MasukALANI frown. “You don’t need my approval for anything. Buy whatever you want for the house, Reina.”She gets me to my feet and pulls my arm over her shoulders. I can walk perfectly fine. My hands are injured, not my legs. But I keep that information to myself. In fact, for effect, I lean a little more weight against her.She pauses at the bedroom door and peeks into the hallway first, making sure no one’s around before guiding me toward my bathroom.The bright light flickers on above us.She pushes me onto the marble counter beside the sink and reaches for the first aid kit with quick movements. Her brows are pulled together tightly, lips pressed into a thin line while she runs water over a clean cloth.“You punched a wall?” She asks without looking at me.I shrug. “Maybe I had a vendetta.”She shoots me a flat look before taking my hand again. The cloth presses against my knuckles and I hiss.“Good,” she mutters. “Maybe pain will help you grow some sense.”I watch her while she clea
ALANI’M SO SORRY, SIR.ABOUT ALL THE OTHER MESSAGES I SENT YOU TOO. I THOUGHT YOU WERE HARMING MY SISTER.DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON HER. NOT IN THAT WAY… I’M ONLY TRYING TO ASK YOU NOT TO BE ANGRY WITH HER. IT’S ALL ME. I DID IT. I’M TRULY SORRY.I’M SORRY.PLEASE.HELLO, SIR.I drop my phone onto the table and rest my head against the chair.My thoughts drift until a knock interrupts them.“Come in,” I say without opening my eyes.“Good afternoon, sir. I’m Garrett. The private investigator.”The voice I’ve been waiting to hear all morning finally comes. I open my eyes and sit straighter.I gesture toward the chair across from me. “You may sit.”“Thank you.”“You got all the details?”“I did.”He places a file on the table between us.“The messages weren’t coming from here at all. They were traced to a single number. I ran a check through the owner’s ID. Everything points back to him.”The sting of Mark’s betrayal makes me hesitate before reaching for the file.Then it clicks. Rose. She w
REINAI walk briskly to the car, deciding that it’s best to just tell this to Alan when I see him face to face. The guard gives me a weird look when he sees my teary face. I just sniff and walk past him. He hurries to my side and pulls the door open for me to enter.Inside the car, I start to go through the comments on blogs. I feel the anxiety attack creep in with every line I read.‘I knew there was something fishy about that man.’‘What a monster.’‘She deserves it. She’s only there for his money.’‘Sounds like good news to me. I’m sure Rose has been tossing about in her grave, seeing that slut try to steal her family.’‘Poor girl. I hope she gets justice.’‘Gold digger. She got what she deserves.’‘Cancel Alan King!’ I slam the phone down on my lap now, my breathing coming out hard and fast.“Are you okay? Should I pull over?” The guard asks from the drivers seat. I try to keep my expression as plain as possible, even when I’m shaking like a leaf.“I’m fine. Please just get me ho
REINA“Why would you do that! Gramma! Oh my God, I need to call Alan! Oh God!” I cry, taking out my phone.“You’re being abused! Look how you just panicked! This is not okay, you’re getting abused, Reina! Please get out of there!”“I’m not!” I scream at him, abandoning my phone without completing the call to Alan. “If I was getting abused I’d be out of there in a heartbeat, you wouldn’t have to tell me shit or make me do anything!”“That’s what someone who’s being abused would say.” Tee still insists. I shake my head, needing them to understand me. I turn to Gramma.“You like him. Right? You loosened up so much around him when he came. You’ve never loosened up like that to anyone. I’m sure you have a feeling in your heart that he didn’t do any of this.”“Then who did? What’s going on, Reina?” Gramma asks, her voice breaking all over again. Hearing her voice now just reminds me of the revelation she made to us minutes ago. She was wrong. I don’t feel any less connected to her, or my br
REINAThe next day, we head out to shop for groceries for the party.After loading the bags into the trunk, I turn to James.“You can go ahead. I’ll take a cab. There’s somewhere I need to stop by first.”He raises a brow immediately, clearly uncomfortable with the idea. Honestly, I don’t blame him. Alan could be ridiculously overprotective when it came to me.I sigh. “Fine. I’ll take security with me.”“You can take the car too,” James says. “I’ll move the groceries into a cab instead. Go with him.” He nudges the younger security guard toward me.I open my mouth to argue, but James is just as stubborn as Alan.He heads to the back of the car and starts transferring the groceries into a cab he flags down nearby.While he does that, he quietly gives instructions to the younger guard.A few minutes later, I slide into the back seat and wait while the guard gets into the driver’s seat and starts the engine.“Nature’s Best Hospital,” I tell him.The drive doesn’t take long.By the time we
REINA “I didn’t find anything on his phone.” Alan says in the most disappointed tone. He looks downcast, sitting on a stool while I prepare dinner. “Isn’t that better?” I try to lighten up the mood. “At least he hasn’t been deceiving us. We can rule that out.” “You don’t get it, Reina. I don’t trust him.” He states. “That man is hiding something. And it’s only a matter of time before I get to the root of it. And I will get to the root of it.” I walk to him and press a kiss to his lips. He tries to pull me back against him but I swivel out of his grip, laughing. “Getting to the root of it… that’s after you’re done eating, right?” “Sure.” He agrees, then gets up to his feet and wraps his arms around me from behind. He starts to kiss my neck while I giggle like a possessed woman, wiggling in his hold. Even if I never want him to let me go. “Ew.” The sound of Ethan’s voice causes us to jump away from each other. Alan barely catches the plate I’d been with before it tumbles
ALANShe’s standing in my red room. My fucking red space, in a full pajama set that clearly shows she shouldn’t be here. Reina’s back is to me, but I can hear the harshness of her breathing against the utter quiet of the room.She spins around to face me and I see defiance in her eyes as she questi
REINAI try to extract my hand from the man’s hold. I think Alan called him Santi. He should be married, right? Why’s he asking if I’d like a drink later? ‘Go drink that stuff with your wife.’ That’s exactly what I would have yelled at him if I had enough balls.I turn to Alan for help but his gaze
REINA“Do you think dad will like how I play, Reina?” Ethan asks, fixing his bow tie in the mirror. He’s only going to join his dad downstairs for a guitar lesson, but Ethan also wants to look prim enough for his dad, and so he’s wearing some tailored pants, a formal checkered shirt and a bow tie.
REINATHREE DAYS AFTER…I’m deep in sleep, snuggling into my duvet even more as the cold outside becomes more unbearable.Suddenly, my door creaks open. It’s quiet, slow. I snap my eyes open, high at alert. I don’t expect the figure that walks into the room, clad in only boxers that outline a very







