LOGINARIELLA Asher stayed there for a moment, standing between my legs as he looked down at me like he still couldn’t quite believe I was real. And maybe that was ridiculous considering everything we had already been through together, but there was something about the way he looked at me lately that f
ARIELLA The room was still dark, the faintest hint of early morning barely touching the curtains, and for a second I was too lost in the feeling of him even to think properly. By the time he finally pulled back, I was breathing hard, completely flushed, my chest rising and falling rapidly. I tri
ARIELLA "What do you mean?" “Tonight..... My mother humiliated me in front of everyone. Creating problems for you publicly... in front of everyone.” I looked away from him. “I know how these people are. I know how they talk and you have a reputation to uphold. I am supposed to....” Asher's enti
ARIELLA My voice cracked completely after that. “She is my mother." I began, trying to hold it together. "She's the only relative I have left, the only parent I have left, and I know my dad loved her. And as much as my mom was... that to me...” I swallowed painfully. “She was there for my father.
ARIELLA Leon had been a very welcome, loving, and warm distraction from all the emotions and the pain I was fighting inside. He had occupied my mind when I helped him to bed, when I read him a story, and when he fell asleep and I just sat there on his bed, watching him sleep, seeing him taking in
ARIELLA Asher helped me into the car carefully, like I might shatter if he moved too fast. The second I sat down, he followed after me, pulling the door shut behind him before anyone else could touch it. Outside, I could still see movement near the ballroom entrance. Men collecting phones and Guar
ASHER I didn’t want to be here. It was the last place on the planet I wanted to be. These were the last people on Earth I wanted to spend the day....or the night, with. But here I was, sitting in a meeting with my men, the captains, and the leaders of my famiglia. It was necessary. I had to know w
ARIELLA Alan takes a step closer, his eyes darting around the room as if checking we’re truly alone. His hands are clenched slightly at his sides, and there’s a hardness in his jaw I haven’t seen before. “I… I don’t have much time,” he says, his voice low, urgent. “Something’s happening, Ariella..
ASHER I didn’t know where I was going. I just knew I couldn’t stay in that room. Not with her staring at me like that. Not with everything inside me cracking wide open. So I kept walking, down the hallway, down the stairs, through the house that now felt too quiet, too heavy with what hadn’t been
ARIELLA I rub my temples, trying to push the ache away, but it only grows heavier, pressing against the sides of my skull like it’s trying to split me open. My breathing feels too loud in the silence. I don’t even know why I’m thinking about trusting Alan. Maybe because right now, he’s the only







