LOGINLia’s POVI put on the robe she had laid out. It was white and soft and too fine for how nervous my hands felt. Joella tied the belt for me like I could not be trusted with knots. Then she pushed me into the chair by the window and told me not to touch my face.“The artists are coming,” she said. “If you start crying before they get here, I will be forced to ruin my own morning.”“I am not going to cry.”“You always say that. And then you cry. And then I cry. And then we both look crazy.”A knock came at the door not long after.The makeup artist and the hairstylist arrived together, rolling black cases behind them, polite and quick, already looking at my hair like it was a problem they were happy to solve. They set up near the window where the light was best. Brushes lined up. Palettes opened. A steamer hissed once. The smell of clean powder and warm tools filled the room.Joella watched them like a sergeant.She stood with her arms crossed at first, then circled. She asked if they h
Lia’s POVShe hugged me back just as hard, champagne and perfume and that old familiar Joella smell, vanilla and trouble.“I’m going to miss you when you go on your honeymoon,” she said into my shoulder.“I’m not going away forever,” I said. “I’ll come back soon.”I pulled back enough to see her face and smiled through the tears.“Besides. You have Callum and Cavern to occupy your time. Or even better… occupy you.”She smacked my arm.“Lia.”“What? I said what I said.”She tried to look offended. She failed. Her ears went pink.“Drink your champagne and shut up.”I did, laughing.The box sat open between us, red lace and fur and all her love dressed up as filth. Outside, the island was dark. Tomorrow I would put on a white dress and walk toward the rest of my life.I woke up the next morning to the feeling of someone jumping on my bed.The mattress bounced. Once. Then again. Harder. A spring complained under us. I made a sound that was not a word and tried to pull the blanket over my
Lia’s POVTime on the island flew by so fast.One day I was still pressing ice to my cheek. The next, people started arriving. Then more people. Then flowers in rooms I did not remember asking to fill. The bruise faded from ugly purple to something makeup could hide. The villa filled with guests Victor and Dante had invited. Servers too. Trays. Glasses. Quiet footsteps in the halls at hours when the house used to belong only to us.And just like that, it was the night before my wedding.Matteo and Lola had arrived on the island that morning.I heard Matteo before I saw him. Small running feet on stone. His voice calling for Dante, bright and sure, like he already knew Dante would answer. When I came downstairs, he was already in Dante’s arms. He talked too fast about the boat and the water and whether there would be cake tomorrow. He asked if he could wear big-people shoes. Dante laughed and said we would see.Matteo was going to be our ring bearer.I could already see him in the litt
Lia’s POVVictor on one side. Dante on the other. The sheets cool, their bodies warm. Dante’s fingers moved slowly through my hair while he told us a story from his college days. Something about a stolen sculpture, a professor who never found out, and Cavern pretending he had nothing to do with it even though he had driven the car.Victor made a sound that might have been disapproval and might have been pride.“You’re smiling, babygirl,” he murmured.“I like hearing him talk,” I said.Dante kissed the top of my head. “That’s because you’re easy to please, baby.”“I am not.”“You are,” he said, softer. “In the best way.”When Dante finished the story, the room went quiet again.Victor’s hand was on my stomach, unmoving, thoughtful.“We need to talk to you about something, sweetheart.”I opened my eyes.Dante’s hand stilled in my hair.“Okay,” I said.Victor turned onto his side so he could see my face. The lamp on the nightstand made the silver in his hair catch. He looked at the bruis
Lia’s POVWe all walked into the villa.The house was cool after the helicopter and the sun. Stone floors. Open doors. Somewhere deeper inside, a curtain moved in the breeze. The faint smell of coffee and the sea met us in the entryway, familiar now, like the place had already decided we belonged to it.From the sitting room came the sound of low laughter.Easy. Unforced. The kind that belonged to men who had known each other long enough not to perform it.Victor, Dante, and Cavern were sitting together.They looked like they were having a good time. Glasses on the table. Sleeves rolled. Dante saying something that made Victor shake his head, that almost-smile of his showing at one corner. Cavern laughed under his breath and reached for his drink. For one second I just stood there in the doorway and watched them, the photo box against my chest, my cheek still tight from the ice and the slap.It should have been a beautiful thing to come home to.Then they saw us.Victor and Dante stoo
Lia's POVWe left the boutique.The door closed behind us and the street noise rushed back in, ordinary and too loud. Sun on stone. Someone laughing down the block. A scooter passing too close to the curb. My cheek throbbed. Joella’s fingers were still laced through mine, tight, like she thought I might turn around and go back inside.Callum walked us to the car without making a speech about it. He opened the back door. I got in. Joella slid in after me. The leather was cool. In the sudden quiet, I could still smell the shop on my skin. Perfume. New fabric. That thin metallic edge that meant someone had bled.Callum started the engine.“Ice,” he said. “Then you sit. Both of you.”Joella leaned her head against the seat. “I’m not dying.”“No one said you were. Your hand is split and her face is swelling. That is enough for one afternoon.”He drove us toward the water.I watched the town move past the window and tried to feel like the girl who had walked into that studio an hour ago. Br
I spun around with a sharp intake of breath, my hand flying to my chest.Victor stood just a few feet away, watching me with those piercing blue eyes. He was so quiet I hadn't heard him approach at all. He'd changed since earlier—now he wore a dark suit, perfectly fitted, the kind that probably cos
When I finally got to my room, I stopped in the doorway and just stared.It was beautiful. Really, genuinely beautiful. The room was spacious and airy, with high ceilings and large windows that looked out over the water. The last light of the evening was painting the Mediterranean in shades of oran
Lia’s POVThe words hit me like a physical blow. Like he'd reached across the space between us and punched me in the stomach.Better than I ever did.I thought about all the times I'd tried to please him. All the times I'd gotten on my knees for him, wanting to make him feel good, wanting him to wa
Those blue eyes. God, those blue eyes.Up close, they were even more intense than I'd noticed from across the room. They were the kind of blue you saw in pictures of the Mediterranean—deep and clear and impossibly bright. They held a sharpness to them, an intelligence, like he was taking in everyth







