ELLEN I was lying on the lazy boy by the pool when Oliver came rushing back. I could not contain my laughter as he came back down almost immediately. "Are you sure you went to the room?" I asked, eyeing his bulging muscles. He wore a black vest that showed all his perfect chest and arm muscles and grey sweatpants. "I needed to be with you," he said, dazzling me with his signature smile. I stood up, walked up to him, and took his hands. "I made a special dinner for us and hope you like everything." "I love whatever you make, Elle." The table was set behind me, and rose petals were scattered around the poolside with candlelights surrounding the table. A bottle of wine was on the table with tall wine glasses and the wrap of my meal. I led Oliver to the table and made him sir. "Tonight is a special night," I whispered in his ear. It was a special night for me. It was the only night I had felt free in a year and a few months. My troubles might not be over, but I wanted to s
ELLEN I had the sweetest dream in months and woke up with a smile. I ran my hand beside me at the part Oliver was supposed to lie in but found it empty. I opened my eyes and saw that it was really empty. I will not be happy if Oliver goes without saying goodbye again. Panicked, I sat up, only to see Oliver standing in front of the dressing mirror, all dressed up. I sighed with relief. "Good morning, my queen," he greeted and stalked toward me. "I hope you have a good night's sleep?" He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on my lips. I clutched the sheets around me and blushed like a teenager. He sat beside me and ran his fingers over my ruffled hair. "Has anyone told you that you look prettier in the morning?" he said, flashing me a sensual smile. "Okay, you are flattering me now." "I am not. I am serious." "Well, I got a little job done on my face; you cannot attribute it all to me." I looked down at my fingers as I spoke. Oliver moved closer to me and curled his foref
ELLEN "Okay, I don't know what this is all about, but I am getting curious as hell, Oliver," I said, waving my hands in front of me. Oliver was behind me, leading me carefully to whatever surprise he had for me. I was blindfolded, and my heart was already racing. "Just a little more time, mi amor." He carefully led me until he came to a stop. I sighed. We were finally at the surprise, and I held my breath because I did not know what to expect. Oliver put his arms around me, hugging me from behind. I could feel his breath on my neck. "Are you ready?" he whispered in my ear. "I am curious. Oliver, show me already!" I whined. He slowly took off the blindfold from my eyes. I blinked twice to get my eyes accustomed to my environment. I gasped when I saw what was in front of me. "Oh, my God, Oliver," I said as tears pooled in my eyes. "Do you like it?" Oliver asked. I walked away from his hold, reaching out for the beautiful flowers.
OLIVER “What the fuck just happened? Why the heck is my wife being arrested?” I asked, glaring at Nicholas. “I was involved with Antonio, not my wife.” “Oliver, you have to calm down. Your wife was the last person Antonio texted. They have been talking. I am sorry, but your wife might not be as innocent as you think.”I clenched my hands and glared at Nicholas. I was only stopping myself from punching him right now because I did not want to make things worse. “The good thing is, you can bail her out since she is just a suspect. She was taken for questioning, and I will make sure I do the questioning.” “Do whatever you have to do. I want to watch when you question her.” I grabbed a bottle of drink and poured it into a glass, gulped it down, poured again, and gulped it again. I was torn in two. One part of me was thinking about whether Ellen was as innocent as she appeared. She had been jumpy lately, but there was no way she would have killed Antonio. He died
ELLEN I met Dante and Jerry waiting at the reception when I was allowed to go home, but there was no Oliver. I searched around for him with my eyes, but he wasn’t there. I did not know what to feel about that, but I knew he had a very good explanation for not showing up at the station. “Where is Oliver?” I asked Dante, noticing his mood. Something was off about the way they looked at me. “He wants to see you,” was Dante’s calm reply as he took my arms gently. “You are now free from the police, and we are glad.” He flashed me a smile that I knew was fake.Cold shivers ran down my spine. Dante was a terrible actor, and I knew something was wrong. Maybe Oliver has hurt himself. I was so uncomfortable with the atmosphere around them. “What is going on? I want to speak with Oliver,” I demanded, my voice cracking with emotions. “Calm down, Ellen. There is nothing wrong. Oliver has a surprise for you and would like to meet you somewhere,” Jerry said with a much more
ELLEN KNIGHT I stepped out of the bathroom and stood, hands akimbo in front of Lily, waiting for her to commend my outfit. It was my favorite, and I had a bond with the dress. But the scowl that crumpled her face made me want to cry. "What is this?" she asked, pointing at me. "A dress," I said, rolling my eyes. I have tested out my whole wardrobe, yet Lily didn't think any dresses I own were good enough for going out. "I know it's a dress, but I don't remember saying we were going to an orphanage to meet with children. We are going to a club, Elle. C-L-U-B," she spelled. At this point, I was already exhausted and frustrated when the night had not even started. Lily was my best friend, but she exhausted me so much. She was the perky one; she loved living life, going to parties, and doing all the fun stuff while I was the bookworm and the workaholic. I didn't have the time to have fun because I had to work and go to school at the same time to help my asthmatic mother
ELLEN One month later... I gripped the edge of the toilet and emptied my stomach into it for the fifth time this morning. Lily stood by the door. Her arms folded across her chest, and she looked at me with pity. It's been a month since I was stupid enough to have sex with a total stranger without even getting his name. I kept reproaching myself for how foolish I had been that night, acting impulsively and letting his handsome face and sexy body lure me to bed. It was not something I did and not the kind of fun I had anticipated that night, I wasn't looking to get laid, and sex wasn't even something that freaked me out. But he had touched me in many ways, arousing feelings I never knew were there; while I had only been a whore to him, the thought of it hurt badly. His misunderstanding still rankled, but what got me most was this constant throwing up of mine for a few days now, I kept telling myself that I had eaten something that didn't agree with my body, and I believed it
OLIVER MONERO Five years later... With my shoulders hung, I walked down the large, brightly lit corridors of my father's mansion. It was a few days after Sara's funeral, and my father had me fly from New York to Italy because he wanted to say something to me, something that could not be said over the phone. I stopped in front of the door to his study, knocked once, and went in, he was hunched over some documents that I didn't care to know about. My heart was hurting, I had just buried my wife, the love of my life, just a few days ago. Sara was my life. She was everything to me, losing her was like losing my life and sanity because she kept me sane and brightened my life. It hurt me most because she died with our baby; that feeling can't seem to leave me, no matter how I try to shake it off. My father didn't look up from the papers he was looking at, even when he knew someone had joined him. I walked up to the table and stood there. He never treated me like his son, he treat