The sun was brutal against the white stone of the hotel’s future facade, glaring down like it had something personal against me. Sweat clung to the back of my neck as I stood in the middle of the construction site, clipboard in one hand, phone in the other, mentally ticking off the delays we couldn’t afford. The contractors were fast—but the marble delivery was late again. I stepped away from the workers, ducking under scaffolding to get a moment of quiet. My phone buzzed in my hand, and I glanced at the screen.Jane.Finally, a reason to smile.I swiped to answer. “Took you long enough to call me back, traitor—”“I’m going to kill him, Emily. I swear to God, I’m going to fucking kill him.”I froze.Jane’s voice was sharp and furious, every syllable laced with white-hot rage. My stomach dropped like I’d missed a stair.“Jane?” I straightened, gripping the phone tighter. “What’s going on? Calm down—talk to me.”“I can’t calm down!” she snapped, voice cracking. “Not when that bastard h
I woke up wrapped in Lorenzo’s arms, his chest pressed firmly against my back, one leg thrown over mine, like he was afraid I’d disappear in my sleep. The morning sun streamed through the massive penthouse windows, casting a golden glow across the bed and illuminating his face in a way that made me forget how to breathe.God.He looked unfairly good in the daylight.His hair was a tousled mess from sleep and sex, his beard a little scruffier than usual. But it was the calm on his face that stole something out of my chest—a rare softness most people never got to see. It made him look younger. Sweeter. But still, unmistakably dangerous.I turned slowly in his arms, careful not to wake him, even though the movement made my thighs ache in the best way. Every part of me still buzzed from last night—from the way he claimed me like I was oxygen and he was suffocating. I smiled, letting my fingers trace the sharp line of his jaw, down to the dip of his collarbone.How the hell is this man for
The moment we stepped into the penthouse, the air changed.No words.No hesitation.Lorenzo’s hand wrapped around my neck—not rough, but firm, possessive, commanding. My breath caught, not in fear, but in anticipation. A moan escaped me, involuntary, and his eyes darkened with satisfaction as if that sound fed something feral inside him.His mouth crashed into mine with a hunger that felt like it had been building for hours, days, years. I kissed him back just as hard, my fingers twisting into the front of his shirt, dragging him closer, needing more. Needing him.He lifted me with no effort, his strong hands gripping the backs of my thighs, and I wrapped my legs around his waist like second nature. My hard hat and bag hit the floor with a dull thud. I didn’t care. All I could think about was the fire in his eyes, the tension in his body, the rough edge of jealousy simmering just beneath the surface.His mouth tore away from mine as he carried me down the hall toward the bedroom, his
My breath caught.Mr De Vito.The name alone felt like a jolt of ice water poured down my spine.No one else would know what that name meant to me. No one would know that behind the clean, crisp formality was the man who had spent the night memorizing the slope of my back with his mouth. The man who kissed me this morning like I was the only thing tethering him to the earth. The man who owned me in every way, even if no one else could ever know.Except now… Alessandro was right here. Right next to me.And Lorenzo—Mr De Vito—was calling.Shit. Shit. Shit.Alessandro leaned back slightly, one brow lifted. “You’re vibrating.”“I—what?” I blinked, flustered.“Your phone,” he said with a small grin. “It’s ringing.”“Right. Yeah.” I forced a breath, steadying my hand as I accepted the call and raised the phone to my ear. My voice came out smoother than I felt.“Hello, sir.”There was a beat of silence on the other end. Cold. Sharp.Then his voice came, low and dangerous. “Hello, sir?”My st
The hum of machinery and the rhythmic thuds of hammers filled the air, grounding me in the present, but my mind kept slipping back—to him.Lorenzo.I shouldn’t be thinking about him this much. I shouldn’t feel this flutter in my chest every time I remembered the way he kissed me this morning, soft and sweet, like a promise. I shouldn’t keep reliving the way his fingers traced my skin like he was memorizing every inch. But I did. Over and over.God, I was in deep.I adjusted my hard hat and squinted at the blueprint spread out on the makeshift table in front of me, trying to focus. The sun was beating down hard, sweat gathering beneath my collar, but it wasn’t the heat that made my skin feel tight.It was the secret.Ours.He’d agreed to keep it between us, and I knew it was the right decision. Still, pretending nothing had changed between us… it already felt impossible.My fingers clenched around the edge of the blueprint. I needed to pull myself together. I was on site, supervising t
“It was—”“Who?!” I roared, the word exploding from my chest like a gunshot. The barrel of the Glock pressed hard against his forehead now, sweat slicking his skin.He shook violently, snot and tears dripping down his face as he screamed, “It was a woman!”The air left my lungs in a cold, sharp rush. “What woman?”“I—I don’t know—please, I don’t know!”I shoved the gun harder against his skull. “What the hell do you mean you don’t know?!”“She—she had her face covered,” he stammered. “I never saw her! I swear to God, I never saw her!”I grabbed his collar and hauled him off the ground so fast he nearly choked. “You’re lying!”“I’m not—I swear—I swear on my mother’s grave!” he cried, clutching at my wrists. “She didn’t show her face! She wore a hood—tinted windows—I just met her in the alley behind the old gas station on Route 9! She handed me an envelope and told me what to do!”His eyes were wild now, darting around like a trapped animal. “That’s all! I don’t know who she is—please,