Page 19 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

If she sniffed his shirt like an addict searching for a high for the next hour, what was the harm?

Clearly, for Adriano, this was all about fixing his mistakes. About protecting her during this fragile time. About ensuring that his children were taken care of in the best way, even before they were born.

It was better she get used to doing things alone again.

* * *

Adriano crept into the bedroom past midnight like a thief, stalking his own home.

The night-light cast a soft glow on Nyra’s bare legs, luring him closer and closer. All he’d wanted to do earlier was to pick her up in his arms, bring her to their bed and prove to her that she wanted him, needed him even, in the only way he knew how.

Contrary to the media speculation and his family’s and friends’ theories, their relationship hadn’t begun with ripping off each other’s clothes.

But when it had happened, when, after three weeks of getting to know each other, she had asked him to kiss her and touch her and do more, the connection had been…intense. Life-changing.

Now he wanted to use that passion to cover the distance she was creating between them. And yet he hadn’t been able to bring himself to do it.

He sat down at the edge of the bed and fought the urge to run his hand over her limbs.Dios mio, what was she reducing him to? Why did it feel like he was being pulled apart when suspicion and mistrust filled her eyes? Why did he care if they’d lost the little, inexplicable spark that had always touched their relationship?

It was better this way, wasn’t it? They’d both made missteps, an understatement in his case, but now, this was more rational and out in the open. They both had adjusted their expectations.

When a sudden breeze flew in from the open balcony and goose bumps rose on her long legs, he pulled the kicked-off duvet over her. With a long huff, she turned to her side, facing him.

Slowly, gently, he pushed the thick curls away from her forehead. And saw the tear tracks on her cheeks.

How he detested being her villain…

As for her threat that she would leave him eventually, he would not, could not, allow that. There had to be a solution to fix his mistake. To make her move on.

From the beginning, Nyra had been easy to please, easy to fit into his life around his other, more important commitments. She’d barely made any demands of him, eager for a quiet life, choosing to be left out of the society he ruled altogether.

She’d become a quiet haven for a man who hadn’t even known he’d needed one.

He wanted that again. He wanted them to find their places in their relationship again, where he would protect her and give her the stability and simple life she’d wanted. And she would look at him again as if he’d hung the moon and stars.

For all the power he held in his palm though, he didn’t know how to win her back.

Chapter Five

Nyrastaredthroughthe glass walls of the sunroom, rendered still by terror, as the storm painted the sky with furious lightning. The booming thunder that followed seconds later seemed to shake the very foundations of the high-rise building.

She should probably go in and hide under the duvet. But storms had always terrified her, and the last thing she wanted was to feel trapped inside the four walls.

Where there was nothing but silence. Where she would only wonder what this storm, this day might bring. Where she would miss Adriano even worse than before.

Here, she could witness it and know that it was nothing but a passing phenomenon. Here, the plants she’d tended to with love and care for months would keep her company.

On her return, she’d been surprised to discover that someone had cared for them in the six weeks that she’d been gone. Had it been him? Had he regretted his cruel impulse? Because she was already regretting her grandiose declarations to him about needing distance.

Once, this painful loneliness was all she’d known. Living alone in a city like Vegas with its relentless crowds had been a constant reminder that she was alone in the world. Now, in the aftermath of her relationship with Adriano and how he’d become the center of her universe, the loneliness pricked that much harder.

She wanted to be angry with him that he had taken that too from her, but her anger was like that showy flash of lightning. Burning through her one moment and then fizzing out into nothing after.

It had been mere days since he’d brought her back to this apartment—and not returned per her request—but already, she was losing her grip on the anger. All that remained was hurt and the helplessness he’d made her feel, like a tiny trench he’d gouged in her flesh and left open.

Another stroke of lightning and thunder followed.

Nyra flinched but stood still, unable to step back. Sweat poured down the back of her neck and she blinked back tears. Her fear had no rationale, no grip on her except that it reminded her of the worst day of her life.

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