*WARNING: This chapter contains details and imagery of violence which one may find disturbing. [Ralph’s POV] Ten days later… I stood before the pale creature cowering in the corner, in shivers. Sweat had soaked through his shirt, sticking to his skin, revealing his entire skeletal frame, as sniffles and whimpers of yearning echoed in the cold, dimly lit space of the cell in the basement of the Virtus HQ building. “Can he still understand me?” I asked Ben, who was beside me, also watching the creature who still resembled the Alberto we know by his shirt and hair. Ben nodded. “I still think we should send him to rehab.” “He doesn’t want to go there. Says he’ll meet Sandy and be enticed again,” I replied quietly. “Fucking hell….” Ben tucked his hands into his pockets. BANG! Alberto gripped the steel bars of the gate that was caging him in the cell, his trembling fingers strangling the metal rods with superhuman strength that could only be possible of an immense craving.
[Ralph’s POV]“So you’re saying, we’ll no longer be called ‘Second Tiers’,” repeated Gerardo Virtus, the eldest son of the newly retired Second Tier Liandro Virtus, descendant of the First Sergeant of the fighting force of the old government of U.R.T. “Instead,” his cigarette eroded voice added, “We’ll be known as ‘Directors’.” I stared firmly at him, seated on my left, on the white leather couch in front of my desk, and said, “Director Gerardo, yes. That’s what I said.” I tapped my finger on the glass surface in a slow, steady beat and elaborated, “I’d like to offer you our media business.”To his squinted gaze of caution, I inhaled sharply and explained, “You have a degree in communications.” “Yes, I do.” “And you’re active in the grapevine.” The twenty-five year old grinned with a twinkle in his eyes. “So you’re the best in the family for the job,” I concluded. “What’s in it for me?” Smart boy. I drew in another silent breath and stared at my tapping finger and replied, “Yo
[Juliette’s POV]“Yes….” I sighed and gasped. He was sucking the pulsating skin below my earlobe as his finger slipped in. I closed my eyes and leaned back, propping on my elbows to stretch my neck wide open for his better access, and he gladly took it, kissing and nibbling the curve joining my neck to my shoulder. “The whole time I was there…,” Ralph breathed, his warm breath tickled my skin and a shudder coursed through me. “I thought of you….” Another gasp slipped from my lips—another finger had just slipped in to caress my insides. “I thought only of you, kitten…,” he whispered against the base of my throat before kissing the skin there, then shoved my keyboard and files aside and gently pushed me down on the table.I admired him through hooded eyes as he watched me. His finger continuously stroked the slick velvety folds beyond the swelling lips between my thighs, eliciting streaks of pleasure up my spine and forcing whimpers of pleas through my lips. His free hand cradle
[Ralph’s POV]As I’d guessed, her head popped in like a curious child, staring at me. “Ralph? What are you doing here? And why’s everyone here?” She came out from behind the door frame, frowning with jealousy at being left out. “Are you discussing the wedding ceremony?”“No,” I replied curtly, trying my best to sound casual. She was walking towards the couch when she heard my reply and halted. Then, a pout surfaced. “I’ve interrupted something, haven’t I?” “Nonsense, Julie!” Agatha chirped cheerfully like a songbird. “We were just having a fortnightly meeting with Mr. Ralph.”“What for?” And there it is… her questioning. I was smiling inside. Outside, I was frowning as hard as I could. So I wouldn’t give myself away. She glanced at me and then dropped her gaze like a wounded kitten. “I shall stop with the questions. Ralph’s upset. I’ll… I’ll head back to my room.” It was then I realised that she was still in her nightgown. And I knew that she would change out of it. Immediat
[Ralph’s POV]The curtain opened and she stood before me in her white gown and I couldn’t stop staring. My legs acted on their own and I slowly came to a stand as she sauntered towards me, those purple sapphires beaming shyly at me. When she arrived in front of me, she whispered softly, “I look weird, don’t I…?” I found my fingers stroking her cheek lightly as a hoarse voice slipped into the air. “You look beautiful, Juliette.” That feathery skin tinted slightly and she looked down as her hands reached out to touch the collar of my tux. “I like you in midnight blue,” she breathed. A smile touched my lips. “Are you talking about the tux I wore at the church?” “Yes,” she sighed, her eyes on my mouth. “It made my insides tingle. Back then.” Fuck… when did she become this sexy…. Everything that comes out of that sweet mouth just turns me into a sucker for her. She finally looked up at me. “What about me? Do you prefer this dress or the one I wore at the church?” I gazed into the
[Juliette’s POV] Routines were thrown out the window—that was the first major change in the Virtus household. Which felt strange. As soon as I passed through the iron gates that guard the Virtus grounds from outsiders, I felt like a soldier reporting for duty. Immediately (even though I was away for months), I remembered the exact timing for each meal and the chores I was supposed to do at each particular time of the day. However, this time, I was told that I had no schedule at all, just as my life had been all these years at the Lux mansion. Ralph took me to the ends of the plain field—which Margaret had already showed me. But I didn’t mind seeing it again; with Ralph, it was more fun—the way his thick brows knit whenever he saw the stretches of barren land beyond his property, it exuded the alluring charm of a man with great ambitions. That fierce gaze seemed to say: one day, every inch of this flat terrain will belong to the Virtus—just as every inch of the terrains surroun
[Juliette’s POV] “I think it’s a good idea to send our new merchandise to these influencers and content producers,” I said to the Chief Designer of CHERI and her Marketing Director. “Our target consumers look up to them like trend masters. They can help develop the identity of the new line.” I looked through the list of selected influencers and content producers and their bio, as well as the concept of their channels, and said, thinking aloud, “I like that they are not socialites.” The Chief Designer smiled at her Marketing Director and then at Ralph. “We also love Lux Corp’s new direction of affordable quality. So we started this new line.” “Will the consumers find the brand questionable?” Ralph finally asked. Everyone in the conference room turned to him and he calmly explained, “CHERI is an ultra high-end brand To suddenly come up with an affordable line. The average consumer may lose hope with the brand.” “Not if we focus on the quality,” defended the Chief Designer, a for
[Ralph’s POV]Something happened at the meeting with Monsieur Kugerfield. I can see it on her face. I sighed as I continued chewing the roast chicken in my mouth. If I asked her about it, she would either give me an honest answer, or a sarcastic reply—the former means she wants to talk about it; the latter, she wants to whine about it and have me take her side. “How did it go?” I asked, trying to sound concerned for the business sake, but not too concerned because it’s about another woman.A brief pause, and then her face lifted with the brightest smile. “It went well!” Fuck. It didn’t. She caught the look on my face and the smile lessened as she added, “At least that’s what I think.” I swallowed the meat and asked, “What happened?” She stared at her plate of untouched roast chicken and muttered, “He rejected all of them.” Jesus Christ… I need to find something to help her take the steam off. “I see.” Her face jerked up again, this time with the worry and guilt of my men when