'Here you are.' I turn around and watch as Leya and Celine storm through the door, making me drop the pieces of cloth I was using to clean the floor.

'Why are you scrubbing the floor?' Leya asks as she moves closer to me.

'Is it still the list of chores Rio gave to you?' Celine asks as she takes a seat on one of the benches I just had to clean.

'Yes and please don't get that bench dirty again.' I mumble as I get on my knees to get pick up the disgusting piece of cloth.

'List of chores- He's still giving you chores?' Leya asks as she turns around with a frown on her face.

I nod and dump the cloth in the bucket, before wringing it out and scrubbing the stain on the floor.

I'm still unsure about what it is, it's either blood or dried-up dirt.

But it just won't come off the floor.

'I will talk to him and-' I jump up and get in front of her, trying to stop her from moving past me, 'Please don't talk to him.'

The last time she did, he gave me a few extra chores. They were light, but still.

He didn't want me talking to Leya in the first place, so him finding out about our little talk made him even angrier.

And when she gave him the silent treatment, he just lost his shit and made me stay up all night doing those stupid chores.

'Please just let me talk to him about it, maybe he'll-' 'The last time you did that, he made me go fish at four in the morning because he suddenly wanted to eat fish for breakfast.' She looks at me and sighs deeply, dropping down next to Celine.

Rio doesn't like fish, I know that for a fact, but he gave me that chore just because he wanted to punish me for involving Leya.

'He's acting like a child.' She groans as she looks back at me.

'I agree with her on that one, I mean I understand that he's mad, but this is getting out of hand.' Celine adds, turning to me as well.

As much as I want to agree with them, I know how he felt.

I understand the fear, I understand the anger. I get that he's skeptical about me talking to Leya, and I get that he wants to make my life a living hell for what happened to her.

But I'm exhausted.

'How have you two been?' I ask as I turn back to the cloth on the floor, wanting to talk about something else for now.

It won't take long until Marco will show up to make sure that we're not talking so I'll take every second I'm granted to talk to them.

'Good, but I'll have to go back to Paris soon.' I frown at Celine's response and wait for her to continue as I scrub a bit harder on the stain.

It seems glued to the floor. I've been scrubbing it for over two minutes and it still looks the exact same.

'I want Leroy to be around them as well, I mean, I don't know how long they have left and it's important.' Right. I throw the cloth back into the bucket and head to another stain on the floor.

'What about you?' I meet Leya's eyes as I look over my shoulder, facing them both, and notice the worry in her eyes.

We barely had time to talk because of all the chores Rio gave me.

'I have been busy with hotel stuff.' She says, sighing deeply as she gets back on her feet, 'It would be a lot easier if you would be able to help me with it.'

'You know it's not-' The door opens and Marco storms in, keeping his eyes on me, before nodding his head at Leya and Celine.

'You're not talking to her again, are you?' He asks, leaning against the wall just beside the door.

Leya rolls her eyes and looks back at me. 'So what if she was? She's allowed to talk to me.'

'She's not and she knows that too.' Marco replies, making my skin crawl.

I knew Marco could be cruel, he survived all of this shit for far too long not to, but I never expected him to be so mean to me.

He seems to enjoy taunting me just as much as Rio does.

But I really pushed his buttons, I really betrayed his trust, I really crossed lines.

'I can see you are still too far up Rio's ass.' Celine mutters, a grin forming on her face as she looks at Marco.

'You're just mad because he doesn't like you as much as he used to,' He replies, before moving closer.

As soon as he steps close enough for the light to shine on his face, I frown. He has a bruise running up the left side of his face.

Someone hit him.

'What happened to you?' Leya asks, trying to hide her annoyance with worry.

Marco breathes deeply, keeping his eyes on me, even though Leya is talking to him, and nods, 'You can go on break and eat dinner. As soon as you're done, meet Rio in his office.'

'She doesn't have to.' Leya says as she moves closer to stand on my right. 'Leya it's-' 'Rio's orders.'

'And he's too far up in Rio's ass to realize that all of this is for nothing.' Celine says, making Marco glare at her once more.

Those two have been fighting more ever since we got on this island.

'It's fine. I'll go.' I hate complying with this, but I also hate getting more and more chores to do.

