A

my heartbea

they never do. Jazz continues to play in the lounge, as if I'm not screaming my lungs out. The music doesn't stop. No one else says a word. No one even looks concerned. They just... wat

sible crack in the world and landed somewhere I was never m

heels into the floor, but they bar

ashing around, doing my best to fight them but a

thout looking at me, his voice cold

when I see

Bened

showing how devilishly handsome he is, his dark hair, his sharp jaw... everything about him screams danger.

es meet mine, the air

ing strange, out of place. Like I don't belong here. And yet, I see something mor

adies me roughly. I catch myself and look up, realising that Ezio is

ng at a dinner party. "You're a new face... I would've remembered one as beautiful as yours..." he says softly with a sly smirk. He then takes a g

at I can barely think. I watch him step forward, staring down at me before placing his hand on my face tenderly, cup

ming at the corner of his mouth. "You don't seem to understan

g my best to gather the wo

dn't mean to-..." I shake my head, tears now filling

his eyes narrow, like he's dissecting every word as he

my eyes. "Please don't hurt me. I won't say

worse. He takes a hand off my face and ste

that single word makes

me, but he's seeing right through me. My knees feel weak and I don't know where to look. I wan

, he sighs deeply and glances

says, his voice calm. "I

isheard him. But no, he said

's happening, the men start moving again, their gri

outing once again. He simply ignores me walks past, towards another

Not him, not his

r, the only person who looked remotely human tonight. But he's standing completely still, staring down at the

ave me. No

e after them, my heels clicking frantically against the pol

ried. He looks like a man on his way home from work, not someone who j

e words die on my tongue. Every plea I

found out Tyler had been cheating on me with Elizabeth. Maybe I'm going to wak

the hallway, the clearer it become

one where people like me never see unless it's in a magazine. A black car wai

lease, just let me go. I won't say anything. I

one forgets their first night here, love," he says quietly. His w

trying my best to resist. "I'm not going with you! You

atches me before I fall. His hands wrap around my upper arms, holding me steady as h

ared." He

to me right now? As if it

is face to my ear, his voice low enough

nd I feel my blood

if amused by my reaction, and gestur

n my mind doesn't want to. I sink into the leather seat, the cold pressing through the thin fa

this is routine. The doors shut, the locks click, and

memorise the streetlights, the corners, anything that might help me find my

s quietly, a low vibration beneath my hands, an

nk about Tyler. About Elizabeth. About how, hours ago, I though

now

cares about power. And as I glance at the man sitting next to me... calm, dangerous, and utterly unto

I think he kn