LOGIN•RAFAEL•I had never been a man who spoke soft words.All my life I believed softness was weakness. Love was a door you left open only long enough for someone to walk in and take everything from you. The only way to survive feeling anything was to make sure nobody ever knew that you did.And then I married a woman who had every reason to hate me.And she stayed anyway.The ceremony was small, and it was exactly the way she wanted it.We stood on a small island off the coast, on a stretch of white sand where the ocean breathed quietly behind us and the wind moved through the trees above.Polly had arranged everything. She stood off to the side now with her arms folded and smiled. Aneira had chosen the island herself. She said she wanted a place far away from the place with all our memories. She walked toward me across the sand wearing a simple white dress that moved with the wind. It was nothing like the one she had worn the first time we stood across from each other, when everythin
•ANEIRA•The weeks that followed were nothing as I expected.I had imagined that if Rafael and I ever reached some kind of peace, it would take some time. But I found myself loving him even more each day. He was the kind of man I had imagined him to be behind the mask he put on so people would think he had a stone for a heart. I giggled when I watched him trying to do things he wasn't able to do after being shot. I could see how hard it was for him to push himself, but it still made him look sexy. "Please don't hurt yourself, mister," I muttered while he was walking a little faster on the treadmill. "I don't want to see you in the hospital again." "Why would I go to the hospital when you'd be my nurse and touch me until I get better?" he smirked as he looked at me and I giggled again. "No, please," I replied, clearing my throat. "We can't afford any risks. I need you healthy if we are to have sex until we are old and weary." He smiled and seemed to like that idea. He then reduce
•ANEIRA•They found Narra three days later.She hadn't fled the country the way she had promised me she would. She hadn't disappeared or run or tried to become someone else in some city where no one knew her name.She had gone back to the house where we grew up.Polly told me this with the same flat expression she used for everything, standing in the doorway of the room where Rafael was still recovering, watching me to see how I would react.I didn't react. I just looked at my hands for a moment before answering her. "I want to talk to her.""That's not a good idea," Polly replied."I know," I answered. "I still want to."Rafael was awake by then, propped against the pillows with the kind of stillness that only came from a man who was too stubborn to admit he was in pain. When Polly left the room he looked at me, and I looked back at him, and neither of us spoke for a moment."You don't have to do this," he breathed. "Your sister might hurt you, and I won't be there to protect you."
•ANEIRA•His name left my mouth before I could think. "Rafael," I breathed. "Please wake up. You can't die on me." But he didn't answer me.His eyes were closed and his weight was heavy against my hands as I pressed them flat against his side, trying to stop the blood that kept spreading through his shirt no matter how hard I pushed."Rafael, open your eyes. Please." I panicked and felt as if my heart would stop beating. My chest tightened as I lifted my head to the door and screamed as loud as I could. "Help! Somebody help me!" I sobbed, feeling my stomach sinking at the thought of anything happening to Rafael. The door burst open so fast it slammed against the wall. Polly stopped in the doorway for only a second before she was on her knees beside me, her hands replacing mine against the wound without a single word."Get Ben on the phone now!" she shouted over her shoulder at the man who had followed her in. "Tell him we need the private facility on the west side open and ready i
•RAFAEL•The moment my lips met hers, every wall I had spent months building came crashing down at once.She didn't push me away.She kissed me back, and that was all I needed to pull her closer, to close every remaining inch between us until there was nothing left but her warmth against my chest and the faint sound of her breathing between kisses.I had told myself I would let her go.I had rehearsed it, prepared for it, and convinced myself that watching her walk out of this house and out of my life was the only decent thing I had left to offer her. It was the least I owed her after everything she had done for me. After all the nights I had reduced her to tears and told myself she deserved it.But then she smacked my chest and cried and told me she could never be free from me, and every rehearsed word dissolved.I walked her back slowly until she leaned against the edge of the desk, and she pulled me with her, her fingers curling into the front of my shirt. "Rafael," she whispered
•ANEIRA•Narra tried to talk reason into me and stop me from seeing Rafael, but I didn't listen. I almost regretted it when I arrived at his house. I crossed my fingers and hoped he would let me leave once we were done talking. The guards outside the front door let me inside and I walked straight to Rafael’s study. I didn't want to take any turns and bump into his sister or worse, Amari. The door was slightly open, and when I pushed it wider and stepped inside, I saw him sitting behind his large desk with a glass of whiskey in his hand. He looked up the moment he noticed me standing in the doorway, and he sighed, placing his glass aside. “You were supposed to stay in the hospital,” he said, sounding disappointed to see me. "What are you doing here, Aneira?" “I left,” I replied as I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. “We have to talk. I have some questions for you.”He exhaled as he leaned back on his chair and looked at me. He studied me for a moment before he answere







