All Chapters of Tie Me Up : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Seraphina's POVThe figure stumbled closer.Not him.Just an old man, drunk and weaving, muttering to himself as he passed my bench without a second glance.I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. My heart was still pounding, but now I couldn't tell if it was from fear or... disappointment.I couldn't stay here. Couldn't keep spiraling.Think, Sera. Think.My mother's ultimatum echoed in my skull. Fix this, or don't bother coming home.The Ashford empire was crumbling. Stock prices plummeting. Investors fleeing. And it was all because of me—or rather, because of what Sterling and Vivienne had done to me.Sterling.The name pierced through my numbness.Two years. We'd been together for two years. He'd waited for me. Been patient with me. Remembered the sage green dress I wore to the freshman party.Maybe... maybe if I talked to him. If I reminded him of what we had. He could help issue a statement. Use his family's PR team to spin the narrative. The Prescotts had connections

Seraphina's POV"Besides," Wren continued, a wicked gleam returning to her eyes, "think about the poetic justice. If you actually managed to win over Lorenzo Vitale? Sterling would have to call you mother-in-law."I choked. "What?""He's dating Vivienne, right? And Lorenzo is Vivienne's father." She grinned like a cat who'd caught a particularly fat canary. "So technically, if you and Lorenzo ever got together, Sterling would be your step-son-in-law. Can you imagine? That golden-boy bastard having to bow and scrape to you at family dinners?"The mental image was so absurd I almost laughed. Almost."That's ridiculous.""It's satisfying. Tell me you wouldn't enjoy watching him choke on his own tongue."I shook my head, but a treacherous part of me couldn't help picturing it. Sterling's perfect face, twisted with disbelief, as he realized the woman he'd tried to destroy now held power over his precious mafia princess girlfriend.Stop it, Sera. This isn't a fairy tale."We need to rely on

Lorenzo's POVI kept thinking about the girl at the club. The way she'd looked at me when I walked away.Why do I keep thinking about her?I didn't have time for distractions. Vivienne had been acting strange lately, and tonight's phone call had only confirmed my suspicions. The venom in her voice when she'd talked about that girl.Where did she learn to speak like that?Marcello had been gentle. Kind. The sort of man who'd give his last dollar to a stranger and apologize for not having more. His daughter should have inherited that warmth.I needed to talk to Vivienne. Set some boundaries. Remind her that cruelty—even toward people she disliked—was beneath her.But when I walked through the front door, the house was silent."Vivienne?"No answer.I checked her room. Empty. Her bathroom. Dark. The kitchen, the library, the garden she sometimes escaped to when she wanted to sulk.Nothing.I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. It rang five times before going to voicemail.Where the

Lorenzo's POVI hadn't planned to be at Crimson Thorn tonight.But last night's incident required follow-up. A body to dispose of properly. Witnesses to remind of their silence. The usual maintenance that came with killing a man in front of an audience.The main floor was crowded when I arrived. Music pulsing. Bodies moving. The usual crowd of powerful men and the women who orbited them like satellites.I was heading toward the back when I heard her voice."—rather sleep with a complete stranger than let you touch me again. Lorenzo Vitale, for example. How would that feel, Sterling?"I stopped.The girl from last night stood near the bar, phone pressed to her ear, her voice carrying more than she probably realized. She was wearing a borrowed coat that swallowed her frame, her dark hair tumbling around her shoulders.Lorenzo Vitale, for example.A smile tugged at my lips.So I'd become a weapon in someone's quarrel. Interesting.I should have been annoyed. Instead, I found it almost am

Seraphina's POVThe door clicked shut behind Vivienne.For a long moment, neither of us moved. Her footsteps faded down the corridor—click, click, click—until they disappeared entirely.She's gone. She didn't see me.Relief crashed through me like a wave. My legs buckled.I collapsed against Lorenzo's chest, my fingers still tangled in his shirt, my face pressed to the hollow of his throat. The heat of his body seared through the thin lace of my lingerie.My heart was still racing from his touch. The ghost of his lips on my neck. The way his hand had tightened in my hair.He wanted me. I felt it.I tilted my face up, my arms sliding around his back, pulling myself closer. This was my chance. He'd protected me. He'd sent Vivienne away. Maybe—His hands closed around my wrists.And pushed me away.The rejection was so sudden, so absolute, that I stumbled backward. He caught me before I fell—one hand steadying my elbow—then released me immediately, as if my skin burned.His jacket was st