She closed her eyes and opened them again, blinking up at the familiar face of her fear in a person, except this time, he had a big smile on his face, looking down at her and kissing her hand.She didn't die then. But it felt like she was this close.He was muttering something she couldn't make out, his lips against her fingers feeling surprisingly warm."Maestro?""Maya" Her curiosity died. Yeah, he was the one; she wasn't mistaken.Her head felt like thousands of monkeys were going wild on a trampoline in it, and it made her wince."I'll be back," he muttered against her hand again. and was gone; she heard the door open and close. She was surprised to see him beside her again."How do you feel, Maya?" He asked her, not allowing her to talk before he was muttering again, "I thought I had lost you, damnit! Don't you ever do this to me again?"She swallowed hard, wondering why her body refused to give up when she wanted it to. Even in her coma, she had felt and heard him, and with the

She was more trusting of him after that; she couldn't tell if it was feigning or even accurate. For she still tried not to shudder when he was close to her. But she would give it to him; he was doing his best, his hands around her, staring into her face when she woke up. If anyone had told her Maestro could be this person, she would have slammed a door on the liar's face and melted them with acid. But here she was, in Maria's cozy pink room, everything looking unreal. It was how he didn't go too intimate, no matter what shade of undress she was; sometimes, he covered her with the sheets and turned his face to the other side. Like Dora would say, "We make ourselves happy, Maya, 'cause the world isn't a happy place," and she knew firsthand how bad it could be. She was going to let him woo her. Give him a chance as he asked, and even though she knew he was going back to the monster once this personality was exhausted, she was going to enjoy it while it lasted. "Hey," she felt a hand

Lina was asleep when the slow creaking of the door pulled her out of the fantasy her brain was working on. She frowned in her slumber; it couldn't be morning yet, could it? She was no longer using an alarm since waking up naturally at five came easy. She turned to the other side, pulling the sheets over her breasts. If it was Maria with her silly needs, she wasn't standing up. While waiting to hear Maria call her name, she sighed happily when nothing came. Pulling the pillow perfectly, she smiled, her dream resuming. She felt breath on her face and then whispers, "Lina, baby." She frowned at the familiar voice; where was the dream taking her that she heard Luca's voice in the manor? What kind of fantasy was that? A hand tapped her cheeks. "Baby, open your eyes." And she did one lash after another, catching her breath at seeing him. "I dreaming?" she asked unbelievably. He chuckled, pulling her up to wrap his arms around her. Oh, how he missed her. So badly. Though she hugged

Authors POV. Things got better after that; Derinem stayed away, and she and maestro got along, though she wouldn't lie that she was doing more of the getting along with him, for recently he came back with some darkness hovering around him and more blood stains on his clothing.Making love was more intense—pleasure mixed with a bit of pain—and, as Lina had said, sometimes she yearned for it while staring at his naked torso, Looking down and blushing profusely when he caught her.He usually smiled. Confident he was in his sexual prowess, and he had a right to be, from an innocent, he made her a sex-crazed, embarrassed "Cagna," getting her to accept it.And she, well, she could feel her confidence roaring, knowing she was stringing him along with sex and whatever kink he had at the back of his head when he saw her in her red lace nightie. He just never got enough of her.But it wasn't always about the sex; she was atop his hard frame; he'd wrapped his hand around her till the following d

After that, it was hard to even see him, much to her relief. The only time she saw him was when he packed his car and got into the manor, and happy was she when he left immediately. Now they were seeing Greta and Maria off at the airport, returning to Calabria. He had his hands around her shoulders, looking anxiously at his phone. The continuous vibration of his phone told her he was ending a call he didn't want to pick up, at least while Greta was right there kissing them goodbye. Once Greta was gone and everyone else had left, he left her shoulders. He picked up the phone and scowled, "Allysia, I told you now wasn't the time." She couldn't say whether he had done that on purpose for her to hear it or not, especially when he moved further away and made the rest of the call. She had turned away from him and got into the car, where George sat in the driver's seat, watching her face from the rearview mirror. She looked down at the ring on her finger and then out of the window, sig