LOGINMarisa stopped and faced her. "I came to discuss something important. Something you've been avoiding.""And what's that?""A grandchild."Amelia blinked. "Excuse me?"Marisa stepped closer. "When are you going to give this family a grandchild? A real grandchild. A Favino heir."Amelia's eyes narrowed. "You already have a grandchild. Leo."Marisa's face hardened. "Leo is Blackwood blood. Favino by name only. You know that as well as I do."Amelia's voice was cold. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought we were on cool terms. Why the sudden change of attitude?""Cool terms?" Marisa laughed bitterly. "You think I forgive you? You think I've forgotten the lies? The secrets? The scandal you brought to my family?""I didn't bring scandal. Gabriella did.""Gabriella was a symptom." Marisa pointed a finger at her. "You are the disease."Amelia took a breath, forcing herself to stay calm. "I'm sorry you feel that way. But the problem of a child is not my fault. Your son is impotent."The word
STONE INDUSTRIES – BOARDROOM – MORNINGThe boardroom was packed. Twelve executives sat around the long mahogany table, their faces tense, their folders open. The windows behind Amelia showed the Manhattan skyline, gray and cold under the morning clouds.Amelia stood at the head, her blazer sharp, her hair pulled back, her expression unreadable. She clicked the remote in her hand, and the screen behind her lit up with charts and graphs."Moving on to the quarterly losses," she said, her voice steady. "As you can see, our European division is down fourteen percent. I want a full audit by Friday. Every transaction. Every expense. Every single penny."A man near the end of the table, Mr. Harrison, cleared his throat. "Ms. Stone, we've already had our team in London looking into it. They suspect some of the losses are due to currency fluctuations, not internal issues."Amelia's eyes narrowed. "Currency fluctuations don't account for fourteen percent, Mr. Harrison. Something else is goi
Damien’s eyes blazed with pure rage. “You’re worse than she is. At least she has an excuse — she’s sick in the head. You? You’re just greedy and heartless.”Alexander’s eyes flashed with warning. “Watch your mouth, boy.”“Or what?” Damien stepped closer, voice rising even louder. “You’ll throw me back in prison? Go ahead! Anything is better than being chained to a woman who might slit my throat while I sleep. You want to know the truth about last night? I couldn’t even get hard for her, Father. Not at first. Not until she drugged me with some blue pill she had hidden in the drawer. I had to swallow that shit just to fuck my own wife on our wedding night. That’s how much I don’t want her.”Alexander’s face tightened, but he stayed silent.Damien kept going, voice raw and brutal. “She’s a diagnosed psychopath. Unstable. Dangerous. And you put her in my bed anyway. You disgust me.At that exact moment, the study door creaked open.Sophia stood there in her thin silk robe, eyes red a
The single word hit her like ice water.She sat up slowly, the silk sheet slipping down to expose her breasts. Rose petals clung to her damp skin. For a few seconds she just stared at his back, her chest rising and falling rapidly as the rejection sank in.Then the pain exploded.“Damien…” Her voice cracked, raw and trembling. “After everything we just did? After the way you fucked me… the way you came inside me… you push me away like I’m nothing?”She crawled toward him on the bed, reaching out with shaking hands to touch his shoulder.“I gave myself to you completely. I let you eat my pussy until I screamed. I let you fuck me like you owned me. And now you can’t even look at me?”Damien stayed silent for a beat, then spoke without turning around, his tone flat and cutting.“It wasn’t love-making, Sophia. It was the drug. That pill turned me into something I’m not. Don’t confuse chemicals with feelings.”Sophia flinched, but the hurt quickly ignited into anger. Her voice rose shar
“Yes. This morning.”“And tomorrow?”“I’ll take it tomorrow. Every day. I promise.”He stared at her, jaw clenched tight.Then he let out a heavy, defeated sigh.“One chance. One. If you lie to me again, I’m gone.”Sophia nodded frantically, tears pouring down her face. “Thank you… thank you, Damien.”She rose up and kissed him soft and desperate at first, then deeper, hungrier, pouring every bit of fear and need into it.He tried to kiss her back. Tried to feel something.But his body remained cold. Unresponsive.Sophia pulled back, confusion and hurt flashing in her eyes. “Damien? What’s wrong?”“Nothing. I’m just… tired.”She glanced down and understood instantly. Her voice went flat and pained.“You can’t even get hard for me.”“It’s not you, it’s—”“It is me.” She stepped back, pulling her silk robe tighter around herself like a shield. “You’re still thinking about her. Even now. On our wedding night. You’re thinking about Amelia.”Damien said nothing. The silence was its own bru
BLACKWOOD MANSION – LATE NIGHTThe grand mansion lay silent and still. The last guests had long since departed, and the staff had quietly retreated to their quarters. Only the faint echo of Sophia’s heels on the cold marble floor broke the heavy quiet as she and Damien walked hand-in-hand through the dimly lit foyer.“Welcome home, husband,” she purred, her voice soft and seductive.“Welcome home, wife,” Damien replied, the words sounding strangely hollow even to his own ears.Sophia laughed lightly, a bright, musical sound, and tugged him eagerly toward the master suite. “I love how that sounds. Say it again later… when we’re alone.”BLACKWOOD MANSION – MASTER BEDROOM – LATE NIGHTThe bedroom was enormous and perfectly prepared a lavish four-poster bed draped in midnight silk, dozens of candles flickering with golden light, and blood-red rose petals scattered across the floor like drops of fresh blood. Everything had been arranged exactly as Sophia wanted it. A perfect stage for
“No.” She shook her head quickly. “He doesn’t really understand what’s been happening. To him, you and I are just adults who travel too much for work. That’s all.”Alejandro studied her. “He’s eight, Amelia. And he’s sharp. He’ll notice when I’m there every morning making breakfast. When my clothes
She did.“Whatever she thinks, it doesn’t change this.” He lifted her hand, kissed her knuckles. “Us.”She nodded, forcing a small smile. “Us.”They finished dessert rich chocolate torte that left a lingering sweetness on their tongues. Nicholas signaled for the check, paid with a quiet word to th
Vivian’s face softened with something like pity. “You do what you’re best at. You survive. You play along. You don’t let him know you know. We need information. We need to find out who that woman is, what their endgame is. If he thinks you’re still his… that you’re still in his bed and in his pock
PLAZA HOTEL ~ NEW YORK The plane touched down at JFK, and Gabriella grabbed her carry-on, slipping into a black trench coat to blend in. No checked bags; she traveled light for this. A quick cab to the Plaza Hotel old money, discreet, perfect for what she had in mind. She checked in under a fake







