“Do you want to be?” he asked. I grabbed his hands on my waist before dropping them to his sides. Getting off his lap, I turned around. The moment I did, he pushed me down so my chest lay on top of the table while his hands moved down to my bottom.“I was kidding. Why don’t you let me joke?” he asked, pressing his hard-on against me. I bit down on my lip as I could feel every inch of him upon me. All I could hope for was that he wouldn’t lift up my skirt to see how wet he made me.My mind was too busy with an internal battle, so I didn’t pay much attention to his hand trailing underneath my skirt. Instinctively, I pushed closer against him, leaving his hand that was once underneath my skirt to come crawling up to my neck.“What do you want from me, Mr. Romano?” I seethed. His hand wandered down from my neck to my waist, where he pulled up the tight fabric of my crop top. The feel of his skin against mine only built the sensations deep within. My eyes shut momentarily at the thought of

VALENTINOI watched her run out in a frenzy. At first, I believed she was a spy or someone trying to bring me down, so I ordered my men to watch her. It was the only explanation I could think of without raising the suspicious brows of my men. She came out of nowhere and was exactly what I favored in a girl. It was easy for me to assume one of my many enemies assigned her a job to get information about me, but I was wrong.What my men reported back surprised me. She spent nights at the hospital, watching over her dying little sister. There was no indication that she was in contact with Dmitri or anyone else who could possibly want to bring me down. My paranoia quickly vanished the moment I began to discover more about her.What began as a task to see if she was who she truly said she was became a worry about whether or not everything was okay. I knew how easy it was to be tempted by darkness in dark times, but she was too bright of a person. It would pain me to see the same darkness in

Last night after the hug, we had a long conversation where he told me about the death of his father from cancer. Apparently, he lost him when he was really young, which was what made him want to be an oncologist. The story was a saddening thing to hear, but he managed to make it sound motivational.He returned the smile before looking over Aria’s vitals. Once he finished, he held his fist up to her as if she were a five-year-old. Tiredly, she gave him a fist bump before lowering her hand back down onto the bed.“How are you feeling?” he questioned. I looked over at her. Her answer to me replayed itself in my mind. She gave him a small smile, her lips were cracked with dryness as a tint of blue made their way onto them.“Like a million bucks,” she muttered with a light chuckle. He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes.“Very funny. Really, how are you feeling? On a scale of one to ten, can you state the amount of pain you are in?” he questioned. My eyes dropped down to her, only to see t

ANASTASIAI shut my sister’s journal and held it against my chest. It was as though I could hear her voice speaking to me as I read every word. As I read her journal, it was like we were having conversations again. My heart ached to hear her voice, listen to her laugh, and voice her beliefs. Aria had always been there, and I felt so empty now that she wasn’t holding my hand and telling me that everything would be okay. I missed her so much. If I could talk to her one last time about anything, I would. If I could look into her hazel eyes and see the gleam of hope and prosperity in them, I would.I threw myself onto her mattress, hugging the journal as protectively as I could. Sobs ripped out of me as I called for a sister who would no longer respond to them.I had lost her only a week ago, yet it felt like yesterday. It was the loss of my best friend, sister, and inspiration all rolled into one. I tried so hard to think of a way that could heal the open wound in my heart but only manag

ANASTASIAThe sunlight seeped into the room, waking me up from the deep slumber I was in. I quickly got up and shut the curtains before crawling back into bed, grumbling as I did. I wanted to be swallowed up in a pit of darkness while allowing my depressing thoughts to roam free.It didn’t seem to last long as the door opened up and a woman walked in. It was the same blonde-haired woman I had seen that one night when Mr. Romano had requested me to join him for a meeting. She smiled kindly at me before beckoning me to follow her.“Can’t I just stay in here?” I groaned.Her features fell slightly, along with her shoulders. I noticed the way her smile was still there, but there was desperation in her eyes.“Mr. Romano ordered me to get you something to eat. Please, come with me,” she requested.“I’m not hungry,” I grumbled childishly before throwing off the blanket. I then bent down and picked up my shoes, sliding them onto my feet. “I’ll just leave.”“You can leave, but maybe after brea