LOGINISABELLA
I'm staring at cold pasta when Vello finally walks through the door at midnight.
Again.
"Tesoro," he says, loosening his tie. "You're still up."
I don't answer. Just take another sip of wine—my third glass—and watch him move through our penthouse like he owns it. Which he does. Vello Vize owns half this city.
He just doesn't seem to own any time for his wife.
"Isabella." He notices the uneaten dinner on the table. "You didn't have to wait."
"I didn't wait," I say flatly. "I gave up waiting three hours ago."
He sighs, running a hand through his dark hair. Even exhausted, he's beautiful—sharp jawline, broad shoulders, those intense dark eyes that made me fall in love with him five years ago.
Back when he still came home.
"I'm sorry. The meeting ran long—"
"They always run long."
"Business—"
"Is more important than me. I know." I stand up, grabbing my wine glass. "I'm going to bed."
"Isabella, wait—"
"For what, Vello? For you to promise it'll be different? We both know it won't be."
I head toward our bedroom, expecting him to let me go like he always does. Too tired to fight. Too busy to care.
Instead, he catches my wrist.
"Don't walk away from me," he says quietly.
"Why not? You walk away from me every day."
His grip tightens. "That's not fair."
"Isn't it?" I turn to face him. "When's the last time you touched me, Vello? Really touched me? When's the last time we had dinner together? When's the last time you fucked me like you actually wanted me?"
Something dangerous flashes in his eyes.
"When's the last time," I continue, my voice breaking, "you made me feel like I'm your wife instead of just expensive decoration?"
"I provide for you—"
"I don't want your money!" The words explode out. "I want my husband. I want the man who used to fuck me against every surface in this apartment. Who couldn't keep his hands off me. Who made me feel like I was the center of his entire world."
"You are—"
"Then prove it." I yank my wrist free. "Because right now I feel like nothing. Like I could disappear tomorrow and you wouldn't even notice until you needed arm candy for some event."
I storm into our bedroom and slam the door.
My heart's racing. We never fight like this. I'm usually too tired, too resigned to being the neglected wife of a powerful man.
But tonight something snapped.
I'm stripping off my dress when the bedroom door crashes open.
Vello stands there, jacket gone, tie loose, looking at me with an intensity that makes my breath catch.
"You want me to prove it?" His voice is low and dangerous.
"Vello—"
"You want me to show you that you're the center of my world? That I haven't forgotten how to make you scream my name?"
He's walking toward me now and my pulse skyrockets.
"Answer me, Isabella."
"Yes," I whisper.
He reaches me in two strides, hand sliding into my hair and yanking my head back. "Then shut up and let me remind you who you belong to."
His mouth crashes onto mine and it's not gentle. It's claiming and desperate and full of months of neglect transformed into raw need.
I melt into him, gasping when his other hand grips my ass hard enough to bruise.
"I've been a fool," he growls against my lips. "Neglecting my beautiful wife. Leaving you alone and aching when I should be buried inside you every fucking night."
"Yes—"
"Tell me what you need."
"You. I need you."
His hand tightens in my hair. "Be specific. Tell me exactly what you want me to do to you."
Heat floods through me. "I want you to fuck me. Hard. Like you used to."
"Like I own you?"
"Yes."
"Because I do own you, don't I, tesoro? This body is mine."
"Yes—"
He spins me around and shoves me face-first against the wall, yanking my dress up. "I'm going to prove it."
