Gloria Romero 소설 & 이야기

Right before the last full-length practice exam ahead of the SAT, my boyfriend, Blake Romero, who had always ranked in the top ten, somehow ended up with a score of zero. His eyes were red as he clung to me, his voice shaking while he said he had developed severe test anxiety. "Samantha, there's no way I'll get in this year. Can you stay back and retake the year with me? I can't do this without you." Looking at how pale he was, I almost gave in. On my way to the school clinic to grab him some meds to calm his nerves, I accidentally overheard him talking to a girl from a poor family. "Blake, what if Samantha finds out you're lying to her?" His voice turned soft, almost indulgent. "Relax. She loves me so much that she would give up anything for me. Even if she finds out, so what? Besides, her family's loaded. Losing a year won't matter to her. Arrington University only has two spots this year. As long as Samantha doesn't take the exam, those spots are ours." Standing outside the door, I felt as if I had just had a bucket of ice poured over me. So this was his plan! He was willing to ruin my future just to clear the way for the girl he really cared about. What he didn't realize was that Arrington University had only ever been my backup, something I chose just to stay by his side. Without him dragging me down, I could aim for something better.

“Please just kill me. Please.." with tears in my eyes I begged for my own death. I am not one to have suicidal thoughts but I could no longer bear the humiliating torture I was being subjected to any more. However my abductor smiled at my pain and suffering with joy. “You will surely meet your end but it will be when I decide your pu"*y is no longer of use to me and my men. But don't think that's the only terrible thing I can do to you. So you better apologize to me and my honored guest before I allow the dogs and horses to also get a taste of you too and make no mistake it's not going to be pleasant at all," he said wickedly and I felt so humiliated.. How did my life end up this way? Physically assaulted, starved, molested and made naked; being offered as an object of pleasure to his uncharacteristically attractive but intimidating guest? I used to have a perfect life. A family who cares for me and a man who loves and cherishes me. He only just proposed to me yesterday and I have been dreaming of raising a happy family with him. So where did it go wrong? Oh, I remember now. I was stabbed in the back by the person I love and trusted the most. I didn't know she has always been envious and jealous of my happiness. My best friend Gloria, she betrayed me and sold me out to a gang of ruthless thugs to be violated and murdered. However when it seemed all hope was lost the person I least expect to help me would be my savior.

“It won’t be a straight death from where you’re standing.” I blink, turning around. “What?” But he doesn’t give me a reply. At least not yet. Instead, he takes hold of my arms in his large, gloved hands, and pulls me to him so that we are standing toe to toe. “What are you doing?” I whisper. This new position has brought us closer. So close that if I stand on my toes, and he dips his head down a bit, I’d probably have the best kiss… “If you fall from here, the possibility of you dying immediately is 98% at the very least,” He begins as I stare at him with my mouth slightly agape. “Falling from where you stood before is about 35% lesser. You’d die eventually, maybe after a night or two of trying to revive your shattered bones, but not immediately.” Having made his point, he steps back from me and climbs down the somewhat elevated platform. “Did you just make way for me to kill myself?” I murmur, feeling like I’m losing my mind all over again. What kind of a man is this? *** Sonia’s life is going great one minute and then takes a spin for the worse when she is betrayed, gets pregnant and worse, is told that she will be getting married to Italian mafia heir, Anthony Romero, who doesn’t mind raising another man’s child. She abhors the idea, but having also recently been disowned by her father, she has no choice but to accept the marriage proposal if she wants protection for herself and her child. But she has questions. Why would a sane man from her world want to raise a child that isn’t his? Surely they’re ulterior motives in play.

"He's my stepfather. Technically. But we have history from high school. He was my first love. My first everything." I stare at my hands because I can't look at her face while I say this. "Now he's forcing me to pole dance for him while he watches." "Watches?" "Yes." The word sticks in my throat. "He watches, touches himself and then he... marks me. Without touching me anywhere else. Just watching and then claiming me like I'm his territory." Three weeks ago, I walked out on my husband. Eleven months of rejection, of wondering what was wrong with me, of lighting candles for a man who was saving himself for my best friend. When I finally heard the truth from his own mouth, I packed one bag and I left. I thought I was starting over. Instead, I drove straight into my mother's mess. Gloria, the woman who raised chaos and called it motherhood, married a billionaire, cleaned out forty-seven million dollars from his accounts and disappeared without a word to me. Now his lawyers are at my door and I am the only thing she left behind worth collecting. My new employer is Richard Moore. Billionaire. Tycoon. The most dangerous man I have ever met. He is also the boy who took my virginity at seventeen and broke my heart in the same breath. He wants a year of service. Pole dancing, forced proximity, and all the dark things written in fine print I didn't have a lawyer to read for me. He wants to punish my mother and I'm the only punishment available. I hate him. I want to survive him. I want to get through this year with my mind and my heart intact. But what happens when surviving starts to feel a lot like wanting?