Aria paced her room, her palms clenched into fists. She had spent the whole night time seeking to shake off the lingering effects of Alejandro’s kiss, but her frame betrayed her. Her pores and skin still tingled where he had touched her. Her lips nevertheless burned from his flavor. She became dropping manager, and she hated it. A sharp knock at her door made her soar. She turned, heart racing. The door swung open before she may want to respond, and there he was—Alejandro. Dressed in a crisp black shirt with the pinnacle buttons undone, his sleeves rolled up to expose his muscular forearms, he appeared results easily dangerous. "Why are you continuing to be conscious?" His voice turned deep, laced with some thing she couldn’t pretty place. Aria folded her palms, looking to mask her nerves. "I ought to ask you the equal issue." Alejandro stepped inner, closing the door at the back of him. "I don’t sleep tons." "That makes folks," she muttered. His gaze darkened
Aria awoke with a start, her heart hammering in opposition to her ribs. Her goals have been packed with Alejandro—his palms on her skin, his lips claiming hers, his voice whispering things she didn’t need to admit she wanted to listen. She groaned, rubbing her temples. She needed to clean her head earlier than she made a mistake she couldn’t take lower back. Slipping away from bed, she determined to visit the garden. It was the handiest location in this mansion where she could breathe without feeling like she turned into being suffocated by Alejandro’s presence. The solar became barely growing while she stepped outdoors, the air crisp and funky. She walked barefoot through the damp grass, letting the silence calm her. But her peace turned into short-lived. A strong arm wrapped around her waist from at the back of her, pulling her against a hard, acquainted body. Alejandro. She stiffened as his breath ghosted over her neck. "You assume you can run from me, mi ángel?" Hi
Aria sat in front of her arrogance, observing her reflection. Her lips had been nevertheless swollen from Alejandro’s kisses, her pores and skin tingling with the reminiscence of his contact. She had allowed herself to get carried away once more. With a frustrated sigh, she buried her face in her hands. This isn’t a part of the plan. She changed into being supposed to manipulate him, now not allowing herself to be seduced. A knock at the door made her jolt. She quickly straightened, smoothing her hair. "Come in." Maria entered, her expression annoying. "We need to speak." Aria frowned. "What’s incorrect?" Maria hesitated before sitting on the threshold of the bed. "I confronted Juan about us." Aria’s eyebrows shot up. "And?" Maria bit her lip. "He stated I’m not just a fling…however he made any promises." Aria sighed. "That’s something, at the least." Maria shook her head. "I don’t know if I can manage to be in limbo. I love him, Aria. And I’m scared." Aria reach
Aria paced in her room, her mind spinning. Alejandro had left in a hurry, and Jace’s cryptic words still lingered. "Someone who could ruin everything." Who could possibly make Alejandro react like that? A soft knock at the door made her pause. Maria stepped in, her expression tight. "Something’s going on," Maria whispered. Aria nodded. "I know. Alejandro was acting…different." Maria hesitated. "I overheard some guards talking. A woman is here. Valentina." Aria’s stomach dropped. "Valentina? As in his fiancée?" Maria winced. "More like ex-wife." Aria felt like she had been slapped. "He was married?" Maria nodded. "Apparently, it was a long time ago. But the way the guards talk about her…it’s like she still has a hold on him." Aria clenched her fists. She hated the sharp sting of jealousy burning in her chest. Why should she care? Alejandro wasn’t hers. But he touches you like you are. She shook off the thought. "Where is she now?" "Jace took her somewhere pr
Aria couldn’t sit still. The moment Alejandro left the room, an uneasy feeling settled in her chest. She wrapped a blanket around herself, staring at the door like she expected him to walk back in any second. But he didn’t. Instead, the hallway remained eerily silent. She swung her legs off the bed, her heartbeat quickening. If it was urgent enough for Jace to interrupt Alejandro, it had to be serious. And she needed to know what the hell was going on. Alejandro’s study door was slightly open when she got there. She stayed in the shadows, listening. Jace’s voice was low but tense. "She’s not lying. Valentina’s being hunted." Alejandro exhaled sharply. "By who?" Jace hesitated. "Someone worse than us." Aria pressed a hand to her chest to keep herself from gasping out loud. Worse than Alejandro? Worse than his cartel? Alejandro scoffed. "You expect me to believe that?" Jace’s tone was firm. "Believe whatever the fuck you want, but whoever it is, they’re power
The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on. Aria’s body still tingled from Alejandro’s kiss, but the weight of Jace’s words crashed down hard. We’re about to have company. Alejandro’s grip on her tightened for a second before he released her completely. His expression was back to that cold, calculating mask. "How many?" Jace exhaled. "At least ten, maybe more. Armed. They’re closing in fast." Aria’s heart pounded. Ten men? Who the hell were these people? Alejandro turned to Valentina, his voice sharp. "Did you know about this?" Valentina scoffed, shaking her head. "If I did, I wouldn’t still be standing here, would I?" Jace cursed under his breath. "We don’t have time to argue. We need to move." Alejandro’s mind was already working at lightning speed. He turned to Aria. "Go back inside. Now." "No." The word left her lips before she could think. His eyes flashed dangerously. "Aria." She swallowed, stepping closer. "I’m not just going to hide while you’r
