FAZER LOGINSophia’s POV“Hannah is my sister…” He speaks again.I touch my glasses, hesitating on picking them up. But I need to see his eyes. I need to see what they say. Hopefully, he lets me see through his usual armor.With the back of my palm, I wipe my eyes and slowly put on my glasses again. “She might not believe it, but I would kill for her if I have to…”I sniffle, still stopping my tears because they don’t stop falling.“If… if a guy did to her what I did to you–” He exhales a shaky breath and meets my eyes with unsteady, glassy eyes. “He’d be six feet under. I’d put him there with my bare hands.”His jaw clenches, his brows twitch, and a broken sound comes out of him, “But that’s what I did to you.”My heart shatters all over again. I slip my fingers underneath my glasses, covering my eyes as uncontrollable tears gush out.“No excuse… no words will ever be enough to absolve me of the wrong– evil I’ve done to you. If I could put myself six feet under, I would do it a million times… b
Sophia’s POVEverything I did last night flashes in my head, especially my hands touching below his belt and my shameless plea to have my nipples… Oh, God. What a silly girl.The heat of shame is pushed to my cheeks. I keep my head down and bite my bottom lip.“Look at me. Come on,” he repeats, taking a step closer.I shake my head.“I guess you want me to leave.”“No,” My head flips up fast, eyes meeting his again.My heart races. I’m fully aware of my glasses and the way his eyes stay glued to my face. He’s so handsome tonight. His face glows—the face I kept kissing.I even kissed his piercings!For the love of God! Sophia?!I want to avert my gaze, but he stretches his free hand to me.Slowly, I take it. And I’m pulled close.In a second, my head is against his chest, and his arm shifts low, wrapping around me.My eyes close as I melt into him. My body remembers, and my mind replays how close we were last night. So close… and intimate. Our lips even touched again.Without thinkin
Sophia’s POV“How do you feel now?” One of our live-in maids asks while she cleans up my room.“Terrible.” I croak under the sheet as my head spins, and the weight of a building weighs on my back. My skin is reddened and itchy from wearing the corset for so long.“You’ll feel better soon,” she encourages and goes about her duty quietly.I hope so. I really hope I feel better. This hangover is after my life. I puked all over my bathroom floor in the middle of the night and have felt so sick since then. It’s 03:00 P.M., but I’m still unable to pull myself out of bed.Ava told me Alexander carried me inside last night. That’s how wasted I was. I recall none of it. The last thing I remember is waking up to pee and running off because I thought I was going to pee on myself. I can’t believe Alexander is teasing me about it. I thought he’d be upset. I remember everything I did to him, and I’m so freaking embarrassed.I lost one of my contact lenses and found the second one stuck to a nipple
Alexander’s POV Voices fly over my head. My lawyers strongly oppose going forward with the deal, while Mr. Rose’s lawyers apologetically explain their oversight and give a million-and-one reasons why we shouldn’t back out of the deal.Mr. Rose sits nearby and has tapped my thigh at least twice now, meeting my gaze with the most apologetic and shameful gaze.I can only respond with a forced smile, phone in my hand.So far, the only positive has been that it’s just one regulatory flag, not two or many as we’d thought. But unfortunately, this drawback is not as easy as I thought it would be. Because of the review, the deal will be delayed without a doubt. And after going through the numbers, the reports, and how much it would cost my company and possibly my personal pocket, it’s even more stupid to have to rethink. There’s no way to postpone the wedding; it’s either I back out and save myself and my company the headache of this mess, or shoulder someone else’s baggage for absolutely no
Penelope’s POV (Psycho)“You can judge me if you want. I’m used to it…”I shut my big mouth quickly. “I would never judge you, Mr. Thorne… I’m just… taken aback. That’s all.”He shrugs. “It’s okay if you judge me. I deserve it… I did terrible things to her.”A muscle twitches in my face.Terrible things?He uncrosses his legs, rakes all ten fingers through his hair, and grips his forehead, letting out a groan. I sit up, wondering what’s happening to him. My heart races.“I can’t reverse anything I’ve done to her. And it kills me every day…” He exhales as he lifts his head. Then he meets my gaze. “Sophia is a lovely person that I never should have been with… I was…”He looks down again. His breath is shaky. His hands are shaky. He stretches a hand and picks up the glass of water to gulp.“Take your time… It’s okay…” I mutter, clenching my fists in distress.He sighs deeply and swipes a hand over his face, crossing his legs again. “Something drove me…” He chokes up and drops his hand
Penelope’s POV (Psycho)“Mr. Thorne?” I call softly, putting my hands together.He stares at me, but his gaze seems distant, his pupils dilate, as if he’s blanked out.“Mr. Thorne? Mr… Thorne?” Still no answer. No blinking. Nothing.He’s shut down.For the first time ever. For the first time in my career.Tears sting my eyes as my hands begin shaking. It’s my first time experiencing a client shutting down during therapy. I’ve heard about it, read about it, watched videos about it, but I’ve never experienced it myself.I take deep breaths and slowly ease out of my seat.You’ve got this, Penelope. You’ve studied hard for a day like this.Heart racing fast, yet I move toward him.He’s unmoving, eyes still glued to my desk as if I’m there, but I’m right in front of him.And carefully, I lean over to where his fingers are perched on the sofa. I tap the back of his palm and call softly, “Alexander?”He blinks and shifts his eyes to me, finally. His blinking doesn’t stop. And with every bl
Sophia’s POVAlexander’s calmness fills the elevator like gravity. I stare at my reflection against the panel—blonde hair secured in a neat bun, my teal silk skater dress falling perfectly—a 360-degree improvement from the last time I was here.He slowly holds my hand and locks our fingers with gen
Sophia’s POV⁓August 25, 2025: Dimitri & Lena’s Wedding Day⁓It’s exactly one week since my failed attempt at running away. One week since my second and best kiss ever. One week since I got reintroduced to Alexander Thorne as his fiancée. And one week of receiving large rose bouquets from him daily.
Sophia’s POVHe’s got nipple piercings, a back half-full of tattoos, smokes cigars, swore never to get married, but says he’s marrying me in October.I’m the first woman he’s invited into his penthouse and bedroom; he kisses like a sinner and promises to show me things I can’t handle yet. He lies ef
Alexander Thorne’s POVPhone in hand, I tap a slow rhythm against the steering wheel, my gaze fixed on the pristine lineup of cars in my private garage. My mind is elsewhere.Dimitri left thirty-five minutes ago. I sent Garvey home, too, yet I’ve been seated inside the darkness of this car, waiting.







