61 Where is Lee?

Date = 26 June — 1 in the morningThe horrible day has passed.Place = San Francisco (Black Pit)A new place.POV - AriaDark.Not pitch black, but dark in that gentle, creeping way where you’re not sure if your eyes are open or shut. It smells like salt. Like wood warmed by the sun. Like … laundry detergent and the ocean. Mountains.And him. Enrique.“Ow,” I murmur as a sharp pain pierces my head, little knives stabbing into my brain while images flash through my mind like a low-budget horror movie — the dirty mattress; Lee’s enraged gaze; the horrible smell; vile laughter; and that eerie screaming, similar to seagulls fighting over food.My heart jolts awake before the rest of me does.Fear paralyzes me. I lay super still, squeezing my eyes tensely shut. Trying to figure things out.I am lying down. On something soft. A mattress. Covered in blankets. My limbs are tangled in something warm.Someone.The first thing I feel is pressure. Heavy. Solid.The second thing I feel is terror.

Last Updated : 2025-10-08

62 Not just a body

Date = 26 JuneI let her sleep, watching.Place = San Francisco (Black Pit)I don’t want to be here.POV - EnriqueWARNING – Sex scene!!!I stare through the window. It’s a picturesque view … breathtaking, brooding, and undeniably bold.But the shadows on the walls still whispered of what had happened in this house.I force myself to look at the building edged on the horizon.The stables.It haunts me like a wounded beast under the dim first rays of the rising sun.I don’t want to be here. Aria stirs and moans softly. I turn around to look at her, desperately trying to cut through the uncomfortable tension hanging in the air. She stretches comfortably, and her eyes slowly open. A soft smile on her lips. Her hair a curly mess.“Aria, we need to talk,” I say softly. I’ve been waiting for her to wake up. Why this girl can make me suffer from a chronic tummy ache, for one, I’m not sure … but I have an idea.I want to explain. I want her to understand. That I did what I did because I … eh

Last Updated : 2025-10-09

63 Lost love

Date = 30 JuneFour more days of anxious nothingness.Place = San Francisco (Inferno)Working at the club.POV - EnriqueQuiet.The club is too quiet.I hate quiet. Not the kind that blankets you at three a.m. when the world sleeps. That kind I can live with.This is the other kind — the kind that smells like dread and tastes like waiting.And tonight the club has the kind of quiet that makes you suspicious. Like maybe the universe is holding its breath before throwing something weird at you.I am behind the bar, chopping lemons and regretting my life choices.And I’m anxiously waiting for the BOMB to explode. And not just literally … I mean in every possible sense. Figuratively, theoretically, technically, hypothetically, visually, philosophically, metaphorically.Because Jackson’s time is almost up. A choice has been made, and somewhere, Lee is going to blow up.It’s been more than five days since we rescued Aria. More than 100 hours since my twin made his choice and ran off. Axel f

Last Updated : 2025-10-10

64 Little sister

Date = 30 JunePlace = San Francisco (Inferno)POV - EnriqueAt the door, Tina almost runs into one of my bouncers.“Eh, Boss, you’ve got a … kid,” he says.“A what?” I’m not ready to be a fake daddy to another scam.The bouncer tilts his head. A small figure stands behind him, arms crossed, chin up like she owns the joint — or is about to burn it down.She can’t be more than nine. But she has the posture of someone who can do ollies and kickturns, and probably stashes a switchblade. Denim jacket over a black hoodie with some demon-looking cartoon character on the front. Beanie jammed onto a head with long golden hair. A band-aid on one cheek. With one hand, she clenches a skateboard against her tiny frame, and the other holds onto the strap of her oversized backpack that’s casually slung over one puny shoulder.I blink.What the fuck is a kid doing in my club? I can lose my license.She moves past the bouncer’s legs, shaking her head while she mumbles. “Good help is so hard to find t

Last Updated : 2025-10-11

65 Not my fairy tale

Date = 1 JulyA new month started. My birth month.Place = San Francisco (Damion’s house)Coincidence. He’s here too.POV - Aria“Just stick your finger up his nose and then kick him on his sexy ass!” Mel hollers over the phone.My laugh sounds sectionable like I’ve been chicken-flipping cocaine. Mel lowers her voice, “But really bitch, talk to my stupid brother and make him open his frickin eyes.”Yeah, right. That would be nice, except I’m the blind one, seeing things that ain’t real. For him, we are nothing more than an expired contract. Signatures on a piece of paper. A chip on the bedpost. But I can’t tell her that.“Come on, Aria, hurry up.” From the passenger seat, the tiny voice, giddy with anticipation, interrupts my phone call with my best friend. I miss Mel.“Mel, wish you were here.”“Soon.” Really though? I’m not so sure this whole ‘revenge thing’ those people got going is ending soon. They’re only on their second Sophie’s Choice. So, I’m guessing there are a few more to

Last Updated : 2025-10-12

66 Still gone

Date = 1 JulyPlace = San Francisco (Damion’s house)POV - AriaAs my tongue eventually detaches from the back of my mouth, I manage to ask in an unsteady voice, “Eh … so … where’s the little angel?”I need something to distract my focus from the manly specimen now standing next to me. Inches away. While pretending his look of intense longing directed at my mouth doesn’t affect me one bit. Bloody hell, he makes things hard.And speaking of hard things … my eyes dart to his swollen crotch. At least he’s also feeling the heat in some way.“Angel?” he snorts out a chuckle. “I’m not sure that word suits our little runaway. She definitely shares Lee’s DNA. For a moment, I even assumed she could very well be my twin’s offspring.”Just the thought of Jackson reproducing pin-wheels my brain, and I lose my chain of thought. I look at Charlotte to help a girl out, but she just lifts her shoulders and pouts.“That’s stupid,” she tweets, “To have a baby, you need love, marriage, respect, and cons

Last Updated : 2025-10-13