The low, crimson light washed over the room, through the villa’s tall windows, and there were shades of soft, cool moonlight with the color of spilled red wine.
The light, like having physical hands, had a warm caress with a whispering of forbidden desires.
Allison could feel the air, heavy with the lingering scent of mint and rose running through her nose, and filling her taste buds, and for a moment it looked like an escape from a truth that brought nothing sorrow to her heart.
She needed to escape the overwhelming pull of his presence. "Could you... Show me to the shower?" she asked, her voice filled with an unspoken conflict, a desire to commit a forbidden lust raged inside her, the excitement of being consumed by a desire she knew was wrong
“It's right over there, sweetheart,” he said —His voice sending shivers down her spine, the tone causing tremors of dark desire within her as she gets more sweaty.
She stepped into the shower, his voice still echoing right into her ears as a low hum filled with pleasure. As the water pours against her skin, it brings a moment of welcome relief. However, the fire of desire was still red-hot inside, unquenchable it was at that moment.
Her hands followed the shape of her curvy body as the water poured over her —a body that felt foreign to her now, longing to be owned by a total stranger.
Each droplet of water felt like a kiss, a caress that merely readied someone for a touch more intense. This shower didn't bring escape; instead, it was a burning coal that flamed it up.
Allison steps out of the shower with a towel on, still wrapped in clouds of desire —the steam still clinging tightly to her skin, the droplets of water glistering around her shoulders.
More telling than any words, his breath hitched –a sharp, audible intake of the air, the sight of her white hair made him pause, for a brief second, a flicker of something unreadable—recognition? confusion? —crossed his face.
But he quickly dismissed the idea. It was probably just one of the many low-life born around the city, he thought —the bastards of a Shelby or a Wenston, born on the streets and forgotten, as his gaze traveled on.
The gaze traveled from off her face and on down through the elegant curve of her neck, lingering upon the slope of her hips. His body's stillness was more charged than any action, even though he didn't move.
The silence was not a void; it was a living presence, heavy with an unspoken language of want.
He meets her with a glass of red wine, as he leans forward, gently sweeping her hair from her neck, and his lips tracing a path down her neck, “For you,” he whispered, as he pressed the cool glass into her hand.
Allison's hands trembled as they fastened on the glass of wine. He wrapped his hands around her curvy waist, drawing her into himself until her body touched his.
The intoxicating scent of him had erased all of Allison’s worries of duty and obligation, all that she could think about was just the taste of his own lips, just the feel of his soft touch, and also the desperate, burning need for this moment to consume her.
The night quickly turned into a blur of intense desire, a dream of desperate passion. Allison had given herself over to the moment —A stranger, a complete surrender of her body, soul, and spirit so complete it looked as if she had ceased to exist.
He eventually led her to the bed, and in a blur of touches and kisses, they made love. In that moment Allison felt alive with quiet moans escaping her lips.
For a few erotic hours, the relentless pull of her duty and her fears simply vanished.
Next morning, Allison wakes but feeling exhausted and wonderfully alive at the same time. She noticed she was alone, as she looked over the other end of the bed, and found a breakfast in bed just like how it happens in the movies.
She also noticed a piece of note right next to the night stand, she picked it up, with her heart pounding a familiar beat, as she read it.
Thank you for this beautiful, memorable night.
The memory of you will be something I hold on to. Be well —A stranger
Allison's POV
A bittersweet taste loomed inside me. I'd developed a crack in my heart because I wasn't going to see him anymore, still caught up in the flame of desire, I realized I had to get back to my hotel. My father’s driver would be arriving soon.
As I got to my hotel room, my mind was still a whirlwind. I couldn’t get the event of the night off my head. I held myself tightly, as if to feel his touch one last time.
A part of me was desperate for him, and I was consumed by the desire to have him close again, I could still smell him on my skin.
A few moments in the room, I heard a knock on the room door, it was a hesitant tap. I got to the door and found my ride back home at the other end, the driver had come to pick me up.
Although, a desperate feeling pulsed through me, a need to shove the door closed, turn the lock, and pretend I hadn't seen him, just to wait back and have a glimpse of the stranger one more time, but I realized I had no choice but to go.
As we drove out of the Citadel, I got lost in the fiery memory of last night, the forbidden affection, the heat of it, the reckless passion —it turned me on.
"Why can't I live an ordinary life?," I whispered, the question brought a bitter taste in my mouth, as the reality of my betrothal to Michael crashed back in.
The closer we drove to the house, the more my heart leaned backwards, toward the Citadel, toward the forbidden desire I couldn't dare speak about.
We finally got to the mighty Wenston’s Mansion, as I was walking right through the front door, servants and my father's men all greeted me with a smile.
