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"You told him, didn't you?" I ask Tolga."I didn't want to, but it would have been worse if I didn't," Tolga says as he steps backward, leaving me somewhat alone to face Vincenzo."I thought the point of this was to keep me safe, not to spy on me," I tell Vincenzo as he looks me up and down, slowly, taking in every centimeter of my body until our eyes meet. He was furious, but he had no reason to be. My life was my own. I could do what I wanted with it... or so I thought."I can do both." He says. "Actually I can do whatever I want." "And what would that be, exactly?" I ask."Right now... put you over my shoulder and carry you out of here before that bastardo lays another finger on you." My breath catches in my throat, and I can't stop the shiver that runs down my spine. He’s serious, I can tell by the coldness in his eyes. The same eyes that once held so much passion now only reflect something darker. Protective, possessive, too damn controlling. And I refuse to be controlled."Don’t
"Where are you taking me?" I asked as I watched his angry profile, taking in all of his gorgeousness, down to the point of his neck where my mother's scarf peeked through."Home." That was the only thing he told me, and he stayed in silence all the way back to my apartment building. He entered the garage, got out, and opened the door for me. Still, no words were spoken. I took out my key card and opened the elevator while he pressed the floor button. The silence was killing me, it played with my nerves."Was that really necessary?" I asked, breaking the silence."Perhaps that will teach you to listen to me, Trouble." He murmurs under his exhausted breath. "It Mira. Ok? Mira. And you, you had no right, non whatsoever to act that way.!""I have the right. My heart gave me the right." He says as he suddenly turns towards me, my back finding the elevator wall. "My heart claimed you as his and I can't... I won't let you or anyone else take you from me. Trouble." The weight of his words hit
Love’s POV"What do you mean he moved into the building?" I ask Mira over the phone as I walk alone in the garden. As it turns out finding solitude in this enormous house was much harder than I thought. It was as if the walls had eyes and I was forced to walk around with this damn cane all the time."Exactly that, and he has Tolga behind me all the time. I'm telling you I'm gonna go crazy." Meanwhile, I find this reassuring. Vincenzo is keeping his word, keeping her safe. It made what I had to do a bit easier on me."As long as you keep in touch with him, can you pass on a message to me? Tell him it's done." "Done? What are you talking about? What’s done?" Mira’s voice on the other end of the line crackles slightly, her frustration bleeding through the words."You don’t need to worry about the details," I say quietly, my voice steady but with an edge of something darker. "Just tell him. It’s done. I’ve taken care of it." There’s a pause on the other end of the line. I can almost hear
"Christian, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Vincenzo asked as he lifted his head from his book. I had a feeling I would find him at the club, it seemed he operated from here these days."What's the deal with Volkav?" I ask wasting no time. The look on his face tho was awesome enough."Why do you ask?""Because he just left my office, but not before threatening me. He wants me to reopen the deal, and sign the contract with him." Vincenzo listens to me and then nods his head to a man sitting at the table next to us. "And you come to me... why exactly?" He asks."Cut the crap, Vincenzo," I say as I sit down, not wanting to attract more attention to us. "I know what you do, and I know the kind of people you are associated with. So tell me why does he want the deal so bad?"Vincenzo leans back in his chair, his fingers drumming slowly on the table as his eyes narrow. For a moment, the club's muted hum of chatter and clinking glasses fade into the background, leaving the two of us in a ten
Love's POVThe wedding day..."You look absolutely stunning, gorgeous.""Beautiful... I just might cry."Mira and Tamara talked around me, I could hear them but for some reason, I couldn't find it within me to say anything. I just stared at my own reflection. I didn't sleep all night; my thoughts were eating at me. This day, the day when everything was supposed to be all happiness, was far from being happy for me. This isn't what my life was supposed to look like. The mere fact that it all began with a lie was reason enough for me to feel like a stranger in my own skin. I wasn’t sure who I was anymore.The soft rustling of fabric from Mira and Tamara as they moved around the room felt distant, like I was underwater, trapped in my own thoughts.I glance at the mirror again, my reflection staring back at me. The dress, the makeup, the carefully styled hair... it all screamed perfection, the kind of perfection I was supposed to feel excited about. But inside, all I could feel was a deep,
Christian stares at me, his mouth slightly agape, as though he’s trying to process what I just confessed. His lips move, but no sound comes out for a long moment. The air between us feels thick with disbelief, and I can see his chest rising and falling as he takes in my words, still not fully able to comprehend them. "I know you must hate me now. But please, listen to me." I say as I hold onto his hands now, for him to stay, but also so I wouldn't crumble down. "I need you to know that none of this was planned. From the moment I entered your life all I wanted to do was help Sebastian. This lie wasn't supposed to last, I was planning to leave after he got better and while that does not make any of this any better I thought that in a way we helped each other. But then I started falling in love with you, that is why I tried so hard to put a distance between us. I knew how wrong it was, it haunted me every day but as much as I wanted to tell you the truth the fear of losing you was muc
