Romances de Lami

Elise’s POVThe sting on my cheek ignites something wild inside me. For the first time in years, rage overtakes fear.I push myself up, breathing hard. I feel the heat rise in my chest and the next thing that happens surprises me. My hand lands on his cheek as I slap him back with every ounce of strength I have. The sound echoes sharply in the office.“How dare you talk to me like that?” I snap, voice shaking with fury. “How dare you question my loyalty after everything I’ve done for you? After everything I’ve sacrificed?”Richard’s head snaps to the side from the force of the slap. For a split second, shock flashes across his face before it twists into something even darker.He grabs my wrist in a bruising grip, yanking me closer.“You forget yourself, Elise,” he growls. “I gave you a life fifteen years ago when you were nothing but a scared, broken girl with no one. I can take it all away just as easily.”I yank my arm free, chest heaving. “I’m with Christian to get information on D

Elise’s POVIt’s been two weeks since that night at the bar.Two weeks since I kissed Christian Harrington like a woman who had lost all sense of self-preservation. Two weeks since his mouth was on mine and I let myself fall headfirst into something I know I shouldn’t want. I can’t stop thinking about him.I stand in my small kitchen, stirring the risotto slowly, the scent of garlic and saffron filling the air. My hands are trembling slightly. I invited him for dinner tonight. I told myself it was to talk more about everything he is going through with Diane, but that excuse is getting thinner by the day. The truth is simpler and far more dangerous.I want to see him again.The doorbell rings and my heart leaps into my throat. I wipe my hands on a dish towel, smooth down my simple black dress, and walk to the door. When I open it, Christian is standing there looking devastatingly handsome in a dark button-down and slacks, a b

Diane’s POVI expect him to get up at least once during those four long hours. To pace the room or leave me to do something. But Jason just sits there on the couch in the corner of my office, silent and unmoving, like a man waiting for judgment day.When I finally stand up and grab my bag, he rises without a word.“Let’s go,” I sigh.He nods slowly and takes my bag from my hand, like he always does.Elise glances up from her desk as we pass. “Home early?” she asks, her voice carefully neutral.I nod. “Cancel the rest of my meetings. Thank you.”The drive home is suffocatingly quiet. I stare out the window the entire time, watching the city blur past, while Jason’s presence beside me feels like a storm cloud. Neither of us speaks. The weight of last night occupies the space between us.When we reach the penthouse, the dining table is already set beau

Jason's POVI wake up with a pounding headache and the taste of regret in my mouth.The room feels wrong. It’s everything bad, too cold and too empty. I sit up slowly, rubbing my face as the memories of last night crashes over me like ice water. Diane’s face when I took her hands off my face after everything and her reaction to me punching the hypocritical asshole. The birthday surprise and her friends’ facial expressions when I was leaving. The relief I felt walking away. Elise kissing me and me allowing it.Fuck.I drag myself out of bed and head straight to her bedroom. My heart is hammering as I push the door open, already rehearsing what I’ll say. How sorry I am. How I was spiraling from everything Robert told me. How I never meant any of it.But the room is empty. The bed is made and she’s already gone to work.I stand there like an idiot, staring at the empty space where she should be, and the gu

Diane’s POVMorning light filters through the curtains like it has no right to be so gentle after everything that happened last night.I wake up with a dull headache and an ache in my chest that feels permanent. The jacuzzi water had gone cold hours ago, but I stayed in it anyway, clutching Mom’s diary like a lifeline until my fingers pruned and my eyes burned from crying. Eventually I dragged myself to bed, still wrapped in a towel, and stared at the ceiling until sleep finally claimed me out of pity.Now, the bed feels too big. Too empty. Jason’s side is untouched, the pillow still perfectly fluffed. I reach out anyway, fingers brushing the cold sheets, and the emptiness hits me all over again.I asked him to sleep elsewhere so of course he did. A part of me wishes he tried to talk me out of it but I guess he was too drunk to have a decent conversation.I force myself up, shower mechanically, and get dressed in a simple black pantsuit. I need work. If I stay here any longer, surroun

Diane’s POVThe elevator dings, and I don’t even have the energy to hope anymore.Liam steps out looking like a ghost of the man I used to know. His eyes are bloodshot, shoulders slumped under the weight of the world, hair messy like he’d been running his hands through it for hours. He smells faintly of whiskey, but it’s not enough to hide the devastation rolling off him in waves.“Diane…” His voice breaks the second he sees me. It’s raw and cracked. It’s the kind of sound that comes from someone who’s been screaming into pillows and still hasn’t found relief.He walks straight into my arms, and I hold him. It feels like the right thing to do. His body shakes against mine as quiet, gut-wrenching sobs tear through him.“They found him,” he whispers against my shoulder. “My dad… he’s really gone. They murdered him. And I keep thinking… what was the point of any of it? All the fighting for justice, all the years believing the system would work. It’s all bullshit. Everything’s bullshit.”