•"You have somewhere to be tomorrow?""Yeah." Veronica almost flinched when she felt his warm breath on her cheek.  They stood side by side in the elevator now, but she didn't expect he would stand so close to her or even touch her. Tomek had to leave for Milan and walked out of the hotel roughly five minutes ago, leaving her alone with Théo in the hotel lobby.  As she expected, Théo had already booked a room for them.  Was it a single-bed room?  He didn't say.  In fact, he didn't say much to her over dinner, and even after  Tomek bid them goodbye.  But now it seemed Théo wanted to start a conversation with her.  Maybe he was still trying to figure out why she met up with him."Where? Where's the venue?" Théo sighed and crossed his arms below his chest.Was he bored already?  Veronica wanted to scowl.  She hadn't seen him

•"I'm moving in next week. Going straight home tomorrow after the show. Gotta take Kyle to his doctor's appointment."Théo stopped kissing her neck and froze on the bed. His stare immediately swung back to her face while his hands gripped her hips.  "What?"At his reaction, she failed to suppress a sigh. His reply sounded like a complaint more than anything else.And here she thought a pleasant, appreciative smile and supportive words of encouragement would be his initial reaction... "Just have to check on him every now and then," she reasoned in a hushed tone.  "Make sure he's on schedule, and coming in for tests and check-ups." Veronica tried to stare at him, but her nerves were acting up again.Théo sat in front of her as they rested on the crumpled covers. His darkened eyes pored into her soul, and now her cheeks fe

• "Goodnight. Love you...""Love you and the little bean..."The words ruthlessly echoed in his head as he stood still against the door, speechless, and dumbfounded.  Théo pulled a face.  His brain once again recalled the last part of the conversation he just overheard.Little bean? What the heck was the guy talking about? Was it Kyle's term of endearment for her?Puzzled, stressed, and sleep-deprived, Théo watched his ex get into bed without even sparing him a single glance, or a small smile of acknowledgement.He didn't know whether he should be pissed,  jealous or both. It was definitely Kyle she was talking to on the phone, because he recognized Kyle's voice on loudspeaker before Veronica hung up and ended the phone call, at the same time Théo got

8 days left• Rome, Italy •He didn't want to leave his ex alone at the hotel, but he had to check up on Anastasia.  Something was going on.  He had tried calling her phone a dozen times but she wasn't picking up or replying to his texts.The dashboard clock now read 11:52PM. Théo shoved his gun into the glove compartment and drove out of the hotel's parking lot.  He had to return Anastasia's car and verify whether her parents had already taken her to the rehab facility.  If so, he wouldn't have any valid reason to go back to the estate.  It would be a problem he wasn't quite prepared to troubleshoot. While driving across the highway, Théo checked his phone again and read a new text message from Gillaume.New messageG"Anything u deem necessary. Bosses waiting for your outputs. H seems busy working on a beachfront property sale with the

• Théo peeked at the tall, glittering stage props as he backed away from the stack of audio equipment. He slouched right by the sound engineer's corner, watching while his smiling and elegantly dressed ex-girlfriend re-arranged her keyboard's wires.Her hair had less wavy curls today. Multi-hued strobe lights made them appear azure and sometimes pinkish. Sunset had just passed, and the crowd just grew thicker now that the band was almost ready to perform. The curly-haired guitarist was already settling into his seat on the right side;  the other band members were positioned on the far left of the stage.Théo stood along the sidelines and glanced past a sea of diversely aged, mostly casually dressed people excitedly waiting for the next performance.  The fans in the VIP section looked pretty still in their seats, and, odds-on, just too psyched to see their favorite artists play beaut