جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 130

ADRIAN As I absentmindedly retrieved the food from the microwave, I forgot to use oven mitts or a towel, and my hands burned painfully from the scorching hot dish."Shit!" I groaned, cursing under my breath as I hastily yet carefully set the scorching dish down on the counter. I rushed to the sink, plunging my hands into the cool water to soothe the stinging ache."Giovanni, that bastard!" I hissed, my eyes fixed intently on the water as it cascaded down my hands, the cool liquid a stark contrast to the simmering anger rising within me.Did he really think I was mad at him just for coming home late? How oblivious can he be? It's almost laughable that he believed my emotions were that simplistic. Didn't he realize that the turmoil I felt while he was away went far beyond mere annoyance at his tardiness?I let out a shaky breath, struggling to keep my emotions in check.A feminine voice drifted from the living room, tinged with concern. "You never call me for minor injuries. What's g

ADRIAN Ever since Benedetto Marino's sudden appearance at the penthouse three days ago, Giovanni had been uncharacteristically romantic, to the point where it was starting to scare me shitless.He had been putting in incredibly long hours at work, leaving the house very early in the morning and returning home late at night. Yet, despite his demanding schedule, he would always find time to call or text me, often with the most mundane and random questions. He'd ask things like, "What's your favorite letter of the alphabet?" or "What was your go-to food as a kid?" These unexpected inquiries would leave me pondering whether he was genuinely trying to stay connected with me due to feelings of loneliness or if there was something more peculiar at play.The frequency with which he professed his love for me was also starting to unsettle me. Giovanni would often wake me up in the middle of the night just to remind me that he loves me so much. It was, frankly, unnerving.Right now, even thou

ADRIAN I should feel something: anger, pain, hurt, but I couldn't feel anything. I was like a shell in my own skin, unable to feel any emotion. I sat quietly in the passenger seat of Giovanni's car, staring into space as I gripped my phone in my hand. Today is my mother's funeral, and I still can't believe she's dead. Aston had called me last night, begging me not to show up to the funeral service. But how could I not? She was my mother, wasn't she? I should be mad, I should be angry that she didn't apologize for pushing me away before she died. I should be furious that she deprived me of the chance to hold her hand and be in the same space as her one last time before passing away. I should be livid that they all locked me out of their lives, when we should have grieved together as a family. Even after everything they did to me, after everything they took from me, my brother still expected me to stand aside and watch from a distance as my mother takes her final farewell from t

ADRIAN I felt an unrelenting emptiness inside, a hollowness that echoed through every fiber of my being. I was shattered, broken into a million pieces, and I had lost all sense of what it meant to be happy. The memory of joy felt like a distant, fading whisper, a fleeting glimpse of a feeling I would never know again. In that moment, I was consumed by the crushing weight of my own fragility. I was a puzzle with missing pieces, a canvas torn apart, a soul fragmented beyond recognition. It felt as if nothing in this world had the power to heal me, to mend the fractures that ran so deep. Every glimmer of hope seemed extinguished, leaving only an endless, desolate landscape of agony. The pain of being in my mother's presence yet unable to feel her was like a dagger piercing deep into my heart. My eyes burned with unshed tears, and warm droplets continued to stream down my face like a dam burst. I gripped my mother's gravestone so tightly that a sharp pain shot through both

ADRIAN It had been over three weeks since my mother was laid to rest, and I was surprised to find that life was slowly healing. The ache in my heart still lingered, but glimpses of happiness began to peek through the cracks. It wouldn't have been possible to get through it all alone without Giovanni in my life.Giovanni had taken it upon himself to be my happiness guardian, and he excelled at it. He went out of his way to do the most thoughtful, random things that would catch me off guard and leave me beaming. Like surprising me with my favorite smoothie in the morning, or leaving sweet notes around the penthouse for me to find. It was as if he had a sixth sense for knowing exactly what I needed to brighten my day.As I thought about all the little things he did for me, my heart swelled with gratitude. I wished I knew how to repay him for everything he'd done, for being my rock, my safe haven. But Giovanni never asked for anything in return; he just smiled and told me that seeing m