جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

VIVI’S POINT OF VIEW. The first thing I noticed was the glass with fancy flower prints painted around it. Floor-to-ceiling windows where sunlight poured in like nothing else had any business touching something looking as pristine as this. White backdrops, soft gold accents, racks of white gowns lined to one side…. A studio. A bridal studio. We were at a bridal studio….. My steps slowed. I should have known he was up to something when he crashed my apartment with Callliope this morning. “Felix.” I started, my voice low and cautious. “Where are we?” He didn’t look back at me; rather. He kept his steps straight ahead, his movement unhurried like he had all the time in the world. “Photoshoot.” He said, and my stomach dropped. “What?” He stopped then, turning just enough to look at me. His gaze was calm, too calm for what he’d just said. What do people do in bridal shops? My mind tries to piece things together. “We’re engaged.” He added. “We need proof of that.” Proof…….answ

VIVI’S POINT OF VIEW. For a second, I was certain Elias would stop. That something in him would pull him back. But it didn’t. His gaze dropped, slowly at first, then deliberately traveled to where Felix’s hand rested on my waist. And something in his expression shifted. It wasn’t confusion, or restraint……..just something terrifyingly darker. “Take your hand off her.” He hissed, and the word came out low, dark, and dangerous. I felt a ripple go through the room. My heart's pounding began slowly at first, then it increased its pace when Elias’ eyes rested on mine again. From the corner of my eye, I could see the photographer lower his camera, and even Bianca’s grip on his arm tightened slightly. To the rest of the world watching, with the way Elias acted, you’d think he was possessive over his wife, and not his ex-wife. Felix didn’t move his hand or his body. Instead, his grip not only tightened, but it travelled lower, and lower, until it rested on the top of my ass, his touch pos

ELIAS’ POINT OF VIEW. “If I touch her…..’ The thought doesn’t finish, because my hand moves anyway. It’s slow, deliberate…….like something stronger than logic is guiding it. My fingers brush her jaw at first, the feeling light as a feather; barely rheee…….but the effect is immediate. Her breath hitches, and her skin turns flush with pink that rises from that spot to her cheek, spreading intoxicatingly slow until her entire cheeks are flaming red…… Addictive. I want to touch it; to see if the color would transfer to my skin from one feather light trace…….and yet again, the feeling of regret, mixed with satisfaction that leaves me paralyzed with guilt floods my chest. I shouldn’t go further than this……I should not give in to my brazen desires. But if I don’t……that part of me that defies logic claws its way up my throat again. I need to touch her…….feel her…..breathe her. Something is wrong with me….. I left Bianca standing outside, probably shocked out of her mind; but there’s

ELIAS’ POINT OF VIEW. “My fiancé.” The word lands like a bullet to my heart. My lips pull in a hard line before I can stop it, the familiar twisting in my heart occurs yet again; this time, it’s even harder than the last. As if my body stretches each time my ears are party to something about Genevieve, something I don’t like…. Fiancé…….that word lands wrong. It’s fucking wrong. It sounds wrong coming from his lips. My grip tightens on the doorknob. Then, I yank it open. The door slams against the door with the sound of a shark crack. Bianca stands right in front of it, her gaze perfect and looking composed… but for some reason, her eyes are all wrong. They’re locked, ok Genevieve, burning with something……vindictive. Felix, on the other hand, leans casually against the wall, a cigarette between his lips, his other hand in his pocket as he stares. at the ceiling. like it’s the most interesting sight. Like he’s waiting for a show. Like this is entertainment. For a second, no one

VIVI’S POINT OF VIEW. My phone didn’t just ring, it exploded. The vibration against the table was violent, relentless, buzzing, sliding, lighting up over and over again like it had lost its mind. A friend, reaching for it……and that was my mistake. I froze at the flood of notifications in their hundreds… no, thousands. Messages, mentions, calls, tags. My stomach stopped at the sight. Slowly, I unlocked the screen, and everything… shattered. WHITMORE HEIR CAUGHT IN BRIDAL SCANDAL; EX-WIFE INTERRUPTS ENGAGEMENT SHOOT, TWIN BROTHER SCUFFLE; WAR OVER THE SAME WOMAN. WHO IS THE REAL FIANCÉ? My breath stills, and it becomes much harder to swallow. The glass of water slides from my hand until it clatters against the table, sending the liquid all over me and the rug. I barely realize when the vitamin in my hand lands on the floor. My fingers trembled as I tapped the first video. It loaded instantly, and there I was…… Felix kissing me Elias grabbed my hand, then dragged me into the roo