登入Eliana's eyes shimmered with tears as she asked Cesare the question. Instead of answering, he pulled her head up for a kiss, but she struggled in his hold. She hit and slapped his chest. “Stop it. Damn it. You—” He pulled back and breathed hard, his chest rising and falling. “You cheated on me. I knew—” “Shut the fuck up. I haven't slept with anyone but you, wife. And I need to fuck those doubts out of your head. I would never leave you.” His hand moved down into the water, finding her already wet despite the water. His middle finger easily slid inside her hot channel, and she choked, her eyes fluttering closed. She held the edge of the tub. Then she moved back into the tub, putting some distance between herself and his prying fingers, recollecting herself. She didn't want this, though her body said otherwise. A sob caught in her throat, and she tried climbing out of the bathtub when Cesare caught her by the arm and dragged her back inside. “Don't fucking touch me!” she sc
Someone had come into Eliana’s room. She knew from the little creaking sound and that strange feeling one got when they knew there was another person occupying the same space. She sat up in the bathtub, a glass of scotch in her hand. The decanter and a bottle sat on the marble floor close to her. She had been getting ready to go meet with the man who had asked her to meet him but decided to soak herself in a warm bath before going out. And a club. She was still deciding whether she wanted to go to a club, but that hadn’t been decided yet. Eliana dropped the glass at the end of the tub, atop the small ledge there. She was stark naked beneath the water, and she didn't know who was there. She reached for the edge of the tub and tried to lift herself out of the water when her door slowly opened and someone stepped in. The lock clicked into place. She looked up and gasped, losing her grip on the tub and falling back into the water. “Enjoying yourself?” Cesare moved in, pulling o
CESARE "She knows." Cesare pulled his shirt over his head, then moved to the table and picked up his phone. He was in a hotel room in Milan. Giulio had called him the previous day to tell him that Eliana had suffered a panic attack while they were out. Someone had shown her something on his phone. A man. He had approached her. Her trusting nature would get her into a lot of trouble. Giulio had said she had almost fainted, but he and the others had caught her before things got worse. They had gone home afterward. Since then, she hadn't come out of her room. But when their eyes had met while at the eatery, hers had been glassy. What could that stranger have shown her to make her react that way? "What do you think she knows, Giulio?" Bianca was waiting for him downstairs. They had unfinished business to attend to. Bianca was the woman his father had wanted him to marry, had he still been alive. But his father hadn't known that his uncle was madly in love with the model. No
There was no fireplace in the office, but that didn't mean she couldn't make one. Eliana gathered all the files she could grab and walked around the counter. She threw them onto the marble tiles in the middle of the room. There were no matches, but she had seen a lighter in one of the drawers. She went back to the desk, took it out, and returned behind the counter. She picked up a bottle and the decanter on her way, holding the lighter between her lips. Eliana stood in front of the files scattered across the floor. She bent down and dropped the bottle beside them. Then she pulled the stopper out of the decanter and poured the alcohol over the pile. When she was done and the files were soaked, she picked one up, lit it with the lighter, and threw it onto the pile. The flames caught quickly, spreading across the papers and consuming them. She stepped back, carrying both bottles, and drank from the decanter. The flames danced in her eyes as she watched them burn. Smoke billowed
Eliana pulled off her clothes the moment she stepped into her room. The door was already locked. She didn’t want any form of disturbance. Wearing only her underwear, she picked up her bag from the bed and poured its entire contents onto the floor. She bent down and picked her phone out of the pile. It switched on as she swiped her thumb across the screen. No calls. No messages. She wasn’t expecting anything. Truly, she was okay. She was fine. This was an eye-opener. She needed to get a fucking hold of her life and leave Cesare. Eliana screamed and threw the phone at her vanity mirror. It shattered against the glass, sending shards scattering across the floor, where they glinted under the lights. She breathed hard and scratched at her head, her hair falling over her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She hiccupped. He had made a call about where he was going to meet her. He hadn’t been home. He was out, not answering the few calls she had shamelessly made over the past fe
The eatery was packed with people dressed in dresses, shorts, and tank tops. Some wore singlets. Summer was coming to an end when Eliana stepped into the place, Giulio at her back. She stared around, taking in the crowd. She had been cooped up for too long, and she had finally decided to come out. Cesare hadn’t come home in the past two days, not since they had an encounter in the dining room. He was an asshole. Eliana turned back to Giulio and grabbed his arm. She hated crowds. She always had panic attacks, but the house had been getting suffocating these days, and she needed to get out. “I want to get something at the counter. Please, can you get it for me?” He nodded. Eliana smiled and told him what she wanted. He nodded again and left to get it while she went to find a seat. She found a table beside the door, the only one remaining. It seemed no one wanted to sit close to the door. She waved when she saw Giulio standing and looking around, searching for her.