So I do as he tells me to. I head back to the main house and walk up the big steps, listening to Victoria's laughter coming from the garden.

I can hear mumbling coming from the bedroom and stop in front of the door, trying to prepare myself for the person inside.

'È confusionario.' His voice is soft and gentle, a lot different than how he's been using it towards me, 'Lo non so cosa fare.'

I slowly open the door and enter the room, his eyes instantly meeting mine as he gets up from the bed.

Domenico is laying in his arms, his beady eyes going from me to his father, back to me.

Because of the huge list of chores Rio gave me, Tiago has been spending more and more time with the twins. At least more than I have.

And I don't know how I feel about that. He's their father, I know that, but I feel jealous about the way they are with him.

I barely get time with them anymore because of all the stupid tasks I have to do.

'You're done.' Tiago asks, not really making it sound like a question but more like an observation.

I nod and watch as he goes to put Domenico back into his little crib across the room.

He slowly lowers him into the bed and takes a deep breath, before heading straight for the door and walking out of the room.

I stay right where I am, feeling my heart race like crazy as a few minutes pass, and face the window across the room.

The sun is about to set and there's still so much I have to do.

I clean myself up and sit down next to the babies, watching them as they sleep through the rest of the spare time I have.

As soon as I hear people gather downstairs, I get up from the ground and head down as well. Victoria runs to the end of the stairs, smiling as I make my way down, and jumps into my arms as soon as I get down.

'Where have you been all day? I was looking for you!' I wrap my arms around her and can't stop smiling at her excitement. 'I had to work a lot, but I'm here now.'

I can hear someone clear their throat and look up, meeting Marco's gaze between the others as he follows them into the dining room.

Victoria takes my hand and pulls me after her, into the dining room as well, as she rambles on about her day.

As usual, my spot is empty.

No plate. No glass. No cutlery. Nothing.

I follow Victoria to her seat and wait for her to sit down before I head to the kitchen to make my own plate of food.

Leya starts talking about everything going on, but since Rio's not here yet, she's still somewhat calm.

It sounds like she's trying to convince them to let me eat at the table, but it won't be long before Rio shows up.

I'm not allowed to eat dinner with them. The only meal they all eat together.

I would normally still be doing chores at this time, so when I would eat something, I would eat alone.

And if I did finish on time, just like today, Rio would glare at me until I would leave the room to eat somewhere else.

"He's acting like a toddler," Leya said when she realized what he was doing, "He should grow up and act his age!"

She came after me, which made Rio think of more creative ways to torture me.

A few more things were added to the list as she fought with him more and more.

I take the plate and head to the living room and just as I drop on the couch, I can hear a bunch of chairs screech across the floor.

I turn to the door leading to the dining room and watch as it slowly opens and Brandon, Celine, Leya, and Victoria walk into the living room.

They're all carrying their own plates and glasses, slowly making their way to the couch as they sit down as well.

'What-' 'Don't mention it.' Leya says as she gives me a reassuring smile, before taking a sip of her water.

'Guys, you really don't-' 'So you can follow Rio's orders, but not ours?' Brandon jokes, giving me a gentle nudge as he fills my empty glass with water.

God... Please... 'If Rio finds out-' 'We'll deal with it.' Celine says as she scoops some of her potatoes onto my plate.

They're staying because they want to. Because they feel bad for me being alone.

And normally I would hate that, I hate pity, but right now I'm just glad their here.

I take a deep breath and peek back into the dining room, noticing that only Kai, Marco, and Tiago are left in there.

They're eating in silence, obviously annoyed that they came over here instead of eating in the dining room, but the only person staring back at me is Marco.

Tiago is clenching his jaw, looking like he's ready to force everyone to get back into the dining room and leave me the fuck alone, but Marco is staring at us.

'So, how is that list doing?' Brandon asks, fully knowing that the list will never end now that they're here.

'Not too bad.' I hope...

The last time I checked, I had five more days to go, and if I was quick, I could have it all done in three.

That is if Rio won't add more now that they're sitting here, talking to me.

'Don't worry.' Leya chimes as she smiles at me, 'He's not coming tonight.'

Rio's not eating dinner? 'You're supposed to bring it to him after you're done.'

The tension in my body decreases a little, but I'm still on edge.

