ANTONIO “Erica!!” I dropped down on my knees, every cell in my body screaming at the scene in front of me. It was like someone pulled out a worst nightmare and made it a reality. “No. What did you do!!??” Fear escalated inside me, poisoning my heart as I took her in. My heart cried. My little devil. This couldn’t be happening. I have already lost enough, suffered enough, but this would end me. Her face was ashen, her lips blue and there was a thin line of white foam dripping down her chin from the corner of her mouth. It was a nightmare that never even imagined will come into existence as I realised that her chest wasn’t moving.“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Ephraim cursed as he came up behind me. With sheer determination I pushed terror away and took a shuddering breath, trying not to fûcking lose it. Because she needed me right now. I turned to Ephraim, noticing Gianna and Mario entering the bedroom behind him. I said, “Take them downstairs. Call the chopper. Now!”I didn’t wait as I focus
EPHRAIM If I had even a miniscule of a doubt about what they meant to each other, it vanished as I watched Antonio fussing over sleeping Erica. We were in a hospital since last seven hours. The dawn was about to break over the horizon but Antonio was still aggravated even after the doctors told him that she was out of danger and all her vitals were good. When we had reached the hospital, the female doctor hadn’t paid heed to Antonio as she had checked Erica like any other patient and told the nurses to wheel her into a public emergency room. I knew how close Antonio was to strangling the doctor in front of everyone so I had managed to stall him long enough to have Doctor Mackles— which was on a retainer for us, and was available whenever for whatever we needed from him, arrive at the premises. Doctor Mackles treated Erica, aware of Antonio’s reputation and how much the situation was affecting him— the way he vibrated with tense energy, he had taken his time and put her on ventilat
ANTONIO I don't want to lose her. Ephraim’s words were rattling around my mind and all I could think was that I don’t want to lose her. Even the thought made bitterness and a hollow feeling fill me up like one by one my organs would shut down if it became a possibility. And yet I still couldn’t come up with a solution. I knew Ephraim was right and I knew I made a mistake by sending these pictures and keeping her in the dark when I was moving forward with my plans. But the question remains, haunting me and poisoning my heart with guilt, how could I possibly let go of something that had driven me all these years. Let the killer of my sister live happily while she died so young? It would be equal to not only betraying her memory but the brother I was to her. And even if I managed to put my hatred of Gabriel Wolfe aside, if I laid my revenge to rest, will it solve our problems? Will Erica stop hating me for the pictures I shared with Gabriel? Will she forgive me for the betrayal? Wi
ERICA“Don’t touch me.” My voice was hoarse from the long hours I had been unconscious or asleep, but it was filled with enough steel that he paused. The nervous, unrelenting energy thrummed in my veins as I pushed away from him. There was this urgency to get away from him like if I stayed any longer with him, I’ll suffocate. He tried to touch me again like it was just an involuntary action and he couldn’t stop, but when I shot a disgusted glare at his hand he dropped it and said, “Okay. I am not touching you, but please, relax.” His voice was soothing, calm but it grated on my nerves which already felt frazzled with everything coming back to me in a rush, memories slamming back into me with a force of a bullet train. Heeld his hands back, a picture of surrender as he said, “Don’t...” He stopped when I didn't listen to him as I turned my back to him to slip out of the bed. There was this nameless force pushing me to get away from him, the betrayal that made my heart weep in agony w
ANTONIOErica refused to talk to me. After her outburst in the hospital, I had managed to control her and received many little scratches from her blunt nails. Her words still echoed in my brain and made my blood run cold. “I should've died. Why did you save me?” She had fought me and cried all the time until the doctor had come and given her medicine to calm her down.“It’s not something out of ordinary. Panic attacks are a norm after overdosing. Patients feel a little overwhelming with the effects of drugs still in their system and especially with someone who took them with the intention of commi—” At my hard glare the doctor had stopped and told me to keep an eye on her and to give her as much fluids as we can. And suggested that we should also consider a psychiatrist for her. She wasn’t fucking crazy, my little devil. Ephraim had saved the doctor’s face from being rearranged when he had pulled him out of the hospital room. But right now, I couldn't help but feel all the more guil
ANTONIOAfter some time when I went back to the bedroom, Mario wasn’t there and Erica wasn’t on the bed where I had left her. For a moment when I didn’t see her a frisson of worry took hold of me and it only settled when my gaze fell on Thor. He hadn’t left her side since I brought her back. I was starting to think he was as obsessed with her as much as I was. I walked to the bathroom, Thor growled at me but after a few minutes of standoff he gave me enough space to pass by. When I pushed the bathroom door open, and if she hadn’t wanted me to intrude on her she should’ve locked the fucking door, I found her sitting naked on the tiled floor in the shower cabin. With a curse, I walked inside and turned the shower off which was ice fucking cold like I had guessed it'd be. “Do you really want to fucking die?” I gritted out but she didn’t answer me, she sat there looking pale, with her knees to her chest and shivering like a lone leaf in a storm. I
