Novels by Flyinggodosiris

(Lorei's POV)"The Hartwell Gala's tomorrow night," Richard says over breakfast, buttering his toast like he's announcing the weather. "Full family attendance. It's important, half the board will be there."I feel Elias's eyes on me before I even look up. I haven't been alone with him since the study three nights ago, I've made sure of it, skipping breakfast twice, taking the back staircase, locking my door the second I'm in my room. I don't say a word, just keep my eyes on my plate. Fucking perv.I've decided I'm done letting my body run this show. I need to figure out what he meant about the marina, and I can't do that if I turn into a mess every time he's in the same room as me. Distance, that's the plan. Careful conversation, careful watching, and absolutely nothing else. I still feel disgusted thinking about what I did in that study, touching myself while I watched him on a call, like some kind of pathetic teenager with no self-control. I did that. Nobody made me do that part. T

(Lorei's POV)"I don't even know how to explain it," I whisper into the phone, curled up on my bed with the door locked. "It's like my whole body forgets what it's supposed to do around him.""Lorei." Priya calls in that low voice she uses when she's trying not to freak out on me. "He is blackmailing you with photos that he took of a night you don't even remember consenting to properly.""I know." I press my palm against my eyes, willing the tears to stay put. "I know how insane this sounds. I hate him. I actually hate him, Priya, for what he's doing to me and my mom. But then he gets close, and my body just…" I don't even have the words for it. "It just stops listening to me.""That's called trauma, or Stockholm syndrome, or some weird psychological thing. I promise you…""I have to go," I say, because I hear footsteps in the hall, and the last thing I need is Richard or my mom overhearing this. "I'll call you later."I splash cold water on my face in the bathroom, hard enough that i

(Lorei's POV)Elias is twenty minutes late to dinner, and nobody acts surprised except me.He slides into his seat like the rest of us have been waiting on him for the privilege, not the other way around, unbuttoning his cuffs without a word of apology. Richard doesn't even comment. My mom shoots me a look that says this is normal, just go with it.Okay. So this is just... how he is.Dinner's this excruciating performance of politeness. Richard asking my mom about her day, my mom asking Elias about work, Elias answering in single words while looking at his phone under the table like none of us are worth his full attention. I catch him glancing at me twice. Both times he looks away like he was never looking at all.What’s up with this weirdo?"Elias," Richard says, over dessert, "why don't you show Lorei around properly after dinner? Give her the real tour, not the ten-second version from this morning."Elias's jaw tightens, just barely. "I have work.""It can wait an hour." Richard's

(Lorei's POV)The Walker estate has its own gate. An actual gate, with an actual guard, who checks a tablet before letting our car through like we're entering a country and not a house.This is insane. People actually live like this?It’s been six months since the funeral. Six months of my mom crying into takeout containers on our tiny kitchen table, and then, out of nowhere, Richard Walker.She met him at a fundraiser her old boss dragged her to, three months after Dad died, back when she still wasn't sleeping and barely eating and I was genuinely worried she might just stop functioning altogether. Richard was there representing some charity board. She told me later he was the first person all night who didn't ask her a single question about grief. He just asked what she thought of the terrible band they'd hired, and made her laugh for the first time in weeks.They started with coffee. Then dinner. Then he was picking her up in a car with a driver, and she was coming home glowing in

(Lorei's POV)Sunlight is stabbing straight into my eyeballs and my head feels like it's been hit with a bat.Oh my god. Ow. Ow, ow, ow.I squint one eye open. White sheets. A ceiling that is definitely not my ceiling. A room the size of my entire apartment, with floor-to-ceiling windows and furniture that looks like it costs more than my yearly rent.Wait. What?!!I sit straight up, and the room tilts sideways for a second before it settles. I'm not wearing my dress. I'm not wearing anything. The sheet's the only thing between me and whoever's….I look to my left, it's empty. The other side of the bed is cold, like whoever was there left a while ago.Okay. Okay okay okay. Think, Lorei. Think.I try to remember, but nothing solid comes up, just flashes. Pink drinks, loud music, Priya's laugh…. and then nothing. My head’s totally blank. It's as if someone reached in and scooped a whole chunk of my brain out with a spoon.Did I… oh my god, did I sleep with someone? Who? WHO?!!I look ar

(Lorei's POV)The private room at Cattaneo's is full when Fisher stands up and taps his glass. My mind is squealing. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…. I think he's about to propose. I've been thinking it all week, the reservation, the way he told me to wear the blue dress, the way his mom kept smiling at me like she knew something I didn't. My hands are actually shaking under the table right now because I think…. this is it. The love of my life is proposing."Everyone," Fisher says, and the whole table goes quiet, twenty of the city's most important people all looking at him. "I know a lot of you have been waiting for this."He reaches into his jacket. Ooohhh…. my heart is going so fast I can barely breathe.He doesn't pull out a ring. He pulls a woman up from the seat beside his mother, Camille Voss, whose family owns half the shipping routes on the east coast, and laces his fingers through hers.The fuck?"Camille and I got engaged last month," he says, grinning like he's announci