He could walk in any moment and catch them here, and I'm really not in the mood for the list to get longer, but I don't want to eat alone again either.

And knowing Marco, he's for sure going to snitch on me, so that list will get longer no matter what.

So I simply turn back to my plate and finish all the food on it while I catch up with my friends.

As much as Rio tries to keep me away from Leya, she has been trying to be around me as much as she can. She has been silently following me in every other house while I cleaned it, she watched me put orders in, and she stayed with me if she didn't have to work on the hotels.

When I'm done eating and putting everything away, I take Rio's plate and head for his office.

Leya tried convincing me not to go, but I know he'll only get angrier if I don't go and see what he has to say.

The moon is slowly finding it's place in the dark night sky as I follow the path leading to Rio's office.

He's typing away behind his laptop as I enter his little dome.

According to Celine, he needed to get more light, so he designed a little dome almost made completely out of glass to get more sunlight in during the day.

'You took your time.' He says, not even looking up at me as I enter the big room.

It's still as clean as it was when we got here and if it wasn't for him sitting in that chair, I wouldn't have thought someone had been using it as much as he has.

'It was a big meal.' Potatoes with a bunch of grilled greens and chicken. It was delicious, but it wasn't that big.

Rio finishes typing his sentence and lifts his gaze to the plate I'm holding, before looking at my face. 'Really?'

I completely forgot that I was holding his plate with the exact same meal I just ate.

'Is that the only reason?' Should I tell him? He'll probably find out from Marco anyway, so it wouldn't hurt to tell him myself.

But what if Marco won't tell him? What if I'll be snitching on myself?

'I was having diner with my friends.' I say, feeling my heart race inside my chest.

He nods and looks back at his screen, seeming unbothered as he continues, 'So another task will be added to the list.'

As much as I want to be happy that I at least got to have a meal with my friends, I can't help but hate the fact that I still won't be able to see the twins as much as I would want to if I want to finish that stupid list.

But he said another task, not tasks.

One thing won't be that hard to add, maybe I could squeeze it in somewhere and just- 'During your little mission, you called Alessio Moretti.'

I nod and place his dinner on the desk, before sitting down across from him.

'You must've noticed that Alessio and I have some history together. And you guys lured him in after I sent him away.' He continues, glancing up at me to see if I'm still following.

And I am, but I don't think he understands that we didn't have to lure him in.

Alessio wanted to get Rio out just as much as we did.

'After Brazil, he has been off the radar for a week.' I nod as he closes his laptop and moves it to the side, 'About a week ago, we started getting calls from an unknown number. We thought it would be one of our own, but it wasn't.'

Alessio... 'I need you to get him to stop calling as soon as possible, it will be the next thing you do.'

I nod and wait for him to continue, but he simply reaches for the plate and takes a bite out of his grilled greens.

'I need his number.' I mumble, feeling my heart speed up again.

He smiles as he slowly empties his mouth, and looks right at me, 'You didn't have trouble with that last time, did you?'

His words sting and I want to shove his food down his throat for just a second, but then I simply get up and head out.

Marco is waiting by the door and looks down at me, frowning when he realizes that I already talked to Rio before he did, and takes a step back to let me go past him.

'I need Alessio's number.' Marco's frown deepens but he reaches for his phone. 'He's making you deal with it?'

I nod and take out my own phone, before quickly entering Alessio's number and adding it to my contacts just in case I'll ever need it for myself.

Marco opens his mouth, but I start walking and head to the beach.

Another chore is to clean the little branches left from all the trees that had to be cut down on the other side of the beach.

I've been doing it for two nights in a row and I think I'll be able to finish it today. If I'm quick.

I dial Alessio's number and put my phone between my elbow and cheek as I put all the little branches on the big pile used for firewood.

'Who is this?' I almost hang up at his sleepy voice, remembering that it's probably late already, but decide to just go through with this so that I'm done with it already.

'Neveah North.' It sounds like he's moving around a lot, making me wonder where he is. Because Rio told him to never show his face again, but I never thought he would actually give up.

'Neveah- You're okay?' He asks, suddenly sounding wide awake. 'As far as okay goes, I am. But that's not why I called you.'

I want to get this over with, as bad as it feels, I just want this done with.

'Is Cataleya alive? And Isabelle?' He asks, completely ignoring me. 'Everyone's fine, but we need to talk about something else.'

