Fifty thousand dollars in exchange for three weeks of sheer commitment and consented submission. It was a simple proposal from the employer to an employee until feelings got in the way.
Being a college student and the legal guardian of her two sibli...
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Her eyes glow when I let her inside my house. I chuckle. It's the same look of awe my bratty sister, Reece, had the first time she came here. Thinking of this, I wonder how she's doing in Italy. The rift between Roberto and I has caused so much distance between me and my siblings.
Adopted siblings. Still counts.
We may all be of different bloods, but we're still the family that sneaky old man strived to make. I hate him for lying to me, but he's one noble bastard I've ever come across. He was the only person in the world I trusted blindly, only to realize that he was the one who took what was most precious to me.
"Wow! Is this where you live?" Arabella's voice cuts through my vile thoughts.
A smile returns. Dark memories blur.
"Yeah." I watch her clatter around my living room as though she's entered a King's palace.
She's cheerful. She makes me feel more incredible than I deserve.
"God, it's so much like you," she utters, and I don't know what the hell that means.
It's just a spacious house on the very top floor of some building near Central Park. I see nothing but pieces of furniture and a few paintings on the walls. My working space is the first thing to be seen near the very wide floor-to-ceiling window. I love my privacy and no-noise zone. It's perfect for me.
Perfect but...lonely?
I learned about it when I left Las Vegas a couple of months ago. I never knew that a home could feel empty despite the expensive interiors and the best view New York City has to offer. I felt like a stranger in my own house, and even so when I walked into my bedroom that night without a glimpse of her smile.
The pain and void shot through me like a treacherous blade, reminding me that I'm nothing but a coward for running away as I did. Was it so hard to admit that I needed her even though it was never a part of the plan? Why couldn't I stop being a sadistic bastard hiding under the shadow of BDSM and act like an ordinary man in love instead?
Love? The thought of that nerve-wracking emotion had my heart thudding too loudly that I couldn't hear my breath. I couldn't accept submitting to such a weakling feeling that amounted to heartache most of the time—I strongly believed. If only things did go as planned even from that moment!
"Why did you leave her if you're still interested in everything going on in her life?" Camilla asked me one day after filling me in about Arabella's new business at the cafe.
I knew I was messed up.
"It's personal," I said dismissively, praying hard every day that I'd wake up and see a call, a message, or even an email from her.
How I wished she'd say that she missed me, she wanted me, and she needed me back in her life.
I heard she was doing great as a new cafe owner, working tirelessly.
