was just break things, vent my anger somehow. A fraudster? Kevin was a damn fraudster! My chest had hurt as I thought about the fact that he probably had started dating me for the same reason as he did with Abby's friend's sister. But I wondered though, why was he still putting up the act even after knowing that my father's company had gone bankrupt? From what Dad had said before we separated, he was completely broke and owing so many people including Luca, and I wasn't the kind of child who frequently requested money from my father, so frankly,
LUCA'S POV. The relief I had felt seeing Scarlett talk and alive was unexplainable. I'd just woken up from a horrible dream where everything that had happened yesterday had played out, but with a different ending. In that dream, I didn't save her fast enough from taking those pills and she ended up dead in my arms while I sulked in regret. I knew the dream was stemming from the fact that, that was something that had happened with Isabella. I'd been late to save her and had ended up sulking for the rest of my life. That was why immediately she had taken those gulps of water, I'd pulled her in for a hug, unable to stop myself any longer. For some reason my mind was convincing me that she was Isabella, and I'd saved her. It was messed up, but to be honest, hugging her made me feel so much better about what I'd done. I felt like with her, I'd corrected something at least. I'd done what I was supposed to do before it was too late. I just closed my eyes and imagined her to be my sister
SCARLETT'S POV. FIVE DAYS LATER. I groaned as the morning sunlight pierced through the curtains, searing into my throbbing head like a merciless dagger. Oh God, I'd cried all night again and now the effects were showing up with no mercy. Placing a hand to my temple, I blinked away the remnants of sleep and tried to recall what had transpired last night. Memories floated around my head, dancing just out of reach. All I could remember was taking a few glasses of whiskey and that was it. But with the pounding headache and hangover feeling I was having, I realised that it must've been much more than that. With a sigh, I shifted amidst the tangle of sheets and propped myself up on the edge of the bed. As I gingerly stood, vertigo threatened to pull me back into the comfort of sleep, but I forced myself to steady my steps. The least I could do was to face the consequences head-on, as tumultuous as they might be. It was my fault for drinking when I knew fully well how bad the morning aft
LUCA'S POV. The meeting that was supposed to be brief had quickly turned into a full on two hour long debate between me and the other shareholders. They'd all had one idea or the other about how they wanted the company to operate going forward, and even though I disagreed with all their opinions and felt like they were being shallow minded, I still had to indulge them and try to make them understand my reasoning. Finally the meeting concluded with the disagreement still between me and the shareholders and I felt frustrated as I organised the mountain of files on my desk, wondering when I was finally going to go through them like I'd promised Maya. And when I looked at the open drawers and the crumpled pieces of paper all centimetres away from the trash can, I realised that my office was a mess. It was so unusual for it to be that way, and I questioned myself. Was I losing it? Was I allowing thoughts of Scarlett and her father to consume me that I no longer cared to take care of my
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.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