ANMELDENCHAPTER 45:
*(Eight Years Later)*The garden of the Cotswolds house was exploding with late summer color, dahlias in shades of burnt orange and deep purple, lavender spilling over the edges of the stone path, roses climbing the trellis in one last defiant bloom before autumn took over. Kids' laughter bounced off the old stone walls, a soundtrack so familiar now that Keira barely heard it as separate sounds, only as the background music of her life.She sat on the w~~DAMIAN~~I should hate that, hate that I couldn't be away from her for more than a few minutes before feeling that pull as if there was an imaginary string holding us together. I saw her little face all the way back to the cabin and was running by the time it came into view.My heart raced sickeningly in my chest now for a different reason. I shouldn't have done it, I should've taken the fight to him. Fuck, what have I done? I opened the door and braced myself to see her now with these new confusing feelings playing havoc with my mind. I pulled the mask on over my head and felt sick doing even that, but I needed her.She was lying on her back with her eyes closed and her breath even in sleep. My heart squeezed just a little at the look of innocence on her face. She didn't hear me approach and I stood next to the bed looking down at her and my hand reached out to touch.---She opened her eyes slowly and turned her head my way. I saw the
~~DAMIAN~~At first I was able to detach. My anger and my hatred had sustained me there. But I've found more and more as the days go by, that it's not the easiest thing for one born of compassion, to foster hate. But I'll give it the old college try.As tears started to gather in her eyes, I made my way down to the other end of the bed and climbed in between her naked thighs. Lowering my head between her legs I let my nose get a whiff of her open pussy. The move had her body reddening with embarrassment. But not as much as my next words."Ummm, you still smell of morning sex. I like the smell of my stale seed in you. I can't give you my mouth now though, maybe later after we've cleaned you up." Her eyes followed my hand's movements as I stroked precum from my cock onto her lower stomach down to her thighs.I eased my cock down to her pussy and nosed around but didn't go inside her. "Look at me. Watch my cock split you open. Should I do you a littl
~~DAMIAN~~I tromped through the woods with my dog at my side, lost in thought. It had been some time since I'd let myself think of anything other than revenge. It had fueled my anger and hate and kept the enormity of my loss at bay. But now it seems it was catching up with me.I stopped with my hand braced against a tree as the world came crashing down on me. I bit into my fist to keep the cry of rage trapped inside. I dropped to my knees there in the brush and let the memories come for the first time since I'd got the news.I saw their faces again for the first time without brushing them away and felt my heart break all over again. I wanted to scream the word 'why' but there was no point. What was done cannot be undone no matter how I might wish it.I sat back against the rough bark of whatever tree I'd ended up under and let the memories flow. I'd been away on assignment, gathering information against a foreign faction that had infiltrated a ve
~~DAMIAN~~I fucked her four times that first night, not able to get enough of her sweet cunt and the way it clung to me even as she cursed and called me every vile name in the book. That's when I'd spanked her ass red before doggie fucking her from behind with a gag in her mouth.I'd kept her pussy stuffed all night until she was able to take me more easily, and by the last time I rolled away from her, she'd stopped fighting. Though it had taken days before she was looking for cock each time I got near her.That first day after I'd taken her had been a trial. I'd deliberately left her untied and left the house. I watched from the trees surrounding my cabin as she snuck out the door, looking around cautiously. I'd let her get down off the porch and make her way towards the clearing before releasing my dog from his leash.He took her down amid her screams of fright before I jogged over and stood over her. "Get him off me." I knew he wouldn't hurt h
~~DAMIAN~~"How's my little breeder?" Her eyes flew up to mine from her place on my bed, where her arms and legs were still tied, leaving her body open for my pleasure. Her eyes no longer spat fire at me these days; it was more like a smoldering flame. Lust mixed with anger and just a lingering tinge of fear.The fear stemmed from my unpredictability and the uncertainty of what comes next from one day to another. But not since her first two weeks as my captive have I given her reason to fear me. In fact I think she's more afraid of what she'd become, of her body's response to me and the things I make her feel, than of any physical harm perpetrated by me.I had one of her naked tits in my hand, fondling the pebbled erect nipple while I had the fingers of the other stuffed in her wet cunt. I smiled into her eyes as the significance of my words registered.I finger fucked her nice and deep, spreading her open to take my cock which was unusually hard at the fact that I'd bred her sweet yo
~~STEPHANO~~One year later…"What do you think?" I ask my brothers as I turn to show them my sleek charcoal suit. "Do you think this looks good for the day?""Hmm, I don't know," Domenic teases, acting like he's really thinking about his answer. "I'm not sure you're slick enough to marry such a beauty."I give him a light, playful punch on the arm. "I know Aria is way too good for me. You don't need to remind me all the time. But seriously, do I look okay?"Giovanni jumps in, "Yeah, you look great, Stefano. Ignore this idiot."We all laugh, but I can't disguise the nerves coming through my chuckle. I might have been looking forward to this day ever since I proposed to Aria, but now that the time is here, I can't turn off the intense edginess that's threatening to overcome me. I just want this day to be perfect for Aria. That woman absolutely deserves the world, and I would love nothing more than to give it to her. So I went a little over the top with the décor in this beautiful old I
CHAPTER 30: *January – A New Year, An Old Problem* The sea glass stayed in Keira's jeans pocket. It had become this smooth, secret weight she carried everywhere. She'd catch herself touching it during boring seminars, while she waited for the kettle, in those quiet
CHAPTER 29: The fairy lights strung across the living room window blinked in a relentless, cheerful sequence that felt like a mockery. Outside, a thin sleet peppered the glass. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of pine, cinnamon, and unspoken tension.The Christmas tree
CHAPTER 27: The first box Keira packed was her books. Not the ones for her dissertation—those were a separate, terrifying pile—but her real books. The ones with cracked spines and marginalia, the poetry collections she’d bought second-hand, the novels that felt like old friends. She wra
CHAPTER 24: (Two weeks later)The scaffolding went up around the country house on a Tuesday. By Wednesday, the noise was constant—the shriek of saws, the thud of hammers, the shouted conversations of workmen that drifted through the open windows like a foreign language. Keira s