EMILIA.His tongue is perfect. He works me with exactly the right pressure and rhythm like he's been studying what I need. He probably has been. He notices everything else so why not this.I'm already too close. Can feel it building embarrassingly fast. Try to pull away."Don't," he says against me. "Let go. I want to taste it when you come."I come hard with his mouth on me and my hands fisted in those black curls and it's so intense my vision goes white.He doesn't stop. Just works me through it and straight into oversensitivity that borders on too much but doesn't quite cross the line.When he finally pulls back his mouth is wet and his eyes are darker than I've ever seen them."You taste even better than I spent three months imagining you would," he says."You imagined this?""Every night in this bed. Thinking about how you'd taste. What sounds you'd make. How you'd look when you came for me." He stands and starts unbuttoning his shirt. "Now I don't have to imagine anymore."I wa
EMILIAI don’t know why I let the words leave my lips. But I do anyway, “That makes two of us."We're looking at each other and something is happening in the space between us. Something that's been building for months and finally has nowhere else to hide."Emilia." The way he says my name makes my skin feel too tight."What?""Stop looking at me like that."Heat floods my face despite the cold air. "Like what?""Like you want to close the distance between us and see what happens when you do."I should deny it. Should laugh it off. Should do literally anything except stand here confirming what he just said with my silence."What if I do want that?" I ask instead.His jaw clenches hard enough that I can see the muscle jump. "Then you need to think very carefully about what you're starting.""Why?""Because this complicates everything that's already complicated. Because you're here under circumstances that make this questionable at best. Because once we cross this line there's no going
EMILIASeven months later, and my father still hasn't paid.Not that I expected him to.The house is familiar now in ways my old apartment never was. The third floorboard in the east hallway creaks if you step on the left side. Miguel works mornings and Torres takes over at eight. Eduardo drinks his coffee black at six AM while standing at his office window staring at nothing in particular.He doesn't sleep much based on the hours his office light stays on.He notices everything based on the way his eyes track movement even when he's pretending not to pay attention.I started noticing him noticing around month three and haven't been able to stop since.Late afternoon and the courtyard doors are open because someone decided fresh air was acceptable today. Eduardo is at one of the iron tables buried in paperwork that probably details someone's life falling apart in spreadsheets and signatures.His sleeves are rolled to his elbows. His hair keeps falling forward and he keeps pushing it b
EDUARDOThe girl sitting across from me hasn't blinked in forty seconds.I know because I've been counting.Her father is on his knees begging and she's just sitting there in that chair staring at the wall behind my head like if she doesn't look at me directly none of this is real.Smart girl."Please, Don Eduardo. Por favor. I just need more time. Two weeks. One week even. I can get you the money I swear on my mother's grave—""Your mother is alive, Carlos." I lean back in my chair and watch him grovel. "She lives in that apartment on Meridian that you pay for with money you don't have. So swearing on her grave doesn't carry much weight."He opens his mouth. Closes it. Opens it again like a fish drowning in air."Two hundred thousand," I say. "That's what you owe. Not including interest which at this point has compounded to another sixty.""I know. I know the number—""Do you? Because you keep acting like this debt is going to disappear if you just avoid me long enough." I pick up th
TULA.He pulls me against him and the feeling of our bodies pressed together with almost nothing between us makes my breath catch.He walks me backward until my legs hit the bed. I sit and he settles between my thighs.His hands move to my bra and he unhooks it without fumbling. He removes it and his eyes go even darker.“Jesus, Tula.”“What?”“You’re perfect.”“I’m really not.”“From where I’m standing you absolutely are.” His hands cup my breasts and I arch into the touch without meaning to.His mouth follows and I’m making sounds I didn’t plan on making.His hand slides down my stomach to the waistband of my underwear. He looks up at me.“Yes,” I say.He slides them down and I’m completely naked while he’s still in his boxers.“You’re staring,” I say.“I’m allowed to stare. I’ve waited six years for this.”His hand slides up my inner thigh slowly. When his fingers reach where I need them I stop breathing.He touches me carefully and makes a sound when he feels how wet I am.“This a
TULA. Declan is scrolling through his phone when I get back to him. He looks up and puts it away.“Ready?” he asks.“Yeah.”We leave together and the night air outside is cooler than I expected. I didn’t bring a jacket because I’m an idiot who forgot that April in Boston still gets cold at night.Declan notices me wrapping my arms around myself.“Here,” he says, shrugging out of his jacket.“I’m fine.”“You’re shivering. Just take it.”He drapes it over my shoulders before I can argue. It’s warm from his body and smells like him and I’m trying very hard not to think about how much I like that.The bar is three blocks away. Small and dimly lit with booths in the back that are mostly empty.We slide into one and a server comes over to take our order. Declan gets a beer. I get a gin and tonic because I need something stronger than wine right now.“So,” he says once we have our drinks. “Six years.”“Six years.”“That’s a long time.”“It is.”He takes a drink and I watch his throat work
WINREY.I sleep for eighteen hours straight.When I finally wake up, my body feels like it's been taken apart and reassembled wrong. Everything aches. My pussy is so sore I'm afraid to move. My muscles scream in protest when I try to sit up.There's a note on my pillow in iridescent ink that shifts
TALIA. Dareth finds me in my room around nine, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed and that look on his face that means he already knows something I don’t.“Ovulating?” he asks.“How did you know?”“You’ve been fidgeting all evening. You do that when your body’s doing something.” H
WINREY.I wake up aching.Not sore. Aching. There's a difference. Sore is what happens after a workout. This is what happens after six hours of being fucked by a god who made me come fifteen times and wrung every ounce of pleasure from my body until I couldn't remember my own name.My thighs are st
WINREYThe entrance to the Sanctum is carved with pornography.Not artistic nudes or tasteful sensuality. Actual pornography.A woman with her legs spread wide, a man's face buried between her thighs, his tongue clearly visible against her cunt. Another scene shows a woman on her knees, cock stretc







