LOGIN~LUCAS~"So you actually got into the bed,” she replies, and is suddenly staring daggers at me.I stare back at her. "That's generally what people do when they're going to sleep.""But….""But what?" I interrupt her.She pauses because she clearly doesn't know how to finish that sentence without admitting that she expected me to spend the night somewhere else.I smile. "You thought I was joking?""I thought you'd actually not sleep on the bed,” she replies."I considered it,” I say, and her eyes brighten slightly, then I ruin it with my next words. "But I'm tired and I need to sleep.”Her expression drops.I have to look away for a second because I'm dangerously close to laughing.I pull the blanket toward myself, and immediately, she grabs it.I look at her hand, then at her.“That is my blanket,” she says, looking innocently at me."Our blanket,” I correct her."I was using it first,” she says."You're using too much,” I tell her, and we both glance down.I'v
~FIORELLA~This is going to be a very long night.I try to focus on my phone, pretending that the man standing only a few feet away from me isn't the reason my thoughts are suddenly all over the place.I keep staring at my phone but nothing registers.I scroll through the same page twice without absorbing a single word.My eyes keep drifting toward him.Every single time I catch myself doing it, I quickly look away.This is ridiculous! I have never behaved like this around a man before.Lucas is just Lucas.My irritating, arrogant, frustrating colleague…. nothing more.I repeat the fact that he's nothing more silently to myself.Then I hear the soft sound of the mattress shifting, and I look up instantly.Lucas is sitting on the edge of the bed, and my heart jumps.As if he notices it, he glances at me, and gives me a questioning look.“What?” He asks.“Nothing,” I reply, staring intently at him, then at the bed he's sitting on.“You're staring too much,” he t
~FIORELLA~“Fine. I'm staying. But you better behave like a gentleman tonight, or you're going to have to deal with me,” I tell Lucas and he scoffs.“You know I'm always a gentleman, Fiorella,” he says. “I don't do things without permission. If anything is going to happen tonight, you'll have to give me permission to do that.”I can tell he's clearly teasing me.“Don't look so pleased with yourself,” I tell him.“I promise I'm not,” he replies, and I stare at him for another moment before looking away.“And there's absolutely nothing that will happen tonight, you weird ass!” I add, and he chuckles.“Of course. There's absolutely nothing that will happen tonight,” he says with amusement in his voice.“I don't think I'd want to ever go into that room again,” I say, changing the topic, because I'm starting to have stupid thoughts.“Why??” He asks. “They're going to fix it though.” “And if I see another cockroach??” I ask.“You won't,” he assures me.“You don't know t
~FIORELLA~“You’re staying here.”For a few seconds, I genuinely wonder if I hear him correctly.I stare at Lucas, and he stares back at me.Neither of us moves at first, till I finally blink.My brain seems to need those extra seconds to process the ridiculous sentence that has just come out of his mouth.“Excuse me?” I say, but Lucas doesn't even flinch.“You heard me,” he says.“I think I did, but I’m hoping I didn’t,” I say, and his lips twitch, and that tiny movement immediately irritates me.“What?” I demand.“You’re staying in my room tonight,” he repeats.“You cannot be serious.” I push myself farther back on the bed, staring at him like he has suddenly grown another head. “This is a joke.”“It isn't.”“Then you’ve lost your mind,” I glare at him.“Possibly,” he shrugs, and I narrow my eyes.Lucas looks entirely too calm for someone who has just informed me that I am sleeping in his room….with him.Of all the ridiculous things that have happened since we
~LUCAS~I have seen a lot of things in my life.But nothing…absolutely nothing….has prepared me for this.For Fiorella Vincenzo clinging to me like her life depends on it… because of cockroaches.I stand there for a second after setting her on my bed, staring at the door like if I look long enough, the entire situation will rearrange itself into something that makes sense.It doesn’t.A slow breath leaves me as I drag a hand down my face, my lips pressing together.I turn my head slightly, glancing at her.She’s still curled up on my bed, legs tucked under her, eyes darting toward the floor every few seconds like she expects something to crawl out and attack her.Her hair is slightly messy, her chest still rising and falling unevenly, and…. She's wearing that.I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek.She's wearing a short, silky nightwear that barely covers anything, and she’s completely unaware of how she looks right now.She's completely unaware of how a
~FIORELLA~My scream doesn’t even sound human.It’s loud, sharp, high-pitched…like something inside me just snapped completely.I scramble backward on the bed so fast I nearly trip over myself, my heart pounding so violently it feels like it’s trying to claw its way out of my chest.“Oh my God….oh my God…what the hell is that?!”The cockroach just sits there like it owns the place, and like I’m the intruder.My entire body recoils in disgust, my face twisting as pure horror floods through me. It’s huge…absolutely huge. Its disgusting little legs twitch, and I can swear with my life that he's looking at me.“No. No. No. No.”I shake my head rapidly, backing further away until my legs hit the edge of the bed and I nearly fall off.“This is not happening. This is not happening!”I have never.…never….seen a cockroach up close before.I’ve heard about them, seen pictures, and watched people complain about them.But this? This is a personal attack.The thing sud
~ELENA~That night, when the house finally grows quiet, reality settles in.Not the fear kind, but the good kind.The kind that hums softly in your chest and tells you this….this moment….is real.The nursery light glows faintly down the hall.I sit in bed, pillows stacked behi
~ELENA~The hospital room smells like antiseptic when I wake again.For a terrifying second, my arms feel empty. Then I hear it.Three tiny breaths. Soft. Uneven. Alive.I turn my head slowly and see them….three bassinets lined up beside my bed, each holding a piece of my hear
~ELENA~“My daughter belongs to all of them,” I announce.Laughter breaks out—low, cruel, disbelieving.“Daughters?” one of them repeats. “You expect us to believe three men fathered three identical children?”“Yes,” I reply boldly.Outrage erupts.“That’s perversion!”“Th
~ELENA~I know something is wrong the moment they come back into my room after taking Fiorella and Marcella to the nursery.Not because they say anything.But because the house feels… heavier.Vincenzo closes the door behind them carefully, like the walls might be listening