'That's good to hear,' He chimes, moving around a bit more, 'What's up?'

I can already picture him on a couch, on the edge of his seat, waiting for me to tell him what I have to tell him about.

'You need to stop calling.' I say, feeling sorry for him.

Leya was right, he just wants a family that will take care of him the way the Curzios take care of each other.

And we promised him we would help, but it's just impossible.

'If that's his wish, then I'll stop calling.' Alessio mutters, before sighing deeply.

'I'm sorry.' I look up at the sky and take a deep breath, letting the moonlight sink into my skin.

He stays silent for a long time, making me wonder if he hung up already. Just as I go to look at the screen, someone wraps their arm around my neck and pulls me against their chest.

My heart runs cold when I recognize that disgusting scent, even when it's hiding behind the smell of urine and sweat.

How is he here?

I know they had him locked up in Spain all this time, but how did he get on the island?

'Miss me?' Hunter whispers as he tightens his grip around my neck.

My heart starts racing and for a second I think it's my mind playing tricks on me.

But that all stops when I have to gasp for air.

I kick behind me and try to get out of his grip, coughing when he finally lets go of me. He hits me across the face, my cheek burning exactly where he hit me.

He shoves me to the ground and drops down on top of me, his body feeling heavier than he looks.

I try to push him off of me, but he quickly grabs my hair and slams my head into the ground.

My head starts pounding and I try to scream, but nothing comes out.

I'm going to die.

He's going to kill me and they won't find me all the way over here.

I'm- 'You ruined it all.' Hunter grunts, suddenly exhausted, 'You ruined my entire plan to make her mine.'

The world is spinning and I suddenly see three versions of him in front of me, 'You will pay for this.'

Whatever he's doing here, he doesn't look good. He obviously didn't get enough to eat, he looks barely hydrated.

He should be weak, I should be able to get him off of me and run, but it's all an act.

He's strong and heavy, maybe a little tired, but not tired enough to allow me to even touch him.

'Let go-' 'You will pay.' He grunts as he wraps his arms around my neck, slamming my head against the sand one more time.

I try and get out of his grip, kicking and slashing at him with all I have, but he doesn't budge.

He lets go of me, but even though he's not holding my arms together anymore, I'm too pained to lift my hands up far enough to push him away.

I freeze when I feel his sweaty palms on my skin and try to push the thoughts away just far enough for me to fight.

Because if I want to get out of this alive, I have to fight.

I shut off everything else and place my hand against his chest, pushing his heavy weight off of me with all the energy I have left before I jump back onto my feet.

He grunts but slowly climbs to his feet to run after me and before I know it, we're back on the ground.

Hunter pulls my head back and presses his knee into my back, making it feel like it's about to break if he puts more pressure on his leg.

The twins... Leya... Everyone else... If they're all asleep, he'll go for them next.

Get up. He slams my head into the ground, again and again, trying to knock me out, but I can't. I won't allow it. Get up.

I close my eyes and throw some sand in his face, trying to make sure that I don't blind myself in the process.

He lets go of my head, his weight falling off of me, and I crawl forward, just out of his reach.

I make my way to the pile, my body hurting like crazy, and see the house in the distance.

It's too far away, but I have to try.

I grab a big branch and run, ready to get out of there before he comes after me.

But it's too late.

Hunter throws himself on me, digging his disgusting nails into my shoulder right where his father marked me and I scream.

Just as he's about to reopen my scar, I can hear a loud thud and feel his body flop on top of mine.

My head is spinning and I slowly look up, noticing Isabelle holding the branch I was trying to use as a makeshift weapon.

She knocked him out.

The branch falls onto the floor as she runs over to me and helps me up. 'We have to go!'

I can't move and stay on the ground, staring at the unconscious man on the ground.

He should be dead. He would be harmless dead.

I take Isa's branch and break it, making sure there are some sharp ends on both parts.

Isa looks at me with wide eyes and pulls at my arm, trying to get me to stop, but he needs to die.

Hunter Steel needs to die before he can hurt anyone else.

'Veah, don't.' Isa warns, looking at me with tears in her eyes.

She takes the branches out of my hand, using my spinning vision as an advantage, and throws them into the ocean, before she turns back to me.

