Two Women, One Flame.

Two Women, One Flame.
Tiberio’s POV

The redhead lay sprawled across my bed, her limbs tangled in the sheets, exhausted from the night we’d had. 

My eyes flicked to the digital clock on the wall: 23:39. It’d been a wild night, the kind that leaves you drained but restless, craving something to dull the edge. I slid out of bed, my body heavy but my mind buzzing. 

Tugging on my pants and tossing a shirt over my shoulders, I didn’t bother buttoning it. 

My throat was parched, my thoughts jagged. I need a drink.

The mansion was silent, except for the thick cry of crickets in the distance. 

The breeze carried in the soft rhythm of waves, and the ticking of the old grandfather clock echoed through the marble halls—counting down to someone’s death… or birth. Same difference.

When I reached the kitchen, I froze. Bella was there, bent over, ass arched perfectly beneath that plain black uniform as she wrestled with a trash bag.

My gut twisted. She was a vision I’d tried to ignore for years. 

I should’ve had her in my bed long ago, but that thought was a betrayal. Not to her, but to Nanny Celeste—the woman who’d raised me and my brother, who’d been more of a mother than the one who birthed me. 

Tainting her daughter with my sins meant dragging Bella straight into my hell.

I couldn’t do that. Not to Celeste. Not to her memory.

I looked away before my dick tried to overwrite my conscience.

“Why are you still up, Bella?” I asked, reaching for the fridge.

A startled yelp escaped her, and the trash bag hit the floor with a dull thud. 

I ignored it, crossing to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of champagne. 

The cold glass felt good in my hand as I poured it into a tumbler, the fizz hissing like my own simmering thoughts.

“Do… Don,” she stammered, her voice small. “I was just cleaning.”

I raised a brow, tilting my head slightly over my shoulder. She immediately lowered her gaze to the floor.

“You always do this, Bella. I know damn well there are other maids in this house, but somehow, I only ever see you working. So tell me—what aren’t you saying?”

She didn’t answer. But her body language screamed guilt—shoulders hunched, fingers twisting together, eyes darting everywhere but at me. 

“Bella,” I called, warning low in my voice.

Her shoulders flinched, and she swallowed hard.

“N-no… there’s nothing…”

“You know what I do to liars.” I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t have to. “Celeste’s daughter or not, you lie to me again and you’ll pay the price.”

Her eyes snapped up, wide with fear, like a current had sparked through her. I hated seeing that look, but I needed the truth. 

“Let’s try that again. Why are you always cleaning this late?”

A shaky sigh broke from her lips, and tears spilled down her cheeks. 

“The other maids bully me, Don. Ever since my mom passed…”

Her words dissolved into sobs, each one hitting me like a punch to the chest. 

My jaw clenched, the kind that made my jaw clench until it ached. Rage simmered beneath my skin, not at her, but at them. 

Those maids, preying on her vulnerability, thinking they could get away with it under my roof.

“Go get some rest,” I commanded, my voice low but firm. “I don’t want to see you around the mansion for the next two weeks.”

Her head jerked up, her eyes wide with panic. 

“Wh… what?” 

Suddenly, she dropped to her knees, and crawled toward me like a desperate child. Her small hands wrapped around my ankle.

“Please, Don, don’t fire me. I… I promise, I won’t lie again.”

Her body trembled against my leg.

I shut my eyes, and took in a sharp breath, trying to calm the beast clawing at my ribs.

“Bella,” I called through clenched teeth. Still, she clung.

“Bella, stand up.” She didn’t move, and my patience snapped. 

“Bella, this isn’t a fucking drama theater. Stand up!” I hissed, the edge in my voice cutting through the air.

She let go, shame painting her cheeks as she rose slowly—wobbly, eyes still low, wiping tears like they could undo what just happened.

“You’re not getting fired. I’m giving you two weeks off.”

Her head snapped up, confused. Disbelief clear in her eyes.

“Wh…what?”

I didn’t answer. Emotional shit wasn’t my thing. I turned away, pulled my phone from my pocket, and dialed Elaine’s number.

She answered on the third ring. Her voice came through sleepy, breathy. “Don?”

“I want a list of every maid who’s touched or talked down to Bella. Full names.” I walked toward the kitchen window, my eyes fixed on the dark waves crashing beyond the estate.

“And don’t stop there. I want the names of their family members—brothers, sisters, parents, kids. If they’ve got a goddamn hamster, you write it down. Then give the list to Reid. He’ll know what to do.”

There was a moment of hesitation before she whispered,

“…Understood.”

I ended the call with a tap, slipping the phone back into my pocket. 

My reflection stared back at me in the darkened window, a shadow of a man who’d built an empire on control. 

No one gets to make another person feel small—not in my house, not under my roof. This mansion, this world I’ve carved out, bends to my will alone. 

Those maids thought they could prey on Bella, exploit her vulnerability, and escape consequence. They were wrong. In my domain, I’m the only one with power—and I wield it without mercy.

————————

I heard the soft patter of her footsteps fade into the distance. I was alone again—just me and the cold burn of champagne sliding down my throat.

My mind was restless, jumping from one thought to another, but eventually it settled… on her— her voice. 

That haunting, melodic lilt that wrapped around my soul. 

Was she the same woman I’d met at the door, the one whose eyes had struck me like a spark in the dark? 

Could she also Alice Rodriguez, the singer who performed earlier tonight?

I considered calling Elaine again, asking her to run the name, track everything about her, but I’d already given her enough to handle for the night. Once she was done with that list, though, I’d make it her top priority. No matter what it took, Alice would be found.

And the woman at the door. I need to know who she is and what she was doing there, lost.

But a darker thought slithered in. What if Alice wasn’t the same woman from the door?

What if I was chasing two different women, both impossibly rare in their own right?

And what then? Would I claim them both?

The idea should’ve made me sexually excited, but, It didn’t. Instead, it twisted something inside me.

No. I shouldn’t be thinking about this. I don’t chase anyone. One night. That’s always been the rule.

But that voice… God, that voice. It wasn’t just a sound; it was a siren’s call, a melody I wanted to hear every day for the rest of my life. And then there was Silas. 

I knew him too well, knew the hunger in his demand. He didn’t just want her for a night—he wanted to possess her, to cage that melody for himself. But I’d be damned if I let him claim her. 

Let’s see who gets to hold the songbird’s heart in the end.

My grip tightened on the glass, the crystal biting into my palm until it shattered with a sharp crack. 

Pain seared through my hand, and blood welled up, dripping onto the floor in slow, crimson drops. 

I squeezed my eyes shut, drawing in a deep, ragged breath to steady myself. I’d never wanted a woman this fiercely before, never been so torn between two shadows in my mind—two women who might not even be real.

“Damn it,” I hissed, the word escaping through clenched teeth.

I was trying to wrestle my thoughts and temper into submission when a piercing scream tore through the mansion, sharp and defiant. 

“Let me go, you bastards!”

My brows furrowed, and a surge of adrenaline coursed through me. 

Who would dare disrupt the sanctity of my home with such audacity? 

I turned on my heel, my bloodied hand forgotten, and strode toward the source of the commotion, my pulse pounding with every step.