LOGINDANTEFLASHBACKI was in a dark room again, it smelled of damp rotting wood, mold and blood and I couldn’t tell which memory came first anymore.Days blended together or weeks, maybe months, I had lost count. There were no windows and no light, only darkness so thick I couldn’t see my own hands.My stomach cramped violently and at first, it was hunger growling but after enough time, it simply hurt.The pain became normal and it disappeared only when I fainted or slept, if I was lucky enough to sleep.Once again, my father had locked me up here because he said I deserved it, because Angelo cried, because my grades were better, because the teachers picked me for the regional competition, because Angelo wanted that spot and smelly because I existed.That was enough reason. Every parent wanted children who behaved, studied, listened and worked hard but not my father. Finally, the silence broke, a key turned and the door creaked open. Light stabbed into my eyes and I flinched, when I loo
DANTEMy phone shattered against the wall, the plastic exploded and the glass sprayed across the hotel suite, skidding over polished marble before settling beneath the television.Silence followed, the kind that made every muscle in my body tighten. That two-timing son of a bitch met her, he got close enough to breathe the same air and he had the audacity to look at her.My hands curled into fists until my knuckles burned white.Across the room, Rafael slowly reached into his pocket as his own phone vibrated, he looked at the screen then looked at me and without saying a word, he stretched his arm out and placed the phone into my waiting hand.It was Enzo. I answered immediately. “What?”“Damn,” he laughed. “You sound like you’re about to murder somebody.”“I am.”“You should calm down.” His voice remained annoyingly calm. “You didn’t have to act like a tiger, she’s fine, he didn’t touch her.”“You should’ve put a bullet in his head when you had the chance,” I growled. “And risk get
ANGELOShe was even more beautiful up close, photographs hadn’t done her justice, neither had the surveillance videos and neither had the countless hours I had spent watching her through Dante’s eyes.Standing less than ten feet away from her, I almost laughed because my idiot brother had somehow stumbled into perfection.Sunlight caught the strands of her dark hair as the afternoon breeze swept them across her shoulder. She looked tired from the press conference, frustrated by the reporters still shouting questions behind her, yet she still carried herself with a quiet elegance that couldn’t be taught. She had grace, class and power, everything Paige had pretended to possess, was everything June simply was.I smiled to myself because for years, Dante and I hadn’t agreed on a single thing, not business, not family, not even the future, but on this one, we had finally found common ground.June Cross was perfect and soon she would belong to me.I had spent years watching my brother and
JUNEHe stood, straightened his jacket then faced Rick. “I don’t know how you’re walking free after kidnapping my daughter.” The room went silent again. “But don’t worry,” his voice remained composed. “You’ll face the hand of justice for that soon.” Rick’s expression faltered.My father continued.“And as for June…” he trailed off, looking at me briefly before facing the crowd again. “She is my daughter, my only child and heir. She thought she was married to him, but it turned out that he faked the marriage license and lied to her for years.” He turned to look at Rick once again. “I haven’t even settled that score with you yet,” he added coldly. A collective gasp swept across the room and once again, every reporter looked between us and every camera swung in our direction.Rick laughed. “No.” He shook his head repeatedly. “That’s a lie, it’s impossible.” He pointed toward me. “She’s an orphan.”His eyes darted toward Diane. “Tell them.”Diane looked as though someone had drained ever
JUNE“I’ve got it under control.” My father’s voice was calm and steady, the complete opposite of the storm brewing inside my chest.He reached into the leather folder resting on his lap and slid a plastic card toward me and the moment I saw my name printed beneath the Medical Board’s seal, the knot in my stomach loosened.“My license…”He smiled faintly. “The renewed one.”I picked it up with trembling fingers, the smooth plastic feeling strangely reassuring against my skin.“I thought…” I swallowed. “I thought they said it’d take weeks.”“They did,” he confirmed, adjusting his glasses. “They issued you a temporary permit while processing the renewal.”“I know.”I remembered the day vividly, walking into the licensing office only two days after returning home, submitting every required document and being told the official card would be mailed later.I had tucked the temporary permit into my wallet and never gave it another thought. Why would I? It had never been a problem when I was
DANTE"....Everything checks out.”Exactly and that bothered me. One engineer approached carrying two sensors inside sealed evidence bags, then he handed one to me carefully.“This came from one of the returned pumps.”Raphael opened another bag containing an unused sensor from our warehouse, he placed them together and at first glance, they were identical, the same size, weight and markings but I noticed then the serial engraving was different, barely visible and very wrong. I narrowed my eyes. “This isn’t ours.”Raphael looked closer.“…It’s counterfeit. This wasn’t what I paid for.”Someone hadn’t simply supplied defective materials and someone had intentionally replaced genuine sensors with fake ones.I slowly looked toward the production floor. Hundreds, maybe thousands. How many had passed through this line? How many people had handled these devices? How many inspectors signed approval? How come no one noticed?Bullshit. I looked at Raphael. “The sensor gets installed during fi
JUNEFate had to be mocking me. There was no other explanation for this kind of cruelty.My father had warned me from the very beginning, and somehow that made everything hurt worse.I gripped the steering wheel so tightly my fingers ached while tears blurred the road ahead of me.I could still hea
JUNEThe first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Rick.He was asleep on his stomach, one arm stretched across my side of the bed like even in sleep he expected to find me there. Morning light spilled through the curtains, soft gold sliding over his bare shoulders, over the silver strands beginn
JUNEWe finished dinner slowly after that, talking about everything and nothing. He told me ridiculous stories about Enzo that made me laugh so hard I nearly choked on wine. I told him Maya would absolutely blackmail me if she found out I had had sex in a car before my actual date even started. He
JUNE He led me onto the yacht with a hand at the small of my back, steady and warm. The inside was even more beautiful than I had imagined. Soft lighting. Polished wood. Cream furniture that looked too expensive to touch. A dining table set near wide glass windows overlooking the water, candles al







