Adriana’s POVI slapped his hand away so fast that my palm stung from the force and my breath shuddering as I stepped back, shielding Isabella with my body like an instinctive barrier between her and the monster in front of me. The smirk on Rafael’s lips didn’t waver. If anything, it deepened his amusement growing as if he had expected that exact reaction from me. “Don’t touch her!” I hissed through gritted teeth, my entire body trembling with fury and terror. He is playing fucking kind games and I don’t want my daughter involved. Rafael exhaled a small breath as if barely restraining himself, as if my defiance only entertained him further. His dark eyes flicked to Isabella who was gripping onto me so tightly her little fingers were white then back to me. I hate that I brought us to this situation but i'd be damned if I don’t get us out of it. "You think I would hurt her Luce Mia?" His voice was almost gentle and almost mocking and that made my stomach churn even harder. This Rafa
Adriana’s POVThe mansion was eerily silent as the night stretched on leaving only the dim glow from the moon filtering through the high windows. I had spent the last hour lying still with my heart pounding in my chest while waiting nd listening for the telltale sounds of the house settling into slumber. Because It was time. I slid off the bed with carefully wiith my bare feet pressing soundlessly against the cold floor. Isabella was curled beside me her tiny fingers gripping the blanket while her lashes cast soft shadows on her cheeks. My sweet, innocent girl oblivious to the danger surrounding us and to the monster lurking beneath this roof. I hated this place. I hated him for making me go through this with my daughter. He doesn’t even deserve to know she is actuallly his real daughter and it was purely coincidental that Marco has gray eyes and black hair. If he knew the truth, he’d know Marco’s eyes were more blue than gray but he doesn’t and his natural hair is brown but he dy
Adriana’s POVBut she didn’t fall because she was caught. I know who it was from the scent of the masculine leather and pure dangerous manly essence rolling off of him in waves. Rafael stood there his grip ironclad around my wrist and his other arm cradling Isabella with effortless ease. My vision swam as I twisted around, my breath coming in sharo and panicked bursts. He was furious. Or maybe that is an understatement to put lightly. It was nof the cold and taunting amusement I had come to expect. Not the usual arrogance or smug superiority that he has made it far ahead of what I had given him credit for. No, this was different. His face was a mixture of pure and unrestrained rage as his dark eyes burned with something lethal that could burn the earth. His jaw was clenched so tightly it looked like it could crack while the tendons in his neck were taut with barely restrained violence. Isabella squirmed in his arms, clearly uneasy and for a second just a second, his fury falter
Rafael’s POVI sat on the edge of my bed my fingers tapping restlessly against my knee as I glanced at the clock for what had to be the tenth time in the past five minutes. She was coming over. She was coming over! My chest felt tight and my pulse a little too fast and I hated that I was this anxious but I couldn’t help it. The apartment was embarrassingly bare with just a mattress on the floor, a battered dresser with half the handles missing and a desk covered in old papers I never bothered to sort through. Most of them are the papers my aunt’s former (thousand) lovers used to keep for the bills. The walls were empty and the curtains were the same dull color they had been when my aunt moved in years ago and the only sign that someone actually lived here was the pile of clothes shoved into the corner. I had never cared before but tonight I wished I had made it look better. Because SHE was coming. I stood up abruptly and ran a hand through my hair as I tried to ignore the ridicul
Rafael’s POVShe pulled back just enough to look at me with her hands still resting on my chest and fingers curled slightly into the fabric of my shirt like she wasn’t ready to let go. Her eyes searched mine soft but intense like she was trying to memorize this moment, like she was feeling everything the way I wa. It is so deep it almost hurts. I could still taste her on my lips and still feel the warmth of her breath against my skin. My hands were locked around her waist, holding her close afraid that if I let go she’d slip away. She had no idea what she had done to me, how she had walked into my life and ripped the ground from under me and left me with nothing but her. And I didn’t want anything else. “I love you Rafe.” She smiled then and it was that soft, secret smile that always made my chest tighten.The words hit me like a pounch knocking the air from my lungs. I had never heard those words like this before and not from someone who meant it, not from someone who looked at m
Adriana’s POVRafael’s grip on my wrist was like stewl and brutal as he dragged me back to that wretched room. My feet stumbled over the marble floors but he didn’t slow and didn’t pause didn’t even acknowledge the way my free hand clawed at his, trying to pry myself loose. His silence was worse than his rage. The way he moved with that sheer predatory determination with his broad shoulders tense and his entire body coiled like a beast on the verge of striking. it terrified me to the core though I’d die before I show him how much effect he has on me. But nothing, nothig sent ice through my veins like stepping inside and realizing my daughter wasn’t there. The moment Rafael released me, I whirled around frantically looking for her in the obviously empty room. The room was just as it had been suffocatingly elegant,l and disgustingly large with the bed untouched from when we had left. But she was gone. The wretched housemaid didn’t bring her to this room like Rafael had brought me. W