But then, a sharp intake of breath caught my throat. He was there —The stranger.
My heart seized, the stranger was walking out of my house. He was there, dressed as part of father's men. I wanted the ground to swallow me up as I caught a glanced at him, my mind screamed aloud with a silent prayer: Please, let it be a dream..
My father came towards me and gave me a sweet welcoming hug, as he was glad to see me back home, yet I was lost in the denial of what I'd just seen. I eventually sat down, and could hear the talk of a dinner party that was supposedly meant for me.
But all I could think about was the man who had just left my house—the stranger from the Citadel
Allison's POVAfter witnessing Hayley and Michael come out from Hayley's room, I made my way to my room, feeling a wave of loathing and disgust.I lean onto the edge of my bed, the noise of the party downstairs was now a muffled distant and a hollow echo, I'd no interest in it anymore. I wondered about the series of events that had just happened, as I replayed them in my mind —a chaotic film reel of unbearable moments. My gut was twisted with a sick, churning anguish. Luke's denial, so cold and unwavering, made me regret that beautiful, reckless night at the Citadel. I was so sure it was him. "Why would he deny it?" I whispered into the air of my room, the question felt heavy and hopeless. To make matters worse, the memory of Hayley and Michael together crawled into my mind, an image I couldn't easily shake off too. My heart ached, at some point it felt like it was fracturing. The weight of everything —the betrayal, the lies, the endless expectations—was becoming too much to bear.
While in the garden, taking a walk, my mind racing, desperate to create a lie about what I had just seen. I replayed the scene at the front door again and again, looking for the thinnest excuses to prove my sight had lied to me. "Perhaps I didn't catch his look? Or perhaps thinking about him made me think he was the one I saw? I whispered to the flowers in the garden.As I considered the consequences, the weight of my secret became heavy to bear. What if he finds out who I truly am? And decides to exploit and blackmail me? I mumbled as I stood still in the garden.These thoughts made me have cold feet, but it couldn't put off the fire that still burned inside me, a desperate, torching flame of desire for the man who had suddenly made life in Fox City a much more burning hell for my sins.The moment at the Citadel was still on a loop in my mind, obsessed with every detail of that intoxicating evening —the taste of our lips when we kissed, the gentle drag of his hands on my skin when w
The low, crimson light washed over the room, through the villa’s tall windows, and there were shades of soft, cool moonlight with the color of spilled red wine. The light, like having physical hands, had a warm caress with a whispering of forbidden desires.Allison could feel the air, heavy with the lingering scent of mint and rose running through her nose, and filling her taste buds, and for a moment it looked like an escape from a truth that brought nothing sorrow to her heart. She needed to escape the overwhelming pull of his presence. "Could you... Show me to the shower?" she asked, her voice filled with an unspoken conflict, a desire to commit a forbidden lust raged inside her, the excitement of being consumed by a desire she knew was wrong“It's right over there, sweetheart,” he said —His voice sending shivers down her spine, the tone causing tremors of dark desire within her as she gets more sweaty.She stepped into the shower, his voice still echoing right into her ears as
My flight landed with an echo of my world collapsing, right in the middle of the city, The Citadel —the capital of Fox City, a place that calls to heart-breaking memories of my return, a reality I had fled from. Even from the airport terminal, I could feel it; the city's heart was a brooding hum of chaos and vice. My memories of Fox City flooded back, bringing a terrifying chill to my soul —I was entering the devil's workshop once again, this was Fox City, and its name wasn’t a mere metaphor. A city controlled by the wealthy, where the biggest crimes were a boastful thing to commit. It was a place birthed from greed and run by thieves, smugglers, drug addicts, and human trafficking. I knew its history not from books, but from the spoken words in my home, especially during dinner. Fox City also had a civilized world —but it was built on the sins of the gang families, founded in blood of war by my ancestor, Karl Wenston, and the first Shelby, who had founded this place in the blood
Allison's POVLazily climbing out of a deep sleep after a long evening shift at the hospital, still feeling the rhythmic hum movement of the emergency ward and the faint smell of antiseptic still clung to me. It was never a thing to complain about, because it was a dream life that I had built for myself.As the morning sunlight shines into the room, it occurred to me what day it was, my 7:00am alarm rang, Yeahhh.. “it is my birthday,” I muttered. A smile touched the two ends of my cheeks, little did I know the course of my life was about to take a crazy turn. And so my life took a major twist on that day which changed the trajection at which my life would go, still with the thought of celebrating my twenty-fifth age —At 8am, while sitting in my small apartment which had always felt like a sanctuary, a world away from the city I had fled, a life I never wanted for myself.Suddenly, there was a knock on my door, it was so loud that it shattered the quiet peace of my sanctuary. As I st