Amelie’s POV_I stared at the note, unsure of what my reaction to it would be. I was so used to people sending me threatening notes, that this was so much of a surprise to me. No threats. No commands. It had been folded and laid on my pillow while I was bathing. Six PM tonight. In the garden. Just you and I. I would like to try again. --LWas this a prank?It didn’t look like it, and besides, Luca didn’t seem like the type of pull stunts like this. But we hadn’t talked about our feelings after the I love yous were passed, and this came as a surprise to me. Better I go and find out what this was about. I was nervous, but a part of me was a little bit excited. And by the time the sun had gone down, I had tried on so many dresses, but couldn’t decide on what to wear. “I am telling you, if you put on a potato sack, Luca would still worship the ground you walked on,” Liana said, taking a bite from the apple she had in her hands. “I would have chosen an outfit by now if you had just
_Nico’s POV_The knife in my hand trembled.Not from exhaustion.Not from training myself to the pain to breaking down..But from the sound coming through the thin walls of Luca’s bedroom.Her voice.Amelie’s voice.Moaning. Gasping. Breaking. Not from pain tooBut from pleasure.He was touching her and she was enjoying it. Enjoying another man’s hands on her. I squeezed the hilt tighter, my knuckles white. The training blade was stained with my sweat, and the cracked leather grip dug into the skin of my palm, grounding me to this moment-this—this unbearable, godless moment.She was his. Tonight, in that room, in that bed, under him.I had chosen her when she didn't choose me.And I was out here. Listening. Bleeding from the inside.Mine.The word sliced through me harder than any blade. But it felt like a lie now. A cruel one. The kind that wore her perfume and smiled with her lips.She said she hated us. She said she didn’t feel anything.But that wasn’t the sound of a woman who fe
_Amelie’s POV_I panted as I stared at him, unsure of what I wanted to say. Because part of me knew he might be right, and the other part wanted to tell him he was wrong.So I kissed him again. Because kissing was way better than seeing the look on his face.A lone tear slid down my face as I pressed my lips harder against his and then I pulled away. The kiss had ended. But the heat hadn’t.It clung to me—my skin, my lungs, my thoughts. Every inch of me was still shaking, not from fear, but from something darker. Need. That dangerous, bottomless need that made everything else blur out of focus.Luca’s breathing was rough. His arm was still around my waist. The tension in his grip said he was barely holding himself together. But he hadn’t moved. Not yet.And I wanted him to.I didn’t think. I couldn’t think at this point I moved again—climbing into his lap, straddling him. My thighs framed his hips. My hands slid up his chest and to his back, nails digging into his skin. His eyes sn
My hands flew to his hair, gripping tight as heat flooded my bloodstream. He worked me like he’d done it a hundred times — slow at first, then deeper, his tongue devastating.I moaned before I could stop it, fingers fisting in his hair, thighs trembling around his head as he dragged me closer to the edge.“Luca—” My voice was a broken thread. “I can’t—”Can't what? Do this for much longer? Couldn't tell what I was just about to say.“You can,” he growled against me, voice muffled, lips slick. “You’re already there.”His hands gripped my hips like they belonged to him. He anchored me, held me still, and the wet sounds between us grew louder, filthier. Shame curled in my belly, but it was eclipsed by the rising, crashing wave he pulled out of me with each stroke of his tongue.“Luca, please—”He didn’t stop.He devoured me.Until my thighs clenched and my back arched and the dam inside me shattered all at once.I cried out his name—not quietly, not politely—like a curse and a confessio
_Amelie’s POV_I kissed him because I was fucking desperate.Because Nico’s voice wouldn’t stop echoing in my head, and I needed someone else to drown him out.And that someone was his brother.Luca froze — for a breath. One second. Then his mouth moved against mine like he’d been waiting for this, like he understood without me having to say anything at all.It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t soft.It was survival.I clutched the front of his shirt and pulled him closer, mouth parting, breathing him in like he might make it all stop — the memories, the guilt, the heat still left behind from another man.I hated myself for needing this.Hated how badly I wanted to forget.Wanted to forget one brother so I went to the other. But his hand came up, fingers threading into my hair. He angled my head and kissed me deeper — hungrier. My body jerked at the contact, but I didn’t pull away. I let him take it. Let him take me.Because I needed it. I needed someone else’s fingerprints on my skin.I ne
_Amelie’s POV_The carpet outside Luca’s office was soft beneath my knees.I sat with my arms wrapped tightly around myself, eyes burning and my throat raw from holding in the sobs that refused to stop. Nico’s words kept playing in a loop — every vow, every threat, every shattered piece of what we used to be, sharp and bloody in my mind.You’re still mine.I’ll never let you go.I should’ve run. Gone anywhere else that wasn't close to Luca. But I didn’t have the strength. My legs had given out, and this hallway—this stupid, empty hallway—was the only place I felt invisible for a moment.And I had been here for hours and I didn't really think he was in there at this point.Until the door opened.I heard the click first. Then the soft creak.My breath was locked in my chest. I froze, wiping my face quickly with my sleeves, praying the tears weren’t as obvious as they felt. Please, God, don’t let it be him. Don’t let him have heard—“Amelie?”Luca’s voice was gentle. Too gentle.And m