Christian’s POV I smiled. I smiled as I said yes, took her hand, and promised to stand by her side for the rest of our lives. I smiled as our picture was taken, each click of the camera capturing a moment that felt so bittersweet. I smiled as Aidan gave his best man speech, his words were meant to celebrate our love, but they fell on deaf ears because all I could hear in my head were the things she had told me, the secrets she kept buried deep inside. I smiled as we cut the cake, though it felt like I was slicing into something that was no longer real. I smiled as we shared our first dance, the music playing, the room spinning around me, but I was stuck in the silence of my own thoughts. I smiled. But every smile, every gesture, every movement felt like a lie. I was drowning. I smiled while I was dying inside. She had told me everything. I should have been angry, furious even, for what she had kept from me. But all I felt was the sharp sting of betrayal, and the even sharpe
Mira’s POVThe wedding was beautiful, and Love looked so happy. Genuinely happy, with no weight on her shoulders that I for one dont feel bad about how their story started. With the lie I told and she followed. Perhaps it was destiny if there even existed such a thing.There was only one thing about the wedding I didn't get, and that is how the hell did Vincenzo score an invitation. It was no secret Christian wasn't a fan of him, so how did he get in?Not that I care.For one I did what Tamara asked me to do in the first place, I stayed away from him. It wasn't like I wanted to be around him anyway. He looked at me like I was a puzzle meant to be solved, and I hated how that felt. He didn't have the right to dig out all the things I buried.I left the venue and waited for the taxi I ordered to return me to the city, I was dying to take off my shoes and curl up in bed with Charlie.“Don’t tell me you’re avoiding me now,” Vincenzo said, his voice low and teasing. I froze. This is the clo
Bridget smiled wider now, clearly enjoying the reveal. “Oh good, he still talks about me. How sweet.”Grace took a sharp step forward. “You don’t belong here, Bridget. You never did.”Bridget’s gaze didn’t flinch. “Funny. That’s not what your husband used to say.”Christian’s voice cut through the tension like a blade. “That’s enough.”"Grace is right," I say. "You have no business here." Showing her face here after all this time, after all the harm she did to Sebastian really showed she had no shame."You dont get a say in this." She directs herself at me. "Who are you to tell me what to do." Grace stepped closer again, now standing fully at my side. “She's is a Callahan, a part of our family something you will never be. So unless you want security to escort you out, I suggest you remember your place, Bridget.”“I am in my place,” Bridget said, her voice suddenly cooler, more calculating. “You all just forgot that this empire wasn’t built by Callahans alone. My father was one of the
A white sheet of paper and an artist's pen were somehow all I needed to feel free in the world. A dream I once had of making something beautiful that others would want, admire, and desire, was finally happening. Even if Christian may think this is a punishment for me, it was the opposite. I was designing jewelry again, I was telling a story, and this time, the story was mine. Each line I drew on the paper shimmered in my mind like gold catching sunlight. I sketched the delicate curve of a pendant, the kind that rests right over the heart, something soft, but powerful. The design was bold and unapologetic. Perhaps because I was starting to feel like there wasn't much I needed to apologize for. Maybe it is the Mira part in me, the one that tells me that my lie wasn't all that bad, that my lie in fact did a lot of good to a person who was at one point lost.I looked back down at the pendant. It had wings now, faint outlines spreading from the heart of the design. I didn’t remember adding
"Are you nervous?" Bash asked me as he sat down next to me. "I'm excited," I say. It was the truth, I couldn't be more excited to take these damn bandages off my eyes and finally be free. Well, as free as Christian allows it. "How are you feeling, the surgery is tomorrow?" I ask.I could feel him shrug beside me, but the sound of his fingers tapping restlessly on his knee told me more than his words ever could."I'm good," he said finally, eyes fixed straight ahead. "I mean, it's weird, right? We've talked about this for so long, and now it's actually happening.""Yeah," I murmured, tilting my head toward him, even though I couldn’t see him yet. "It feels like we’ve been dreaming about this forever. And now it's real.""This condition made me lose so much of my future, my position, the woman who I at the time thought was the love of my life... it took a big piece of my soul, yet now I can't stop thinking about all the things I got. It gave me a new perspective of life and myself... it
