Chapter 1

• Alessia Romero
• ********
• Carina and I had done so much together, but in all our years of friendship, we had never gone lingerie shopping together. Having dinner with my boyfriend forced us to. And I had a bad feeling about it.
• “We need something alluring.” Carina led me to a lingerie section brimming with bright colors.
• “Will this work?” I asked Carina who flipped her curly hair to face me. I was holding a black set.
• “Mmm.” She snatched it. “No way. I’d get déjà vu if I saw you wearing black on such a night.” She positioned it back on its shelf. I breathed. I knew it would be challenging. “Now won’t you look at red?” She suggested.
• I recoiled. “No hell, no.”
• “Red is sexy.” She persisted, attempting to push it towards me.
• “Red means danger,” I emphasised, grabbing a gold-coloured set instead and examining it
• quietly.
• “Who doesn’t want a little danger in bed? Legs up, legs around his neck, legs around his waist.
• Did you know that the positioning of legs defines a style?”
• My cheeks warmed. “Only in your novels.” I laughed sarcastically and stepped away to make way for the saleswoman leading a particular guy inside. They went toward the section where I had picked the gold match.
• It was then that I discovered the section exclusively catered to high-end wear. The golden match was worth coffee every day for two months.
• Carina pinched me, followed by a wink. She was eying the man in a black suit. I raised an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes. She was hinting at something about the guy.
• “I will just take red.” Not that I could have chosen it over the gold. But the gold was expensive, and I couldn’t afford it with the savings.
• “Or we could ask him if you think I am joking.” She murmured, grabbing my skirt and drawing me closer to the customer busy with his business.
• I attempted to stop Carina from asking for something ridiculous from a stranger, but she was determined.
• “Excuse me.” She called the man, her voice echoing in the store. A friend like Carina was one of those you’d trade for a pizza. “Choose one.”
• “Look—” I paused once my eyes met the guy’s. There was something I had never confessed: the colour of a man’s eyes was a weakness for me. I found myself gazing at the pair of his eyes shaded like a cloudy sky. Their intensity seemed to suck the air out of my lungs, leaving me breathless. My breath caught in my throat. It felt sinful to be thrilled by such beautiful yet consuming eyes. They were stern and intense, demanding respect.
• I blinked off, hoping my cheeks hadn’t turned the colour of ripe tomatoes.
• “Who is wearing it?”
• Damn, his voice. It had a tone that was both intriguing and rich. It entered my ears, sending shivers down my spine, and it settled between my legs.
• “My bestie.”
• “Gold.” The man said. I turned around, took the gold set from Carina’s grip, and placed it back on the shelf.
• “Nice choice, sir, but I am taking red,” I whispered, the words barely audible. We needed to leave.
• A smile stretched the corners of his lips, though it didn’t hide the darkness concealed behind his eyes.
• He turned to the gold set I had picked. I watched his masculine hand as it brushed against the metallic shelf. The guy was so strong.
• He took the matching set and handed it to the worker. “I will take this,” he said.
• Without another word, he left.
• Carina and I watched as he walked out, his figure disappearing into the crowded street. I admit everything was hot, including the fact that he just shopped for his woman.
• “He is hot,” Carina acknowledged, her voice carrying excitement. It’s like she saw one of her book characters.
• The man crossed the street as we watched from the shop’s glass window. He walked to a car; his movement screamed confidence. Two other men joined him, taking their positions in the driver’s and passenger’s seats. The man settled in the back seat. I sensed a prominent person beneath his charismatic exterior, but I never tried to ignore the darkness hidden in him.
• “And dangerous,” I whispered.
• “In bed, yes,” Carina added, and a roll emerged in my eyes.
• At the mention of bed, I remembered I had a dinner night to prepare. I wasn’t supposed to stare at other men on my boyfriend’s birthday.
• _____
• The dinner date wasn’t going as well as I expected because Marco seemed unsettled. He kept glimpsing at his phone, then back to his food. I knew something was wrong.
• Smiling, I decided to lighten up the moment by jolting a conversation. But my smile faded when Marco’s bodyguard walked to us. He rushed to Marco and breathed before he reported. “Sir, we have company.”
• I settled my glass of red wine on the table, hoping whatever the issue was wouldn’t ruin his birthday. “Is everything okay?” I asked. I had been preparing for the night for days.
