LOGINThe silence in the drawing room stretched, thick and uncomfortable.Viola’s heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs. Every single eye in the room was fixed on her, but the only ones she could actually feel were his. Sebastian's striking amber gaze pinned her in place, heavy and unreadable through the curl of his cigarette smoke.She opened her mouth, but her throat seized. The words refused to form. Her hands shook visibly at her sides."I—I—" she stammered, her voice barely a broken whisper.Before she could force out an actual sentence, Vanessa stepped sharply into Sebastian's line of sight. Her flawless face was a tight mask of forced amusement and simmering rage."Oh, please forgive her, Sebastian," Vanessa said, letting out a dry, artificial laugh. "Viola barely knows how to string a sentence together. She is painfully socially inept."Sebastian didn't look at Vanessa. He didn't even shift his head. He just kept his cigarette resting between his lips, his gaze remaining
Viola spent the rest of the day hiding in her tiny bedroom.She didn't go down for lunch, and she skipped dinner entirely. She just sat on the edge of her bed, her knees pulled tight to her chest, waiting. She expected her mother to burst through the door at any second. She expected to be dragged to the dark storage rooms and punished for eavesdropping.But no one came.He had caught her sneaking, but he hadn't told her mother.Viola couldn't understand why. Why would he keep her secret? He clearly didn't care about her. But no matter how hard she tried to make sense of it, her mind kept looping back to the forbidden name.Diego.She remembered the way Sebastian’s posture had snapped. She remembered the lethal, murderous energy radiating off his massive frame. Whoever Diego was, the mere mention of his name had almost pushed her stepbrother to kill his own father.By 2:00 AM, the estate was dead silent, but Viola’s mind was still racing. The walls of her small bedroom felt like they w
The study in the Hierro estate always smelled the same. Old leather, expensive scotch, and decaying power.Sebastian stood near the massive mahogany desk, looking out the large window that overlooked the manicured gardens. He wasn’t wearing a suit jacket, just his dark shirt, unbuttoned at the collar. He took a slow drag from his cigarette, exhaling the smoke against the glass, completely ignoring the man sitting in the heavy leather chair behind him.“You cannot keep running your operation from the forest,” Rafael snapped, his gravelly voice rising in volume. “You are the head of the Hierro family now. You are the Spanish Boss. You need to sit in the chair. You need to take the family business seriously instead of playing cartel king in the dirt.”Sebastian didn’t flinch. He didn’t even blink. He just tapped the ash from his cigarette into a crystal tray.Rafael had been giving this same speech for three years. He couldn’t stand the fact that his son had taken the mafia crown but ref
Viola stood in front of the small mirror in her bedroom, her fingers gently touching her jaw.Yesterday, right after her mother’s hand had cracked across her face, Viola had run to the bathroom and desperately covered the angry red mark with cheap foundation. Now, with the makeup washed off, a faint, yellowish-blue bruise stained her pale skin.A quiet, sad laugh left her lips. Her mother was a religious person. She went to church every single day, praying to God to keep sinners and filth away from their family, yet she never hesitated to strike her youngest daughter.Viola had never worn a short dress in her entire life. But the exact second Vanessa told their mother she found that cheap red dress in Viola’s closet, Octavia believed her blindly. She didn’t even give Viola a chance to speak. Vanessa could parade around the house in short, tight dresses all day and be called flawless, but Viola was always the filthy sinner.Octavia never listened to Viola’s side. It was always like tha
Dinner ended exactly as it began—stiff, quiet, and suffocating.Viola didn’t wait for Vanessa or her mother to stand up. The moment Rafael pushed his chair back, she slipped away from the table. She kept her head down, tracing the edge of the hallway until she found the heavy glass doors leading to the east terrace.She pushed them open and stepped into the cool night air.Her chest heaved as she took a slow, uneven breath. The anxiety that had been wrapping around her throat all evening finally loosened. She leaned against the stone railing, wrapping her arms tightly around her ribs.It was quiet out here. Safe.A sharp, metallic click broke the silence.Viola froze.In the far corner of the terrace, a small flame flared in the dark. It illuminated a strong jaw, the faint scar near the mouth, and a pair of cold amber eyes.Sebastian.He closed the silver lighter with a snap. The scent of tobacco drifted through the cold air as he exhaled a thin stream of gray smoke. He didn’t move fr
The heavy oak doors of the Hierro estate always felt too tall, like they were designed to make whoever walked through them feel small.Viola pulled the sleeves of her oversized sweater over her knuckles. She kept her head down, hoping her hair would fall over the sides of her face. Maybe if she stayed quiet enough, invisible enough, the evening would pass without any of the usual comments."Stand up straight, Viola," Octavia’s voice cut through the silence of the massive hallway, as cold and polished as the marble floor. "And for God’s sake, fix your hair. You look like you just climbed out of a gutter."Viola flinched, immediately dropping her hands from her sleeves and tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Sorry, mother."Vanessa brushed past her, smelling of expensive perfume and looking effortless in a tight, midnight-blue dress. She stopped, turning around with a cheap, neon-red mini dress in her hand."Mother," Vanessa said smoothly. "Look what I found in Viola's wardro







