LOGINFor a moment I remained silent, but when I turned my head slightly and saw that it was Sebastian holding my neck, with a rather subtle gentleness, it was like his way of showing that he was there for me without being anything too intimate. The boxes were stacked in uneven towers, some precariously tilted, others perfectly aligned thanks to Kathe's obsession with order. The apartment smelled of fresh paint and dust, but beneath it all, the faint promise of a home lingered.
The following chapter may contain sensitive content for some readers; moderate discretion is advised.The time I spent in the car felt like an eternity, not only because I didn't know where we were going, but also because the silence in the vehicle was deafening. I stared out the window, watching the road ahead.I had lived almost my entire life in this city, and I knew that the place we were going to wasn't typical, nor very populated. We were going to the outskirts of the city, but I didn't quite know how to ask him where he was taking me."We're almost there," he said finally."Thanks for the update," I turned to smile at him and continued looking out the window.My phone was in my backpack, completely silent, while the feeling of unease continued to grow in my chest, making me feel an urge to jump out of the car and ask for help from any other passing vehicle.The car slowed as it turned onto a narrow street. I noticed the houses becoming less frequent, until finally Carlos stoppe
For the next three hours, Olivia and I continued helping Ian get the place fully set up, and everything looked beautiful. It was a club in every sense of the word—comfortable, cool, and somewhat modern.Suddenly, a van pulled up outside, and Sebastian got out along with Damian. I saw Olivia tense up, and I frowned. I wasn't sure I wanted to see him there. In fact, I didn't want to see either of them, because as soon as I saw Sebastian's face, the image of us waking up together that morning was on my mind, and I had to look away.Olivia noticed, and I could see her accusing face looking at me with a wide smile. Somehow, even though we hadn't spoken much that morning, I knew she knew what had happened even better than I did, and that disturbed me.Ian greeted them with forced enthusiasm, his voice slightly trembling. "I'm glad you could come," he said, though the tension in the air made it clear that no one was truly happy to see Damian, or at least didn't fully trust him.Sebastian's g
I felt lost, I didn't know what to think about what I had just heard. And worse than that, I felt terribly bad, knowing everything Sebastian had been through, and yet my heart burned knowing that he was married and madly in love with that woman, so much so that he was willing to defy his mother and the world.The silence settled, and I was stunned. Sebastian's intense gaze only served to send shivers down my spine.As if we'd both forgotten all about civility, we continued drinking straight from the bottle, one sip after another, until it was too late and we were both too drunk to send Sebastian home.He lay down on the sofa, seemingly completely regretting everything he'd said. I felt incredibly conflicted about what was happening, especially considering my wedding was just a week away. Every day it was getting closer and closer.I went to sleep and had a dream I could barely remember.I woke up with a splitting headache and couldn't quite recall what had happened last night. I tried
I froze, with the bottle of wine in my hand and Sebastian in front of me, admitting that he was married, and that my cousin had kidnapped and sold his wife.My heart stopped, and I felt like my head was spinning. I looked at the wine bottle in my hand and took a swig straight from the bottle, hoping to make it all go faster, but it didn't. It only made me feel even more dizzy."Melissa and I got married very young," he began. "We were barely 24 when we married. We had a quiet life, for the most part, even though my mother didn't completely approve. Everything was pretty good... until it wasn't."Sebastian's POVI started talking, and once I began, I couldn't stop. Perhaps it was the wine that loosened my tongue, or perhaps it was the weight of the years that oppressed me.When Melissa and I were young, life seemed like paradise. We dreamed of growing old together, of building something that would last. But everything changed the day she met Lucas Clark at a networking event. At first,
A mixture of uncertainty filled my body, and while Sebastian and Ian headed toward Sebastian, I took two steps back, my hands still outstretched protectively toward Olivia.A thousand scenarios were playing out in my mind: how he might suddenly reveal what he knew about me, or that I was somehow involved with the Russian mafia, and all of that would go straight to Lucas and be very difficult to explain.But a fleeting thought crossed my mind: Olivia just spoke, and she just spoke in Russian... which means..."What a problem, I mistook her for someone, that's all," said Damian, with an arrogant attitude."You don't go, you point a gun at someone's face and speak to them in another language if you're not sure," retorted Ian."Where the hell do you speak Russian?" demanded Sebastian.Damian, however, said nothing more, no matter how many questions were asked of him, he simply remained as if it were something unimportant and minimized everything that had happened as a simple "mistake".Th
Ian didn't seem uncomfortable; rather, he wanted to find a way to apologize, but perhaps he didn't quite know how."She's mute due to an accident, but she's not deaf and will probably be able to speak again with enough care," I explained.My phone rang with an unknown number. "I'm going to take this," I thought.I walked away, knowing it was most likely Annatoli, while Ian and Olivia continued talking quietly."Hello?" I answered, but there was a long silence on the other end."Sofia," a voice finally said, sending shivers down my spine. "I received your email. Are you available this Saturday?""Y-yes," I said, my voice trembling with shock."I know what's happening doesn't directly involve us, so there's nothing wrong with seeing each other," Lucas said, his tone radiating distrust."Sure, after all, we're cousins," I replied.I hung up the fastest and most stressful call of my life and remained silent for a moment.I remember when we were kids, Lucas and I used to spend a lot of tim
The woman approached and stood between Sebastian and me. I stood there for a second, unsure how to react or what to do. The woman was shorter than me, but she had an imposing presence that made me doubt everything; she had eyes as dark as night and short black hair perfectly tied up."Ma'am, I..."
Sebastian stood up and slung his jacket over his shoulder."Do you have any idea what's going to happen next?""Well..." I said softly, "I'm going to try to get a boyfriend, and if that doesn't work out, I'll have to find another option." I added with a slight laugh."I can't believe it..." Sebasti
I started drafting an email to send him, just a formal email, letting him know I'd like to have a meeting with him. Before hitting send, I considered my options.I'll be 28 in exactly 62 days. When my father passes away, his investment and shares, which represent 30% of the total, would pass to me,
Kathe and I sat there, trying to figure out what we could do, knowing full well that we had to do something. Lucas was an alcoholic, a man who gambled away all his money, and when he won a little, he "reinvested" it in his bets and lost the few cents he won. Most importantly, he was Uncle Clark's g







