LORENZO POV
Arriving at the castle, it took me a heartbeat to climb the stairs to the west wing. I was a heaving mess with my eyes wide open, and my nose flaring as I tried to breathe all the air I could possibly master.The thought of what might have happened when the mines went off ripped all the air out of my lungs. No amount of oxygen could make up for the burn inside of me,I was fuming. But to top it all, I was weak in the knees. The fear was heady on my mind and senses.Upon arriving in the west wing, I kicked Ari's bedroom door open to find it empty."They are in the medicine room, boss," Raquel informed as she emerged from the closet holding pieces of Ari's clothes.I gave her a simple nod and took off again. It didn't take me an age to arrive in the medicine room which was on the other side of the castle, 3 floors down.I had had all the energy when I was coming, but standing in front of the closed door of the medicine room, I felt powerless. Feeble. ITake a second and be in Ari's shoes. Your head is still boiling after surviving the explosion of the mines. The two people around you start fighting because one blames the other for the explosions, while it was entirely your fault. You try to get them to make up and they literally tell you that you're dreaming. Gosh! I'd cry so much! Well, I hope you enjoy this one. Big love for all of you. RARE
LEIGH-ARIIt has been TWO-FULL dang days and the boys haven't said a single word to each other. I was honestly out of words or even means to try to get them to make up. I have tried. Trust me I have. But they were way too stubborn to even listen to me.They even stopped coming to bed at night. They slept in their separate rooms to avoid bumping into one another. They were that pigheaded.The first morning after the incident, at the breakfast table, the atmosphere had been so tense that all you could hear was the sound of knives and forks clanging against the plates, the rapid chewing, and the swallowing. I swear you could have taken an ax, then plucked it out. Even a steak knife wouldn't cut through it. No one said any word, and heck, I was so out of it.Dealing with the Cattanio twins reduced my life span by a hundred years. I swear if God meant for me to live 130 years, then I was going to die at 30, young and ugly.A sudden thought suddenly crossed my min
UNKNOWN POVWith every passing second, my loathing and animosity Leigh-bitch bloated by a ton. But what she did recently was just way out of my imagination. She had been pressing all the wrong buttons since the beginning of forever and now, she pressed the red one. I had reached my limit with her.Never have the boys ever laid a hand on each other and then gone days without talking. Never! They loved each other more than anything on this planet, well except for the bitch. They had a deeper bond than anyone, they shared a womb, they grew up together. They got each other on greater extends.But because of this bitch, my boys fought and they were not on good terms. This girl was destroying everything I have achieved and all she did was just exist.I was
LEIGH-ARI“Something to drink?” I offered already reaching out to pour my weapon for the night. If I was going to deal with these babyish boys, then I had to use my brain.I didn’t wait for them to reply, just poured the brown liquid into the glasses and handed them each a glass, then proceeded and swam to the middle of the giant tub. They remained quiet as they sipped on their whiskey unhurriedly. They were still mad, I get it.“Listen up guys. “Ooooooookay. I have a confession to make.” I waited on a baited breath as I watched each one of them shifting in their positions, strongly gazing at me. They were going to murder me for this one.“Sooooooooooo… You are kind of going to get mad at me, but please promise you won’t raise a ruckus.” I said with a stupid grin as I tried to clear the path before things got way out of hand because I bet a million they were going to go berserk.I took a deep breath, and ripped off the band-aid;“Xander has been here. For multiple
VERNERO POV“Please… I can’t take it anymore.” Leigh cried out as her body began to quake from yet another bone-shattering orgasm. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her back arching from the bed. We had her on the fifth orgasm and we just loved the pleasure we were giving her, right before sunrise.“Fuck yeeeeeeeeesss…” Enzo hissed as he moved his fingers rapidly in her wet dripping love hole, causing its juices to gush out. I never deemed her as a squitter but heck! I loved that on her.“Yes, baby you can.” I smoothed out as I bit down on her right nipple, and then sucked on it. I rubbed her clit roughly, prolonging her orgasm. Enzo didn’t stop his assault on her pussy, causing her to spiral down the pinnacle with so much force. When she came back down, I smiled at her and pulled her up, then laid down between her legs with her pussy hovering above my oh-so-hard cock. “Now we are going to have you,” Enzo announced with a glee in his voice. This was all his
LORENZO POVEver since Ari revealed to us about the imposter, my time at the company was cut off as I was helping Verzi to catch the mole. It wasn’t like he needed help, he was perfectly capable of doing it all by himself. I just wanted to share the burden with him, more so because Ari was involved. And wherever she is concerned, it goes without saying; I had to be there.If it were just anything, he would have had the reigns all to himself.We’ve been doing things secretly, not showing because there were eyes and ears everywhere. And if that was how things were, we weren’t going to just go head-on towards this issue. We did most of our talking in Tower Lounge because it was private. We didn’t trust anyone lately around the west wing, because maids were parading the whole wing and who knows, the mole might be just anyone of those. So the Tower Lounge was the safest place to go about the issue.After making the thorough plans, Verzi would go out to dig, and then we’d come
LEIGH-ARI “What?” The word escaped my lips in a whisper. I was too shocked to even speak out loud. I took a small step backward, not knowing how to react, what to feel or what to do. “Are… Are you sure it’s her? There has to be a mistake. I mean Val and I are cool.” I rattled in a small fading voice, trying to turn the table. There was no way it could be her. I mean we were cool, we were on good books with each other, and never would she think of hurting me. “Sorry Tesoro. But everything points at her. From the day you fainted in the steam room, she was the one who came to report to us. How did she know that you fainted from too much heat unless she was the one who turned the heat on? She has been working in the dark since. And we wouldn’t have caught her if Verzi didn’t retrieve the deleted footage.
