Melina awakens as she feels someone stroking her hair. She opens her eyes and locks gazes with a pair of piercing blue orbs that lights up once they lock with hers."I was worried for a minute you were never going to wake up," Thomas says, smiling at Melina as he continues to stroke her hair."Is something wrong?" The bedside clock reads 5:00 a.m., implying it's still very early in the morning, so she wonders why he’s waking her."It's time for training.""Isn't it too early to train?""The main training is later in the day, but we need to warm up our bodies first.""Oh, but why do we have to warm up so early in the morning?" Melina asks, yawning."It's the best time for jogging.""You want us to go for a jog?" Melina hates exercising. She can't believe he wants them to go for a jog so early in the morning."I know you hate working out, but this is good for you. It will get your body warmed up nicely before we star

THOMASHis eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. Why the fuck did Rafael bring Franky like this? Thomas becomes enraged as he looks down at Melina. Her beautiful face is flushed and stained with tears. Her body quivers against his as she wails. This is not why I fucking allowed Rafael to return to New York City. I want Melina to feel better about her sister’s abduction, not fucking worse. I need to do something to fix this. My plan couldn’t fail after everything I did to make this happen.“What the fuck, Rafael? Why does she have a collar around her neck and on her hands and legs?” Thomas barks at him.“Because she is my pet,” Rafael says, caressing Franky’s hair.“Are you fucking nuts? She’s a human being. Take the damn collar off her now!”“If you’re not satisfied with how I’ve presented my pet, you’ll have to pay more to have her the way you want.”Thomas now understands why the bastard did this. He clenches his fists, trying to control his anger. He badly wants to smash Raf

The doctor arrives in a record of time and treats Thomas’ shoulder. Melina’s heart raced the entire time and only stopped when the doctor said Thomas would be fine.She holds Thomas’ hand right now as he sleeps on his office couch. She needs to feel the warmth of his hand against her skin to remind her that he’s alive. Thomas refused to go home and rest, saying an hour nap was all he needed. Melina wishes she could drag him home and put him in bed to sleep.“What the fuck happened?” someone says as they storm into the office. Melina lets go of Thomas’ hands and shh the person.“He's sleeping,” she tells Stefano, who walked in with his mother. Leo must have informed them about what happened.“Mel, dear, what happened?” Kat asks, sniffing. Melina could tell she had just finished crying as her face was red and her cheeks were stained with tears.“James shot Thomas.”&

It’s been a few days since Melina moved into the family mansion. She wakes up every day, hoping that today will be the day Thomas shows up, but he never does. It breaks her heart every day he doesn’t show up. Thomas is sticking with his decision, and Melina doesn’t know what to do to make him change his mind. She wishes she could make him see things from her point of view. Melina is frustrated with the situation. She just wishes they could find her sister and rescue her safely so she won’t have to lose the one she loves. She never thought she could stand her ground as long as she has, and that gladdens her heart. She’s willing to do anything to save Thomas. Melina snaps out of her reverie when someone forcefully pulls her head backward. She turns around to see who. “Kimberley,” Melina says, shocked to see her and wondering why she grabbed her hair. “You bitch.” she snarls and smacks Melina across the face. Kimberley kicks behind Melina’s legs and tackles her to the ground before sh

Thomas cradles Melina in his arms and speaks soothing words to her. Hours pass, and he only moves when Melina's sweat starts to dry on his body."Where are we going?" Melina inquires as Thomas lifts her out of bed."You need to shower," he says as he leads her into the bathroom.“Oh.”He puts her on the ground and places his hand on the edge of her shirt. He begins to pull it off her body, but Melina stops him before he reaches the middle of her stomach.“I’ll wait outside,” Thomas says, pulling his hand from her body and turning to walk out.“Wait,” Melina stops him, grabbing his hand.“Yes, principessa.” He turns around her face her.“You can go ahead,” Melina says, biting her lip, surprising both of them. This is the only way to know if Franky was right or wrong.“Are you sure, principessa?”“Yes.&rdqu