AARÓN CONNOR. **ITALY.** ꘎♡━━━━━━━♡꘎I won't go running after her like always. She's a fool who thinks that by slipping away from me, I'll forget everything that's happened between us. I let her go to her room, lock herself in and cry if that’s what she needs, while I stay in mine, indulging in her scent. A while later, I get up to take a shower. Even though I scrub my skin raw, she’ll still be imprinted on every part of me. I leave the bathroom and head to my study, where I sit thinking about everything that’s happened. She hasn’t come out of her room yet, but sooner or later she’ll have to—for food, at the very least. "Are you aware of your decisions?" she suddenly asks behind me. She’s trying to make me doubt, dragging me back into that fog of guilt I always sink into. But I’m not going back this time. I nod slightly, as if my head weighs too much to move. "Yes, Abuela Rossi, I’ve understood… and I can’t keep livin

AARÓN CONNORITALY. *꘎♡━━━━━━━♡꘎*I pace back and forth, thinking about how I can’t do anything with her having that damn implant on her arm. It’s a complete fucking frustration — I can barely locate or track her, and it pisses me off from the inside out. I don’t even try to control myself when one of the housemaids approaches me, with that timid look and stupid, clumsy attitude that makes me want to puke. She just stands there, hesitating like an idiot, holding her breath like she’s afraid to be near me. Her presence irritates and disgusts me in equal parts.“S-sir Connor…” she stammers, “I spoke with the rest of the staff and…”“Goddammit, speak like a normal person!” I snap at her, annoyed beyond reason. Almost violent. I hate weakness. And I hate wasting time on useless people even more.Right then, Kate descends the stairs with that firm posture she always uses when she wants to interrupt me.“Stop acting like a total p

20. VIOLET SWAN ITALY *꘎♡━━━━━━━♡꘎*The day was surprisingly beautiful — warm, with that touristy air that smelled like freshly baked sweets and blooming flowers, mixed with the distant sound of laughter. Italy felt like it had been pulled straight out of a painting. Most people walked in the same direction toward the town center. I still didn’t know where to go. I checked my bag again for my phone. And again. I dug through tissues, loose coins, anything. But I couldn’t find it. Not even a trace of that cursed thing.“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, frustrated as I sat down on a stone bench. “If I don’t have my phone, I’ll be completely lost here…”“Genius, Violet. You’re so damn clueless you’ve even lost the one thing you need to survive in another country. Where the hell did you leave it?” I scolded myself out loud.Now I was talking to myself, which wasn’t helping. The worst part? I couldn’t stop doing it. Peopl

AARÓN CONNORITALY꘎♡━━━━━━━♡꘎I've been tossing all night long thinking about Violet not coming back. I’ve walked this damn town from one end to the other, checked every corner where I thought she might be hiding or left a trace — but nothing. It's like the fucking earth swallowed her whole… or like she was never here at all."Where are you, pastelito?" I mutter under my breath, my fists clenching tight. I can't just sit still while my mind tortures me with images I don’t want to keep seeing.My blood boils, restless in my veins, knowing absolutely nothing about where she is. I feel like I’m gonna explode if I don’t get some kind of answer soon. Every second I spend without knowing where she is feels like a fresh wound slowly killing me. That’s when my phone rings on the desk and I grab it fast — almost desperate — without checking who it is. As if I already knew there was a chance it could be her."You should've been in Greyville by now," Kody says on the other line. "The constructi

VIOLET SWANITALYꝏ♡━━━━━━━♡ꝏI feel like my arms are burning from the weight of hanging for so long, like every muscle in my body is slowly tearing apart and my entire body tingles, numb from staying in the same position for hours—chained to the cold iron hanging from the ceiling and walls. I feel completely broken, not just physically, although that’s starting to happen too.My mind keeps repeating the same phrase over and over: *“I’m going to die and I’ll never see my mother again.”* If I had pushed harder, if I had fought with more strength, everything would be so different by now. But there’s no “after” anymore—only the past remains.The metallic sound of the door opening cuts through the terrible silence that has settled in this place, like a knife slicing through skin. With difficulty, I make out two figures entering, wrapped in shadows, and I feel fear rise inside me. One of them is the blond man with that crazed gaze, the one whose suffocating aura seems ready to rip the a