ERICAAntonio was reaching his breaking point. I could feel it in the way his golden eyes glinted when I ignored him. I felt his rage peeking through the gentleness when he had asked me this morning if I was going to keep ignoring him. I could feel the thread of his patience stretched taut with tension, on the verge of breaking apart. And despite all of that, despite knowing that he will lose his control if I didn’t give something to him, I couldn’t come to terms with the loss my heart has already accepted and the pain that was so overwhelming that if I started speaking, I’d only scream and cry.Not only his turbulent emotions, I could feel my own walls trembling with the force of my decision, the steps that I’d have to take. I tried to keep my feelings, my anger that came from my heartache under lock and key but that lock was slowly weakening with the pressure and the time that passed with each second and minute and hour pulling me closer to the end which was clearly in sight. Some
ERICA“Sit down.”His order grated on my nerves but against every war going inside my mind, I sat down and watched as he paced the carpeted floor in front of me. It was after a few minutes that he focused back on me as if he needed time to gather himself. “Why? Why did you...” He broke off, seemingly out of words or maybe he didn't want to say those words, as he raked his fingers through his hair roughly. He asked, “Tell me, what happened?”I loosened my jaw and ignored the hollow feeling that gripped me at the reminder of how cruelly he had betrayed me as I said, “I found what you’ve been hiding from me.” I tried to keep my voice down but with each word my calm evaporated leaving nothing but betrayal and the rage that came from the hurt. “Your ultimatum to Gabriel. The pictures you sent him. The way you used me. All the lies you fed me which like a stupid fucking moron I believed you!”“Erica.”“No!” I stood up, unable to sit down with all the repressed rage coursing through me. “You
ANTONIO“Fuck me, husband. Make me scream.”My balls drew up tight at her words, the sparkle in her brown eyes were my undoing and I slammed into her in one hard thrust. Fuck. More than twelve years of having this woman, of having her tight pussy wrapped around my cock and it still somehow feels like the first time. If I could, I’d turn into three of me and fuck her mouth, arse and pussy at the same time, claim every inch of her, every part of her like I wanted to. My hunger for this woman hasn’t abated in all these years and I doubted it’d ever until the day I died. “Oh, god, Antonio...”I grabbed her face, my fingers digging into her cheeks not so gently. “Yeah, baby, tell me.”“Don’t stop. Please.” Hearing her someone might think that she didn’t get proper and regular fucking, but they’d be fool to think that. The truth was my little devil was just hungry for my cock, was still covered in last night bruises and still was begging for more like the dirty little slut that she was fo
EPILOGUE IITwelve years later...ERICA“Mamma, perché siamo qui? Voglio tornare a casa e invitare i miei amici." My daughter asked, her golden brown eyes like her father’s stared up at me in exasperation. It was the third time she had expressed her displeasure to be here at the charity event Gianna has hosted at my behest because I wanted to do something good for their father’s birthday which was tomorrow. But knowing Antonio wouldn’t want anything to happen on the actual day of his birthday as he likes to spend it with us instead of celebrating it, we had made all the arrangements for a day before. (Mom, why are we here? I want to go back to the house and invite my friends over.)“I don’t understand why you want to be with your friends they are all stupid.” Unlike my daughter who had inherited all the explosive characteristics of her father along with his eyes, my son got all the indifferent genes from his father which make him look like an unfeeling brute most of the time but there
Epilogue ITwenty eight weeks later...ANTONIO“So, I thought you wouldn't come again?” Mrs Khan asked.We were sitting in her office. My wife was sitting opposite her own therapist a few doors down, as I sat here after two weeks ago when I had declared I won’t come again. But the problem with anxiety was it never fucking disappears and as the time for Erica’s delivery drew closer, my anxiety only grew bigger. For some reason I feel like I won't be enough for them. That there were hundred different things that could go wrong and my family would've to suffer, it keeps me up at night and makes it hard to get through a day.I rubbed a palm down on my face and I leaned forward to pick up the glass of water. Any other time I might’ve not drunk it but therapy had helped enough to not make me paranoid all the time. After taking a sip, I put the glass down and met her eyes as I said, “I thought that too. But,” Fuck. It was still fucking hard to express myself, to put my fears into words. “But