LORENZO POVThings had not turned out as we had hoped. After calling in Ciello to prove Val’s words, we found out that we had caught the wrong guy, and that Val was well innocent and had nothing to do with the imposter. Verzi was a bit skeptical at letting the whole thing just slide, but Ciello had provided us with a few videos of them shagging, of which we clearly had no interest in. I felt bad after that, especially because they even pledged their loyalty to us. They were literally on their knees with faces down as they swore to serve us, even their children and their children after them. Getting three generations of loyal servants was something I didn’t see happening, especially in a moment like that.The things had gotten a little heated and Verzi had slapped Val a few times, pricking a bit of blood. He was never someone to do well with backstabbers. And the idea of being betrayed always tipped him off the edge. But my presence had saved Val’s life because had I not be
VERNERO POVA few days had passed on and the swindler stayed hidden in the shadows. To avoid attracting unnecessary attention, Enzo had to leave for work and come back at his usual time. And that meant working out the rorter case late at night. It was so infuriating knowing that there was someone who could harm us and our girl just right under our nose, but then still managed to stay so well and hidden.To ensure Leigh’s safety, I doubled up yet again on the security, guards, and systems. Although we were battling some kind of unknown force here, I didn’t want to bet with her safety. She was my whole world and I couldn’t risk anything happening to her. But I continued digging, hard and very attentive. One thing that was for sure was that if I found him, good heavens. Just the mere thought of it tore a very violent shudder from me, the excitement and that thrill of inflicting pain! Sitting in my office, I was going over all the possible people that could be involved in
VERNERO POVI was sitting on one of the couches in our bedroom flipping through channels, ever so relaxed after a long day. My mind drifted back to when Leigh messed up the gun training so bad, but I had found that so cute I couldn’t bring myself to tell her to stop. Had it been anyone, they would have been six feet underground for wasting my time. But watching the determination on her face as she aimed the target, only to miss it so terribly or just continue pulling the trigger without the gun going off; that had been the highlight of my day.Right when I was lost in thought the door slit open and in came Enzo whose eyes found me first.“Hey, bud.” He said warmly and walked towards the couch where he plopped himself next to me and stared at the TV with me,“Rough day at work?” I inquired staring at him,“Not really. Why are you alone in here? Where’s Tesoro?” he asked with his eyes still glued to the TV.“She's mopping and sulking in the bathroom. Refused when I t
EXTRACTED FROM CHAPTER 69 LEIGH-ARI“The bosses are going to love the little transformation. It looks so good on you. Right baby?” Val called from the passenger’s seat before gently squeezing Ciello’s hand that was rested on the gear lever and looked at him dreamily. I smiled from the backseat where I was sitting, watching the little interaction between the two little birds that were just so in love with each other.“Definitely. That little taint looks good in her hair.” Ciello replied with the little knowledge he has in woman’s beauty espionage causing me to guffaw with peals of laughter.“They are called highlights. Not taint. But I think they are going to bite my head before really accepting that I did a little change to the hair. And just know you will carry the blame if they complain about the length.” Following the recent rundowns, Val had asked me to join her on a spa appointment which was way too tempting to deny, so I had pleaded with the guys w
EPILOGLeaving Dark Woods felt so foreign and oddly queer that I felt like I was leaving the biggest part of me behind. I couldn’t help but steal glances as the cab that Val had gotten me stretched further and further from the castle, and I didn’t understand why my heart hurt so painfully when I was actually doing the right thing for the three of us. Surprisingly, Dark Woods had grown on me so much that it felt like home, and one always cried when leaving home. I wanted to laugh because I used to resent this place so much, but now I was in pain for leaving.Was it because I left without saying goodbye? Was it because I didn’t even see the look on their faces when I turned my back and left? But this wasn’t a goodbye. It was not! And seeing the look on their faces would have shattered me into pieces and I wouldn’t be leaving, that's why I sneaked out when they were still sleeping. I glanced down at my finger where two rocks that became one were nestled so big and proud. A sm
LEIGH-ARI The morning rolled over more quickly than I anticipated and I found myself thinking of my life before and after I came to Dark Woods. It has really been a crazy, epic ride. From being a straight-A student and putting on the dang long coat, being addressed as Dr. Montreal and doing what I loved the most; to being kidnapped by hot ass dudes who are insanely obsessed with me, claiming to be my men, and then being locked in the steam and triggering the mines that nearly split me open, I mean heck! My life was indeed one for the books.But one thing I gained in this crazy dissension of hearts and guns was the love I had never fathomed possible. Love that consumed me whole and made me feel so strong and bold like I could take over the whole world. Love that burned so fiercely deep inside me I felt like I would combust at any moment. The Cattanio twins gave me that kind of love, and I could never ask for more. They made me feel so complete, and that's crazy because the
