Emiliana Our lips crashed. Smashing hard. I had no time to react or question his motives. We were hungry after distancing ourselves for far too long. It was as if our lives depended on this one moment. The deepest parts of me internally screamed as our lips opened and closed against each other. His soft lips roughly assaulted mine, unrhythmically yet passionately. I couldn’t seem to catch my breath, I didn’t care. I would happily suffocate, allow him to steal every atom of oxygen from my lungs if it meant we could stay like this a little longer.Giovanni’s hands pulled me by my hair, closing every inch of distance between us, even when there wasn’t any left. It was as if we had been apart for years, and finally we had found each other and nothing else mattered.His tongue traced

Emiliana    Giovanni froze. I froze. Time froze.  His face contorted in shock as he realised his mistake. His entire body peeled away from me to expose his taut muscles and my eyes followed the soft curves.  It was only a few seconds but those seconds were enough for me to see what he was attempting to hide from me.  That tattoo. The black ink caught my eye before Giovanni could cover it with his shirt. I felt a wave of nausea reach the pit of my stomach before making its return journey to my mouth, instantly recognising what I saw.  Shock threw me into a spin. I scrambled haphazardly for my towel, clinging it around my exposed body, sud

Emiliana   Everything I knew was a lie. Giovanni, Luciano, possibly my father. I felt sick as Giovanni finally shared what he was so intent on keeping from me. I should have felt relief, but instead, I only felt the bitterness of betrayal.  I saw the hurt that contorted his features, but I didn’t care. He needed to know how it felt. It was a continuous cycle with us. Fight, make up, fight, make up. I was exhausted with the constant pattern, never ending and doomed to repeat forever. “Principessa, please don’t cry.”  I hated him seeing me upset. My face tightened with anger as I fought my own emotions alone. I resisted all my urges not to fall into his arms, it took everything within me to remain standing strong, despite the tears that began to

Emiliana   In between the lustful glances and secret touches, I had spent the last couple of days basking in the sunshine on the deck or literally tied up by my underwear in Giovanni’s bed.  Every moment I shared with him brought me a step closer to the man inside. He wasn’t just a bodyguard to me, he was so much more and it scared me knowing that. For the first time ever, my heart wasn’t mine anymore, it was Giovanni’s, and he could crush it with one simple squeeze. I always felt alive around Giovanni, as if there was more of life to live than I could ever anticipate or conquer. Although we had never uttered the words, I knew that what I had been feeling over the last few days, possibly even weeks, was more than just falling for him.  I was ir

Emiliana   The moment we stepped into the room, Giovanni’s hand swung behind him, pulling me against his back. The breath escaped my lungs and my chest constricted as I caught a glimpse of metal pointed directly at his head.  It felt like an entire minute went by where we all stood still. I couldn’t see much past Giovanni’s shoulder and he wouldn’t let me. Whatever he was protecting me from, it was just from getting hurt. He didn’t want me to see what was about to happen next. “Farsi da parte, Cruz.” (Step aside) A deep voice ordered.  “No.” Giovanni stood firmly with his arm protectively around me. Every part of me was frozen to the spot. A mixture of adrenaline and fear made me tremble and I had to grip onto Giovanni’s suit jacket to steady m