All Chapters of Torn inbetween millions : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

——— The car rumbled along the quiet road, tires screening over ancient cobblestones. I sat straight in the backseat, fingers knotting themselves in my lap until the knuckles turned white. My stomach churned — that acidic, pre-interview feeling, except this interview couldn't be rescheduled. America felt lifetimes away. The passport in my bag might as well have been someone else's. Every unfamiliar street sign, every snatch of Italian from passing pedestrians hammered it home: you don't belong here.The driver's silence wasn't just quiet - it was the thick, loaded kind that makes you wonder what he knows that you don't. As the city lights faded, so did the crowds, until it was just us and these absurdly high walls scrolling past like some aristocratic prison perimeter. What kind of people needed walls like that? My fingers found a hangnail to worry at.Then the car slowed.My lungs seized—don’t hyperventilate, don’t you dare—I warned myself, before my eyes caught on the gates— t

Seeing him from my window had been one thing. But up close? He was on a whole other level.I'd only gotten a quick look before, but now, standing right in front of me, he demanded attention just by existing. Not handsome in the pretty-boy way, but the kind of man who made your breath catch without even trying. The kind who didn't need to speak to own a room—just walk in and suddenly the air itself rearranged around him.Those black almond shaped eyes locked onto me with terrifying focus, the kind that made my skin prickle like he was deciding if he will ruin me. And that face —Christ, it should've been illegal. Smooth brown skin pulled taut over razor-sharp cheekbones, lips that looked soft in sleep but were now pressed into a hard line. His jawline—clean shaven and perfect was so sharp I could've papercut myself on it—literally.His black hair, slicked back perfectly, and mussed like he'd spent the night wrestling with some unsolvable problem, fingers dragging through it over