Lahat ng Kabanata ng Forbidden Pleasure: Sex, Secrets & Scandal: Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

COLD HEARTEDMarco POVI drove with one hand on the wheel, too fast, too careless, the city lights blurring into streaks. My jaw hurt from clenching so long. I should’ve smashed those guards’ teeth in, but what would that solve? They weren’t the ones pulling the strings. It was him. Valerio. Always him.But it wasn’t even Valerio that haunted me tonight.It was Luca.I’d seen him, clear as day. That smile he carried, that damn easy walk, slipping into the club like the door had been waiting only for him. And me? I was the fool standing outside, barred like a dog.I cursed under my breath and hit the wheel hard. The echo filled the car but it didn’t quiet my head.Luca.My brother that wasn’t blood. The road in front of me might as well have been empty because all I could see was his face when we were kids. Barefoot, running through the alleys, stealing bread from the corner baker, laughing until the dogs chased us down. He’d always been

SNEAKING TO HIS HOUSE Marco POV I couldn’t sleep. My head was noise, my chest was fire, my throat dry like I had swallowed sand and glass. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her—Leona, Scarlett, whatever mask she was being forced to wear—and then I saw Valerio’s face over it, smirking, smug, like he had already won. And maybe he had.I poured myself whiskey. Then another. Didn’t help. Didn’t burn away anything. Just made the walls tighter, my skin tighter, the silence too damn loud.Her face. Her laugh, the one I used to know. Her eyes when she looked at me like I was the only thing real in the world. I couldn’t—God, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t mine anymore.And that’s when the thought hit me. Ugly. Reckless. Dangerous.If my father , Valerio was keeping her caged, if he was making sure I never even got a glimpse, then the only way was to go unnoticed to find out.His estate.I had to know.By midnight I was in the car again, tires hissing against the road, windows rolled down j

SECRET REVELED Valerio POVFlashback few weeks agoThe room smelled of cigar ash and leather, but no smoke curled tonight. The liquor on the table, dark gold in crystal, sat untouched. His throat begged for it, but his hand refused to lift it. Maybe because his mind needed to stay clear. Papers lay across his desk, scattered in restless piles from earlier searches. Bills, property reports, old photographs, letters that meant nothing anymore. All useless. All distractions. But the one paper he couldn’t move away from lay in the center, edges worn from where he had folded and unfolded it too many times.The DNA reports.His fingers pressed it flat, knuckles pale with the weight of holding. The official stamp on top, the sealed signature of the lab manager. He didn’t need to read the words again curse. But still, his eyes dragged over the black lines, each word a wound.“No genetic evidence.”His jaw tightened. He could almost hear Jessica’s laugh in that word, the way she used to teas

MY MOTHER'S NAUGHTY SECRETSLeona POVI could feel my finger shaking when I pushed the door that led to the roof-space. The air was thick, dusty, hot enough that sweat crawled down my back, and I hated how quiet it was.Since I started staying here, I had packed the stuffs that reminded me of my past and told myself like a million time that I wouldn’t come up here again to forget about the past and find my way around the present. But the truth kept gnawing at me, louder than the silence. The truth always found me, no matter how many masks I put on or how many drinks I swallowed at Valerio’s club.Dust stuck to my skin when I knelt on the wooden floor, digging through the boxes. It was just about a month but it felt like years, the dusty smell that enveloped my nostrils, paper, perfume mixed with something rotten clung to my nose. I pulled aside broken things—an old bracelet, dresses that smelled like mothballs, books with yellow pages—and then I saw it. Black leather, worn smooth on

MY FOSTER DAD IS DEADLeona POVI was still clutching that journal when the night dragged itself into morning. My eyes felt raw, swollen from crying too much, but I couldn’t stop turning the words over and over in my head. Rafael. G.M. Who the hell was G.M.? I whispered it again like maybe the walls would answer me, but all I heard was the creaks of Cassie’s old house and the ache of my own breathing.I should have gone downstairs, maybe made coffee or something, tried to shake it off. But my body wouldn’t move. It was like I was nailed to bed, trapped between my mother’s ghost and Marco’s voice still echoing in my chest. By the time I finally dragged myself up, the sun was already breaking through the dusty curtains, making the room look smaller, almost suffocating. Cassie had gone to school early—and I didn’t have any exams till next week—and the house felt emptier without her chatter. I thought maybe I’d sneak out, clear my head, but the thought of Valerio waiting somewhere, wat