Rafael’s POVSleep and I were never close companions from the beginning. At best, we were reluctant acquaintances crossing paths only when exhaustion forced me into submission. But good sleep? Five uninterrupted hours of peace? That only happened when Adriana was beside me years ago. That realization sent a fresh wave of fury coursing through my veins. My jaw tightened fists clenching around the sheets that had barely been touched all night. She had wormed her way into every crevice of my life and embedded herself so deeply that I couldn’t think of a single goddamn happy moment without her bright, soulful smile forcing its way into my mind. Every memory! Every step! She was always there. It was suffocating. I threw the covers off and got out of bed my muscles taut with restlessness. Staying in this room and in this bed with nothing but my thoughts gnawing at me like vultures feasting on a carcass and it was was fucking unbearable. I needed to move and do something before I lost my
Adriana’s POVI woke up groggy with my body aching from the uncomfortable position I had fallen asleep in. My head throbbed and my limbs stiffened and heavy. I blinked against the dim morning light filtering through the high windows while trying to gather my thoughts. My back was pressed against the door and my arms limp at my sides. I had fallen asleep on the floor tet again. The reminder struck like a cruel slap. I had been begging and Pleading with Rafael to bring my daughter back to me but he never listened. Just like before and Just like years ago. My throat was raw from the cries that had turned into hoarse whimpers in the dead of night and my eyes swollen from tears that refused to dry. But Rafael? He never came. Never relented and never cared because when he wanted revenge, no one and nothing could ever start in his way. Not even the old memories we had. A sudden push against the door startled me. I groaned forcing my stiff body to move. My hands found the cold floor and I
Rafael’s POVI froze bevause i hadn’t been hugged in years maybe. Not like that and not by someone who just wanted to with no motive behind it. I stood stiffly for a second then let myself relax just enough to wrap my arms back around her gently and careful not to ruin whatever joy she was carrying.She pulled back just as quickly and ran out of the room, light as a breeze as if she hadn’t just knocked the air out of my lungs. There was something about that hug that I want to relive every moment of. I stared at the door for a long time after Isabella had left still feeling her arms around me. And as I stood there oddly still my eyes drifted again to the pink comb she’d forgotten on the edge of the piano. I picked it up, turning it over between my fingers, wondering why it felt like more than just a comb. Maybe it was nothing. Or maybe it was something strange and dangerous blooming inside me anx some part of me that wanted to protect that girl with the midnight hair and bright eyes
Rafael’s POVI’d been walking around the estate with Nathan and Anthony since early morning just making sure everything was exactly the way it should be. I didn’t leave things to chance. Not when the ball was only hours away and not when we had certain names on our guest list. The staff were working fast as the grand chandelier had already been cleaned twice and the crystal was gleaming like it was made of stars. White lilies and deep red roses lined the hallways. Tables were being arranged under the guidance of a tight faced event planner who reminded me of a military commander more than anything else. Everything was moving and everyone was exactly where they should be. There is going to be an after party here after I have been announced the new capo dei capi in Romano’s mansion. Nathan had a clipboard in his hand (of course he did) and he was flipping through checklists like the paper offended him. He was muttering about caterers being late last year and how if that happened agai
Adriana’s POVThe heavy clock on the wall chimed then once, twice, three times and the realization hit me. The ball was tonight.In just a few short hours, I would be expected to transform from whatever battered version of myself still remained into something dazzling enough to pass inspection under a hundred cold curious eyes. I was expected to glide into that ballroom as if I belonged there, as if my heart wasn’t still in pieces beneath my ribs and as if I hadn’t once loved a man who had chosen ambition and betrayal over me.My fingers curled slightly at my sides, nails digging into the soft flesh of my palms. The old fear, the old shame, tried to rise in me but I pushed it down with a force that surprised even myself. Tonight, I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing me bleed.Without another word, I turned on my heel and left the room with the hem of my robe following against the floor, my head held high even as my stomach twisted itself into tighter and tighter knots.T
