CLARA ROSSI

I was going to meet Romeo's 'friend' tomorrow.

The one who was going to 'interview' me for a 'modeling role' for his new 'clothing store.'

I was prepared for this to end in three ways.

1. He'd take me to my dad. Daniel would follow him with CJ. They'd arrest him and rescue me. Everything would turn out okay.

2. He'd take me to my dad. Daniel wouldn't be able to save me. My dad would ship me off somewhere far and lock me up as a punishment.

3. Romeo would take me to someone else. Someone who would have no idea who I was.

Was I terrified? Through my bones. A part of my brain was begging me to tell someone. Tell Daniel. But if he stopped me, I'd live the rest of my life ashamed for being a coward. For not doing my best. For sweeping the truth under the rug for my own selfish preservation.

If my dad locked me up, I'd find a way out. If Romeo took me to someone else, I'd suggest he looked me up online and realized who I was. I'd tell him that I sent the footage of his face to every executive at Rebel Ink. That the world would know he had taken me.

I wanted to spend tonight in my room. I was scared that if anyone talked to me, my fears would betray me. So after work, I parked in front of the townhouse and unlocked the door—

"SURPRISE!" Multiple voice screamed off the top of their lungs.

I screamed back ten times harder.

"Oh, hey. We thought you're Andrei." Charlotte flipped the kitchen lights on. She stood there, with Niko and Daniel. All three wearing black and gold party hats, holding a bunch of balloons.

"Come, come!" Daniel waved me over.

Dumbfounded, I let him squeeze me between them. Charlotte slid a party hat over my head, snapping the rubber band under my chin.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." She put her arm around my shoulders and hissed at Niko. "Turn the lights off, he'll be here any second now!"

I didn't get a chance to recover before Niko turned the lights off. The door opened—

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WHOO!"

Daniel popped a loud confetti. This time, as the lights turned back on, gold paper rained down on Andrei's unamused face.

"Happy twenty-five!" Charlotte laughed. "Do you like your cake?"

"See the resemblance?" Daniel pointed at the gray skull on top of the black frosting. "It's you!"

Andrei pinched the bridge of his nose. To my surprise, he was resisting a small smile.

"Guess what we're doing tonight?" Niko was bursting with excitement. "Guess!"

"I—"

"We're going to a rock concert!" Charlotte jumped like it was her birthday. "I bought us tickets three months ago. It's that band you've been obsessed with lately. Whoohooo!"

Huh. Who would've thought. Suit-wearing Andrei enjoying rebellious, loud music.

"I don't think that's a good idea. We have to be ready for tomorrow," he said.

My heart skipped a beat. "Tomorrow?" I looked at Daniel for an explanation.

"Yeah, there's a chance Tomasso might meet up with Romeo," he said. "Which is even more reason for us to party tonight. We don't want him to think that we might know something. I wouldn't be surprised if he's monitoring us too. We shouldn't make any last minute changes."

Andrei shook his head. "I don't need a party."

"B-but I bought tickets." Charlotte frowned.

"We'll go next year. When this is all behind us. I'm sorry, but it's for the best." He started to walk to go upstairs.

Charlotte blocked him. "No. We're going."

Their height difference was so extreme, that her attempt to be stern could not be believable. Not to mention, Andrei didn't look like the type who changed his mind easily.

"I know you don't like celebrating your birthday. I know it's a dark day for you. It's the day you ran from home and almost got killed, Andrei." She smiled painfully as her voice cracked with emotion. "But it's the day you came into our lives. It's the day we got lucky. And we promised Oksana that we would never let you forget how much you mean to us. Don't say no. Please?"

"Pretty pleeease?" Niko said while Daniel coughed behind his hand "Don't be a pussy."

But Andrei didn't pay attention to them. He stared at Charlotte like the two of them were having a silent conversation. His Adam's Apple bobbed with a quiet 'fine' which got lost under Charlotte's overjoyed shriek of 'yay!'

~

Music pounded. Faster than any thought or heartbeat ever could. Emotional and raw and unapologetic, it gripped me in its hold.

We were in an underground venue, large enough to hold a small city. Blue thick smoke snaked up to the ceiling, veiling everything. Silhouettes of people appeared and disappeared. Real and imagined, I didn't know. It didn't matter.

I sat in a private booth with Niko and Daniel, drowning another shot of tequila. Watching Charlotte and Andrei who looked like they were letting their demons out on the dance floor.

I didn't know whether to rub my eyes or laugh or pick up my jaw from the floor. I'd never seen Andrei so violent and passionate. His usually proper and styled hair drenched in sweat. His blank expression transformed into raging pleasure. An unleashed animal.

"Shocked?" Daniel smiled against my temple. His arm was stretched behind me across the sofa.

"Extremely."

His fingertips traced lazy shapes on my arm. "He only gets like that with her. Or around this kind of music."

Niko sat across from us, quietly watching them with an unreadable expression.

I turned my face to ask in Daniel's ear. "Does he approve?"

"Eh."

"What do you mean?"

I struggled to ignore how attractive Daniel looked. The way he was leaning back with his legs spread wide. Arrogant and assertive. I wanted to play with the silver chain around his neck. I wanted to do a lot more than that.

"It's complicated. I mean, she was only fourteen when he turned eighteen, you know? That age gap is hard to forget when you grow up together. And if something happens later, like if they break up, it's going to hurt all of us as a group. Andrei would never risk that. He thinks that he owes my mom for saving him. So he'll never chase his own happiness before ours."

That was sad. And lonely. And not fair. "What if she finds someone else?" I asked. "Won't he regret losing her?"

