LUCIA'S POV

"I love this one. The material feels good on my skin and it's decent." I commented on the Valentino gown I had just tried on. "What do you think?" I shot the question at Monica who was seated on a chaise lounge with a pile of gowns that she had helped me pick out.

"It's lovely but too long. You are going to trip over and fall in that thing." She gave her honest review.

"But I love it. I'll just put on some high heels to balance out the length of the dress." I suggested, admiring the dress which fit my slim frame, impeccably.

"Okay. Why don't you try this black dress? I feel like black is more of your color." She proposed, walking over to me with the noir dress.

"Fine. But if it doesn't impress me then I'll go with this one." I declared, taking the black dress from her and sauntered to the dressing room. I took off the long sleeved Valentino gown, remaining only in my undergarments. A shooting star tattoo on my right upper hip, came into view. A reminder of my past. A past that I couldn't bring myself to disregard.

"Lulu." He called out, with his voice that I adored so much. He was here, with me. It's always like this. Whenever I think fondly of him, he appears.

"I missed you, Lulu." He was standing behind me. He was beguiling just as I remember. Hadn't aged a day. He had the black leather jacket on. I always liked it when he put it on. It made him look rugged and manlier. A familiar silver chain was dangling from his neck. It was the same one I had gotten for him on our shared birthday. It hadn't lost its shine, despite being decades old. His hair was dyed blue this time. It brought out the color of his eyes which were identical to mine.

I watched as he bridged the distance between us. A gasp departing my mouth at his proximity. His long calloused fingers freed my curls from the bondage of a hair band. He always loved it when I had my hair down.

"You have become so beautiful, my shooting star." The warmth of his breath scalded the side of my face, a faint scent of nicotine lingering in the air when he whispered the words seductively, while glancing at my blushing face on the mirror.

"You shouldn't be here, Emiliano." I finally spoke, emotions dripping from my voice.

"This is exactly where I should be, Lulu." He rejoined, planting a peck on the side of my neck. The feelings that I thought were dead and buried, resurfaced. Having these feelings for him, was wrong for so many reasons. But it felt so right at the same time.

"We can't do this..."Rapid breaths bolted from my mouth when he tugged at the strap of my bra. My chest rose and fell hastily in response to his seduction. His hands on my body, I missed that. The familiar feeling he brought out in me whenever he touched me, I desired that.

"Yes we can, because we love each other. This is what people in love, do." He murmured against my ear, one of his large hands fondling my breast while the other was tracing circles on my hip tattoo which was identical to the one on his right forearm. I remember mother nearly killing us when we had gotten those tattoos. She was a catholic who sternly believed that tattoos were demonic.

"God you are so beautiful, Lu." He added, placing a kiss on my neck. His metallic nose ring brushed my skin, sending shivers straight to my posterior. His mere kiss was capable of doing unholy things to my body.

"Emiliano..." I moaned out softly, enjoying the sweet assault of his digits to my aching womanhood. Only he was capable of making me ache for him. He wasn't supposed to make me feel this way after all these years. Because he was not real. He was just but a figment of my imagination.

A ghost from my past.

"We shouldn't be doing this. We need to stop this." A plea exited my mouth, even though my body was speaking an entirely different language. It's pathetic how my body always betrays me when it comes to him.

"Why are you fighting it, Lu? Mama is not here to stop us. We can be free to do as we please.  We are free to love each other." He declared, carrying on with his sinful assault on my most sensitive parts. My eyes met his on the dressing mirror as heavy and rapid pants exited my parted mouth. The edge of his lips titled into a smirk. He always enjoyed watching the effect that his touch had on me. He was bad for me. I knew it and so did everyone else including mother. Everything about our involvement was blasphemous. Forbidden.

Because Emiliano was my twin brother who was also dead.

"Cia, you've been there a long time. Is everything okay?" Monica's voice yanked me from my day dream. I was standing in front of the mirror with the black dress still in my hand. Emiliano was nowhere in sight. He was gone and once again, I was all alone in the dressing room.

"Yes, everything is perfect. Be out in a few." I cleared my voice in an attempt to gather the shards of my shattered composure.

I swiftly put on the dress which was a knee-length body con that hugged my curves and exposed a little bit of cleavage. The material felt really good on my skin but it made me feel slutty. I can't go to the gala looking like some cheap prostitute. For Christ's sake, I have a reputation to uphold.

"Omg. This is it, Cia! You look like a goddess. You'll be the talk of the gala for sure." Monica showered praises on me as soon as I stepped out of the dressing room.

"I think it's tight and revealing. I don't want my breasts exposed for the world to see." I spoke, pulling the dress higher to cover up my cleavage.

"No. It's perfect. It's not showing much cleavage. If you are worried about it then you can cover up with a scarf." Monica tried to convince me.

"Monica is right, that dress is fire. If you don't take it, I will." What is she doing here? And who even asked for her opinion? Also, what in God's name is she wearing?

"Beth. I didn't know you would be joining us." I said with all the enthusiasm I could muster. God knows, I can't stand this woman.

"I was doing a little dress shopping when I saw you ladies and decided to come say hi." Beth stated while chewing gum. A habit that annoyed me to the core. I have been tempted on several occasions to slap the gum right out of her mouth. She chews like a goat. God!

