LOGINAndrea's POVI walked closer to him, crossing the room slowly, watching his face the whole way, trying to find something in it and coming up with nothing. The distance between us felt enormous even as I closed it. He didn't move toward me. He didn't reach for me the way he usually did. He just stood there by the window with that blank look, and every instinct I had was screaming that something was very, very wrong.I stopped a few feet away from him. Close enough to touch, if either of us had reached. Neither of us did."You wanted to see me," I said quietly.He didn't answer at first. He just looked at me, and I looked back, and the silence went long and tight between us. Outside a bird called once and stopped. The lamps hummed. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure he could hear it from across the room."Dante. You're scaring me. What's going on?"He looked at me for a long moment. And then he said it."We have to end this." Flat. Careful. Like he'd rehearsed it, like he'd
Andrea's POV“I should go before someone comes looking,” he said against the back of my neck. His breath was warm. But he didn’t move. His thumb kept tracing small circles on my hip bone.“I know,” I whispered. My voice sounded small in the quiet room.Neither of us moved for another long minute. I listened to his breathing slow down behind me. His hand slid up from my hip to rest flat on my stomach, and for one stupid second I let myself imagine it there when my stomach was round instead of flat. The thought made my chest hurt in the best and worst way.He sighed, the sound heavy, and pressed one last kiss to the top of my head. Then he let go of me and sat up. I stayed on my side and watched him. The bed felt colder without his body covering mine. He stood and reached for his clothes on the floor. I watched the muscles in his back move as he pulled his shirt over his head. Watched him tuck himself back into his pants and zip up like nothing had happened. Watched his hands—those
Andrea's POVHe groaned softly and curled his fingers inside me, hitting that spot that made everything go bright. His thumb worked my clit faster. “You’re doing so good,” he whispered. “So wet and tight around my fingers. I can feel you trying not to moan. Keep trying, baby. Come for me quiet. Let me feel it.”The orgasm hit fast and hard. My back arched off the bed, my pussy clenching around his fingers as pleasure rushed through me in hot waves. I cried out into my own hand, the sound muffled and broken, thighs shaking hard. He kept moving his hand through all of it, drawing it out, whispering the whole time.“Shh… that’s it. Come quiet for me. Good girl. So fucking good, staying quiet while I make you come all over my fingers.”Only when I started to come down did he slowly pull his fingers out. He brought them to his mouth and licked them clean while I watched, still trying to catch my breath with my hand over my mouth. Then he stood up long enough to shove his pants and underwea
Andrea's POVI pushed myself up on my elbows so I could see him better. “I missed you too,” I said. My voice came out quieter than I meant it to. “All day. Every time I looked up at the house I hoped I’d see you at one of the windows.”He leaned down, one knee on the mattress, and kissed me. It wasn’t soft. It was hard and hungry, his mouth opening over mine like he needed to taste me to breathe. His tongue slid against mine, deep and insistent. I kissed him back the same way, reaching up to fist the front of his shirt and pull him closer. One of his hands braced beside my head; the other came down to rest on my waist, fingers spreading wide over the damp bikini fabric. The kiss went on until my lips felt swollen and I was making small, needy sounds into his mouth.When he finally pulled back, his forehead stayed close to mine. “You look so hot in this swimsuit,” he said. His thumb stroked slowly along the edge of the bikini top, just above my breast. “I saw you from the mansion. From
Andrea's POVI was happy that my mum was giving her that. Happy that Dahlia was getting, even temporarily, the kind of warmth she deserved and maybe had never had.I lay back on my lounger and watched the two of them together—my mum laughing at something Dahlia said, Dahlia laughing back, her hand resting protectively over the gentle swell of her stomach—and without meaning to at all, I found my mind wandering somewhere I hadn't quite expected it to go.I imagined myself in Dahlia's place.Pregnant. Glowing. My own hand resting over my own growing belly. And Dante beside me—not hidden, not a secret, but mine, openly and completely. Looking at me the way Luca looked at Dahlia, with that quiet fierce pride and devotion. A future where we didn't have to hide. Where my mum could fuss over me the way she was fussing over Dahlia now, asking about names and nursery colors and whether I was feeling alright. Where Dante could rest his hand on my belly and feel his child kick and there would be
Andrea's POV"Love is a beautiful thing, sweetheart," she said quietly. "It's one of the most beautiful things in the whole world. There's nothing like it. But the people we give our hearts to don't always feel the same way back. And that's one of the hardest truths there is to live with." She squeezed my hands gently. "I just don't want to see your heart get broken, Andrea. That's all. That's the only thing a mother ever really worries about, no matter how old her children get. We just want to keep you from hurting.""I know," I said softly. "I know, Mum.""It's not that I don't believe he cares for you. From the little I saw, the way he looked at you in that mirror—" She gave a small knowing smile. "A man doesn't look at a woman like that over nothing. But caring and being able to say it, to give it freely—those aren't always the same thing. And you deserve all of it. The caring and the words and everything in between."She leaned over and kissed my forehead, soft and warm, the way
Dahlia’s POVThe kiss was soft, unhurried — not demanding like the first ones we’d shared. This one felt different. It was gentle and warm, like a promise he wasn’t ready to put into words yet. His hand moved up to my cheek, his thumb brushing my sk
Dahlia’s POVLuca had gone out for business earlier that afternoon, and by the time the sun went down, he still hadn’t returned. I tried to distract myself by reading, but the words on the page just blurred together. I even went to the kitchen and sat at the dining table, hoping that eating would he
Dahlia’s POVHe didn’t talk much, just the occasional hum or the clink of his spoon as he stirred his coffee. The silence between us wasn’t uncomfortable though. It was… nice. Safe. I felt my chest tighten a little at that thought. For a long time, I had eaten breakfast alone, in silence. But now, s
Luca’s POVWe didn’t hurry with the rest. We took Pedro to the warehouse like we always did — a place built for things the light ought never to see. Inside, they chained him up. The chain clinked and settled, a metal noise that sounded like a last word. He spat and cursed and tried to look big, but