I reach for a new branch but feel the world spin even more as I lean forward to reach it.

'Isabelle?!' I hear someone shout in the distance and keep my eyes on the still-unconscious Hunter.

He should be dead...

I kick his body, again and again, while Isa begs me to stop.

But I can't. I shouldn't.

He tried to kill me tonight, so now I'll try and kill him.

'North.' I don't stop when I hear Rio's voice behind me, kicking and slamming myself into Hunter to make him hurt while I wait for him to stop breathing.

I slam his face into the sand, just like he did to me, I hit him, I kick him, I use all the built-up anger, and let it all out on him.

'Just-' I don't want to touch him, but I want him dead, 'Fucking-'

My arms start hurting because of my punches, so I start kicking again, 'Die!'

'North!' Marco wraps his arms around me and lifts me away from Hunter, before making me look at him.

My tears roll onto his hand, but he doesn't seem to care.

'He- What is he- Did you know he was here?' A billion questions fill my head when I notice them both being more worried about me instead of the fact that Hunter Steel is right there.

'Get him back in the cave, I'll deal with her.' Marco stays crouched in front of me, his eyes locked with mine, and it stays like that until Rio moves closer.

'Get up.' Marco reaches out to me and I look at his hand, wondering why he's suddenly helping me despite Rio being this close to us.

I take his hand, purely because I don't have the strength to get up myself, and almost fall because of the spinning.

Isa rushes to my side and wraps her arm around me, trying to keep me up as much as possible. 'Help her get to my office, Norman.'

She looks at me and nods, before carrying me toward the office, while they deal with Hunter.

Isa and I stay silent as we wait for Rio or Marco to return and tell us what to do next, but all I can do is think about how things could've ended differently.

'What happened?' Marco asks as they enter the dome and move around the table.

For a second, I think I'm seeing double again, but when they finally sit down too, I only see one of each.

'I went to clean out the beach and he showed up.' I say, rubbing my temple, which only makes my headache a million times worse, 'Did you guys know he was here all this time?'

'We need eyes on him at all times, so we need him close.' Marco continues, angering me more.

'You brought him here?' Rio keeps his eyes on mine, keeping the same unbothered look on his face as usual.

'How could you-' 'You might have a concussion, so go to bed and let Celine check up on you in the morning.' He states, his voice hard and unbothered as he turns to look at Marco as if Isa and I don't even exist.

They knew he was here, they have known the entire time, yet they let him escape.

I get up with Isa's help and let her guide me out of there, feeling like I'm walking on something liquid.

'North.' I stop in my tracks and feel Isabelle's arm slip away from me as she continues to walk through the door.

Both Marco and Rio are looking at me. Even though they're behind me, I know they're looking at me.

The room goes silent for a second and Isabelle turns back around, waiting for me to move, but I'm frozen in place.

I could really use some sleep right now and my mind is spiraling because of everything that happened just now, but I can't fucking move.

'You can talk to Valentina again.' My heart leaps and I slowly turn around to face Rio, 'And don't go out at night doing those chores again- you're done paying your debt.'

I try to breathe, try to fill my lungs, but it feels impossible.

Everything just feels impossible.

Rafael Curzio is letting me talk to his wife after I lead her to something that could've been her death.

He's showing me mercy.

Because he's feeling sorry.

The one person who never really babied me feels bad about what happened.

And even though I'm glad he won't make me do stupid shit like this again, I hate the fact that these are the conditions.

He's letting me go because Hunter was here.

'Now get out, before I change my mind.' The pity in his eyes disappears and gets replaced by anger, but I'm not sure if it's aimed at me or not.

I can feel Isabelle's fingers on my arm and let her pull me out of the room before I can even reply to anything he just said.

My bones feel weak as if I'm on the verge of breaking into tears as she leads me through the door, into the dark night outside.

The soft breeze greets me, filled with the ocean scent and crashing waves in the distance.

It's soothing, but not enough.

I need more. I need- The twins.

My heart sinks and my knees go weak before I push myself forward.

We don't know how long Hunter has been out of his prison. We don't know how long he was able to roam around. We don't know if he got inside the houses or not.

If something happened to my children... I will kill him...

Isabelle rushes after me as I sprint to the main house, needing to see if my children are okay.

