Temptation of her Flame ✔️

chapter twelve

thanks for reading❤️

(maniac by conan gray)

ARIA

"I'm sorry," I blurted when Cole replaced Vincenzo in the corner of the room. These rich men who could afford everything I owned were courteous to take turns speaking to me.

"I'd assume you are," Cole whispered. "Sweetheart, I could've died. I had a loaded gun in my mouth and a gun without bullets in my hand. Where did you get it, anyway?"

"I found it in a drawer." I barged into the meeting room as soon as I grabbed it, not bothering to check first for bullets. Where would I even search for them if I'd noticed sooner? Then I paused, registering all that he said. "Vincenzo put a gun inside your mouth?!"

"These guns are not playthings, Aria. We have them because we use them," he said, cupping my face in his hands. I hadn't thought of either of them as murderers, but I was numb to the cruelty of the world. It wasn't surprising in the least. "Stay away from Vincenzo. You don't see it, but he's a psychopath."

A slight smile rose to my lips. "You businessmen love saying the same thing."

"I am nothing like that duck's ass," he grunted, twisting my hair in his fingers. I slapped it away, and he leaned in by just a fraction. "I miss you."

I knew where this was going. "I'm not following you anywhere, Cole. It's safest for me here, and you know it."

"I can find a way to dispose of your father. You don't have to live in fear."

"Dispose of?" I stepped back from his touch. "You can't spit out terms like that so carelessly. You know there are complications involved; he's not a random person without worth. He's a businessman, and removing him would have great consequences."

He frowned because I was right. "Fine. But even if you're staying, I must see you often enough to know that you're not dead."

"I'll video-call."

"No. I have a plan."

"That's never good."

**

In two days, news of me had evolved from rumours of the city to national headlines. I almost collapsed from shock when I switched on the television, and an image of me in Vincenzo's car stared back.

Some claimed I was having an affair with Vincenzo. Others believed that he had found the woman he wanted to marry. The world had split in half and resulted in two groups—people who were envious and hurling insults at me and people who supported our relationship.

There were celebrities I once looked up to commenting about me, both positive and negative.

But that wasn't the most startling thing that happened. This morning, I woke up to a follower count of a million. I wasn't extremely active on social media, and my only post was a photograph taken a year ago. It had an astonishing one like—Cole—before it went viral. He was also the only person I followed, which sparked a scandalous rumour. Apparently, Cole was already popular as a faceless public figure who was the subject of much inquisitiveness, and my following him only fuelled it. There was so much speculation, and I least expected this to result from escaping my father's hell.