I think I’ve given y’all enough chapters today. What do you think about the recent events? 👀 Xoxo. 💋
Chapter 32 Kegan ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ She was still trembling when I picked her up, her body completely boneless in my arms. The sheet had fallen away, and I didn’t bother retrieving it. There was no point in pretending modesty now. I carried her from the bedroom to the en suite bathroom attached to the secondary master. The space was all marble and chrome, designed for function rather than comfort. I set her down gently on the edge of the pristine bathtub. “Kegan,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and confused. “What are you doing?” “Aftercare,” I said simply, turning on the shower and adjusting the temperature. “Come on.” She didn’t move, so I simply lifted her again and carried her under the spray. The warm water hit her skin, and she made a small sound—not quite a whimper, not quite a sigh. I grabbed a washcloth and began cleaning her with careful, deliberate movements. Her neck. Her shoulders. The inside of her thighs, where my finger prints were most pronounced. Fuck, Kegan. You
Chapter 31 Estelle ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ “You want me to consent to that?” I asked, my voice shaky. “I’m not asking for consent,” he said. “I’m telling you what I’m going to do. And you’re going to say yes because despite how frightened you look right now, your pupils are dilated and you’re clenching your thighs. Even though your mind is still convincing you to run.” “I’m not thinking of running.” “Yes, you are.” He released my face and walked over to the sideboard, pouring two glasses of something amber-colored. He handed me one without asking if I wanted it. “Drink. You’ll need it.” I did, and the liquid burned down my throat—expensive whiskey, probably something I couldn’t even pronounce. “Third question,” he said, settling into one of the leather chairs like we were having a casual conversation. “What’s your pain tolerance?” “What?” “Pain,” he repeated. “How much can you take before you break? And don’t lie to me. I’ll know.” “I don’t—I’ve never—” “I know you haven’t.” He leaned
Chapter 30 Estelle ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ That sounded suspiciously like I was signing an NDA to become one of those things crazy spoiled mafia men love in movies…a submissive. I took one look at him and frowned. He was still waiting patiently for me to give him a response. Was Kegan into that kind of stuff? Bondage and surrender? He moved closer, and I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact. “You’ve been fantasizing about me for two weeks. Every night, according to you. Now that I’m here, now that I’m offering you exactly what you’ve been dreaming about, you seem speechless.” My throat went dry. “Let me think,” I said weakly. “I can say no?” “You can,” he agreed. I stood silently, hyperaware of the way his shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, how close he was standing, the fact that I could smell his cologne and the fact that if he was a bad person, he could kill me within the blink of an eye. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said quietly, reading my silence like it was writte
Chapter 29 Kegan ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ I’d been tracking Estelle for five days. Not in the obsessive way Pietro had been tracking her—though I’d discovered that particular piece of intelligence when I dug into the phone I’d taken from her in Italy. No, my tracking was more from a place of duty. I needed to know if she was safe, and the only way to do that was to understand her patterns. The library every morning at 8:47 AM. Home by 6:15 PM. She took the same route, stopped at the same café for coffee, and visited her friends some afternoons. Her life was small and predictable in a way that made it easy to protect, and it also made it devastatingly easy for someone like Pietro Catalano to exploit. Catalano. Of the Palermo Catalanos. A family that had been trying to move into territory that belonged to families allied with Russel’s territory for the last three years in the guise of a harmless import/export business. A family that understood the value of leverage, and apparently understo
Chapter 28Estelle✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦Two weeks back in England felt like two months.I was lying in bed staring at the ceiling of my childhood room. The same water stain in the corner, the same glow-in-the-dark stars my mum had put up when I was sixteen—and trying very hard to convince myself that Italy had been a dream. That the week with Kegan, the mafia, the kidnap, the near death experience, the way his eyes went cold when he said goodbye, all of it was just some elaborate fever fantasy my brain had constructed.It wasn’t working.My phone buzzed. Another notification from an unknown number. I didn’t need to look to guess who it was at this point. I’d tried blocking Pietro through his original contact, but apparently he had access to multiple numbers. Millie had finally convinced me to stop blocking without asking questions, which meant now I was just… ignoring calls from various incoming numbers that could be him.Or could be telemarketers. Probably wasn’t telemarketers though.I rol
Chapter 27 Estelle ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ I packed everything into the suitcase Grazia brought, and tried very hard not to think about how my hands were shaking. I tried not to think about the fact that in approximately four hours, I’d be on a plane flying away from Italy. Flying away from Kegan. Flying away from the entire surreal nightmare that had become my life. Tried and failed spectacularly. I was rolling my luggage down the hallway when I heard voices downstairs. Female voices. Loud ones. “Oh my God, this place is fucking insane!” That was Vivian. I’d recognize that voice anywhere—the same tone she’d used when we’d first arrived at the resort and discovered they had a swim-up bar. “Estelle! Estelle! Girl, where are you? This house is literally bigger than my entire neighborhood!” Despite the heaviness in my chest, despite the way I hadn’t slept more than twenty minutes the entire night, despite the fact that my heart felt like it was made of broken glass—I smiled. They were here.