Cameras flashed as we entered, the room’s collective energy shifting to follow us like a tide turning.And then Richard kissed me.There was no subtlety. He took my face in his hands and kissed me like we were the only people in the room. No apology. No hesitation. It wasn’t staged or practiced. It
AmeliaWhen the orphanage director appeared on the morning broadcast, my hands froze halfway through my braid. The woman was in her sixties, with neatly pressed curls and a face lined with decades of care. Stern but kind, always consistent in her expectations and love, and grounded in a moral certai
“That’s not the point,” I said, my voice cracking. “I never asked you to choose me over your duty. I didn’t want you to lose everything.”“You are everything,” he said simply. “And they can’t take that from me.”I turned away, the weight of it all pressing into my lungs. “You’re going to lose your t
RichardThe council chamber had never felt colder. The air inside wasn’t cold from temperature but from judgment, from the kind of silence that makes your skin crawl. That silence followed me like a shadow through the halls of the Pack House, from the moment the headlines hit to the second I pushed
“You take me so well,” he muttered. “Always so perfect for me.”My body tightened as his hand slipped between us, fingers stroking where we met. My thighs shook.“I’m close,” I gasped. “Don’t stop.”“I won’t,” he said. “I want to feel you clenching around me.”I tipped over the edge with a sharp cry
AmeliaI wasn’t sure where we were going until the air began to shift. The further we drove, the cleaner it smelled. Pine needles, damp soil, and crisp mountain air replaced the heavy tension that usually followed us. Richard drove with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on my thigh. The si