"What?"I ask, thinking- no, hoping that he meant to say something else."I'm saying, let's get rid of it.""Are you...are you serious, Matteo?"I ask as I pull away from him, but his arms pull me right back into him as if I were not allowed to put distance between us."I am. Olivia, I don't want you to die. I don’t want your life to be at risk because-""I won't- I won't die, okay? We can monitor this. That's what prenatal care is for, and plus, I had twins for my first birth; that’s traumatic for the body, okay? Maybe I needed extra care that I didn’t have time to focus on because of the things going on around me; I don’t know. But hopefully, this time, it's just one child and-""Olivia-"He interrupts while shaking his head as if he didn’t even want to consider what I was saying."Matteo.”I speak before him.“If I can't go through with the abortion because of my own internal motivations, you can't make me.”I say firmly, making sure he understands what I mean.“I stared at those p
"You told him to date other people?"Elizabeth asks with her eyes wide as she helps me arrange the toddlers' lunches."It slipped out. I don't want him to, but...fuck, I don't know."I say frustratedly as I rake my hair.“It just slipped out.”I woke up beating myself up, and now that we are in a moving boat with literally the sea keeping us together, I can’t help but feel even more embarrassed because everything reminds me of yesterday."I wish I could take it back."I add in a small voice that makes Elizabeth hum."I bet you do; how did he react?""How do you think he reacted? He was angry. I mean, I guess he was at first, but then he looked a little sad.""Thought so. So, what about mum? If you are pursuing a relationship with Matteo, it might be best to tell her.""Yeah, I know. I want to talk to her when we get back. She has a better sense of boundaries than Matteo.”I finish, and Elizabeth scoffs.“That’s a bad thing; if she were as persistent as Matteo, then you’d have invited h
"Ma-"The name of my daughter staggers on my lips when I see her in Victoria’s arms.I don’t trust her; I don’t trust her not to hurt my child, so when a chilling thickness slithers down my back, I am forced to give into my instincts and stop approaching them at the pace I was using.Instead, I take small steps like a hostage negotiator."What are you doing?"I ask Victoria."I'm thinking of going swimming. I have always wanted to swim in the sea, but every time I try to get the boys to come with me, there is always some sort of interruption, so I thought, why not ask the girls to join me? Don't you want to swim with me, Mari?"Victoria poses the question innocently to Marigold.I applied sunscreen on her, so for the life of me, I don’t understand why she looks so oily when what I used on her offers a matte finish.As if Marigold doesn’t understand the question, she looks between Victoria and me before burying her head where she feels safest on Victoria’s chest.“Are you angry at Mumm
{This part begins after the main story: Chapter One-Zero-Three: Devils.} "No...no...no..."Elizabeth muttered as she searched her suitcase for her notebook.A pink toy caught her attention before she sighed, remembering the trouble sex toys had put her in.It wasn't that exact toy; those two, Mimi and Momo (Yes, she named her sex toys), were forever lost in Christopher's car.This pink vibrating and thrusting dildo was a different toy that was meant to help her get adjusted in the city had she and Olivia succeeded in their escape.Still...the D’Amico brothers...She recalled the number of cars that had surrounded them, the guns aimed at them, and the fact that she watched Olivia get dragged away powerlessly.Elizabeth bit her lip nervously as her hand rubbed her belly.Her phone, which was on the dresser, rang, so she lifted her body to answer it."Hey?"[Were at club typhoon. Are you coming or what?]Drai, her friend, yelled over the music of the club that made Elizabeth visibly crin
{This part takes place after Chapter One-Two-Five: What Reason.}‘No, don't leave!’Elizabeth wanted to scream the words at Olivia's back.Did it make sense for her sister to leave her with her stalker without even glancing back just because her kids fought?Either way, the door closed, and tension hung in the small space.With a sigh, Elizabeth closed the lunch boxes and moved to the door, but Christopher's body remained blocking her."Excuse me? You are the size of an oak tree, move.”“Are you pregnant?”At the abrupt question from Christopher, Elizabeth’s stomach sank.“I’m on birth control. Are you trying to find a way to keep me by your side? Isn’t that too sad?”Christoper removes a box from his back pocket that he places in front of me.A pregnancy test kit.“Let's take the test together.”“This is an invasion of privacy.”He shrugs at my instant response.“I don’t mind watching you pee.”“I do. I mind.”Elizabeth stresses with a frown.She wasn’t sure, but the ghost of a smile
Christopher held Elizabeth’s hand when the needle pierced her skin because she held on to her protest that she was ‘squeamish’. It would be suspicious if she kept on refusing, especially when the doctor began spewing the benefits of prenatal care and knowing one's state, so she did what she could: accepted and continued to gaslight him.“So now what? do you want my medical history?”“If you are offering, I will take it.”Christopher finished as he watched the doctor seal the sample he had drawn.“You D’Amico bastards. I bet you think that because your brother scored with my sister, you’ll trap me in the same way. I use double protection; I am nobody’s baby mama.”“Mhn…”Still, Elizabeth found that it was hard to gaslight an unresponsive person.“How long until the results?”Christopher asked.“Just a few minutes.”The doctor reassured her, and suddenly, her limbs began to shake.“If I'm not pregnant, I want you to disappear from my life.”“Do you mean that?”“Yes.”“Okay.”He said.“If
Wait, wait, wait! Don’t stone me over the bonus ending. Hear me out!For my long-term readers or those who have read my previous works, you know my bonus stories never have a happy ending guaranteed. Sigh, why do you do this to yourself?Olivia and Matteo’s story is almost coming to an end, and these other nuts have problems that would need 50 more chapters to resolve; it is already hard enough to trust a man who has an affair on his wife, but add on to that he is still grieving for his mistress and as a cherry on top, the woman he is interested in witnessed him murder his own wife?That’s a tough cookie. ¯\(°_o)/¯Isn't that just dark romance, though?Hehe… (✿◡‿◡)Well, you know me; I love angst and red-flag male leads, so challenge accepted!I can’t write 50 bonus chapters, but I can add their story as a book two after Matteo x Olivia’s romance is completed. So if you would like to read their dark romance, which will contain non-consent warnings and lots of dark themes, because both
Matteo’s body was cold. He was already dry, so he knew the feeling of his hands and legs was in his head, caused by the fear that rocked through him seeing Olivia jump in the water.She wasn’t sane. She really wasn’t.He muttered to himself as he blew warm air into his hands and thumped his foot anxiously.The twins were in the paediatric section, and it was story time, so he was all alone outside Olivia’s room.“You can see her at any time, Mr. D’Amico.”The doctor who just left her room said, and finally, his legs, which felt as if they had melted to the ground, began to move.A pillow flew from the bed, hitting him square on the face before he had the chance to enter the room fully. "You sedated me."Olivia accused; the anger boiling in her veins was obvious, but given the pillow hadn’t hit him that hard, it was evident that she still hadn’t regained her strength."You were erratic.""My child needed me, you bastard!""I need you!"He yelled.He didn’t want to yell, especially at