It’s the day of the big move. I call it ‘big move’ because this is the only time that I’ve ever left home. I didn’t go away to college, and I only ever spent a few nights away from home. Two weeks at most when I went on trips with Brett and Victoria.Luca comes to fetch me. There are two cars with him, one behind and another in front of his. The security guards start loading my things into the cars. Luca looks at my baggage and asks, “This is it?”I frown. “You don’t think that this is a lot?”“I was expecting a lot more,” he says, then smiles. I step into his embrace and he kisses the top of my head. “How are things?”“The same,” I sigh. “There’s no sign of her.”“Same with Miguel. I don’t know how you managed to come across him at the mall, if I’m being honest.”My parents leave the house and walk toward us. We stand waiting for them to reach us. Luca shakes my father’s hand, and then my mother steps toward him and kisses his cheeks. “Won’t you come inside for a coffee or maybe a
There’s nothing sweeter than waking up in your brand new home for the first time. I stretch my arms high above my head and yawn. I then sit in my bed and inhale the patchouli lingering in the air. It’s therapeutic. The spot beside me on the bed is empty. Luca told me last night that he’d have to leave extra early because of a meeting, so I’m only expecting him later. Meanwhile, I’m going to have to figure out what to do all day. I make the bed and then jump in the shower. I’m revitalized. I didn’t know that what I needed to feel better was a change of scenery until now. I spent a good while under the hot spray. The water helps me relax. It also helps me think. There isn’t much food in the house. That’s the one thing we don’t have enough of. Luca said I have to be careful, and that if I had to leave, I could ask Gregory to take me. He said it wasn’t supposed to be done all of the time but I think today I can make an exception. I’m excited and we need groceries. I could ask someone t
LucaAs soon as Priscilla leaves, I’m relieved. I sincerely don’t know how she found out I’m living here. My mother, of course. I’m going to have to have a serious conversation with her. She can’t keep doing this. I’m honestly sick and tired of where everything is going. I came here to lead a peaceful existence. It isn’t enough that Miguel and Mary are after us to kill us? I have to have Priscilla chasing me around and talking about second chances? When my men told me that she was downstairs, I didn’t want to do anything about it. I was waiting for Laura to arrive. I didn’t need this shit. My first instinct was to ignore her, but then I felt angry. Furious, actually. What the fuck was she doing here? I knew it was my mother, but I wanted to know why she had come looking for me. I wanted to warn her to leave and never turn back. Couldn’t she understand that I moved on? That I was happy with someone else? At first, I told them to tell her I wouldn’t have her. She should get in her ca
Luca Laura won’t talk to me. She’s been in the room for too long. She won’t even have lunch. I decided to not say anything else to her. I know she has to calm down. We can discuss things again when she’s calmer. I’m upset. I haven’t felt this way in a long time. Things were going well. Things were fucking great just this morning before I left for work. Waking up with her beside me was amazing. I pressed my nose against her neck as I took her from behind, and everything felt perfect. Her warmth. Her scent. Her moans. They were music to my ears. It felt right. At that moment, I saw myself doing that every single day until the day I died. I was looking forward for that to happen every day. To love her and be with her before I went to work. It gave me strength. It made me want to work harder and better. My day was going great before Priscilla decided to show up and ruin everything. I don’t eat the food the chef has prepared. I don’t have the stomach for it. I can’t eat while Laura is i
I wake up in the morning feeling nauseous, so much that I race to the bathroom. I empty my stomach completely. I heave until there's nothing left. I then sit next to the toilet pot and put my head in my hands. I feel sick. My stomach won't stop churning and I have this bitter taste in my mouth. It makes me want to throw up again, so I do. Nothing much comes out. I flush them splash cold water on my face. I take my time getting ready. I don't apply makeup today. I feel far too sick. I lay down on the bed and try to get some sleep because I got none last night. I was thinking about what happened with Mary, and then with Priscilla. Seeing her made my blood boil. I was so upset that I stopped thinking for a while. I got out of the car without waiting to be told to. I stared at the car she had just gotten into. I stared at it until it sped away, and I could've sworn that she was staring at me through the tinted windows. Probably smirking. I stomped upstairs. Gregory tried to stop me bu
Luca Laura's pregnant. I can't say that I wasn't hoping that wouldn't happen. I actually was. I've been meaning to be a father for some time now, and honestly, I couldn't be more excited. When she first told me, I sensed that she wasn't happy about it. There was something about her demeanor that suggested that she was upset. I catch her staring at the wall sometimes, or at the table. She gets distracted more easily. I'm sure she's thinking about the pregnancy. We haven't told anyone yet. I know what happens if I share this news with my family. I wouldn't mind taking the final step with her, but will she? I don't know. So much has happened recently. I want her to have time to process this. Most importantly, I want her to be happy. This is about her more than it is about me. I have a short meeting with my father later today regarding the shares those people want to buy. He needs to tell me if he agrees to their offer before we seal the deal. It's the perfect opportunity to break th