I push through all the heavy doors, ignoring the headache that started when Hunter slammed my head into the ground.

It's almost midnight, but I don't care about any of it right now. I will apologize if I woke anyone up, I just need to know if my kids are okay or not.

So when I find them peacefully sleeping in their cribs, I can't help but drop down next to their cribs.

I let the tears roll down my face and try to keep my breathing steady and silent, not wanting to wake them up.

Isabelle appears in the doorway, tears rolling down her face as she slowly enters the room.

'I'm sorry- I-' 'Thank you.' Is all I'm able to bring out as I pull myself up and look at her.

She didn't want me to finish the job, and she didn't want me to kill Hunter, but she saved me.

I didn't die because of her. I'm able to have more time with my sons because of her. I'm able to stay with Leya a little longer because of her. She saved me.

'I should've been there earlier, he was hurting you and I panicked and-' I reach out and pull her into my arms, hugging her tightly as she silently sobs against my shoulder.

'You saved me.' I mutter through the tears.

We hold each other for a while before I turn back to my sons.

Emiliano is slowly waking up, something he does every night around this time, and I pick him up and carry him to the bed as I slowly sit down.

My son. He's safe.

He's okay. We're okay.

Isabelle moves closer, seeming in trans as she sits down on the edge of the bed.

She looks scared about what's about to happen next, but right now all I can think about is my sons and how they're okay.

'Where's Leonardo?' She asks as she slowly reaches her hand out to graze Emiliano's face. 'I don't know.'

I can tell she's frowning even though I'm looking at my baby, but ignore it and sway Emiliano from side to side.

The door slams open and Isabelle jolts up, before she turns to the door as well.

I simply look up, trying to keep my baby close as I look at the man in front of me.

Tiago's chest is rising and falling very fast, as if he ran all the way over here just like I did not so long ago.

Panic dances through his eyes, making me wonder what is going through his mind right now. Does he know?

He mutters something before moving closer and dropping to his knees right in front of me.

'Are you okay?' I nod and let him wipe a tear off my cheek, before getting up to put Emiliano back into his crib.

He follows my every move and slowly gets back on his feet, before quickly glancing at Isa.

'Did he-' 'She stopped him before he could.' I don't want to think about it.

I'm okay, the twins are okay, Leya is okay, and everyone else is okay. He's okay.

'Why is he here?' I ask as I lock my eyes with his.

Rio and Marco didn't want to answer my question, so he's my only last resort.

Hunter Steel is supposed to be locked up somewhere in Spain, not on the island.

'This is supposed to be a safe space, somewhere we can go to hide and live a somewhat normal life, yet you thought it would be a good idea to take him here?'

I don't know if it was his idea, but I know he could've easily convinced Rio to leave him in Spain.

'What if he got to the twins, Tiago?' My heart hurts at the simple thought of Hunter getting to my children before he got to me, and I can't help but get angry at the circumstances.

They knew he was on the island all this time.

'What if he got to Leya?' If something happened to her, everything would've been for nothing. All the fighting, all the searching, every ounce of blood for nothing.

We would have to do it all over again simply because they couldn't leave him in Spain.

'What if he got to the others?' It's not just Leya sleeping in the house. Brandon... Celine... Leroy... Victoria...

'He was supposed to be locked up and-' 'But he wasn't.' I raise my voice the slightest bit, watching as he struggles to keep up his walls.

He tried to keep me away. He tried for weeks.

But he can't keep me away anymore.

'Isabelle, can you leave us to talk?' His cold tone makes my blood run cold, but his eyes warm me all over again.

He's not even looking at her as he speaks.

'Veah?' I can hear her voice somewhere in the room, but at the same time, it sounds like she's miles away. 'Mhm?'

I peek over Tiago's shoulder and notice her by the door, facing me with a slight hint of fear in her eyes.

She just wants to get out of her as fast as she can and I don't know how I feel about it.

'Are you going to be okay?' The cold caused by Tiago's voice melts as her words warm my heart.

Despite the urge to run, she still checks up on me.

'I'm not going to hurt her.' Tiago says, his eyes burning holes into the side of my face, 'Please get out.'

'I'll be fine.' I mutter, giving her a soft smile before I look back at the man in front of me.

'Okay,' She almost whispers as she turns to walk away, 'Text me if you need anything.'

