I’m sitting at the bar when Malachi comes back. My body immediately puts me into flight mode but I stay right where I am. I already knew he would be coming back. I don’t know if i wanted that or not but i know I’m not scared enough of his presence to run. Especially when he’s playing this game of hurt with Tieran. Malachi smirks when he gets to me and the emerald green of his eyes gleam with a strange light. I can see the passion brimming in them when he stops in front of me and in a husky tone he rasps, “I’d do anything to see you out of those clothes right now, Antonia.” An old string of attraction suddenly flares at the sound of Malachi’s words. I’m immediately mortified. I feel like slapping myself and that feeling is soon buried. I respond sarcastically, “Would having some decency be part of the bargain too? Not every woman wants to be stripped naked while fully wearing her clothes y’know.” “Then let me take them off for you.” I look up again just so I can see the expression

Antonia’s pov. ‘You’re leaving Malachi aren’t you, Antonia?” Grandfather’s voice echoes in my ears as I sit on a couch in one of the rooms in Tieran’s mansion and the discussion we had replays. I sigh because I couldn't even hide it. I couldn’t tell him that I was going to stay behind and still be with Malachi. Something about my encounter with Malachi earlier made me unable to, so I said the truth, and now… Malachi’s grandfather has asked me to come back to the mansion. He wants me to stay till the end of the month because he’s dying and the doctor says he won’t make it into next month. The darkness of my grandmother’s death and the grief of it resurfaced faster than I could realize. It felt like he was in her position. Like she was somehow alive again, and this time I had a chance to be with her on her deathbed. The door comes open with a soft click and I direct my eyes to it. Tieran’s form is solid in the light coming in from the hallway. Compared to the softer light in here an

Leaving the Elcot mansion fills me with a bittersweet feeling. It’s hard watching my father stay at the entrance while I get into the car and drive off. I’ve explored as much of the grounds as I could these past few days, but I know there’s still so much more he wants to show me. So much more I need to see. My hand rests on my belly and I remember the baby growing within. A million different thoughts run through my head and I push them off. I can’t think of that now. If the baby comes, then it comes. I need to be someone of repute and dignity before that happens, and I need Malachi to know he’s not the boss of me. No one is. Not even the one who was my husband and boss. The chauffeur drives me to the Finn mansion, and looks back as he asks, “Shall I take the bags down, Miss Antonia?”. As we rehearsed, he didn't refer to me as Miss Elcot. I take a deep breath and nod, getting down from the car too and taking in my surroundings like it’s the first time I'm here again. The Finn mansi

Antonia’s pov. I thought the main conflict would happen when Malachi was back and I was prepared for it, but Sienna seems to have prepared herself for more than that because it isn’t even evening yet, and she’s already making me mad. She was going through my bags! Anger and rage boil and bubble up in me but I tell myself to calm down. Letting her get me angry isn’t going to solve anything. Sienna Finn has never understood the concept of personal space when it didn’t suit her. But that’s not my problem. I’ve locked the room with my bags inside it and taken the key with me. “Antonia!” Malachi’s tone is dark and filled with anger when I hear it and I turn to find him stalking towards me. He grabs me by the arm the moment he’s near me and glares into my eyes menacingly. “What is the meaning of this Antonia?” The anger and rage I was feeling before come back to me all too freshly and I yank my arm trying to get away from his grip. Malachi’s hold is firm and I can see the pleasure in

“I apologize for the delay, sir. I’m trying to gain her entrance pass. No one goes in without an entrance pass.”The male in front of me gives the officer at the checkpoint a look that says he already knows that, and from that look alone my opinion about him sours further. He’s the guy I met at the mall.The one who was wearing his wedding ring but was trying to pay for the gifts I picked out, and then also trying to get to me so much that he had to be held back by the guards trailing me and I had to be rushed into the carI look into my rear mirror to see it’s just my car and his that are on line right now. His husky voice floats into my ears in a smug tone, “My eyes are up here pretty lady.”I raise my gaze to meet him again and I see a light gleam in them now. His eyes are a pale shade of green. Like leaves that have fallen and are gradually fading to brown. My tone is cold as I respond, “I wasn’t looking at anything else so there was no need for that.”He gives a smirk that tells