เข้าสู่ระบบREINAMorning crept into the apartment in thin, pale stripes, slipping through the half-closed blinds and stretching across the living room floor.Calestino had fallen asleep on the couch sometime before dawn, but he was already awake when I came downstairs.He looked exactly the way he had the night before—black T-shirt, jeans, boots still on, like he had never really intended to sleep. A gun rested on the coffee table beside him, placed there with the casual ease of someone who had carried weapons his entire life.His gaze lifted from his phone the second he heard me.It was the same look he always gave me. Quick. Professional. Assessing.Checking to see if I was okay. Like I was his priority.“You sleep?” he asked.I shook my head, yawning. “Barely.” My voice sounded rough, like I had been swallowing sand all night. The truth was I hadn’t slept longer than an hour at a time. Every creak in the building had dragged me awake. Every car passing on the street had sent my heart racing.
REINAThe door slammed shut behind me with a violence I didn’t know I had in me. The sound echoed through the empty hallway like a gunshot, sharp and final, and I pressed my back to the wood as if I could physically hold the night outside. My chest heaved. My palms were slick with sweat. My nails had dug half moons into the meat of my hands so deep I could feel the sting now, belated and distant, like pain happening to someone else.I held my breath.Listened.The low growl of his engine started, idled for a heartbeat, then faded down the street. Gone. Just like that. The silence that followed was worse than the sound of him leaving. It pressed in from every side, thick and suffocating, settling into the corners of the apartment like smoke.I slid down the door until my ass hit the floor. Knees to my chest. Robe gaping open at the front. I didn’t bother closing it. What was the point? He had already seen everything. Touched everything. Ruined everything.My lip was bleeding. I had bit
DOMENICOThe lobby was too bright.The lights overhead were harsh, unforgiving white and sterile, like a hospital corridor. Every polished surface reflected too much: marble floors, glass walls, chrome edges. There was nowhere for shadows to hide, nowhere for me to tuck the things I had just said, the things I had admitted without trying to soften them.The concierge looked up when we stepped inside.Then he looked away just as quickly.He had seen that look before. On men who walked in whole and left fractured. On women who were not crying yet but would be the moment they were alone. On couples who did not touch each other even when standing inches apart.Reina’s hand was still in mine.Cold.Not pulling away but not holding on either. Her fingers rested limp against my palm, as if she had forgotten they were there. I guided her through the revolving door, my grip gentle, instinctive, the same way I had handled her all night. Careful not to hurt. Careful not to lose.The glass panels
DOMENICO “The first one was named Rose.”She went still. The name sat between us like a ghost.“She needed protection,” I continued. “A name. A connection that scared people away. I was that name, at least to her at the time. She knew what she was getting into.”“And you?”“I needed an heir.”Her lips trembled. “Say that again and see if I don’t throw this bottle at your head.”“I needed an heir,” I repeated quietly.She inhaled sharply through her nose.“She got pregnant on purpose,” I said. “I knew it. I let it happen. Thought it would be simple.”“Simple,” Reina echoed. “Did you ever once think about the woman? Or was she just a womb with a pulse?”“I thought about survival.”“And did she survive you?”The accusation in that question was brutal.“She wanted more,” I continued. “Marriage. Love. Permanence. I told her from the beginning I would not give that. I was not capable of it.”Reina leaned forward, eyes blazing. “Then why me? You said you want to marry me. What changed?”Bec
DOMENICO The water had gone tepid.Not cold enough to shock, not warm enough to comfort, just sitting there, heavy against my skin, clinging to Reina’s body like it didn’t want to let her go either. The jets had long since died down. The steam thinned. The room felt too quiet now, like it was holding its breath.Reina was still pressed to my chest, her cheek right over my heart, her hand splayed flat against my ribs.She was listening to me without meaning to.Every beat. Every hitch. Every stutter I couldn’t control.When she breathed in, I felt it expand under my sternum. When she exhaled, it was slow, measured, like she was bracing herself for something she already knew would hurt.Then she asked.“Tell me about them.”Four words.Soft. Careful. Not an accusation. Not a demand.Still, it felt like a blade slid clean between my ribs.My heart kicked once, hard and violent, like it was trying to escape before I could stop it. Shame rose fast and ugly, burning the back of my throat,
REINAThe bedroom still smelled like us, sweat, sex, lavender from the bath oil he’d poured earlier. My body felt like it had been taken apart and put back together wrong in the best way: heavy limbs, tender skin, a deep, pulsing soreness between my legs that throbbed every time I shifted. I couldn’t feel my pussy properly anymore, just a warm, swollen ache that reminded me of every thrust, every time he’d filled me until I sobbed.Domenico noticed the way I winced when he finally pulled out.He didn’t say anything. He just scooped me up, arms under my thighs, chest to my back, and carried me into the bathroom like I was something fragile he refused to drop.The tub was already running, steam curling up from the water, jets humming softly. He’d started it sometime between round three and round whatever number we’d lost count at. The air smelled clean, herbal, like eucalyptus and something faintly sweet. He stepped down into the water without hesitation, lowering us both until the heat
REINAI could tell something was wrong from the moment we got home. Domenico’s silence wasn’t normal, it wasn’t the kind that comes from being tired or distracted. It was the kind that made the air heavy. The kind that made you think twice before breathing too loud.He didn’t even look at me when w
REINA My heart stopped. I froze. How long had he been standing there?His voice.My head snapped toward the doorway, and there he was—Domenico—standing there, half in shadow, watching me. His eyes were dark, unreadable, but the edge in his tone made my whole body tense.“You're about to fuck your
DOMENICOI didn’t understand myself. I shouldn’t have been this angry. Not at her. Not really. And yet, the sight of her earlier, teasing, careless, daring… it had ignited something dark inside me. Something I couldn’t control.It wasn’t about the bar, or the dancing with some random boy anymore. T
REINA I’d only ever had sex—real, actual penetration—three times in my entire life.The first was with Andrew, my ex boyfriend who took my virginity and ditched me like it was nothing, and that felt like a billion years ago. The second time was during my freshman year of college. I still remember







