Hey, lovelies! I know the updates have been a little all over the place, school had me in a chokehold but I’m back! 🫣 This chapter marks a big shift: Maddie and Adriano are finally taking that first step into something more. Also, for everyone asking about Alessia and Rino, yes, there will be little glimpses of them! And I might just drop a short story about them after this book... or maybe even during. Stay tuned. 😌 Hope you enjoy this chapter, can’t wait to hear what you think! XOXO 💋
Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡Eight weeks of waking up wrapped in Adriano's arms, somewhere impossibly beautiful. From the overwater villa in Bora Bora, where the ocean was so clear I could see fish dancing beneath my feet, to the glass igloo in Lapland, where we fell asleep under the northern lights. From Positano’s sun-soaked cliffs to a private riad in Marrakech that smelled like roses and saffron. We’d shared midnight picnics under the Eiffel Tower. Raced yachts off the coast of Capri. We drank champagne in a rooftop hot tub in Kyoto.Everywhere we went, people stared. Maybe it was the custom-tailored suits, or the glittering watch on his wrist. Maybe it was the way his security always formed a discreet but deadly circle around us. He always had his hand on me, my hip, my neck, the small of my back, like he couldn’t stand the idea of someone else breathing too close.I kept thinking, this can’t be real. This kind of love, this kind of life, it was the stuff people only got for a week
Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡I woke up to sunlight. I blinked against it, still half-asleep, limbs heavy, brain fuzzy. And then I moved just a little.Oh.I let out the softest whimper, my face scrunching. Everything hurt. My thighs ached, my hips were sore, and my holes burned with every twitch of a muscle. I shifted again and bit down on a gasp as the pressure hit all over again.That was when his heavy muscled arm wrapped tight around my waist.“You shouldn’t be moving yet,” he muttered, voice rasped and ruined from sleep. “Not after last night.”I smiled, because I couldn’t help it, “I just wanted to stretch.”“You stretch, you bleed,” he said, already propping himself up. “Don’t make me tie you to the bed.”I giggled before I could stop myself, and then immediately winced again.He leaned over me, his eyes dark as he scanned my face. “You’re in pain.”“A little,” I said sweetly, trying not to look like I was dying. “Nothing I can’t handle. I mean… I guess that’s what happens when you
Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡 He grabbed my wrist and pulled me up fast, off my knees, off the floor, onto the bed and spun me around like I weighed nothing. I let out a breathless laugh, but it died in my throat the second I saw where he was taking me. The mirror. He dragged me to the edge of the bed and bent me forward, palms flat on the mattress, knees sinking into the sheets. My ass up. Back arched. Face pointed directly at the floor-length mirror across from us. The one he installed a week ago. I’d thought it was decorative. Now I knew better. He stood behind me, both hands spreading my ass. I could feel him, not inside yet, just pressed there, pulsing, wet with spit. “I put that mirror there for a reason,” he muttered, “So I could watch your face,” he said, “the first time I take your ass.” My eyes met his in the mirror. His hand came down hard on my ass, the sound echoing off the walls. I yelped, thighs clenching, but stayed in place, back arched, body already opening for
WARNING: This is your cue to lock your door, grab a snack, and mentally prepare. It’s about to get real explicit. 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡 Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡 There wasn’t a single inch of me he hadn’t kissed, bitten, tasted like I was something decadent he didn’t want to share. My back hit the fogged-up shower glass, hands scrambling for balance, too far gone to think straight. My skin was slick with heat and water, my hair half-stuck to my cheeks, and my thoughts. God, my thoughts were nothing but static and stars. One leg was draped over his shoulder, the other barely keeping me upright, but I couldn’t have moved even if I tried. Not with what he was doing. Not with his mouth buried between my thighs like he was trying to memorize me from the inside out. “A-Adriano—” His name left me in a breathy whimper that didn’t sound like me at all. He didn’t answer, he just groaned low against me and the sound of it rumbled through every nerve I had left. My head dropped back against the g
Adriano ⫘☠︎︎⫘The moment I saw the blood on Alessia’s hands, something in me snapped with rage. That sharp kind of rage that rolls up your spine and sinks its teeth into the back of your skull.Alessia was supposed to talk to Rino Lombardi.Talk, just words, it was controlled, secured and diplomatic. One-on-one. It was supposed to be clean before we even considered signing off on a truce.So if that bastard had touched her, If he’d laid a single fucking finger on her and she’d put a knife in him for it?Good fucking riddance. I’d make sure his body was dumped somewhere it’d never be found, not in a river, not in a grave, not even ash in the wind.I stepped into the room, “Alessia. What happened?”She turned slowly, she seemed too calm for someone with someone else’s blood drying on her skin. Her eyes dropped to her hand, then lifted back to mine.“It’s not mine,” her voice was low. I gave a short nod, jaw ticking, “Yeah. I can see that,” I stepped closer, “But if you killed him? Do
Madeleine 𓎢𓎠𑄻𑄾𓎠𓎡Two weeks.That’s all it took for my world to flip upside down, inside out, and somehow land perfectly in place.Two weeks and now I was standing behind these ridiculously tall church doors, wearing a dress I never thought I’d be brave enough to put on, about to marry the man who walked into my life like a hurricane and somehow became my calm.My heart was pounding, no, it was slamming against my ribs like it wanted out. My heart wanted to sprint down the aisle before I even moved.I held the bouquet tighter, my fingers trembling around the stems. The flowers smelled sweet, kind of like sugar and spring, and I couldn’t stop staring at them. Because if I looked straight ahead, I’d cry. And if I looked up at my mom and dad, both standing beside me... my mom already glassy-eyed, my dad chewing the inside of his cheek like he was holding something back, I knew I’d lose it completely.I blinked fast, trying to keep the tears from messing up all the makeup the stylis