He didn’t respond. Then, footsteps. Slow, deliberate. He moved closer, and my breath hitched in my throat even though I tried not to let it show. I turned my face slightly toward where I thought he was standing, listening for the soft rustle of his suit, the shift in the air. I didn't need my eyes to feel the gravity of him near me. "You wore a mask, every single day. Lied, to our faces... and you say it was for our own good. You are no better than the bastard I had for a father." His voice was closer now, a whisper laced with venom. "But I am not him." "Perhaps you are even worse. He at least didn't pretend to love us, at least not in the end." Christian says, anger blooming inside of him. "I love you, Christian. More than I ever thought was possible." I say trying to reach him but he pushes back at me, my back against the wall. "Shut up, you lie so well I might believe you for a second." “If I wanted to keep lying, I wouldn’t have told you the truth, I wouldn't still be here
Four weeks later...The last night in the dark...I am on the edge.I can't take this darkness anymore. I keep telling myself it's soon going to be over, that at least I will be able to act freely, even walk into the world alone free of pretenses. I want my parents to see that the lie is over, and I want Bash to get over everything soon, even if that means that whatever this is I have with Christian comes to an end.We have been living in this penthouse for three weeks now, and every second for me has been hell. His indifference at times is worse than his hate, at least hating me meant he still had me somewhere in his soul, in silence alongside this darkness that was eating at me.If it weren't for Mira I would be completely alone, she is the only good thing here. She told me to take off the bandages while Christian was at work but I just couldn't. He was far too unpredictable, popping in and out at different times as if trying to surprise me by doing something wrong and I didn't feel
Hearing the voices of people I love around me made me feel peace, so much so that I never wanted them to leave. In front of them, Christian was the man, the husband I always thought he would be. He was loving, kind, and caring. I never wanted it to end.But all that is good has its end, so did this.My friends were about to leave, at least Grace and Bash would be around. At least not until Christian makes us move again.Tamara and Bash were aside, talking. It is nice to hear that the friendship between them is blooming, hopefully into something bigger and better. Grace pulled Christian away to the office for a moment leaving me alone with Mira."Love, call me crazy but something here doesn't feel right. Are you sure you are as happy as you say you are?" I knew she would sense something, and despite promising Christian I would say anything I needed to let go with someone, and who better than Mira? I need someone on my side, someone to stand in my corner... make me feel less alone."Mira
"People are still talking about the wedding. It's the talk of every event since." Grace says as we sit at the table. Christian is right next to me, holding my hand, his thumb tracing the side of my knuckle. It feels nice. Too nice. "And no one thinks you are pregnant anymore, so now they believe it's true love." Bash comments. "Good, because it is. As true as it gets," Christian says as he kisses my cheek. I smile. It is so hard to be in this darkness. The voices around me keep surprising me. Every movement strikes a nerve within me, and I have to pretend to be relaxed. "Why didn't you tell us about doing the surgery?" Bash asks. "We wanted you to see firsthand that the surgery you will go under would work because she will be taking off the bandages just before you go under. That will give you all the training you need to go there without a doubt in your mind that this will work." Christian’s words are calm like he’s presenting a plan instead of revealing something deeply personal.
Love's POVI think I understand Bash now better than ever. Being trapped in the dark was horrible. No wonder he felt the way he did. Even when I knew well that this would last only four weeks, walking around with my eyes bandaged up was hard. even harder than I imagined it would be.But one thing was good... as long as I couldn't see I wouldn't have to look at the hatred that grew inside Christian's eyes. This situation goes from bad to worse. The silence between us felt like it was splitting me in two. I could feel Christian beside me, his presence so tense, so tightly wound. I couldn’t see his face, but I didn’t need to. I could feel the sharp edge of his anger cutting through the air between us. The hatred I’d seen in his eyes before, that dark, simmering look, now felt like a constant companion. He didn’t even have to say anything. I could feel it in the way he handled me, the way he spoke, the way he didn’t speak.But I liked the fact we were back home. Perhaps that way I won't fe
"How long is this going to take? We have a plane to catch." That's not true. It's not like my private plane would go somewhere without me, but I wanted out of this doctor's office as soon as possible."I thought you were returning in a month. If it's supposed we just did the surgery she wouldn't be recovered by now. The world won't believe it." The good doctor says as Love glances up at me."Plans change. Tell her what to do to fake it, she's good at that." I was on edge. Playing nice was so hard and I needed all the willpower I had to do this charade infront of my family, not him."We would need to bandage her eyes... keep her like that for about three to four weeks. And even after that she would need to use sunglasses outside for a period of time... pretend to adjust." Somehow that sounded perfect in my head. She would, even for a short four weeks be forced to walk around blind. She would get to taste her lie on her own skin. "She can do it," I say as I glance at her. "In fact, wrap