LOGINFIORELLA’S POVI had lived through more horrors than most people would see in a lifetime, but nothing could have prepared me for the scene in front of me.Rhys lifted the axe and drove it into one of the men’s chests. The sound that followed—both from the act and his scream— would haunt me for the rest of my life.I stumbled backward, my legs giving out beneath me and dropping me down as blood sprayed across the floor.Rhys lifted the axe and brought it down over the man’s chest again and again until he stopped twitching and went still. By the time he finally stepped back, blood had spread across the floor beneath the body.Rhys’s breathing remained calm, and he looked no different than he had five minutes ago.Then he turned to the last man who already had his back against the door, desperately pulling the door knob behind him to get out. But it was sealed shut. Like everything had been planned. The man went on his knees and pressed his hands together. “No fui yo quien hizo esa
FIORELLA’S POV “Ouch.” Giulia had pushed a pin too far into my hair, and it poked my scalp. “I’m so sorry, Donna,” she said, her eyes wide with remorse as they held mine in the mirror. “It wasn’t intentional.” I forced a warm smile back, even though my stomach was turning in dreadful anticipation. “It’s okay.” She nodded and continued pinning my hair in a messy bun. The fresh tattoo on my arm burned beneath my robe sleeve, serving as a constant reminder of what had happened earlier. And of who was waiting for me downstairs. Mariah entered the room with a huge box in her hands. She placed it on the bed and lifted the lid. “The Don sent this for tonight.” It was a dress, but not just any dress. The black fabric looked expensive, and it was almost completely see-through. Delicate embroidery traced the sleeves and neckline, while diamonds glittered across parts of the bodice like scattered stars. Actual diamonds. It was beautiful. Which made me distrust it even more.
FIORELLA’S POVRhys didn’t respond. Again. His eyes moved down my body, and I followed his gaze to see I was straddling him in nothing but my bra and my underwear. Warmth crept up my face. “You pervert.”“I’m not the one half-naked and trying to rape her ex-boyfriend,” he said defensively. His eyes were everywhere on my body except my face.“If you wanted to hump on me like you used to,” he said, “all you had to do was ask. Even though I’d say no.”My cheeks flushed as the memories came rushing back. Long before I was comfortable enough to sleep with him, I had been perfectly content curled up in his lap, stealing kisses and rubbing against him until neither of us could think straight.The memory hit me so unexpectedly that I almost forgot it was a different person lying beneath me. A monster with the face of the man I once loved. A monster with the face of the man I now hated. “Do you even realize I’m holding a knife to your throat?” I asked, incredulous. “Or are you too busy
FIORELLA’S POV A shiver ran down my spine when I heard the word that I had been dreading. I turned to hold his eyes. “No. I won’t let you do this to me again. I won’t let you play with me like a toy.” Rhys stared down at me. “Too bad. I’ll play with you again and again until I tire of it.” My words failed me. I could only stare back at him in disbelief. He caught me and spun me around in the blink of an eye. “I don’t know why I bother giving you the chance to cooperate.” Before I could respond, a loud rip tore through the room, and my dress—whatever was left of it—went flying across it. “Rhys!” I was standing there in my lace bra and underwear, my face burning from humiliation. Whatever dignity I had managed to salvage after the last few hours disappeared with that dress. Standing half-naked in front of him felt less like being a person and more like being something he had unwrapped. He bent me over the table easily despite my efforts to fight back. “Just r
FIORELLA’S POVI blinked, the realization dawning on me. It was definitely expected for most wives to react in some ways to the presence of their husband’s mistress in their home.I wasn’t most wives. And I couldn’t care less where Rhys decided to get his dick wet as long as it wasn’t with me. In fact, she was doing me a very big favour and I should be thankful to her. But I also had to keep up my act. So instead I said, “It doesn’t matter who you are to him. I’m his wife and nothing can change that.”I wanted to wash my mouth with bleach right after for uttering such immature rivalry nonsense for a man I barely cared about. Celeste’s eyes glinted, as though I had given her what she wanted. “Don’t you know? If a man hates you enough, he’ll marry you.”A small part of me feared she was right.Hate was the reason Rhys married me. “Besides,” she continued. “Everyone knows the mistress is for loving and fucking, and the wife is just for babies and politics.”I exhaled deeply. “Where
FIORELLA’S POVIt was already dawn when we got back to the estate.I told Rhys everything that had happened, and he left afterward, leaving me alone with the maids.They immediately began bombarding me with wedding details I had missed over the last two days.I hated every second of it.I was freshly traumatized and still reeling from everything that had happened. I was too distracted to concentrate on anything.I couldn’t eat with the gory images still playing in my head.“You still haven’t made your choice for the wedding dress, Donna,” Giulia said, turning the pages for me. “Do you want lace or satin? Do you prefer a ball gown or something that hugs the curves?”I sighed and massaged my forehead. Not this bullshit again.A migraine had settled on top of my left eyebrow, refusing to budge no matter how much water I drank. I lifted my eyes to hers. “I’m sure anyone you pick will be fine. Skip to the next thing on the itinerary.”Giulia exchanged glances with Mariah, then turned bac
FIORELLA’S POVMy mother used to say the man you meet at nineteen will hurt you most. Unfortunately for me, I met two.One was dead.And the other was sitting beside me. The drive was quiet except for the sound of my harsh breathing. Rhys stared out the window, not bothering to spare me a glance
FIORELLA’S POV Nothing—absolutely nothing—could have prepared me for the sudden turn my life had just taken. First, I was ambushed and named as Papa’s successor in front of people who wanted nothing more than to gut me open. And the next second, I was told I had to marry someone I had promi
FIORELLA’S POVPROPERTY OF DON RHYSI stared at the fresh tattoo on my waist in the mirror hung on the wall of the office, rage brimming inside of me. The tattooed skin still burned. Yes, I was no stranger to ink—the tattoos on my body were proof of that—but having him tatted on my body without m
FIORELLA’S POVI shook my head, refusing to move despite the effect his command had on me. This had to be a very bad dream. I pinched my arm to make sure it was real. Rhys tilted his head to the side. “You can do as I say or endure the humiliation of forcing you myself.”“Just let me go.”His co







