Se connecterLana’s POVI tell myself the truth up here in the bedroom. The one I am so afraid to admit.I missed him. I missed Ricardo. I missed him terribly. The past few days without him have been a quiet, aching loneliness, a void that nothing else can fill.I know I shouldn't miss him. I know what he’s done. I know the bruises he’s left, the cruel words he’s flung like knives, the nights he’s broken me down until I sobbed into the shower tiles.A sane woman would despise him, hate him so thoroughly that the very thought of him would rot her insides. But I’m not sane anymore. He’s dragged me past that.I start to feel something sensual, a desire that I know I can only quench myself. I want to touch myself, to ease the ache, to feel a bit of control, but I remember Ricardo’s warnings about touching myself.And I listen.Even here, alone, with no chance in hell of him finding out, I obey. I laugh bitterly at myself. “Pathetic,” I whisper. I’m obeying the bastard even when I don’t have to. What’s
Ricardo’s POVThe day has finally arrived; Angelo’s birthday.The day everyone has been waiting for. My little brother has been restless waiting for this day. He has been pacing and buzzing with youthful energy despite him turning 33.And of course, Antonella and Charles have been waiting for it to execute their own foolish plot. And me? I’ve been waiting too, but not for the cheap debauchery he’s promised his guests.No. Tonight is the night of initiation, the night he and I finally set into motion the master plan. But it isn’t only that. It’s also the night I face the consequence of the stupidest mistake I’ve ever made.I think back to the phone call I made to Angelo a few days ago. I confessed how I had acted on impulse and, in a moment of pure, selfish desperation, mistakenly proposed to Antonella.I also confessed what happened between her and me. I told him how I whispered Lana’s name in my sleep. How Antonella must have heard it. How she’s been acting strange since.Of all the
Ricardo’s POVThe morning light blinds and stabs at my eyes through the curtains until I’m forced awake. I reach across the bed, expecting the warmth of Antonella’s body, the smell of her perfume, or the weight of her arm over me. But my hand meets nothing but cold, empty sheets.That’s odd.Antonella never leaves before me. She’s clingy in that way. When she’s in love, she lingers. She stares at me, waiting for me to open my eyes, watching me breathe like I’m her favorite painting on the wall. Sometimes it’s irritating, but at least it tells me where her heart is. But today… she’s gone.I sit up, frowning. Where the fuck did she go?I pull on a shirt and step out of the bedroom. The hallways are quiet except for the soft noise of the maids beginning their chores. I catch sight of one, a young girl carrying a basket of laundry.“Have you seen Antonella?” I ask.“Yes, sir,” she replies nervously. “She’s out in the gardens.”Gardens? “The gardens? Doing what?”The maid hesitates. “Picki
Ricardo’s POVThere’s silence in the room. A silence I don’t often get in this house. No kids crying, no footsteps, no mother barking orders. Just stillness, and the sound of her breathing.Antonella lies beside me. Her body is curled into the sheets and her face is softened by sleep. For a moment, I study her as she sleeps.She looks fragile like this, and breakable. But I know she isn’t. She’s stronger than she looks, stronger than I ever give her credit for. That’s why I keep her close. That’s why I can’t let her go.But tonight, as sleep creeps up on me, I’m not thinking of her. I let sleep take me. And as it does, I see Lana in my dreams.The dream forms so vividly I almost believe it’s real. She’s standing in front of me with loose hair, falling over her shoulders. Her eyes, fuck, those eyes, they look like they’re begging me to fuck her.No woman has ever looked at me like she does. She looks at me like she sees right through my armor, right through the monster I’ve become. And
Ricardo’s POVThe house is silent when I return. My kids are gone. My mother is gone. It’s just me and Antonella now, and my employees, of course. But they don’t count.I head upstairs to my bedroom. I reach there to find the door wide open. I step inside and the sight stops me.Antonella. She’s packing her things into a box. Her hands are flying, her jaw looks clenched from where I’m standing and her movement is violent and furious.I stand there for a beat. “What the fuck are you doing, Nella?”She doesn’t turn back. She doesn’t stop packing. She just keeps throwing clothes into a suitcase. “No, no, don’t call me that.”I take a step closer. “Stop it.” I say calmly, despite everything I’ve been through today.She only moves faster, throwing things into her bag like she’s trying to erase me with every fabric she touches.Alright, that’s enough defiance from females for one day. I close the distance in a stride and my arms circle her from behind.My grip is firm, caging hers against h
Ricardo’s POVShe thinks she hides it well: the defiance, the fire in her eyes, the little tightness of her jaw. She wears it like a sleeve, like a shield she can wrap around her trembling body. But I see through it.She’s breaking inside, like a fragile thing cracking under the weight of her own foolish choices. I can see it especially when I told her I was going to kill her. That was when the sleeve slipped, even if it was only for a moment. I soak it all in.I think I’m done with her until I remember what Angelo told me; the plan we just hatched. I need to get moving.I lean down to her level, watching her skin prickle under my gaze. “You walked in here with your phone. Where is it?”She blinks at me, startled. Then she tries to steady her voice, but I hear the tremor anyway. “Your men took it. They put it in a paper bag. Over there.” She jerks her chin towards the window.I stroll over, enjoying the way her eyes follow me. Just before I reach the bag, she asks, “What do you need i