When Luca asked me whether I wanted to marry him anytime soon, I said yes. I would have waited longer if it were up to me. I really would have. I had no problem living the way we did. Alone. Free. Not caring about what anyone thinks. Not following traditions too much. It was the liberty I felt when I left my parents' house. But now that I was pregnant, that all changes. My father would want a date. And I'd have to give it to him. So I did. Things were happening quickly again. I was feeling quite overwhelmed with everything. My father was very happy when I told him I was pregnant. He was even happier when I told him I'd marry Luca in two weeks' time. He was strict about that even though he wasn't raised in our world. My mother was ecstatic as well. I never in a million years would have guessed that she would have reacted that way to the news. She even cried as she held me. I didn't know how to react so I simply watched her. The same happened with Constance, although with her my re
"How's my favorite preggie doing?" Brett asks as soon as I answer the phone. I can't help but smile as I pop a grape in my mouth. "I don't feel pregnant yet, you know? It's just normal. I won't even lie."He chuckles and says, "You're just a cold-hearted bitch. My mother said that she could feel me from the second she found out that she was pregnant.""You haven't considered the fact that maybe she lied?" Victoria asks. I can tell from the sound of her voice that she's looking for a fight with Brett. "My mother said she didn't feel me either.""Well, that's you," he says with a sigh. "I'm different, then. Maybe those babies are the most magnificent and remarkable ones."I frown. "You're saying my baby won't be remarkable?""How can you say that?""I'm not saying the baby won't be remarkable!" he exclaims. "I'm saying that I was! Jesus! Give it a rest, you two! Stop being so annoying! Just stop!"I giggle and Victoria does the same. She then says, "I can't believe that we didn't get t
LucaI'm the last to see Laura, mostly because I want us to be alone for a long time. There's a lot I have to say to her, and I suspect that there's a lot she wants to say to me. She recovered well, and the doctors expect that she'll recuperate fairly quickly. She's tough. She broke a few ribs during her fall and fractured her skull, but she'll be just fine. It could have been a lot worse. She could have died. She could have been paralyzed from the neck down. But she survived. When I saw the crime scene, I realized that a miracle must have happened, because there was no way she had made it out alive when Miguel and Mary had over twenty guns in the apartment with them. The bloody scene was also an indication that something terrible had happened. We didn't have the details, but the police connected the dots fairly quickly. Miguel and Mary were lovers. Judging by the evidence they found, he was involved in the shooting. I was disappointed. Beyond that. I had no words for what I felt. I
I crack my eyes open. The light ahead is too bright, so I close my eyes for a while longer before opening them again. My head spins. I'm awake yet tired. My closed eyes make me fall back asleep. When I awake, I'm in the same place, but my mind is so hazy that I'm having a hard time figuring out where I am. I look to my left. My head practically snaps in that direction. There is someone beside me. Someone in white clothes. I look at her face, and her eyes widen a little and she leaves the bedroom. I groan. I wanted to ask her where I was and who she was, but I couldn't open my lips. My tongue is too heavy in my mouth. When she returns, she isn't alone. There's a man in a white coat beside her. He says, "Laura. Laura. Can you hear me?"How does he know my name?I fall asleep to the sound of his voice. I sleep easily. I dream of nothing. I have no concrete thoughts. I wonder where I am and wonder when my head will stop being so fuzzy. When I reopen my eyes, I see something interesting
“Stop!” Mary shouts. We both turn to look at her. She takes a few steps and reaches Miguel’s side. She stretches her arm out. “Give it to me.”“Why?”“I should be the one to do it,” she says. “Just as you’re the one who’s going to kill Luca. That was the plan. That’s what we agreed on.”“We never agreed on anything like that,” he says with a frown. “It was my idea to lure her here and so I have to be the one to do it.”“Miguel,” she says through gritted teeth. “Give me the knife!”I can’t believe they’re fighting over who’s going to kill me. It’s truly unbelievable. I look back and forth between them helplessly. If I stand, he might stab me in the back to stop me from reaching the door and that’ll ruin all of my chances of escaping. I don’t want to die here. I can’t die here. I’m suddenly so desperate to leave here and live. I want to see Luca again. I want to see my father again. Constance. My friends. I can’t die here at the hands of these deranged people. I can’t be another victim