Aria’s body still ached from the night before, but it wasn’t the pain that kept her awake it was Alejandro. The way he kissed her, the way his hands explored every inch of her skin, the way he made her forget every danger surrounding them. But the moment the sun rose, reality came crashing back. She turned in bed, half expecting to see him beside her, but the sheets were cold. He was gone. A sharp pang hit her chest. She sat up, wrapping the blanket around herself. Last night had been different. It wasn’t just passion it was something more. Something terrifying. Before she could dwell on it, a knock sounded at the door. "Aria?" It was Maria. Aria exhaled, pushing back her emotions. "Come in." Maria stepped inside, her expression unreadable. She shut the door behind her, then crossed her arms. "Tell me you didn’t do what I think you did." Aria hesitated. "Maria " "Aria," Maria groaned, dragging a hand down her face. "Alejandro? Really?" Aria’s heart thudded. "It
Aria could still taste Alejandro on her lips as she sat at the desk in his study, a laptop in front of her. But there was no time to dwell on the way his kiss had made her feel she had work to do. Alejandro and Jace stood behind her, their presence heavy. The tension in the room was thick, but Aria tuned it out, fingers flying over the keyboard. She was in. The Varela Cartel wasn’t as secure as they thought. Their servers were old, their encryption sloppy. A few backdoors and she had access to their internal communications. "Got something," she murmured. Alejandro leaned over her shoulder, his breath warm against her neck. "What is it?" Aria swallowed, forcing herself to focus. "They have an encrypted message scheduled to send out in…" she checked the timestamp, her stomach twisting, "ten minutes." Jace cursed under his breath. "Can you stop it?" Aria smirked. "I can do more than that." Her fingers danced over the keys. She bypassed their firewalls, rerouted the mess
The storm came in the middle of the night, heavy and relentless, with wind that screamed like ghosts clawing at the windows and thunder that shook the walls of the estate. Aria woke with a jolt, heart thudding against her chest, her hand instinctively reaching for the other side of the bed only to find it empty. The sheets were still warm where Alejandro had been lying moments ago. She sat up slowly, listening. No footsteps. No voices. Just the rumble of rain and the hollow echo of her own worry filling the room.Wrapping a robe around herself, she padded barefoot down the hallway, her eyes scanning every shadow. The storm outside seemed to seep into her bones, a reflection of the unrest brewing within her. The revelation of Luciana, Miguel’s sister, had shaken her more than she’d let on. It wasn’t just about another enemy, it was about history. About the kind of legacy blood carries whether you want it or not. If Luciana was anything like her brother, then they weren’t just facing a
The warmth of the morning sun did little to erase the lingering tension in the estate. Though the threat to Jace had been lifted, and Alejandro had begun mending the cracks between them, there was an air of unfinished business hanging over everyone. The silence in the hallways was not peaceful, it was watchful, heavy with the weight of memories and anticipation of what could come next. Aria felt it in the way the maids moved, whispering behind corners, in the way Alejandro’s guards doubled their shifts without complaint, and in the way Sophia barely left Jace’s side.Inside the master suite, Aria stood alone in front of the mirror, slowly tying her hair back. Her hands trembled slightly. There was a bruise on her wrist, faint but still visible, a reminder of the scuffle at the warehouse. She ran her fingers over it not out of pain, but remembrance. The past few days have changed everything. Love wasn’t a fairytale she’d grown up dreaming about. It was brutal, it was aching, it was the
The journey back to the estate felt endless. Alejandro drove in silence, one hand on the wheel, the other wrapped tightly around the steering wheel as though holding it could keep him from falling apart. Jace sat in the backseat, his head resting against the window, bruised and bandaged. Aria was beside him, her fingers interlaced with his, like she couldn’t risk letting go. Valentina was quiet too, arms crossed, her jaw set, eyes watchful through the rearview mirror. It wasn’t just exhaustion. It was the aftermath of a storm that had left all of them changed.Aria couldn’t stop glancing at Jace. Even with his cuts and injuries, he still looked like the boy who had grinned at her from Alejandro’s rooftop, the man who had fought for her when Alejandro didn’t know how. She kept replaying the moment he opened his eyes and said her name, the rasp in his voice, the relief in it. She had been so close to losing him, and it terrified her how easily life could tilt into tragedy. All that time
