SCARLETT'S POV."First thing I want to say is that you'll be sleeping on the floor."Just like that Luca had ruined my mood. Just like that I'd started to question if I was even going to be able to go halfway with the plan without killing him or worse myself out of frustration. "Sleep on the floor?" I questioned, my voice going high pitched. "Why would I have to sleep on the floor?"Luca remained cool and calm. "Obviously you can see that there's just one bed. And I'm not about to have that movie type of shitty argument about who gets to sleep there or not, so I'm making it easier for both of us."I gaped at him like a freaking fish, not knowing what to say, because what the hell? The guy couldn't be more of an asshole if he tried.I couldn't hold back my feelings. "Most guys would offer to sleep on the floor you know? In fact no guy would ever want the girl to sleep on the floor."His eyes narrowed at me in frustration, but he still looked relaxed. He looked like he really had no ti
SCARLETT'S POV.Last night had gone pretty well. Better than I expected even, despite me sleeping on the floor. After the talk we'd had concerning rules, Luca had gone out after getting a call from Mr Richardson, and from the bits of the conversation I'd gotten, I could tell that it was concerning setting up for the conference and some other business they had. So after Luca had gone, I'd gotten the hotel room to myself and put it to good use. By good use I mean, calling up Abby to give her a full detailed explanation of everything that had transpired between Luca and I. And then I'd gone back to rewatch some of the seduction videos I'd watched before just to brush up my skills. I'd been on that till Luca had come back and then we took our respectful positions in the room.Sleeping on the floor wasn't even as bad as I'd thought it was going to be. Once I'd gotten enough blankets and pillows which the room had thankfully, I'd been able to get comfortable. And I couldn't even lie, that
SCARLETT'S POV. The next morning I made sure to get out of bed before Luca so as to avoid a repeat of the embarassing morning incident between us yesterday. But that had not gone really well because just when I'd been in the process of detangling my hair in front of the mirror, Luca had walked in and then mindlessly just started peeing in the toilet."Arrrrrrrgh, get that thing away from here," I squealed actually feeling threatened with the large amount of pee just was being showcased in from of me. Don't worry, my eyes didn't even dare to go to the source where it was coming from. I promise. "What the fuck?" Luca cursed, now fully waking up and seeing me standing at the corner of the bathroom, trying to disappear inside the wall. "What the hell," he gaped. "I thought I saw you on the floor or something.""Well obviously I wasn't there, you saw wrongly," I shrieked. "Now get that thing away from me," I swatted my hand in front of me, refusing to look."Shit," I heard Luca mumble
SCARLETT'S POV. When we were all settled in the hall and Luca and I had found a booth at the centre of the room to sit, the chatter in the room died down slowly and the stage in front of us came to life. The words, "welcome to the first edition of the couples tech conference 2023," lighted up the screen and applause and excitement erupted from behind us, making me to go along with them."You can stop clapping now," Luca leaned down and whispered into my ear when it turned out that I was the only one left in the room who was still clapping.Shit, I hated when that happened. I shot him a sheepish smile before bowing my head in embarassment as a man dressed in a smart coffee brown suit mounted the stage. The man shot everyone a bright tooth grin before he typed on a tablet in his hands which projected a bright image of a collage of couples smiling in a photo."Welcome everyone to the first edition of this beautiful programme," he said into the microphone. "We're so excited to finally
SCARLETT'S POV. There was a moment of silence as Mr Richardson stepped onto the stage again. Immediately the huge screens behind him lit up and the lights somehow dimmed to a neon green. I sat with anticipation swimming in my chest, occasionally glancing towards Luca to see how he was feeling, but of course I got nothing. The man was as blank as a board.When he'd finally let me get to know what he had been doing on the computer, and I'd gotten at least a little bit of it, then I would say I'd become useful. By useful I meant, emotional support. I'd been cheering him on and motivating him as he typed on the keyboard like a maniac and did things I didn't even know were possible in that amount of time. And in the end, I'd say he'd finished up pretty good, fantastic in fact. The game he'd made was working pretty fine and compared to how boring and grumpy Luca was, the game was pretty lively and fun. I was proud of him. Yes, I'd just admitted that. It wasn't everyday that I got to see
LUCA'S POV.I was being a fucking idiot. A big fucking idiot. Scarlett Damien had been messing with my mind for days now, making me burn with want for her while she innocently acted like she had no idea what she was doing to me. Where the hell was all this coming from? I had no freaking idea. For some reason my fucked up mind had decided to forget that she was literally the daughter of my enemy and I had no reason in this world to be attracted to her. I hated myself. I'd hated myself for a long time now, but Scarlett had only started to make me hate myself even more. What were Mum and Dad going to think about me if they could see me right now? What was Isabella going to think?That I was fantasising about the daughter of the man who ruined her life. Oh God, I was such a fool.And that was why I had to stop myself. Especially since the short conversation we'd had about law had reminded me so much about Isabella. The exact words she'd said had been so familiar and painful because I
SCARLETT'S POV. I woke up the next morning with an aching back and freezing limbs. I know I'd said sleeping on the floor wasn't that bad earlier, but I was starting to really change my mind. It sucked to sleep on the floor especially when I could look up and see Luca's annoyingly calm and peaceful face as he slept in the king sized bed. When I got up, I looked to the bed and Luca wasn't there, so I decided to take a seat and wait for him incase he was in the bathroom. I didn't want a repeat of the horrible day he'd walked in to pee while I'd been brushing my hair. And I can assure you I wasn't looking at him while he did it. I could never.When I sat for a while and started to get tired when he wasn't coming, I realised that I hadn't even been hearing any sounds coming from the bathroom, so I got up and got to the bathroom door. I placed my ear to the door to detect any sounds but got none, then I did the smart thing and knocked, but still no answer.I then realised that Luca wasn't
LUCA'S POV.I was going to go crazy with want for Scarlett, I was certain of it. Even after the mindless hook up I'd had with that random woman, all I'd been able to think about was her and her scent, her dark long hair, her green eyes that held so many secrets I suddenly wanted to know, everything about her was driving me care at this point. When I'd gotten back to the hotel room after the encounter with Penelope Cruz, I'd been so pissed with myself as her, that I hadn't even given her a second glance or a word before I just went straight to bed. It was when I woke up the next morning and caught sight of her holding onto the blankets as she lay with her neck craned weirdly on the floor, that the guilt started to eat so deep into me that I felt disgusted and frustrated with myself.I couldn't mistake what I was feeling at that point for anything else, I'd been feeling guilty. Extremely guilty. Something I had eliminated from my life a long time ago since what had happened with my da
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