Matteo.Valentina's breath hitched, but the fire in her eyes had returned, burning brighter than before. "I'm not yours. I might be married to you, but that's in name only. You belong to Isabella, or have you forgotten?"Her voice was defiant, though it trembled slightly when she spoke."I haven't forgotten anything." I grazed my knuckles up her bare thigh, inch by inch until I got to the hem of her dress.Her body grew taut, the heat emanating from her a wild temptation that sank into me and made me want to kiss those puckered lips again. To crush her mouth with mine and ruin her perfect lipstick once and for all.To show everyone out there who she belonged to."If you want me to stop," I murmured, nudging her knees apart with my leg. "All you have to do is say the word."Valentina opened her mouth, a cuss at the tip of her tongue most likely, but she bit it back as I traced a lazy circle onto her skin with my thumb. Her cheeks blushed a deep crimson, the colour spreading down to her
Valentina."Another day to pretend I wasn't tired."I dreamt of Matteo for an entire week.I could never remember what happened in the dream, but I always woke up with the phantom touch of his hands between my eyes and a tight ball of need in my stomach.Didn't help that I felt Isabella’s disapproval alongside.Cold showers, as much as I hated them, helped once in a while. Matteo's absence in the estate was a blessing in disguise, though I hoped he wouldn't come home with a bruised face againA blessing in disguise because I wouldn't have to deal with his smug face whenever we had breakfast with memories of sex dreams running through my mind.His grip on my neck. His fingers filling me as I shamelessly rode his hand to orgasm. The desire in his eyes as he watched me break apart in his arms.It was so potent that the words he said before he walked away from me didn't even hold any real effect."Isabella would watch as I break you."It was all a game to him. Something to amuse him until
Valentina."Valentina!!"He had barely walked in through the front door before he was in my space, his hand brushing against my cheek like the last week hadn't happened.Like he hadn't disappeared after giving me my first orgasm.I flinched at the contact, my body tensing up instinctively, but Matteo didn't seem to notice.His touch, usually commanding and cold, was strangely gentle this time. His thumb lingered on my skin as if he wanted to trace the outline of my face."Where have you been?" I asked, my voice betraying none of the swirling confusion that his sudden return stirred in me.To hide the effect of the words his half brother had confided in me yesterday.I was getting better at hiding my emotions now.Matteo smiled, the kind of smile that made anyone who saw it forget he was the Don to the Nevarro mafia group. "Business. Nothing to worry your pretty head about."The kind of smile he had never given me before.His evasiveness was nothing new - he kept what happened to him t
*Valentina*"You’ll take Isabella’s place, Valentina. There’s no other choice."My mother's words echoed in my mind as I stood at the gates of the Nevarro Estate, the world as I knew it crumbling beneath my feet.Those iron gates loomed above me, cold and unyielding like the man who owned the. "Your sister is gone. Disappeared without a trace. The little wretch took all the money we had too."The estate was every bit as grand and imposing as I'd imagined, a testament to the wealth and power of the Nevarro family. But there was nothing coming about it.It was a fortress, and I was its latest prisoner."Marry Matteo Nevarro. Have his heirs, and nothing would ever happen to you again."I had never been here before, not even when my father had to come because of his little business with the former Don.Mom always kept me away, insisting that it was unnecessary to let him know he had two daughters.It had been Isabella who was promised to Matteo Nevarro, not me.Never me.But with Isabell
*Valentina*"Good morning, Mrs Nevarro." I screamed. As loud as I could and for all to hear. "Mrs Nevaro!!!!" The first rays of dawn seeped through the heavy curtains, casting a dull light across the room. And a lady was staring down at me. Where was I? "Mrs Nevarro!!!" She tried again, and then it all came back to me. Matteo Nevarro, the wedding, the wing. His love for my sister. It was like a never ending dream. My prison. I had barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Matteo's blue eyes staring at me with a cold and calculating gaze, the weight of his expectations pressing down on me. And now this lady. She was tall and elegant, dressed in a sleek blue dress, her hair pulled back into a neat bun. A tray filled with breakfast - fresh fruit, pancakes, and a cold cup of juice - was at my bedside table. "Good morning, Mrs Nevaro." She said, her voice polite but distant. "I'm glad you've stopped screaming. I'm Caterina, Mr Nevaro asked me to assist you with anythi
Matteo"She's beautiful."Black had always been my favourite colour. Hidden. Silent. Deadly.I felt at home with it, like siblings whose bonds grew stronger every day.Yet in the span of a second, Valentina had upended that as she had every other thing in my life.Heat poured down my body as Valentina mixed various colours in a flat disk, creating a mixture to paint across the canvas. She was colour and chaos, a whirlwind of unpredictable energy I should have stayed away from.I hated it.I hated how she made me question everything. How she made me wish I didn't give up on my search.And I hated how much I wanted her.She wasn't supposed to be mine. She wasn't supposed to be anyone’s.But fate had always been cruel.The art gallery in the estate was small, almost quaint, but it had become a place of refuge for her. A sanctuary where she could lose herself and hide from Caterina, I guessed.Isabella had been the brain behind the idea. She thought it would be nice for me to have a plac
*Valentina*"You have to learn the names of everyone that would attend. Who likes who, who hates who." The days blurred together in a haze of unfamiliar routines and uneasy silence. Caterina, true to Maverick words, was always nearby, guilding me through each task like with a strict efficiency even my mom never had. She left no room for conversation. "Isn't that too much? Who they liked or who they hated? How am I supposed to learn that?" I asked. She gave no reply. The next day, a large book on the history of the Nevarros was lying beside me, and I had to learn about each member of the family. By the time the evening of the first event I was supposed to attend with Matteo arrived, I was well grounded on everyone in the mafia world. I was also numb. It felt easier that way. Like I was an actress playing a role, that this wasn't my life. However, standing in front of the mirror in my room, dressed in an elegant black gown that hugged my body in all the right places, I unders
Valentina"You look beautiful." The red-haired woman in front of me gushed. "Ravishing, really." Luciana Blythe, a woman known more for her connections than her charm, smiled at me as though I was the most important person in the hall.The thirty years old seductress was the latest wife to the sixty years old Chris Blythe, a man infamous in certain circles. He never attended these kinds of events himself. Rather, he sent whoever was newly married to him to handle whatever unpleasantness waited for him.Sometimes, the wives were able to leave. Sometimes, they weren't.I forced a smile, matching her enthusiasm. "Thank you, ma'am." I added a small, practised giggle. "But you're too kind. You look like an angel yourself."If Caterina was here, she'd have given me a thumbs up for the performance.It didn't take her a minute to find someone more important than me in the grand scheme of things, and she shuttled away.I let out a sigh of relief. "And some say you wouldn't be able to do this