"He will."

"Have you tried talking to him? Because—"

"Are you guys coming?" Niko stood up, pointing at the dance floor. "Let's go dance."

"I have no idea how to dance to this!" I yelled over the music. "You guys go! I'll watch!"

"Now what's the fun in that? Come on. No one here will judge if you suck. It's more about letting go than choreography anyway," said Daniel.

He took my hand and pulled me up, palm on my low back. Then guided me through the vicious crowd until we joined Charlotte and Andrei.

Charlotte cried out with excitement when she saw me. She threw her arms around me and squeezed me in a hug, bouncing up and down, laughing and making me laugh too.

Daniel was right. Something about the music demanded to let go. It was the emotional violin with the electric guitars and the aggressive drums. It was the tsunami of emotions it forced you to surrender. In the dark, with hundreds of others. People just like me. Who also loved. Who also lost. Who also had secrets and dreams.

I felt all of it. Sadness and loss and hope. Strength and loneliness and self-doubt. Maybe because tomorrow nothing would be the same.

Would they miss me? Or would they consider me just a phase in their lives? Would Daniel care if he never saw me again?

When the music slowed and people partnered up, as if they were molding their hearts together, their souls together, Daniel pulled me closer.

He buried his face in my neck and held me tight. My chest pressed against his solid one. I took a deep breath of him, my throat painfully tight.

"I lied," he said. "When I said you don't belong here. I—I was just trying to push you away."

I fisted his shirt on his back, hoping he couldn't feel how hard my heart was beating.

"Would you stay?" he asked.

"What?" There was no way I heard that right.

"If everything worked out. If...if tomorrow, things worked out. Would you stay?"

I pulled back with a scowl. "Are you drunk?"

"No."

He had to be. Otherwise— "We're at a concert!"

"Okay, let's go somewhere more quiet."

"That's not what I—"

He cut me off by grabbing my hand and taking me through the crowd, out of the dance floor.

I couldn't yell loud enough over the music to ask him where we were going, and he didn't seem like he would stop anyway. I wasn't ready to be alone with him. I wasn't ready to lie. Not when I felt so emotional. Especially about him.

He stopped at the far end of the venue. Away from the bar and the booths and the dance floor.

Here, along the length of the wall, were rows of carved stone alcoves with purple gossamer curtains. They swayed in the blue darkness, their sheer fabrics glittering like a million stars.

Daniel pulled us behind one of them. It was just the two of us now in the small space. Even in the dark, his burning gaze was impossible to miss.

"I need to get this off my chest," he said.

"Don't—"

"Just one thing. Let me just...I need to get this off my chest, Clara." His chest rose up and down like he found it hard to breathe. "Please."

I nodded.

"No matter what happens tomorrow. You know, if things magically work out and we finally put your dad behind bars, I know you'll leave." It wasn't a question. He had thought about this. Many times. "I know you'll leave, because you're smart and you're...you'll never—" He chuckled. Conflicted. Stepped closer to whisper. "You'll never consider wasting your time on someone as fucked up as me. Why in the world would you?"

He exhaled through his nose, the storm now calm. His gaze unwavering. "Just know that if you ever need anything. Whether it's next week or next year or ten years later. You have me. You have me. If you call and say you need me, I'll come. No matter what. Consider it my oath."

I remembered the conversation between Irina and Aida in the kitchen that day. When Irina said that no one was loyal like Daniel. That once he cared for you, once he loved you, that was it. Didn't matter if you felt the same way, he'd give you everything.

I didn't think he loved me. We hardly knew each other. But I believed that he cared. Maybe as much as I cared about him. Maybe more. It hurt that this could be our last moment together.

He kissed my forehead and my eyes burned. The music flowed between us. Weeping. Haunting. Sentimental. Made for this exact moment.

"Daniel—" I whispered.

He smiled. "It's fine. Let's go back to the party."

Time sped up like a ticking bomb.

"Come on." He reached to open the curtain—

My hand curled around his shoulder to stop him. I didn't think. I didn't hesitate. My body moved by instinct as I placed my hands on each side of his face and pulled him down toward me.

"What are you..." He trailed off.

I wanted him to know how I felt. That I wanted him to be happy, genuinely happy one day. To laugh until his cheeks hurt. To sleep through the night. To be surrounded by loved ones and feel peace. He deserved it. I wanted those things for him, even if I wasn't meant to be a part of it.

So I kissed him.

Just one.
Heartfelt.
Kiss.

His lips were soft and warm and better than I ever imagined. When I inched back, our noses caressed each other. Our breaths collided.

"What was that for?" His eyes still closed, he asked with a throaty whisper.

"To thank you." I smiled a little.

Daniel opened his eyes and stared at me with heavy-lidded hunger. "Thank me again."

An order.

I did.

When I tried to stop, he lifted my chin with one finger and took it. And I felt that everywhere.

A sensual spark that fired every nerve-ending. Annihilated every kiss I ever had before. Burned my veins with the most insane craving. For his mouth and tongue and everything it did.

My arms wrapped around his neck just as he pulled me closer. His large hand spread around my jaw and throat. His other one firmly gripped my hair and tilted my head how he wanted.

He groaned in my mouth.

Next thing I knew, my back hit the wall. His hips pinned me hostage. We attacked each other like we were fighting. Proving a point. If I pulled his hair, he squeezed my throat harder. If I scratched his arms, he bit my neck until I shivered.

In the end I lost.

Daniel gave me a wicked grin and laughed, then he kissed me again and again and again.

A/N
Hit that vote button if you liked their first kiss <3
But also, are you ready for tomorrow? Cause...