"And also to say I am really sorry for what my daughter did to your son. She wasn't in her right state of mind." She sent an apology my way. It's cute that she thinks her little apology will make me forgive her morally depraved daughter for physically assaulting my son.

"Thank you for apologizing, Beth. It is said in the bible, forgive those who wrong us. That's exactly what I'll do." I stated with a smile. My cheeks hurt from forcing a smile just to impress this bitch.

"Thank you so much for forgiving her. I promise that she will never repeat her mistake. Madeline can be very temperamental at times but she is a good kid." Yeah, right. I mean the girl has slept her way through half of the town. Very good kid indeed.

"I understand. She is just like any other teenager." I said.

"Yes. My Melissa of late has been so moody. She locks herself up in her room and gets angry at the slightest of things. And it's not even her periods yet." Monica opened up.

"I think it's because she misses Carl." I stated, while looking through the pile of gowns on the chaise. I was looking for one which I hadn't tried on yet.

"I think so too. I have never seen her in love with someone the same way she loves Carl. It's sad that Carl is with that boy now." Monica blurted.

"Oh Monica my dearest friend, didn't you know that Carl already broke up with that nuisance of a boy? I made sure of it. My son is free and ready to date Melissa. In fact, during dinner tomorrow night, he will ask her to be his girlfriend." I broke the news to Monica who stared at me in disbelief.

"What? How did you do it? I mean Carl seemed so in love with that boy and now they are broken up?" She blabbered.

"It was God who made it possible. He intervened in that satanic relationship and broke it." I answered.

"So does this mean Carl is not gay anymore?" Monica inquired.

"He was never gay. Just confused by the demons. Now he is back on the right path." I replied, confidence oozing from my words.

"That's good. I'm amazed. Mel is going to be so happy when I tell her the news..."

"No. Don't tell her yet. I want it to be a surprise. My son asking her to be his girlfriend will be the best surprise of her life. My god daughter deserves all the happiness in the world and only my son can give her that." I explained with a smile. Already dreaming of the moment when Carl would make things official with Melissa.

"So true. I swear our kids will get married someday, Cia." Monica beamed and I say Amen to that. If there is one thing I want more than anything is for Carl to end up with Melissa. She is a kind, obedient, God fearing girl who will make a wonderful girlfriend and someday, wife to my son.

"It's really astonishing how involved you guys are in your kids' lives. You plan everything for them including the people they date. I think kids are allowed to choose their own path and make their own decisions. It's how I have raised my Madeline." Beth whose presence I had chosen to ignore finally spoke up. I preferred when she was quiet.

"Really? So, you prefer a kid to choose his/her own path even if it's the wrong one?" I sent a question her way.

"Yes. And as far as right and wrong are concerned, kids are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. I made tons of them growing up." She opened up and I internally rolled my eyes.

"Beth, no offence but you are not the right person to be giving parenting advice. Given that your own daughter sleeps around and beats up other kids." The words that I had been dying to say finally came out of my mouth. It felt so good saying that out loud. The fire in Beth's eyes was capable of burning me to ashes.

"My daughter is sexually active and that is not a bad thing. It's normal." She fired back.

"Who is gonna want to marry a girl who has slept her way through half of this town? And her dressing? It's disrespectful and disgusting to say the least. If you don't keep your daughter in check, she is gonna end up like you. Knocked up and jobless. So if I were you, I'd start taking parenting seriously." I stated the painful facts that she needed to hear.

"Lucia, you don't get to judge me when your own son is a fucking homosexual! You think that forcing a girl on him is going to make him suddenly straight? Well, it isn't! He prefers boys and the sooner you get that in your bitchy brain, the better it will be for him. I feel bad for him that he has you for a mother." She exploded, firing insults and attracting unwanted attention from other shoppers in the boutique.

"Calm down Beth." Monica tried playing the peace maker.

"No. I won't calm down. I am so tired of being in a friendship where I am judged for every little thing I do. Lucia, you think that you are better than everyone else when the truth is you are not. You are just a hypocritical bitch who hides behind religion. You can fool everyone else with your holier-than-thou act but not me. I am so done with your pretentious ass." She fired more bullets my way, shattering my reputation and self-respect to pieces. My hand was itching to give her a slap and so I did just that. Gave her a sounding slap. One that certainly left an imprint of my palm on her cheek.

"Bitch!" She was about to pounce on me in retaliation, when Mr. Dubois, the boutique manager grabbed her. He managed to drag her out of the store as she yelled profanities at me.

"There's nothing to see here!" Monica announced to the onlookers when things had quietened. "Are you okay?" Monica rushed to my side to offer comfort, like the good friend she is.

"Yes. I'm perfectly fine. I'll go change then we can leave this place." Was my reply as I grabbed my clothes and left for the dressing room.

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A/N

So, a lot happened in this chapter. We got to meet Emiliano, finally and his relationship with Lucia is not what we expected at all. I admit was hesitant to add the whole incest thing at first but then I recall watching House Of The Dragon and loving how Incest was explored in the show so I said FUCK IT. I'M ADDING IT. 

I also loved the part where Beth finally calls out Lucia. I enjoyed working on that part. Generally, I loved working on Lucia's POV. She is one of the best villains I have ever created. So guys, what did you think of the chapter and which part was your most favorite?