Alejandro stood still in the middle of that abandoned building long after the recording ended, his fist clenching around the cracked phone until his knuckles turned white. There was something different about hearing Jace’s voice, something raw. He wasn’t speaking like a man running from guilt. He was speaking like someone fighting for something more sacred than survival. The fear in his tone hadn’t been for himself. It had been for Aria. And that realization twisted something sharp in Alejandro’s chest. He had doubted his brother. Worse, he had turned his back when Jace might have needed him the most. The guilt was thunderous, the silence around him heavier than bricks.Sophia stood by the doorway, watching him. “Do you want to keep searching here?”“No,” he finally said, his voice low and broken. “He’s not here anymore. But we have a direction now. This wasn’t random. They wanted him alive. That means they still need him.”Sophia nodded slowly. “And that gives us time.”Alejandro loo
Morning crept in with a coldness that didn’t belong to the sun, but to the hearts of those who had spent the night wrestling with truth and betrayal. Alejandro stood in front of the mirror in his suite, buttoning his shirt slowly, mechanically, as if the simple act might distract his mind from the raging war within. There was a hollow ache in his chest, a dark void left by the thought that Jace, the man he called brother, might have handed over his secrets to enemies. But it wasn’t just anger that consumed him. It was the sting of disappointment, the disintegration of trust, the slow unraveling of a bond built on blood and loyalty.Downstairs, Aria sat at the breakfast table, untouched toast lying cold on her plate. Her thoughts drifted like smoke thick, suffocating. She didn’t know what was worse: the possibility that Jace was guilty or the fear that Alejandro might be wrong. Everything was turning to ash around her again. When she looked up and saw Valentina approach, there was no n
The night was thick with silence, but Aria’s heart was anything but still. She sat by the large bay window in her room, knees pulled to her chest, watching the stars blur through the film of unshed tears. Alejandro’s words from the garden echoed in her mind like a song she couldn’t stop humming. She wanted to believe him, God knew she did, but believing meant opening herself again to the kind of pain she wasn’t sure she could survive twice. It meant risking everything she had become, everything she had built inside herself since the moment he turned her life upside down. And still, some small, stubborn part of her ached for his touch, for the warmth that only he ever made her feel. That was the cruel truth her body still remembered what her mind was trying to forget.Down the hallway, Alejandro stood in front of his bedroom door, hand raised, knuckles grazing the surface but never knocking. He had said what he needed to say, and she had asked for time. He had to respect that. But pati
Alejandro sat in the darkened study, the amber glow of the fireplace casting flickering shadows across the walls. His hand gripped the edge of the desk, knuckles white, heart thundering like a storm trapped inside a cage. Aria’s face haunted him, her eyes no longer filled with trust, now brimmed with doubt and pain. And it wasn’t just about the secrets. It was about the silence. The silence that had widened the gulf between them until he couldn’t recognize the bridge they once stood on together. He had promised to protect her, yet the world he built to keep her safe had become the very thing tearing her apart. Alejandro could almost hear her voice, the tremble, the crack when she asked him if he ever truly loved her, or if she’d just been another pawn in his empire’s twisted game.Outside the door, Valentina paced like a storm cloud, her heels sharp against the marble floor. She had seen enough of men like Alejandro cold, controlled, calculating. But this time was different. She had s
The forest was eerily quiet as dawn bled through the twisted silhouettes of trees. A thick mist hugged the earth, softening the edges of bloodshed and ash that had stained the night. Alejandro sat by the fire they barely had time to light, his eyes locked on the flames like they might offer absolution. Across from him, Aria wrapped a torn blanket around her shoulders, shivering not from the cold but from the storm inside her chest. Jace was resting nearby, his wound stitched with trembling hands and the pain dulled by makeshift medication. For now, they were alive. But they were cornered.Aria's mind wouldn’t rest. Dario’s words echoed relentlessly: "She doesn't even know what she's carrying." What did it mean? She stared at the data drive again, holding it as if it might explode with answers. Somewhere within its encrypted layers lay a truth powerful enough to drive a cartel mad. A truth they were now willing to kill for.Alejandro noticed her grip tightening and stood, walking to he
The night air was thick with tension, so much that it clung to Aria’s skin like a second layer. The distant crunch of footsteps on gravel made her grip the pistol tighter. Every shadow seemed to pulse with danger, every sound a possible threat. From where she crouched beside the jagged cliff edge, she could make out the dark shapes of their enemies disembarking from the boat, weapons drawn, eyes sweeping the terrain.Beside her, Alejandro’s breathing was calm, calculated. He crouched low, his back against the rocks, a rifle balanced on his knee. Though the moment was dire, there was a stillness in him, like the eye of a storm. His hand brushed Aria’s shoulder gently a silent promise that they would survive this. Not just for themselves, but for everything they had endured together.She turned to look at him, their eyes locking in the darkness. His gaze held fire, but beneath it, she caught something unexpected. Regret.“Alejandro,” she whispered, “if we don’t make it ”“We will,” he c