Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

Iris's Pov.“Put a goddamn smile on your face, Iris,” Ethan grunted, his words flowing through gritted teeth.“Stop fucking embarrassing me. You offered to do this, remember? And Harry is already expecting you so don't disappoint me.”I swallowed.I looked around me before turning back to Ethan, almost robotically placing the fake smile on my lips even when it completely killed me on the inside. I know I offered to do this, but standing backstage at the club, where the air smelled like sweat and cheap perfume, it dawned on me how much I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to be anywhere near this place.But it was too late to tell Ethan that.I remembered vividly the conversation that brought me here.“Yes, baby. I know a friend who manages a club.” Ethan had said.“It's just dancing, nothing more. Just until I clear this debt, I need this, Iris. Don't you want us to be okay?”How could I have said no to that?I wanted us to be okay more than I cared about my pride. I loved Ethan so

Iris's Pov.“Don't touch me!” I snapped, trembling from fear and anger of being groped again.The man laughed.“I like this one. She's feisty.”The man holding me pulled me into a room and down on my knees. I was in total darkness because of the cloth still covering my head and I had to rely on my senses to tell me about my surroundings. I picked up the voices of four men. They were speaking in a language I just couldn't quite place. It sounded Spanish. Maybe it was Italian?The bag suddenly came off my head and I shut my eyes from the sudden light. I pushed past the headache and opened them again, trying to adjust to the light. A man entered, carrying the other girl over his shoulder. He tossed her onto the ground beside me and she cried out, rolling to her side. When the man removed the cloth from her head, she trembled in fear.I took in the sight of her to make sure she was okay. She looked to be in her early twenties just like me. How the fuck did she get mixed up with these dang

Flashback. Iris's Pov.The first time I ever touched myself, I was thinking of Xander King. I was sixteen so he must've been twenty-three. He was my brother's best friend and at the time, I doubt he even knew I existed. Xander was wild even then and he and my brother would always go out at night and not come back until two or three in the morning.Xander and his family moved here when I was ten and my brother, Julian, was seventeen. The whole town immediately started talking about Xander's family and even then, I understood that there was something different about them. They moved here from New York and nobody, I mean nobody in our little town in Italy was from anywhere exciting.So when Xander and his dad showed up, it got all the tongues wagging, especially about where they could've gotten the money to build such an enormous mansion that could pass for a Disney castle. Some even said that they were into some illegal shit and moved to our little town because they were running away f

Chapter 7. Iris's Pov.Suddenly, he started walking farther into the room and sat on a chair, facing me.“You really want to leave? Yes?” He finally spoke after a few agonizing minutes of silence and I nodded quickly, even though I wasn't sure where I was gonna go. Definitely not back to Ethan. “Then come sit on my lap.”“What?”He didn't just say what I think he did, right?!My lips parted in a gasp and I took a step back to put a much bigger distance between us. He must be absurdly insane to say those words to me out loud.“You heard me.” He patted his lap with his fingers like he was calling his dog to come to him as he glared at me. “Come and sit on my lap, Iris.”The way not even a single muscle in his face flinched to suggest that his request was probably a joke was pure madness. He was staring at me, waiting, as if he had just asked for something casual and normal.“What kind of stupid game are you trying to play?” I bit back as I took another step away from him. The door to t

Chapter 9Xander's POV.Flashback.That fateful night was cold. It was probably the lowest temperature we'd ever experienced in our little town in New York and the winter showed no sign of letting up, promising to get even colder.Outside, the streets were empty with no trace of a living soul that wanted to be outside in the cold night. Even the constant stray animals were nowhere to be seen, already having sought shelter from the low temperature.Most of the houses on the street were already plunged into darkness, including the one where I lived with my mum.Despite the bad weather, it couldn't stop the laughter and smiles I shared with my mum while we had dinner together. Although our dinner only consisted of dry bread and fruits almost every night, it didn't matter as long as I had my mum.I was grateful enough to at least have something to put inside my stomach. Of course, chicken sounded good but with my mum's job barely covering the bills, it was a luxury we could rarely afford.