LOGINArynThe first thing I felt was someone splitting my skull open and pouring in cement.I groaned. My tongue felt like sandpaper and my mouth tasted bitter. My eyelids didn’t want to open, but I forced them apart anyway.Light stabbed straight into my brain. I winced and turned my face away. The room smelled like bleach and rust. Cold air crawled across my skin, and I realized I was still in the damn towel.“Fuck…” I muttered, voice cracking. My throat burned.I tried to move. My shoulders screamed as the ropes bit into my skin. My wrists were raw, probably bleeding. The ache shot up my arms. I tugged again, but they didn’t give. The bitch had tied me up good.My chest started rising and falling too fast. I hated that. Hated how panic felt, like drowning in air.“Okay,” I whispered to myself. “Okay, think.”My head turned slowly. The room was the same concrete box and I wondered how long I was out.“Hey!” I shouted, or tried to. My voice came out hoarse, weak. “Hey! Anyone fucking ther
Aryn“Who’s there?” I called out, my voice bouncing off the walls. For a moment, nothing. Then a girl stepped out from behind the column, small and delicate like something out of a painting. She had dark hair pulled into a tight braid and eyes too big for her face.“Don Lorenzo requires your attention,” she said. Her tone was polite, and she looked a little bit too young to be working as a maid.I frowned, pushing the hair out of my face. “The Don?” My voice dripped with disbelief. “He couldn’t send Marco?”She shook her head once. “He asked for you personally.”I tilted my head. “You’re new?”“Yes, miss,” she answered.I nodded, turning back toward the pool’s edge. “All right, tell him I’ll be there in five.”The sun had made the tiles warm beneath my feet as I climbed out of the water. I wrung water from my hair and wrapped the towel tight around myself as I moved toward the chair where I’d left my clothes. “He’s in his office, yeah?”Silence.I frowned. “Hey—did you hear me?”No
ArynSunlight found me slow and soft. It slid across my face and warmed my cheek. I opened my eyes and for a wild second I forgot everything. Forgot the fight, the crying, the shame. I was wrapped in Lorenzo’s arm. His chest rose and fell under my ear. His breath smelled like last night: smoke and mint, and something that was only him.I smiled, the kind of quiet, stupid smile I hadn’t let anyone see in a long time. My fingers found the hair at his nape and pulled slightly, just to feel him. He shifted and a small sound left him—half a groan, half a laugh. I had never felt so damn happy.But then the list of things I had to fix rolled back into my head like waves. Calls to make. People to see. My stupid life to sort. I pushed my shoulder up to stand.Lorenzo tightened his grip and yanked me back like I was some doll. I gasped and landed right on top of him, chest to chest, my hair falling all over his face.He cracked one eye open and smirked. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going
ArynI dragged my sleeve across my face until the sting of tears blurred into nothing but heat. My reflection in the bathroom mirror looked like shit. Eyes swollen, cheeks blotchy, lips trembling like a coward. I hated myself for it. Hated that I let him see me break down like some weak little girl.When I finally stepped out, Lorenzo was there—leaning against the banister like he owned the damn place. His jacket hung open, cigarette gone, but the tension in his jaw said it hadn’t done a damn thing for him. He looked raw, dangerous, and yet softer than I’d ever seen him.“Lorenzo,” I breathed, like saying his name might anchor me.He straightened, his eyes locking on me instantly. God, the way he looked at me it was like he could see every fucking crack in me. “You okay?” His voice was low, rough. Almost tender, but sharp enough to cut.I laughed, bitter, ugly. “Do I look okay?” My throat burned. “You must think I’m weak. Disgusting, even. Crying like this in front of you.”He didn’t
Lorenzo’s POVI didn’t want to think about it—about the way Aryn had practically run away from me after I told her I loved her. She had whispered “excuse me” and locked herself in the bathroom like I had confessed some kind of crime instead of a fucking truth I had buried for months.If this had happened months ago, I wouldn’t have cared. Back then, she was just a girl I needed to keep safe, a problem to manage. But now? Now I wanted her. All of her. Her smile, her fire, her sharp tongue, her body pressed against mine without fear. I wanted her love, or nothing at all.And it pissed me the fuck off that she didn’t know what to do with me.I grabbed my jacket and started toward the door, the need to get air pulling at me like chains.Just as I was about to step out, a voice cut through the hallway.“Lorenzo.”I stopped. Isabella.She stood there in a silk dress too tight for decency, her painted mouth twisted in a smirk that always made me think of poison.“What do you want?” I asked f
ArynI let him go. It felt like letting go of a hot coal. I stepped back from him, whispered, “Excuse me,” and moved toward the bathroom before he could say anything more. My voice sounded small in the room.I shut the door and turned the lock with shaking hands. For a moment I just stood there, my back to the wood, and stayed. My chest tightened until it hurt. I had no idea what to do with his words. I don't know what to do with those raw feelings he had opened up to me.I turned the tap and let cold water run over my palms. I cupped my hands, splashed cold water on my face. It felt too cold, as least now I know that this was really reality. I liked Lorenzo, I liked the way he made me feel but just six months ago all I wanted was to live with my sister forever and stay away from this world.I stayed in the bathroom until I could no longer hear him then I unlocked the door and stepped out.The hall felt a little different. As I walked downstairs, the maids bowed to me, their heads dip