Adriana’s POVThe house seemed to shift the moment Madame Corvina arrived. I felt it before I heard the first sharp clicks of her heels on the marble. Even the light filtering through the tall windows seemed harsher somehow slicing into the room like a blade, picking out every flaw and every imperfection. I didn’t give a damn thiugh. Anna was already there as usual witj her arms folded neatly across her chest and a slight smile playing at the corner of her mouth like she was anticipating a show. She didn’t look at me but shedidn’t need to. Her satisfaction filled the room like a perfume. The doors opened wide with a low groan and there she was. Madame Corvina entered into the room like a storm iwth her black dress flowing behind her. She was taller than I expected with sharp cheekbones that could have been carved from stone and eyes so dark they seemed to devour the light around them. Her hair was pinned back in an intricate coil, not a single strand out of place and around her nec
Adriana’s POVAfter Anna's interruption there was no peace left. The sense of waiting wrapped itself around me tighter each minute stretching longer than the last and i couldn’t sit still. I couldn't bear the thought of waiting in silence, trapped inside my own restless skin. I slipped out of Isabella’s room and wandered aimlessly letting my feet carry me down the familiar hallways until the rich amd warm scent of coffee lured me toward the kitchen like a thread pulling me forward.The kitchen wasn’t empty, of course and i guess Nothing in this house ever was. Anthony stood by the window staring out into the gardens with an expression I couldn’t quite read. The morning light cut across his profile throwing half his face into shadow and the line of his jaw sharp amd the tension in his shoulders obvious even from across the room. He turned when he heard my footsteps, his mouth tugging into that crooked easy smile he wore like armor."Trouble sleeping, princess?" He teased lightly bu
Adriana’s POVThe bed felt too big without him as I stirred in the tangled sheets that has his scent lingering still clinging to the air. For a while i just lay there staring up at the molding on the ceiling feeling the weight of reality settle over my bare skin. The light had shifted since I’d first opened my eyes growing brighter and demanding slipping through the curtains. A sigh left me as I pushed myself up on one elbow. The sheet fell away from my chest and a shiver ran through me despite the warmth of the morning. The marks he left on my skin with his hands and his mouth and his teeth felt like they were still there. Like a proof of how easily we slipped back into each other’s orbitsno matter how wrong we both knew is was.Dragging the sheet around me, I climbed out of bed my bare feet brushing the cold floor. I padded softly across the room the hem of the mattress trailing behind me and pulled aside the curtain just enough to peer down into the courtyard. The glass was cool
Rafael’s POVThe way she said it wasn't accusation and it wasn’t even sadness. Just that quiet, gutting kind of acceptance she’d perfected over the years. I didn’t answer right away. Just turned away and pulled on a pair of black slacks the fabric stiff against my skin like it doesn’t want to go too. Buttoned up a crisp white shirt with the collar biting into my neck.“Big day. You should sleep in.” I said in a low voice because I’d rather be with her in bed than go out. She propped herself up on one elbow with the sheet falling just enough to reveal the slope of one breast and the shadows of the bruises I’d left. Not from cruelty but sheer need. From knowing this might be the last time because what she would see later might change everything.“You’ll be back before the ceremony?” She asked her voice quieter now. Something unspoken tangled between the words.“Of course.” I turned to her buttoning the last of my cuffs and eyes met.She smiled then and it was small and tired maybe a li
Rafael’s POVThe light was soft slipping through the sheer curtains like a whisper that didn’t dare disturb what had happened here. The air was heavy with heat and thick with the scent of sex and mine. Adriana. It clung to the walls soaked into the sheets and into my skin.Her hair was spread across the pillow like fire and red waves tangled from hours of reckless brutal need. The kind that left bruises in places only lovers knew. The kind that stripped you down to bone and nerve and memory. I was sitting at the edge of the bed, shirtless, spine hunched and sweat drying on my skin in sticky trails. My cock still throbbed from how deep I’d been inside herm and how hard I had pounded into her like she was the only thing keeping me sane. Like I wanted to punish her and claim her all in the same goddamn breath. I looked over my shoulder unable not to. She was on her side with her face turned toward me and lips parted just slightly like she’d been about to say my name in her sleep and lo
Adriana’s POVThe night air licked across my skin. My nipples hardened as his gaze dropped like a curse had been cast. And then I moved. One hand on his chest and the other on the back of his neck. I started to roll my hips, slow and dirty the way I used to back when his mattress was on the floor and the world was nothing but broken promises and our sweaty skin under fluorescent lights. I knew exactly how to move and how to make his breathing shift and how to feel the stiff line of his cock grinding between us and press down just right. He let me take control and let me perform like I used to, back when love was reckless and money was just a dream. His grip landed on my hips alk hard and possessive, holding me in place as I moved. Not guiding me but just anchoring me. And he gripped me so tight I knew there’d be bruises tomorrow and i wanted them. I wanted to look in the mirror and see him everhwrre.He didn’t say anything at first. Just stared like I’d risen out of a ghost story. L