Luna Belle Fernandez POVThe house is strangely quiet. The clang when I drop my mom’s car key on the table in the entrance sounds unnaturally loud. A smell of apple pie wafts from the kitchen, but the delicious aroma of home baking doesn’t warm me inside and welcome me like it usually does.Something changed. I don’t feel at home in the house any longer. Leonardo Franco destroyed my haven with his despicable betrayal. I’m like a stranger in the place I grew up in. The walls close in on me, but I don’t feel safe outside either. Adonis’s words repeat in my head, that someone will always be watching me. That he’ll always come back for me. But I don’t want to think about him. I can’t. Not now. I have to push those disturbing thoughts aside and do what has to be done.Taking my phone from my bag that still lies on the floor next to the door, I send a text message to Robinson to tell him I won’t be over tonight, making up a feeble excuse of being tired.Cassie exits from the kitchen as I sh

Leonardo Franco POVOur house is a stone structure that stands on a cliff. The wall of rock dives straight into the sea. To the left, a small bay with a strip of sand provides enough protection to tie a boat. Beyond the bay, terraced gardens lead up the hilly side to the house. On the east side, an Olympic-sized pool overlooks the sea. The garden is planted with rosemary, thyme, lavender, and narra trees. A vineyard stretches down the hill at the back. It’s a small vineyard that produces a few bottles of mediocre quality wine a year, but it was never meant to be an industrious enterprise. It’s my father’s hobby. It was always his dream to own a vineyard.I throw the rope of the yacht to one of our men who waits on the jetty. He greets me with a nod. Once the yacht is secured, he goes on board to close everything and pull the covers over the fittings. I look at the gray sky, taking in the thick bank of clouds as I climb the stone steps that cut through the garden to the front of the ho

Luna Belle Fernandez POVA thin smile stretches his lips as he tilts his head, shaking it while studying me.My beach bag hangs over his shoulder. I grab the strap and yank it free. He watches with a broody expression while I shove my towel and utility belt into the bag.“Your phone,” he says, taking it from his pocket and holding it out at me. When I don’t move, he drops it in my bag. “Keep it on you and charged at all times.”I cross my arms. “Or?”His smile stretches into a grin. “Or be prepared to see a whole lot of me.”Not sparing him another glance, I charge toward the lagoon. The river isn’t coming down strongly today. The water has eaten away the sandy banks on the sides, leaving a deep sandcastle canyon, but at the bottom, the washout is shallow.Digging my heels into the edge of the bank, I slide down as the sand gives way under me. Somewhere behind me, Rudolph curses. I make my way through the water and climb up the embankment on the other side. Looking back, I take perver

Leonardo Franco POVI only speak when I stop in front of the house. “How long has it been like that?”She stares straight ahead. “You know how it is in small villages.” Just about forever then.I turn to face her. “From now on, you take a man with you when you go shopping.” She lets that sink in before reaching for the door handle. “And you go to the village.” I clench my jaw. “You will shop at the market and anywhere else you damn well please.”My mother gets out. So do I, but I hang back, leaning in the open door as I watch her walk to the house with her shoulders squared and her expression hidden behind those glasses that obscure half of her face.The assistant comes down the steps to take the basket. At the front door, my mother turns around. “Aren’t you coming?”“I have business to take care of. I’ll be home for lunch.”She nods and disappears into the house.My grip on the roof of the car is hard. I feel like punching something. Someone. I loosen my fingers one by one and get ba

Luna Belle Fernandez POVIn April, Robin and I submit our applications for the University of Kabankalan. A lot depends on the marks we’ll get in our final exams in October. The fight is far from over. My Dad drives us to the university and takes us on a tour of the buildings. It’s a magical day in which I have him all to myself—well if you don’t count Robinson—but Robinson is kind and wise enough to give my Dad and me some space.My spirits lift a little in May. I haven’t seen Rudolph in four months. There’s a good chance he’s no longer around and that I’m stressing about nothing. The more I think about it, the more I believe I’m right. My actions become carefree again, and I feel more like my old self. When a girl in my class invites me to her birthday party, I accept. It’s time to live again and to have some fun.May is a pretty girl with a great sense of humor. I don’t tell my parents that hers are out of town on the weekend of her party. If Mom and Dad know the truth, they won’t