• Marco got up and tossed the napkin on the table. A wave of anger flashed in his eyes. “Take her out of here.” He instructed his man before he turned to me. “Something is up. Don’t worry; he will get you out of here.”
• That didn’t sound like how a boyfriend was supposed to explain things to their girlfriend.
• “Marco, what is happening?” I asked in a more serious voice, which got him stopping. “You said you didn’t have work today. You also said we would have the rest of the evening together—” I paused at a banging sound that emerged inside his house. We were in the backyard.
• Suddenly, Marco pulled out a gun, and I stepped behind. My heart raced. He had a fucking gun?
• “I’ll call you. Trust me on this.” He turned to the bodyguard. “Use the back gate.”
• “Miss, we need to go.” The bodyguard caught my attention. As much I wanted to go after Marco,
• I sensed danger and had to follow his bodyguard.
• He had grabbed my elbow. “It’s dangerous here.”
• “What is going on?” I asked while running behind him. I could barely comprehend what was happening.
• The breaking sound of a window got me gasping. The car alarm wailed, and the sounds of gunfire echoed the atmosphere.
• Fear crept down my spine. The more we escaped to the ominous darkness, the more I wished to disappear and go home.
• “What about Marco?” I whispered as the man dragged me.
• “Just keep moving.” He was firm, but I gasped when we came to a sudden halt. The man released my hand and pushed me behind him. He pointed a gun at a figure standing in our way.
• I could barely breathe. When I sneaked from home, I never intended to die. “The girl.” A deep voice met my ears, and my strength left me. “I need the girl.” “Over my dead body.” The bodyguard gritted, but he sounded terrified.
• “Very well,” the man declared, and before his voice faded away from the atmosphere, gun shots sounded.
• I screamed with a jump when the bodyguard fell to the ground with a thud. The fading lights allowed me to see blood.
• Stepping behind, I slammed my hand on my mouth and gazed up. Tears emerged freely from my eyes.“You killed him. You…you–” I gulped when the man walked to me.
• Something about him screamed danger. I needed to run but could not move my feet because the man in a suit stalked towards me. I knew him.
• I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything.” Shaky whispers left my lips as he neared.
• He towered over me, looking all relaxed as though he didn’t just step on a dead man’s blood.
• “Hello again.”
• He was the guy from the lingerie shop. When I told Carina that the guy looked dangerous, I never thought I would see his dangerous side.
• I needed to run. But what were the chances of running away and not getting shot? “What….what do you want?”
• He moved his hands to his pocket, and I stepped behind. He could pull a knife and stick it to my throat. But the man pulled out a cigarette. “Do you smoke?”
• “I didn’t do anything. It was just dinner and…” I swallowed. “...I saw you earlier. Did you follow me? Is this about my friend asking ridiculous questions? You–”
• “Do you smoke?” He repeated. I nearly moved towards him when gunfire echoed behind me. It emerged from Marcos’s house again.
• “No. I don’t. I can’t. I won’t. You have the wrong person.” I breathed, the scent of his cigarettes drifting through my nose, and I coughed.
• “Are you sure? Because you look like the girl I have been looking for.”
• I stepped behind again. “I didn’t do anything.” I shook my head. “You won’t hurt me.”
• He dropped the cigar on the ground and stepped on it, smashing it with his boot. “Let’s talk, shall we?”
• “No. I–” I jumped back when he erased the space between us. He fixed his hand around my waist, trapping me against his physique hidden under a black suit. “Sir?” I inhaled his scent, a mixture of delicious cologne and cigarettes.
• When he stared down at me, it was like he knew I had a thing for his eyes. They brought me to
• submission.
• Why was I staring?
• I gulped. He was a man to fear. “What do you want?”
• “I am not sure what I want. It could be you, or your dead body, or if you be a good girl and give me answers, I might walk away with that. What do you think?”
• I tried to push him but I failed. The vibration of his voice against me was a threat to my body. “I don’t know what you mean.”
• “You do.” An evil smirk spread across his lips, and I flinched.
• Hearing sirens gave me hope that the police would save me, and I was sure he heard them as well, but he did not look bothered.
• “I will scream.” I whispered the threat, and he chuckled. That entertained him. He was fearless.
• “I like your type.” My breath hitched when he pressed his body against mine. “And when I do, I take them with me.”
• His words lingered in the atmosphere before he slammed a cloth to my nose. I fought against his firm hand, but my body surrendered. Darkness settled in my eyes, I blinked shut, and the world slipped away.