LOGINBELİNDAThe fire between us had already been ignited once.And this time, I had zero intention of putting it out.As he continued to devour my lips as if they were burning him, he pulled back for a split second."If you're going to stop, you'd better do it now."I did something much better than answering and crashed back onto the lips heād just pulled away."Kiss me!"The first time, the thought of stopping him hadn't even crossed my mind until the door knocked. Now, I wasn't sure I could control myself at all."With pleasure," he murmured, biting and tugging at my lower lip with his teeth. My hands quickly reached for the buttons of his shirt.Ugh! Stripping him wasn't exactly easy while my legs were wrapped tightly around his waist, refusing to let go. My body and my brain were still at war. I managed to bypass my entire brain and let my body take the lead.I unclasped my locked legs and nudged him to put me down."What!" he gasped against my mouth. "If you're backing out, I'm going
DARİANONE MONTH LATER"I think your problem is that you just can't find a middle ground," Amanda said.I reached out and grabbed a handful of peanuts from the bowl. I sipped my strong black coffee and nodded."To hell with the middle ground!""Even if they don't come together on purpose, when they do, they're like a fireball ready to explode," Julia said.We were gathered in the part of the villa that belonged to Luke and Rose. Taking advantage of the fact that the men weren't around, we were enjoying the pool and the terrace.After messing around in the water enough, weād prepared some snacks and coffee and moved on to gossip hour.If even two women coming together can start "gossip time," you can guess what happens when four women get together.The agenda was us, of course. The fleeing rabbit and the chasing hound...Good news! I was the hound.The rabbit was, well, you know who."Do us a favor," Amanda said. "My brotherās ner
DARIAN I wanted him found as soon as possible too, but when Belinda said it, it felt like she was pushing all my buttons. "I just want everyone to go back to their own lives. And honestly, the urge to spit in that manās face is weighing pretty heavy. Itās not about you," she said, placing her hand on my arm. She slid her fingers down slowly, almost stroking me. "So, don't get all tense!" A sly little smirk spread across her face. "Anyway," she said, breaking the contact. "If thereās nothing else you want to talk about, Iām heading to the table. I shouldn't hover in your radar too much!" "There isn't," I said through gritted teeth. "Fine then." She winked and headed for the terrace. If sheād made that move while we were alone, Iād have shown her exactly what my radar could do! What was this womanās deal? Where did this sudden flirting and coquetry come from? And she was winking at me like she wanted it! She acts like she doesn't want to be on my radar, but then she makes
DARIAN"Open an account in Belindaās name. Deposit this into it.""Whatās this?" Luke asked, looking at the check and the cash Iād handed him."The debt Belinda paid me.""I knew you wouldnāt keep it. But why the complicated runaround? Just tell her, āYou don't owe me anything, keep your money,ā and be done with it. Why do we have to open the account, man?"If she thought she didn't owe me anything, the chances of her taking off were pretty high. I couldn't let her leave until we found the crew. After all, Belinda was the only one who knew the face of the prick who took my place."It has to be this way. Just do what I told you! And speed this shit up already. What happened to that genius brain of yours? You got married and lost your edge! You shouldāve found a lead by now.""Iām looking. Nothing came out of the camera footage. Thereās no trace of the guy to even start a trail. Iām going to dig back into the files of the women who gave statements to the police. Letās see if something p
BELİNDA After changing my clothes, I studied myself in the mirror. Should I go? Should I not? One part of me said, "Youāve come this far, itād be wrong not to go." The other part said, "Let him rot for all I care." And there I was, a pathetic mess, bouncing back and forth between the two thoughts like a pinball. I coded the right mirror in front of me as "go" and the left as "don't go," and started swinging my hand between them while reciting a nursery rhyme. āSee? It came up ādon't goā!ā I pouted. I wasn't sure about the result. To confirm, I started a different rhyme this time. āIt came up ādon't goā again!ā I said to myself. āWhat the hell are you doing?ā I jumped at the sound of the voice. Spinning around sharply, I locked eyes with Darian, who was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed in that impossibly charismatic way.
DARİAN āHeās still talking!ā My furious gaze snapped back to Michael. āAre you going to take your brat, or do you just not give a fuck if this place gets trashed?ā Michaelās bodyguards had already surrounded us. At that moment, a slender hand gripped my arm. āStop it! What are you doing?ā My eyes found Belinda, who was holding my arm. I hadn't even realized when sheād climbed down from the stage and rushed over to us. āGirl, why are you jumping in? Why the hell did you leave the stage!ā My God! I swear, she was pulling trouble toward herself on purpose. āWas I supposed to just watch?ā āYes,ā I said shortly. Meanwhile, Reene, held upright by the guards, said in a dazed and admiring voice, āDamn, sheās even more beautiful up close!ā āGet this dog out of here!ā I said, looking at Michael. āOr heās going to die by my hands!ā He straightened up from the pillar he was leaning aga
BELINDA"You couldn't help yourself when you saw him, rubbing against his legs!" I shrieked at Paspas. She had no shame whatsoever."Ungrateful creature. I'm the one feeding you! Why are you rubbing against him?"She purred. All she ever did was purr and meow anyway. Why was I getting angry at a ca
DARIAN"You'll be asleep by the time I get back," I said. "Weāll settle that debt business tomorrow. Then youāll head over to the fashion house Michael mentioned.""Fine," she said, licking her lips. She struggled quite a bit to get the words out as she added, "Thank you." I could see in her hazel
DARIANThe phone started ringing in the middle of the meeting; despite me hitting decline, it kept ringing over and over.āI have to take this,ā I said, standing up and walking toward the window.āYes, Eldon?āāMr. Darian, Ms. Belinda has left. She asked for the bus stop on her way out. I suggested
BELİNDAāSit still. The boss wants to see you.ā I knew exactly who it was. My heart was thumping so hard against my ribs that I didn't know what to do.I struggled. I didnāt have a penny to my name. The man had said, āIf the money isnāt ready the next time we meet, you'll wish you were dead.ā His w