ERICASome people say the happiest moments come after you’ve lived the saddest ones. And for sure I have had my fair share of sad moments in my life so I guess my husband here was a god’s gift for all those tears and heartache I suffered. And if someone asked me now if I was given a choice to suffer through the same things, same monsters, if it meant getting him at the end of that dark tunnel then I wasn’t sure if my answer would be a no. As we pulled apart from a long hard kiss that wasn’t appropriate for a wedding, I heard our family and friends cheer around us and then a moment later I felt something soft touching my cheek. I looked up and a delighted laugh left me when I saw twp choppers circling over our heads and rose petals being thrown over us. A literal shower of roses. “Antonio!!” I exclaimed, my happiness unbound, and then I ended up squealing as Antonio lifted me up in his arms and took me to the little raised stage set up for dancing. As I danced in my husband’s arms, e
ANTONIO“What’s taking them so fucking long?” I muttered, tugging on my cuffs to straighten them for the sixth time. For the second time when I had woken up in the early hours of the morning, my little devil wasn’t in the bed where she had fallen in a exhausted sleep after I had carried her from the tower. But unlike before this time it was Mario and Summer who decided that it was a great fucking idea to keep Erica away from me until I see her walk down the aisle. It had been only a few hours but I already felt impatient and on the edge. I wanted her glued to my side for every breath I take. It was fûcking impossible to put into words how much I was obsessed with her, how much I loved her. But I swore to myself that I’ll try to convey that to her for the rest of my life. “Are you nervous, Antonio?” Ephraim asked from my side. I refrained from looking at him, unless I’d end up punching him in the face for what happened last night even though he didn’t do anything that I didn’t ask o
(Skip this chapter if you have problem with exhibition and voyeurism and other related elements).ERICA“Here.” As soon as the word left me, Antonio stepped back from me, leaving me feeling cold and adrift. I turned to him, panicked that I made a mistake but found him lowering himself in a loveseat. He crooked his finger and demanded, “Come here.”A calm washed over me when I saw the dark look of arousal in his eyes. When I took a step closer to him, he leaned back in his seat and pointed to his lap as he ordered, “Bend over my lap, baby, present me that arse.”My lower belly clenched at his words and a heated desire coursed through my veins. My eyes went to Z who was still staring at Kat but when I looked at her I found her gaze fixed on me. She arched her brows, silently telling me to go on. I smiled at her, feeling my blood heat at her attention as my heart started to beat in excitement. That smile turned to a hungry look when I faced my dark villain who grew impatient and grabb
ERICA“My handsome Duke!!” Ami stood up, waving on her two feet that were encased in heels and stumbled her way to Raphael, who looked only a little bit amused but his blue eyes darkened as they raked down his wife. She was wearing a red sequin dress that ended just below her arse and by the look on Raphael’s face, I’d say Ami will finally get what she was wishing for. “See, what I did? Are you going to punish me for it!” She asked, blinking her eyes at him as she stumbled and he caught her in his arms.Kat snickered behind me and I couldn't help as my own lips pulled up in a smile. Raphael picked her up in his arms and announced for our benefit or maybe to the men standing on either side of him. “I’ll leave you to deal with your wives, mine needs a strong hand.” We could hear Ami squeal in excitement as they disappeared from the view.“Gianna, go to your room. And for fuck’s sake get rid of that dress.” I shivered at his deep voice, my eyes barely fluttering to Gianna to take in the
ERICA“OH MY GOD! I think I am drunk!!” Ami squealed as the half naked man with a cat mask twirled her around and then took Gianna in his arms who was also half drunk.We were in one of the back towers that I was admiring earlier in the day and Kat had managed to invite the party we were supposed to have here in the castle right under the watchful gazes of our husbands and their men. She was a tricky one. I didn’t know how she managed it but it was awesome and I wasn’t complaining.There were four women out of which two were filling our drinks— unfortunately, non-alcoholic for me, and giving us snacks to munch on while the two men were entertaining us with half their bodies bare and muscles painted what seemed like glitter that shined in the lights. The music was loud but we had checked and the noise couldn’t be heard to the main part of the castle. It was really the bachelorette I didn't think I’ll be having after Antonio fucked me so har
ANTONIOI don’t know what woke me up but when my eyes opened, I instantly became aware of the fact that my little devil wasn’t by my side and that I wasn’t alone in the room. There was a heavy presence in the room that couldn’t be ignored. I slipped my hand beneath my pillow and pulled out my gun as surreptitiously as I could.I wasn’t afraid for myself but my mind was on Erica, she was sleeping in my arms and now she was nowhere in the room, I didn’t even have to check the bathroom to know she wasn’t there. Her absence was like an open chasm in my chest every time she was away from me. After dinner where we were joined by her sister and Gabriel, we had come to sleep in the bedroom but not before I had exhausted her by fûcking her in the mirror room where she had screamed her pleasure that I was sure everyone in the castle heard. Erica was really a voyeur, she came so many times by just looking at our reflection as I fucked her hard, warning her to not go anywhere her friends and sis