Read on for an excerpt of Valentino and also for the first chapter of another amazing TL Swan book; Play Along
EXCERPT - VALENTINO
Anna
The rain pours down and I peer through the glass door at my office block.
I can see out on the road my car is waiting, along with the two bodyguards that accompany me everywhere now.
Francesca and Giuliano are on their honeymoon aboard a luxury superyacht. They’ve been gone for four weeks and boy, do I miss them.
My phone beeps a text and I frown when I see the name light up the screen.
Carlo
Can you talk?
Good God.
My heart speeds up, it’s been eight weeks since everything happened and I haven’t heard from him once. I want to hear what he has to say.
Without hesitation, I walk back into my office and take the elevator back up to my floor and text back.
Yes I’m alone.
My phone rings and with my heart in my throat I answer, “Hello.”
“Anna,” he whispers.
Emotion overwhelms me at the sound of his voice and I screw up my face in tears.
“What do you want?” I whisper.
“Don’t cry.”
Damn it, I hate that he can tell that he’s upset me. I get a lump in my throat as I try to stay silent.
“I miss you.” His voice is deep and hushed.
“Don’t lie,” I stammer.
“I’m telling you the truth. By the time we fell in love I was already too far in, I had to go through with it.”
“No. You didn’t,” I cry as I lose control. “You should have walked away…for me. How could you kill Giovanna? How could you?”
“I didn’t kill Giovanna,” he snaps.
“Yes. you did.”
“No. I didn’t. I didn’t kill anyone, I promise you. I held my gun up at them but someone else shot them from afar. I swear to you it wasn’t me.”
We fall silent.
“I never meant to hurt you.”
“Well you did,” I sob.
So fucking much.
“I do the same job as Giuliano, he’s no angel, Anna. Don’t be fooled into thinking I’m the only bad guy in this picture. Trust me, if you knew what he was capable of.”
I stay silent.
“You accept him, but you won’t accept me?”
“You betrayed us,” I cry.
“I never betrayed you. I love you.”
I screw up my face, pain searing through my heart, I so badly want to believe him.
“Where are you?” I ask.
He stays silent this time.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“They’re going to find you, Carlo. What then?”
“It was worth the risk…. I had to hear your voice.”
I close my eyes, my attachment to him runs way deeper than I thought.
“I miss you,” he whispers.
“Don’t.”
“Come with me.”
“What?”
“I’ll send for you.”
“Come where, Carlo?” I whisper angrily. “To a life on the run? I have to go.”
“Don’t go,” he stammers, almost panicked.
“Carlo.”
“Anna…what happened with Giuliano is business. It has nothing to do with the way I feel about you.”
“I can’t….” I cut myself off.
“I’ll call you tonight?” he says softly.
I stay silent, unable to push the word no past my lips.
“Carlo, if they find out where you are….” I throw my hands up in despair. “You need to tell them that you didn’t kill anyone. They think you shot Giovanna.”
“I would never kill a woman, you know that.”
“I’m going.”
“I’ll call you tonight.”
I don’t answer.
“I love you.”
“Don’t.” I hang up, disgusted with myself for even taking the call.
I stare at my phone in my hands, what the fuck?
I take the elevator down to the ground floor and walk out and get into the waiting car.
The car pulls out into the rain and I stare out at the passing scenery in shock.
Did that just happen?
Fuck.
Why did I answer?
I should tell Giuliano…but then….
Twenty minutes later the car pulls up to my apartment. “Thank you.” I fake a smile as I get out. I practically run into my building and take the elevator up to my apartment and I open the door in a rush and slam it behind me.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I pour myself a glass of wine so fast that it sloshes over the sides and I stand at the sink and drink it down.
They’re going to kill him.
I fill my glass again and drain it once more.
A hard knock sounds at the door, my eyes widen.
Oh no…is that him?
This day is a living nightmare.
I sneak to the door and peek through the peephole.
Valentino.
What’s he doing here? I really don’t have time for him right now, I’m in the middle of a freak-out. I open the door in a rush. “Hi.”
“Hello.”
I get the distinct feeling he has an agenda.
“What’s wrong?”
His dark eyes hold mine. “Have you heard from Carlo?”
He knows.
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me, Anna.”
Adrenaline surges through my system. “Are you spying on me?”
“Protecting you.”
“Go to hell, Valentino. I don’t need your protection.” I go to slam the door in his face and he stops it with his hand and holds it open.
“I’m moving in.”
“What?” I explode. “That’s ridiculous.”
His cold eyes hold mine. “If he wants you…he’s got to get through me first.”
Valentino
Coming soon.
EXCERPT - PLAY ALONG
Roshelle
In a world full of deceit and lies, who do you trust?
I stand alone in the corner of the nightclub, watching him take her in his arms before he kisses her.
The air evaporates from my lungs. I can’t breathe.
Despair is pumping through my bloodstream, but for some sick self-destructive reason, I can’t bring myself to look away. I have to see this—see what he is capable of and exactly how far this has gone.
The signs were there, I saw them. But like a fool I ignored them for as long as my gut instinct would allow.
I believed that he loved me. I believed that she loved me.
As I stand there and watch my boyfriend of two years kissing my best friend and roommate of five years, I realize I have never felt so betrayed on so many levels. I can’t even begin to comprehend what I am witnessing.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. I feel like I am having an out of body experience watching the horrific nightmare unfold.
This can’t be happening.
My first inkling was two weeks ago. Melissa, my roommate, had a date with a guy she has been seeing for a few weeks and when he arrived to pick her up, Todd, my boyfriend, was really nasty to him. I watched him glare at her as she left, and I saw her practically run from the apartment just to get Todd away from that man.
Why?
Why wasn’t he happy that she was dating? They had become friends and hell, had spent many nights alone in my apartment as he waited for me to get home from my nightshift. A sick thought had crossed my mind that night… was he jealous?