جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

TRISTAN'S POVMy eyelids felt heavy, glued together by the residue of a fitful sleep and the dull throb behind my temples. I blinked, once, then twice, the soft morning light filtering through the heavy drapes doing little to soothe my aching head.Anastasia, a vision of vibrant energy even this early, was helping me back into the vast, ornate bed. Her hand was warm, firm, pressing against my waist as I leaned into her for support, my legs still shaky from whatever ordeal had possessed me yesterday.Then, a sudden, cold shadow descended upon the room. The air shifted, growing heavy, thick with an unspoken threat. I blinked a few more times, the image coalescing into the formidable figure of Giovanni, framed by the doorway.His presence was not merely physical; it was an oppressive force. His aura, usually a calculated blend of charm and authority, now felt entirely darkened, like a storm cloud gathering on the horizon. His eyes, usually a piercing grey, blazed with an intensity that p

TRISTAN'S POVThe rough wood of my bedroom door dug into my knuckles, a testament to my desperate, futile attempts to break free. Each futile slam echoed the growing panic in my chest."Giovanni, let me go!" I roared, my voice cracking with the sheer force of my despair. The metallic click-clack of locks being thrown from the outside was a cruel punctuation mark to my plea."Please open this door! Let me be free."Tears, hot and stinging, spilled down my cheeks, a raw, honest outpouring of my hopeless situation. I was a prisoner, trapped within the gilded cage of Giovanni’s suffocating possessiveness.The sound of his retreating footsteps, laced with an infuriating indifference, faded into the opulent silence of the mansion. He’d locked me in. Again. His words, spoken with a chilling finality earlier, replayed in my mind, a tormenting echo: “I won’t let you leave, Tristan. Ever.”Hours bled into each other, marked only by the dwindling light filtering through the heavy curtains and th

TRISTAN'S POVThe car’s plush leather seats did little to soothe the storm brewing inside me. I still grumbled, a low, guttural sound that even I could barely hear over the hum of the engine.Juliana’s face was seared into my mind, her smile sickeningly sweet, her eyes glinting with a smug victory as she had flaunted her engagement to Giovanni. Right in front of me. It was a calculated cruelty, a public display of ownership, and it twisted my gut into knots.Ever since she had returned, a ghost from Giovanni’s past, I had felt myself receding. My position, always precarious, now felt utterly erased. I was just Giovanni’s dirty little secret, a hidden indulgence he kept tucked away.He could not even bring himself to give me a decent title, like ‘boyfriend’. The word felt like a luxury I was not allowed to possess. It was a constant, sharp ache, a reminder of what I meant to him: not enough, never enough.“Mr. Tristan, are you okay?”The driver’s voice, cautious and soft, cut through m

TRISTAN'S POVThe salt air usually calmed me, its briny kisses a familiar comfort against my skin. But today, even the vast expanse of the ocean, stretching endlessly beyond my porthole, felt suffocating. And that was before Anastasia decided my cabin was her personal playground, making herself right at home, rummaging through my carefully arranged belongings.We were on this ridiculously opulent cruise ship for Giovanni and Juliana’s engagement, a grand spectacle designed to announce to the world what I already knew: Giovanni was going to marry someone else.I continued to stare at Anastasia, who was already roaming around my room. She was inspecting every corner of my cruise ship cabin, a place I considered my sanctuary in this floating palace of forced pleasantries. Her bright eyes, so much like Giovanni’s but laced with a mischievous glint I rarely saw in him, darted from my stack of untouched books to the small, framed photo of a sunset I’d taken years ago. She was like a very el

GIOVANNI'S POVThe heavy thud of my fist against the cabin door echoed in the quiet corridor, a stark contrast to the distant murmur of the cruise ship’s engine and the gentle lapping of waves. My temper, already a raw nerve after hours of forced pleasantries and fake smiles, ignited further with each unanswered knock.My mood was already sour enough, curdled by the demanding charade I had been playing. I had spent the entire evening tethered to Juliana’s side, her delicate hand linked through my arm, her saccharine smiles plastered for the endless parade of guests at our engagement party. Every handshake, every empty compliment felt like a tightening noose around my neck. I had craved Tristan, needed his quiet presence, his clear eyes, to ease the tension coiling in my gut. He was my sanctuary, the only true thing in a world of lies. But here he was, locking himself away in this small cabin on a damn cruise ship.I swung the door with a loud thud, revealing Tristan. He stood there, h