~Madelyn~

I grabbed my bag off the vanity table and gave myself one last look in the mirror. My hair fell down my back in curls and I wore black pants and a black suit jacket. Placing my sunglasses on my head I walked towards the bed. My heels clicked on the floor and I sat at the edge of the bed brushing my hand through Aleks' hair. He slept spread across the bed and I ran my hand over his bare back eliciting a groan from him before he reached his hand back to grab mine pulling me towards him.

"Come back to bed." He muttered pulling me towards him and I chuckled softly.

"Sorry Mr Markov but I have a date to be at in 10 minutes." I told him pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"You look hot." He said opening one eye to look at me before his eyes landed on my neck. "Except you forgot to cover up the hickey on your neck."

"I know." I smirked and he groaned.

"Ugh you're trying to get me killed." He said referring to the fact that Lorenzo would see it.

"Please like I would let anything happen to you." I winked before pressing a kiss to his lips. But this kiss didn't send sparks through my body like the simple kiss to my jaw from Lorenzo did.

I got up walking out of the room as anxiety settled in my stomach.

"Have fun!" Aleks called out enthusiastically from the room and I rolled my eyes.

" Who knows maybe I'll fuck him!" I yelled back dryly and I heard Aleks' laugh from the room.

When the elevator stopped in the lobby I began walking to the exit and Lorenzo's guards fell into place behind me. Rolling my eyes I stopped walking and turned around to face them.

"Relax." I told them angrily. "I'm not running I have a meeting with your boss."

They looked at me before looking at their phones and finally nodded.

"Thank you gentlemen." I huffed overdramatically before turning around and walking away.

Placing my sunglasses on as I arrived where Lorenzo asked to meet I saw a cute little diner. Weird meeting spot but whatever. I walked in seeing him on his phone in a corner booth and I took a deep breath before walking over to him.

"Are you becoming cheap Mr Armini?" I asked him referring to the diner he'd chosen. The Lorenzo I knew would not be caught dead in a place like this.

"I own this diner darling." He said and my eyebrows raised slightly.

"It's a bit different from your other establishments no?" I asked him and he smiled.

"Well you can't really put a price on good food can you?" He asked and I sighed.

"No I suppose not." I muttered sliding into the seat opposite him.

"You look gorgeous darling." He said as his eyes swept over me.

"Of course I do." I said taking my sunglasses off.

"Strawberry milkshake." He said sliding the delicious looking drink towards me. "Your favourite."

Fuck how did he know that.

"I'll pass." I said and he chuckled.

"You're a lot more snappy than I remember amore." He said and I slapped on a fake smile.

"And you're a lot more annoying than I remember d'yavol." I said with a bright smile.

"Your names for me are definitely... Interesting." He said with a small smile and I rolled my eyes.

"Is that what you wanted to discuss or do you actually have something useful to say d'yavol?" I asked him enjoying the new name for him. It was definitely fitting.

"I wanted to apologise." He said and I laughed.

"For what?" I asked not believing my ears.

"You know for what." He said and I sighed sitting back in my seat.

"Well go on then." I said and he took a deep breath clenching his jaw as if he was struggling to say the words.

"Oh my god you can't do it can you?" I laughed in disbelief. "You genuinely can't apologise."

"I want to." He said running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah I'm sure." I said licking my bottom lip.

"How are you enjoying your time in LA?" He asked me.

"It's fun." I said dryly and his eyes fell to my neck. More specifically the hickey on my neck.

"Yes you look like you've been having a lot of fun darling." He said and I scoffed.

"Don't be a hypocrite Lorenzo." I said rolling my eyes. "Lord knows how many women you've been with."

He didn't answer me instead he just chuckled softly to himself.

"What?" I asked and he met my eyes.

"I haven't been with anyone in 5 years darling." He said and I gave him a disbelieving look which made him laugh.

"I swear." He said sincerely. "For 5 years I've had control over myself but then yesterday I spoke to you for 5 minutes and poof I was up and running."

"You're saying it's my fault?" I asked him and he smirked.

"I'm saying you turned me on." He said and the air caught in my lungs causing me to clear my throat loudly.

"I can't do this with you again Mr Armini." I said with a sigh. "So please just tell me what you want."

"I want you Madelyn.I want all of you. I want you every day , every hour , every second for the rest of my life." He said and my breath hitched. "Only you."

"You had me Lorenzo." I said but it came out as a whisper. " You had me and you broke me."

"Now I want to fix you." He whispered. "If you give me a chance."

"... I can't." I said and he sighed.

"Because you're angry?" He asked.

"Because I'm scared." I said shakily before taking a deep breath and recollecting myself.

"I don't want anything to do with you." I said as steadily as I could.

"Well I want everything to do with you." He shot back and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

He'll hurt you again Madelyn. You're smarter than this.

"Goodbye Mr Armini." I said standing up as I placed my sunglasses back over my eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow darling." He nodded and I turned walking out of the diner.

I couldn't see him tomorrow. Or ever again. It fucked with my mind. It made me rethink things that I shouldn't. Lorenzo was the enemy. That was it.

_________________________________________ Heyy guyss

So I think I'm going to try and end off this book on 40 chapters. That gives us 6 more chapters together. OML this is so exciting but also kind of sad. I honestly think my writing has developed a lot since the beginning of the book like let's be honest. The chapters were poorly written and short as fuck so I'm so happy that I've fixed them.

I'm definitely not a professional writer or something but I'm pretty proud of this book and the development of these characters. I truly hope to carry it into the next book I write (whenever that may be) . I hope you enjoy our next few chapters together.

Love y'all MWAH 💋