Love realigns your life priorities, shifting everything in place to suit its reign. You cease to be a king. You bend the knee. After you fall, you offer her your heart, lay your life at your woman’s feet—a devoted servant, a loyal soldier, a true worshipper.
In the living room, I stare out the floor-to-ceiling glass. Soon, her presence will permeate each atom of this space. Nothing will be the same, but I don’t need her love. I just need her anyway I can get—to function, to breathe, to fucking do more than exist and work till exhaustion.
She’s my peace. She’s my chaos. Salvation wrapped in sweet surrender.
But if she stops loving me, that might as well be my fucking ruin.
Needing to hear her melodious voice to ease my troubled mind, I call her.
Viviana picks up after five rings, sounding out of breath.
“I’m in the bathroom,” she says, risking everything for me.
She won’t have to hide that for long. A truth, as sure as this overpowering need for her.
“Wanted to hear your voice,” I say, unbothered to express my feelings. It’s my way of making sure she never doubts me.
She giggles; those precious sounds wrap around my chest, warming me from inside.
“How do you manage without me?” she asks, voice ending on a flirtatious rasp.
“I don’t, but I played poker with the guys tonight. Tomorrow I’m visiting Evie.”
“Good, you need to spend more time together.”
It’s not that I don’t wish that, but every time I see my sister, a truckload of guilt rolls over me. I can’t change the past. I can’t make it better.
“Did you win?”
I chuckle. “What do you think?”
“I think you can’t lose.”
I burst into laughter, overwhelmed by the surge of glee this woman unfurls in me.
“Tell me,” I say, urgency clamoring in my voice.
I yearn to hear her say those three words on repeat, so I’ll never forget them, and she will always remember the truth as well.
“I love you, Tristan.”
“I love you, Viviana. Don’t forget it.”
“I won’t,” she says breathlessly, adding, “Have to go. Sorry.”
She doesn’t have to worry about us getting caught for much longer. Short of six months before nothing will separate us again.
“Think about me,” I demand, my voice harsh.
I can’t believe I am jealous of anyone she’s spending time with.
“Always,” she says in that sweet voice of hers and disconnects the call.
I don’t want our love to end in destruction, but that’s exactly where we’re heading.
Knowing I won’t be able to sleep, I lock myself in my office and go through various construction plans and new properties to buy. While real estate is my principal business, my varied portfolio includes hedge funds and startup funding.
I discover off-market properties before others. My people infiltrated every agency possible, and running in the circles I do, I am always at the top of the game. Long before the competition finds out about the offer, I will already have claimed it.