I listen to her footsteps as they fade into the hall and wait for the door to close.

'The twins, Tiago. Our children.' He gently closes the door and slowly turns around to face me.

'That's not what you thought about when you went to Brazil, did you?' My heart shatters all over again as I let his words sink in.

'You left without saying a word, putting yourself in danger, knowing that we have children together.' His words sting like a bitch, but I don't know what to say.

'I never-' 'You never what? Thought it would end up the way it did? I mean, did you even think, Neveah?'

He stays right in front of me, my body aching for his comforting touch. God... I missed him...

We barely said a word to each other these past three weeks, but I missed his voice. I missed his eyes, his lips, his touch, his words, his laughs, his everything.

I missed Leonardo Tiago Curzio, the father of my children, the man of my dreams. I missed all of him.

'When I realized what you two were planning, I couldn't stop thinking about all the possible outcomes. I couldn't stop thinking about-' He swallows his words and gasps for air as if he can visualize all the bad things in his head, 'How was I supposed to raise them on my own, having to live with the fact that you weren't going to be there anymore?'

'I'm still here.' I whisper, trying to make the images disappear from his head.

'But what if you weren't.' He takes a step back. Creating more distance between us. 'Tiago...'

I jump to my feet and look at him as I fight the urge to reach out to him.

He doesn't want or need my touch right now. We need to talk.

'You were all bruised up and covered in blood and tears when I got to the hospital, I thought you were fucking dead, Neveah.'

I don't know what he saw when he got to the hospital, because when I woke up we were on the island already, but I can tell whatever he saw scared him.

Not because of the bruises, but because of the fact that I wasn't really responding as much as I should've.

He thought I wasn't going to make it out.

'I'm here.' I say, not knowing what else I could say to make him understand that I won't leave him again, 'I'm here because I love you.'

He reaches out, gently cupping my face with his big hands, and leans closer, 'I thought I lost you forever.'

'You haven't.' Despite his cold shoulder, despite the way he treated me for the past three weeks, I love him.

I will never stop loving him.

'I'm sorry- I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have left you alone, I should've stayed with you and none of this would've happened.' He says, pulling me into his arms.

I melt into his touch, hating that I'm so easily forgiving him for the way he treated me, but understanding that things are different now.

'It's not your fault.'

He shakes his head and lets go of me, 'It is.'

'Tiago-' 'You should go shower, you're covered in sand.' His words sting again, but he's right.

I need to sleep and Celine needs to check for more injuries in the morning.

I get up and take a quick shower, before making my way back into the bedroom.

He's sitting on the edge of the bed and looks at my every move as I climb into bed.

'I love you Tiago.' I whisper as he slowly turns around, placing his hands on my legs. 'I love you too.'

His hands feel warm and soft, despite having rough hands, making me tingle inside.

'I love you so much.' He whispers, slowly leaning down to level his head with my legs.

His lips graze against my inner thigh and I can't help but smile as I look down at him, allowing the world to spin for just a few seconds.

The man I love, buried between my legs, finally close to me again. What a fucking sight...

'I missed you.' He whispers against my skin, slowly leaving hot and sensual kisses on my thighs.

'So hold me.' His lips stick to my skin and as much as I want to tell him to continue, I know this isn't right.

We shouldn't be doing this.

'Hold you?' He leans back and looks up at me, a soft gleam of excitement in his eyes. 'Hold me.'

He climbs up and takes two pillows, making me frown as he places them right beside me on the bed in a weird way.

He heads over to the cribs and lifts up Emiliano, before moving back to the bed and slowly placing him down.

I frown as I pull Emiliano onto my chest and keep my eyes on Tiago. He quickly takes Domenico out of bed too, before laying down beside us.

'I'll hold you all.' He mutters, trying to get comfortable with Domenico sleeping on his chest.

I smile as I place my head on his arm instead of his chest, and look down at Emiliano.

'My family.' He whispers, gently pressing his lips on my forehead, before he slightly tilts my head up, 'All mine.'

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A/N: So things are going kinda good again? What happened with Hunter? Does Leya know about Hunter? What will happen to Alessio now?

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote!

I love you guys so much and thank you for keeping up with the story, it's almost done too!

Have an amazing day/night my loves, see you in the next chapter <3