LOGINHORACE "I... didn't forget.""You lie, Horace. I can see it in your eyes." Marco chuckled, clearly amused by my lack of care. "Why are you so nonchalant about everything?""That’s why you’re my manager, isn't it?""Well, I knew you'd forget. That’s why I already have everything sorted out." Marco straightened the garment bag. "All you have to do is show up looking your best. No excuses. This night is important.""I'm aware, Marco. I won't disappoint you.""Disappoint me? You mean yourself.""I'll be there.""And bring Valentina along." He adjusted the heavy material one last time.I laughed, the sound surprisingly light. "I'm definitely not forgetting that part." A strange sense of joy bubbled up. I felt myself softening, even though this was all supposed to be about a cold-blooded revenge."Very well then." Marco turned toward the door. "I’ll drop this with one of your workers so they can take it to your room." He stepped out, leaving me alone with the silence and the weight of tomo
ELISHA“But just what if he’s innocent.” I said. "So now all of a sudden you support Harold?" Horace asked, turning sharply on his heel. His frame seemed to expand, filling the room with a suffocating, dark energy."I will never do such a thing." I stepped toward him, my heart hammering against my ribs. "But Harold? You knew Deja was the one who was all over him. You were aware, weren’t you?""That story isn’t adding up, Elisha. You know that is not true." His voice cracked, a sound that betrayed the raw heartbreak behind his ribs. I could see the liquid pain shimmering in his eyes, but I didn't back down. He needed the truth to finally rest, to move on, maybe even with me."You better come off this delusion and accept the fact that she cheated on you with your own step-cousin, Horace." I threw the words like stones. "Come back to your senses. Even while she betrayed you, you still took her back. And now? Now you have another woman living under your roof who Harold fucked every day o
HAROLDI marched out of the gym, the plastic bottle in my hand surrendering to the pressure of my grip. My lungs burned, and it wasn't just from the drills. Valentina was a goddamn puzzle box, and I was losing my patience with the riddles. She was smart, lethally so and that trick had my mind racing even while my blood was screaming for a different kind of release.Maybe I was pissed for no reason. Or maybe I was just spiraling. I knew I’d crossed a line at the theater, leaving her bound like that just to trade saliva with Elisha in a moment of pure, reckless spite. What the hell was I doing? I was probably acting like a rookie who couldn't keep his head in the game.I decided this was the moment to track down Elisha, reclaim my phone, and snap her out of whatever twisted game she thought she was playing. I marched to her room and threw the door open without a second thought, I didn't bother knocking, considering she never afforded me that same courtesy anyway. The second I stepped i
VALENTINA"Is that so?" I challenged, my voice a breathy whisper. I looked up into his blown-out pupils. "Then what is the problem?""You're trying to see how far you can push me before I break your little rules." His voice was a low growl, vibrating in his chest."Maybe I just want to see if you're as disciplined as you claim to be."“He wants to devour you. Look at his mouth, Lita whispered.”Horace’s gaze dropped to my lips. For a moment, the silence was absolute. The gym, the training, the hockey, it all vanished. There was only the heat of his body and the heavy, intoxicating promise of what came next.He crashed his lips against mine. It wasn't a soft kiss, it was a hungry, desperate one. The kiss tasted of bottled-up fury, a mix of all the tension we had been building since we met in the morning. I groaned into his mouth, my fingers digging into the damp fabric of his singlet, pulling him closer until there wasn't a single inch of air between us. Finally, Lita screamed in tri
VALENTINA"Okay, we’d start with a light warm-up first, and then we can move on to the real work."I pointed toward the open floor, my voice steady despite the way Lita was still purring in the back of my mind about the view. Horace didn't move immediately. He just stood there, his eyes tracking the way I adjusted."I know how to warm up, Val. I’ve been a pro since you were probably still figuring out how to lace skates.""And yet, you’re standing here, under my contract," I shot back, flashing a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "Can we start now?"I put him through a tough warmup. I watched his muscles bunch and stretch, the grey fabric of those pants straining with every deep lunge. I made him focus on his hip and ankles, the lifeblood of a power skater. He groaned, a low sound that vibrated in the air between us."Enough of the yoga," he snapped, wiping sweat from his brow. "Let’s hit the rack.""Not yet. If you want to stop getting bullied off the puck in the third period, we foc
HAROLDI watched her move, the confusion thick enough to choke on. The weak Val I had met just days ago, the woman who seemed fragile, almost breakable, had vanished. In her place stood someone who felt like she held every string to my soul. I didn't even have to take her back to her place, she had claimed mine as her own territory.She pulled her hands from my grip with a slow, deliberate force that left my skin stinging. "I’ll be waiting," she tossed over her shoulder, her voice a silk thread pulling me toward the gym.I didn't even realize I had turned. My body acted on its own, my gaze locking onto the hypnotic sway of her hips as she moved. Every movement was a taunt, a reminder that while I wore the title of boss, she was the one currently dictating the pace of my heartbeat.I stood there in the morning silence, watching the woman I was supposed to be punishing walk away with my control tucked into the waistband of her gym shorts.VALENTINAThe humiliation of the theater was sti







