ANMELDENI settled onto the darkest stool at the counter and made an imperative gesture to the bartender."Put a bottle of vodka and a bottle of whiskey on the bar right now," I ordered him, throwing a wad of crumpled bills onto the damp wood.The employee observed the money and hesitated a second before responding:"Sir, that volume of alcohol is too concentrated for just one person in a single session…"."Pour the fucking drink and keep your shit advice to yourself!" I interrupted him with a murderous fixity that made him swallow hard all at once.I grabbed the first bottle by the neck and drank directly from the spout, feeling the burning liquid scorch my throat.I needed to turn off my head once and for all, to silence the guilt that was eating me alive inside.In my mind a thousand possible routes spun regarding where Luke could be hidden, but all the equations led me to a blind spot.I drank without pausing, finish
FREDERICK’S POV Three weeks. Three goddamn weeks of absolute silence. For twenty-one straight days there was not a single alert from the radars at the ports nor a single bank record under Luke's name. I lost complete control over Sigma's board of directors. The calls from the customs investors accumulated on my desk, but I didn't even bother to pick up the receiver. I stopped eating regularly, my hours of sleep were reduced to violent nods on the sofa, and my routine became fueled solely by paranoia, packs of cigarettes, and glasses of whiskey. At the beginning of the fourth week, the summer finally came to an end and activities at the university campus resumed their official course. The following day I turned off the armored car's engine to one side of the central parking lot of the law faculty at six-thirty in the morning. I stayed leaning against the hood, feeling the freezing early morning air cut across my face, keeping my eyes fixed on the main staircase where s
I sighed deeply, the exhaustion of alcohol and rage taking its toll on my temples. I passed my hand over my face. "I didn't do anything to him, Riley," I told her, my voice coming out flat. "It was the whore Anastasia." Riley arched her eyebrows, surprised. "Anastasia?" she repeated. "What does that bitch have to do with this?". "She went up to the guest room while I was drunk on whiskey," I broke down for her with bitterness, clenching my jaw. "She took off her clothes and threw herself on top of me on the mattress. Luke opened the door right at that goddamn second and saw us." Steven, who was already sitting next to the minibar cleaning his face, let out a short, highly mocking laugh. "Are you serious, Bayron?!" Steven mocked, shaking his head. "What a genius. I am goddamn sure that if Riley finds me fucking another woman in a bedroom, she not only leaves the house; she cuts my dick off with a kitchen knife." I looked at him with a murderous fixity, my face contracting
FREDERICK'S POVHOURS LATER"What do you mean he evaporated from the mansion?!" I roared in one of my guards' face, grabbing him by the suit lapels.The officer didn't blink, although paleness covered his face."We checked the cameras at the central guardhouse and the west wing gates, Mr. Bayron," the man informed. "Mr. Luke didn't cross the guards' perimeter.""It's impossible he didn't leave, moron!" I shouted, giving him a rough push that made him crash against the doorframe.How the fuck could Luke leave without being seen by the cameras? I pondered in my head over and over until finally a maid passed near me with one of the banquet trays from the garden."The service…" I whispered, clenching my jaw.I walked at savage strides through the grand living room. I grabbed a coffee table and kicked it with rage, sending it to crash against the wall. The glass shattered to pieces on the floor.I was beside myself.I went down to the basement at a firm pace, looking for the maids. I grabb
Luke, for his part, did not head to his room of the main suite nor did he walk toward the mansion's exit; he knew perfectly well that Frederick's men controlled the access and would register his exit. He walked straight toward the internal kitchen, crossed the gelid hallway of the service basement and followed with precision the indications the maid had given him.He arrived in front of the solitary gray metal door, turned the bolt and went straight out to the back alley, where there were no security cameras or armed guards watching the terrain. He crossed the secondary wooden gate and, without bothering to ask for a taxi, began to walk at a rapid pace under the night gloom of the road.He walked a little more than ten minutes in the middle of the night; the exact time in which Frederick delayed in saying goodbye in a protocol way from the last guests of the board and in signing the trust fund acts.Frederick entered the grand living room searching for his husband, but the space was d
THIRD PERSON POV Frederick, upon seeing Luke's silhouette disappear into the threshold, felt a destructive rage.The alcohol seemed to evaporate from his brain in a second."Luke! Wait... shit!" Frederick roared.He took Anastasia's bare body by the shoulders and threw her with brutal force against the messy mattress.She let out a cry of annoyance, arranging her hair."But what the fuck is wrong with you, Frederick?!" she snapped at him, furious. "We were having fun like in the old times!"."Shut your damn mouth, bitch!" Frederick shouted at her.He was drunk, his head was spinning and he couldn't coordinate his words with the usual speed, but the contained rage tightened his muscles.Anastasia returned the insult, crawling back toward him over the sheets with a lewd fixity."Don't speak to me like that, Bayron," she hissed. "Your dick says the opposite."Frederick checked her dead in her tracks, pushing her from the chest with a rough movement. He took her with force by the neck, s
LUKE’S POVThe taste of Riley’s mouth was sweet, like the cherry lip gloss she always wore, and her lips felt soft against mine. But instead of enjoying it, a wave of discomfort crawled up my spine as her lips moved with a desperation that suffocated me.I didn't feel that spark that burns your lun
I stood there, in the center of the Grand Hall, my ears ringing. The revelation of Rusty and Frederick as my new stepbrothers had left me in a state of numb shock.Every fiber of my being screamed at me to run, to go back to our small, dilapidated apartment, but my feet were pinned to the marble."
Through the window of the armored car, the outside world seemed to fade away, replaced by a private road flanked by ancient oaks that closed over us like the claws of a giant.When the vehicle finally came to a halt, the air escaped my lungs.It wasn't a house. It wasn't even a mansion. It was a mo
Luke’s POVThe bitter aroma of freshly roasted coffee was the only thing keeping my nerves in place as I hurried through the halls of St. Hale University.Today was my 18th birthday. The day my boyfriend, Rusty Bayron, was finally supposed to introduce me to his world.For six months, Rusty and I h







