ROSALINE “Did you get the money?” Paul asked, the sound of the tattoo machine purring through the phone. “Yeah, I did. I cleared the fund,” I answered, walking back and forth in my room. “I had to make sure they don’t tell Dom.” Lowering my voice, I added, “Just a few more days.” “You want to wai
“Where’s Antoine?” I twisted my head at Mama while she stood quietly near the couch. “He had work and my visit was rather unplanned.” “Clearly. You could have just called and asked me to come by. I know how much you hate this house.” Her throat bobbed. “I do hate this place, but some conversation
“Yes, I love him, but that doesn’t give him a free pass. He cannot come back and leave whenever he wants. He left, and it's over between us. Besides, he needs to marry Fabiola anyway, and there is no way I’m falling into the cycle of regrets again. I refuse to live as the other woman or the woman wh
ROSALINE I shook my head at Dom. “I can explain.” His nostrils flared as he reached me. “Explain what?” he yelled, not caring about Mama’s presence in the room. I could not speak. Could not tell anything. “Just tell me it’s a fake article, Ros. Tell me these pictures are fake, looking into my eyes
“Why do you think I’m here? Why do you think I want to take you away?” “Why?” “Because I need you. I don’t think I can describe how much.” Desperation marred the vibrato of his words. “Just come to me, Rose. You can have everything you have ever dreamt of. A house near the beach where every day wo
LUCIANO Paulina led me into the parlour through the back door. I had heard about her from Rose a hundred times, but never had she mentioned that her best friend was the complete opposite of her, covered in tattoos and piercings. Her being a tattoo artist made sense, at least. I looked around the h
“Why?” “Maybe because I’m not the man who’d run after the sister of the woman I fancied,” I admitted, and she looked away. Vitale had an affair with both Belle and her elder sister, so I did not need to explain what I meant. A few hard knocks landed on the door, making us all stiffen. Paulina move
ROSALINE Adonis and his men stood before us, a few of them jamming the door of the tattoo parlour so that Paulina could not come out while Bella stood startled beside me. I could not focus on anything other than the anger in Adonis’s eyes and the glimpse of pain in Dom’s. Dom’s gaze fell on the ba