LORENZO POV“Did we really have to do it ourselves?” I asked glaring around at the busy-as-shit mall where people were milling for Christmas shopping. Christmas was just 2 days ahead and the whole town was fully packed with people. I don't know why today of all days, but Ari insisted we came to get some gifts for ourselves and do a little bit of shopping. And by gifts, I didn’t think she meant a thousand shopping bags in a cramped shopping mall where you bumped into a person every second and breathed in their stinky sweat.“Yes. It is called living.” She replied from across me and reached out for my hand. I quickly stretched my hand out and she squeezed it mellowly, surprisingly calming me down. I wasn’t expecting to be so anxious to be out in public with just her and Verzi, not even a single guard in view. But If you asked me, it was truly thrilling to be living like normal civilians. It was safe to say we were missing out on a lot of things!Right when I was still lost in
LEIGH-ARIA full week has passed since that incident. After receiving the old Verzi in my heart and soul, we had pulled ourselves from the heap of limbs off the floor and took a very steamy shower, things really got heated right away and they were too good to even think about. Fast forward, we made love the whole night and I can tell that the puzzle was complete.And from then on, the change in the boys was very evident. It was as if this whole weight was lifted from them, and they were so light on their feet and bodies. Verzi smiled and laughed often, he was the happiest version of himself, and Enzo, my big guy was also on cloud nine. Lorik had been the force that weighed them down for so long; for so long that they just stopped living, and just existed.And now; things were so different!And because of that, I felt like it was time, I felt like the time was right to tell them what I needed to tell them. With that thought in mind, I called them out to the Tower Loun
LEIGH-ARIThe nauseating stench of burning flesh had reigned through the night in Dark Woods, making my bones clutter and tremble from underneath my skin. I had known this day was to come, I had known very well that he was going to pay for all he has done, and I wasn’t against it! Lorik had it coming!The only thing that unsettled me the most was what his death might do to my boys. I feared for them that they will lose themselves, for as much as it was so weird and very hard to believe, Lorik was their father!Yes they didn’t have the best relationship but the blood ties, that blood running through their veins was Lorik’s, and as much as I wanted to sweep the issue under the rug and be glad he was out of their lives, I was scared. Scared for them; but mostly, scared and terrified for Verzi.I didn't even want to being to think what he was going through when he ended Lorik's life. I didn't want the details, should he want to share with us how he did it then we'd sit besid
VERNERO POVA wall-shattering scream tore out of my lungs, as my body sunk into a deep bottomless sea of cold water. I watched as the air leave his body, his soul departing with his black eyes still glued to my face. For the very first time since I have known my father, this was the time he looked at me with fatherly love, the one kind I have longed for, for as long as I can remember; and my heart hurt so much. I didn’t understand it! Why did it hurt so bad? Why did I feel weak in the knees for killing him while it has been the one thing that I have dreamed of?Tears streamed down my face as I turned the dagger, eliciting a squelching sound as it tore deeper and deeper through his heart. He was dead already because he wasn’t moving. But his eyes were as open and as clear as day! I screamed! God, I screamed so hard that my cry made the walls of the dungeons tremble.With a very defeated body, I slowly pulled the dagger from him, and then robotically watched as it dropped
BONUS CHAPTER 1LORIK POV“I forgive you.” The words charged at me like a sharp dagger that gatecrashed through my heart leaving me breathless. Heat rose from my neck and settled just right above my head, creating a cloud of intense self-loathing that made my ears deaf. With blurred vision, I watched as she slowly sashayed out of the damp dense cellar where I was chained.My eyes followed her movements until she was out of view. My mind reeled with all sorts of thoughts recalling all the evil things I have committed. She had forgiven me, despite everything I had done to her. She forgave me and bathed me clean, after being tortured by my son for how long... Heck, I didn’t even know how long I have in here without food, water, let alone taking a bath. I reeked of death and all the things I have done in my past. Vernero always brought him a small bite of protein bar just to keep me alive, nothing more than that. I was famished, my throat so patched it felt like it was burn