It took everything within me to come here. I park outside the apartment building. I stare at the third floor. The windows are all closed. It's hard to imagine her in there, in my apartment. Polluting my sacred space with her negative energy and bad intentions. I climb out of the car. I don't allow myself to think. She wants this to end, we can end it now. I've hidden behind people for far too long now, and look what has happened. I can't let anyone else die because she's targeting me. That's cruel. I'm just as bad as her if I let such a thing happen. I didn't tell Luca. I didn't tell anyone I was coming here. I'm unarmed. I didn't call for help. There is no plan. There is just me. Me and her. As it's supposed to be. I close the door and take a deep breath before entering the building. The sun is starting to set and the sky looks beautiful; too beautiful for such a thing to be happening. The oranges and the purples are magnificent. I'll never forget the way the sky looked when I con
Yesterday feels like a terrible nightmare. Twenty-four hours has passed since those men stormed into the hotel and shot seven people. Seven people lost their lives, Luca's father and my mother were amongst the dead. I can't believe it. I repeat the facts to myself over and over again and still can't believe that such a tragedy has happened. It can't be possible that my mother is dead. That Luca's father is dead. And all because of some silly revenge that doesn't matter. All because I fell in love with Luca.I'm devastated. I don't think I'll recover from this anytime soon. I'm crippled by pain. And the worst part of all of this is Luca's pain and how raw it is. Marc didn't deserve to die at the hands of those traitorous shooters. I call them traitorous because they were invited to the party under some head of some family I don't even remember. It doesn't matter. What's done is done. We've lost two members of our family. My father is inconsolable. Sarah is inconsolable. Luca is abso
The wedding ceremony was absolutely beautiful. It was only Luca's family, mine, and Brett and Victoria. We didn't need a lot of people there. I've learned during all of this that Luca doesn't necessarily have a lot of friends. He has people he is very well acquainted with, but no close friends. He doesn't let anyone get close enough to him, because there's a side to him that he only shows the people he loves and he needs to keep it protected. It's too tender to be exposed to the world. I consider myself to privileged to be loved by him. He takes care of the people he loves. He knows how to love. I said yes with tears in my eyes. I didn't think I'd cry, but I did. Everything feel so official now. We're finally married. I'm his wife, not his fiancée. It's strange to think that I became his wife without having been his girlfriend first. It's just one of the many thoughts I had when he slipped the wedding band on my finger. We kissed and he held me for the longest time. I was hesitant
Luca Our wedding is tomorrow, and I'm not sure what to feel about that. It’s not that I’ve suddenly become indecisive. I know I want to marry her. I’m sure of my love for her. I’m not happy that we’re marrying this quickly but I also understand why it has to be done. My father was right; anything could happen to me at any point. If that’s the case, Laura is entitled to everything I have. It’s safer this way. But despite this, should we have given it more time? Would it have been best if we waited for things to blow over? That way, we could I have done things more calmly and wouldn’t have to rush like this. I don’t know anymore. I turn to look at Laura. Her back is facing me and she looks like she’s been asleep for some time now. I notice that she doesn’t really sleep at night. She spends a lot of nights awake; like me. So whenever she sleep, I feel easy enough to sleep as well. But tonight is different. I don’t want to sleep. If I do, I’ll wake up and it’ll be tomorrow. The weddi
"How's my favorite preggie doing?" Brett asks as soon as I answer the phone. I can't help but smile as I pop a grape in my mouth. "I don't feel pregnant yet, you know? It's just normal. I won't even lie."He chuckles and says, "You're just a cold-hearted bitch. My mother said that she could feel me from the second she found out that she was pregnant.""You haven't considered the fact that maybe she lied?" Victoria asks. I can tell from the sound of her voice that she's looking for a fight with Brett. "My mother said she didn't feel me either.""Well, that's you," he says with a sigh. "I'm different, then. Maybe those babies are the most magnificent and remarkable ones."I frown. "You're saying my baby won't be remarkable?""How can you say that?""I'm not saying the baby won't be remarkable!" he exclaims. "I'm saying that I was! Jesus! Give it a rest, you two! Stop being so annoying! Just stop!"I giggle and Victoria does the same. She then says, "I can't believe that we didn't get t
When Luca asked me whether I wanted to marry him anytime soon, I said yes. I would have waited longer if it were up to me. I really would have. I had no problem living the way we did. Alone. Free. Not caring about what anyone thinks. Not following traditions too much. It was the liberty I felt when I left my parents' house. But now that I was pregnant, that all changes. My father would want a date. And I'd have to give it to him. So I did. Things were happening quickly again. I was feeling quite overwhelmed with everything. My father was very happy when I told him I was pregnant. He was even happier when I told him I'd marry Luca in two weeks' time. He was strict about that even though he wasn't raised in our world. My mother was ecstatic as well. I never in a million years would have guessed that she would have reacted that way to the news. She even cried as she held me. I didn't know how to react so I simply watched her. The same happened with Constance, although with her my re