It had to be a mistake; Lily wouldn't hide such crucial information from him. She wouldn't put herself in harm's way. Who was he kidding? The Lily he knew would walk into disaster with eyes wide open. "We had a deal, you bastard," Adler clenched his jaw, trying to contain the mix of anger and frustration bubbling inside him. "You were to leave Lily out of this."There was a brief silence on the other end before a lengthy, low-pitched laughter followed by the voice, "Adler, come on, we just talked. She's fun to speak to; I couldn't resist."It was difficult for him to think or form words due to the rising heat in his chest; all he wanted was for the fucking game to end."Did you cut me off, little cousin? It was getting hard to reach you all of a sudden," Ruslan continued. "By the way, congratulations on your nuptials. She sounded extremely happy when she broke the news. Where is she anyway? Beside you? She was in the garden the last time I checked."His fears were confirmed. The ba
KYRAIf Rune wasn't on the run after she had given him a heads-up that Adler was on the lookout for him after finding out he helped Lily communicate with Ruslan, she wouldn't be here.None of that would have happened if he hadn't brought it upon himself, so tell her why she had to be the one present for Laron's art and craft, which involved making bracelets out of alphabet beads.They were in a large, noisy hall, with each group of children wearing a different colored shirt that matched their group. Laron was in yellow, and just like the last time she checked, his eyes weren't on his bead and string, but on a girl in another group who was in a red shirt.Kyra gazed at the forgotten string in his hand; his alphabet beads formed the word 'CHLOE', and she instantly comprehended the situation.Despite the noise of children and parents and the discomfort of her formal attire, she started selecting beads, unsure of the message she wanted to create.Her name? That sounded about right. With a
LARON"Do you have a hobby, buddy? football?" The only good thing about being here was the food; other than that, it was all a waste of time, Laron thought as he stuffed his mouth with steak, not to mention the high-placed man looking into his face and forcing conversations.Some distance away from Laron and Luigi, Kyra stood nearby, feeding and caressing a horse. Her excitement contrasting with the gentleness she used to brush its mane.She seemed so different from her usual self; the soft care she had used on him back at the art and craft studio was on full display, and for a moment, he was jealous of the horse and detested the man who owned it.As Kyra waved and Luigi waved back, the smile on his face disappeared. Why did this man always invade his space?Maybe if he ignored him, he would be left alone."I play golf sometimes." Luigi picked up his half-field glass of wine. "What do you play?" "Nothing." His answer was a snap; perhaps the wealthy boy would catch on quickly and ta
SALVATOREFor the first time in weeks, he was out of the manor and, as far as he could tell, unsupervised.The conclusion derived from watching his back constantly as he drove and he hadn't spotted a car following him. He sat opposite Father Armando now, a desk between them and the returned rosary lying pretty on it. God, how he yearned to get it clasped around his neck once again."It's been hard to reach you these days," Father Armando said, observing him. "I see you also lost weight." He wasn't sure he could take it any longer; he'd have to find a way out of Sicily, even if it meant shoving his pride down his throat and calling Adler. "It's been hard to reach you for weeks; I was worried," Father Armando said, observing him. "That's valid because here you are a shadow of yourself.""Not that bad,"' Salvatore answered, knowing he was lying to himself; he had stood before the mirror hours ago, staring at his hollow eyes and gaunt cheeks. "Why am I here?"Father Armando sighed, the
Lily"...I’ve always been his, and he’s always been mine."I shut the book I had been reading aloud to a couple of senior citizens, my relief and sadness of leaving another fictional world to face my harsh reality.Catching myself in time before I slipped into my daily dose of sadness, I looked at my listeners, all sitting on the same settee, attention still on me, and I knew they shared my sadness about it ending."Finn reminds me of my late husband," Clare, one of my patients under me, whispers as if she was telling me a dirty little secret.I chuckled, standing on my feet, knowing there was about to be trouble. Counting mentally, I was at three when another voice of a grey-haired woman grumbled, "Enough of your fictional husband." I saw Sarah rolling her eyes at Clare, her hand curling around her walking frame as she struggled to stand up.It didn't stop Clare from staring at her ring and smiling fondly at memories she had made up from my constant reading to them of my romance boo
"You have to get married to him, Lily.." I watched him raise his glass and sipped from his wine, looking unaffected by the death sentence he just spilled on me.My throat suddenly went dry as my fingers began to dig into my skin; I fidgeted and stared at the familiar face in the portrait, the angry dark eyes, the raised chin, and the hollowed cheekbone.Enzo Dimitri, best friends with Greg, wasn't the kind of guy I liked to be around, and you guessed it, he wasn't the type of guy that wanted ordinary people around him.He wasn't the kind of man with marriage in mind; what happened?Greg saw the question in my eyes and answered them, "Dimitri needs one of his sons to fill in his position back in Russia, and the only way Enzo is getting in is if he gets married."With a shaky breath, I demanded, "And you thought I was going to be perfect for a devil-like Enzo, Greg? You know who he is! You know what he can do!"He leaned in and grinned in my face, his fingers under my chin, "Did you th
I stepped out of the Taxi to find my landlord next to the blue building with peeling paint that was my abode which I shared with my mum and little sister.Seeing him, my first thought was to get back into the taxi and flee that Arena; maybe returning when it was almost morning or sleeping back at Lucia's place tugged at my mind.But then he immediately turned, spotting me on the sidewalk, and his face turned a shade of red, and it wasn't the cold.Squaring my shoulders, I scaled past running bicycles of rebellious teenagers before dodging balls of children trying to hit their goalpost made of piled stones; then finally, I stopped before Squalo, my landlord Squalo wasn't his real name, but few people knew what it was, and most of his Tenants weren't one of them, but I heard the reason he was called Squalo was because of his ability to instill fear in his debtors.And now I was one of them.Standing before him, I jumped into action, "Signor Squalor, things have really been tight lately
Hoodies had some way of making me feel safe. That it had been the clothing I had worn when Greg almost took advantage of me was the reason.It had taken him a lot of minutes trying to pull it off, giving me a chance to slam a kick into his groin—the best moment of my life.But now this gigantic hoodie was doing nothing to shield me from the coldness in Enzo's eyes, blonde hair slicked back just like Greg's, and his grey eyes held all the disgust he had for me.Surely Greg would have told him about me, and this had to be Greg's way of punishing me.Standing before them, hoodie cap over my head, eyes to the floor, but a few times raising my lash to stare at them, to see Greg's doting eyes on Enzo, whose heated gaze was on me.This was Greg's office, where his father's Art and photo frames were stuck to the wall. When I worked here with my mum, this was my favourite place to clean, intentionally spending hours in here but making sure not to touch any ammunition.The last time I had been