Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
ALISON
S oon, I was sprawled over a massive king-sized bed that felt like a soft cloud. I relaxed into the mattress, trying to erase him from my mind. I had a shot at a new beginning, and maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t sting as badly as caring for Max did.
I compelled my mind to slowly sink into a blank, trying to relax and expel the nervousness while I still had time before getting ready for dinner with my future husband.
A couple of hours later, I was stepping out of my room, ready to see where I would be living at the end of the next six months. Max was standing just outside my door – or should I say, our door – as I walked past him and straight to the elevator.
I was trying hard to overlook him, but it was hard to ignore that look he gave me when he saw me. I had made an extra effort today, keeping it simple but still classy and especially sexy. A loose flowing, long skirt with a thigh-high slit would make a couple of heads turn, matched with thin, strappy high heels and a simple tight top that exposed my shoulders and toned figure. I knew I had nailed it by his expression. It was faint and disappeared suddenly, but I had definitely seen it.
“Miss Battaglia,” He greeted as he caught up with me in front of the elevator doors. Silence had never been so deafening as it was while we waited, intently watching the metal doors in all its sudden fake glory. Waiting on that lift was pure torture.
I held my breath and tried to steady my heartbeat as it pumped faster, finally exhaling once the lift arrived.
My mistake.
As soon as the doors closed behind us, Max pressed the emergency button, trapping us inside.
“What are you doing?” I snapped, turning towards him.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Oh, and trapping us in the elevator is the best way to do it?”
“I don’t want any interruptions.” Reaching above my head, Max covered a specific spot in the corner of the elevator. I looked at him, puzzled. “Camara. The bedroom has too many bugs, too.”
What could he have to say to me that was so urgent and so secret it couldn’t be caught on security footage?
“Well then… talk,” I said, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall. A few silent and heavy seconds passed before he spoke. A low-toned tune that stroked my heart.
“I’m sorry,” He blurted. His head was hanging low in shame, and just like that, he had opened a crack in my icy wall. “I can’t stand to think about you getting hurt. Please promise me you will not trust him. Please promise me you will be wary and extremely careful at all times,” He pleaded, stepping closer to me.
I uncrossed my arms and reached to grip onto the metal bar as he caged me against the wall. I was bracing for impact, and those words hit me like a bullet. I’m sorry.
My skirt flowed and exposed my whole leg just as he was less than a step away, catching his attention. “Fuck, Alison. Couldn’t you have chosen something more discreet?” He grumbled, gripping the bar, too, his hands right beside mine.
I couldn’t reply. I just watched as his eyes slowly took in every inch of me before stopping to glare at my red lips. Unconsciously, I bit the bottom one before turning my face to the side to avoid looking into those hypnotic blue eyes. I fought to remember all the things he said, all the pain his words had brought me, yet his closeness had my mind in a haze.
“Promise me,” He said, hardly above a whisper.
“Us? There is no us!” That’s what he’d said.
“I can take care of myself,” I coldly said, summoning all my strength to pull away from his gravitational force.
Yanking on his arm, I stepped out of his cage and hit the stop button again, making the elevator jolt back to life.
I stood close to the doors, turning my back to Max. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t falter. He seemed so much more sincere and truthful now than when he was being a jerk. But that was what my mind and my heart wanted to believe, blinding me with perfect illusions that would quickly crumble to uncover the harsh reality.
I can hardly remember how I got to the car, or even to Vincenzo’s house, for that matter. Max rode in the same car as me, sitting beside me while Jimmy followed close behind us in another car. I could see how tightly he gripped the leather of the seat with one hand and his gun with the other, telling me just how tense he was. He kept looking through the window the whole time, only stealing a glance or two at my purposely exposed thigh .
You are playing with fire, Alison .
Oddly enough, he never left the car once we arrived.
Jimmy opened the door for me and followed me inside the huge, modern house, where Vincenzo was already waiting.
“Welcome home, Nessa ,” He cooed before kissing me on the cheek. “You look exquisite.”
“Thank you, you look handsome, too,” I smiled and slightly blushed.
Vincenzo guided me to the dining room where the table was already set for us, slow music softly setting the ambiance as food started being served. I saw Max joining Jimmy in the corner of the room before slowly walking to the opposite wall. His eyes trained on me the whole time.
As always, conversation was easy with Vincenzo. We spoke about the functions he required my presence for, what my life would be like in California, and how the transition would be. All circumstantial and superficial at first. He left the personal issues for dessert. Juicier, sweeter, or maybe just dry and sour for me.
“So, how has Max been treating you?”
“What?” I almost choked on my lemon pie.
“Your feelings for him are unmasked, Nessa . Besides, I didn’t get a straight answer from you at the hospital, but I didn’t need one, either. If I had any doubt, your flushed cheeks and veils of embarrassment just gave it away.”
“It’s nothing really. Just an unrequited infatuation that I am working on erasing.”
“Alison, you should know by now that I can see right through you. Maybe you should learn how to mask your emotions better.” I gulped at his words and hoped he was the only one who could see it. I didn’t need the world to know. “And I see he has feelings for you. ”
“No, he doesn’t,” I sarcastically chuckled. It was empty and acidic, but still, I couldn’t help but laugh. I took a huge gulp from my glass of wine, trying to swallow the hard truth of my words.
“Again, my dear, you forget who you are talking to. He does have feelings for you, and that is as clear as day. It’s a dangerous game you are playing here. People can get hurt.”
“You can’t even imagine how wrong you are this time, Vincenzo. I guess even you fail with your guesses sometimes,” I confidently winked, knowing that I was not mistaken about this particular subject.
“Do you want proof? I’ll give it to you, but you have to be willing to oversee the lies people tell you and open your mind to finally see reality for what it is.”
“How can you give me proof?”
Vincenzo stood up, holding his hand out for me to take. I steadied myself as much as I could before placing it in his and standing up. Did I even want proof?
He opened his arm and pulled me in for a slow dance, placing his hand on the small of my back and his lips to my ear.
“Keep your eyes open, Nessa , and see the impulse of his uncontrolled reactions before the mind can grip it and constrict it. I’m going to spin you so you can see for yourself.”
As we danced, Vincenzo had his lips attached to my ear, kissing it gently between his whispers. He slowly turned us around so I was now facing Max, watching his placid, unfazed expression as we danced.
No reaction.
Nothing but a blank poker face.
“Eyes open, Nessa !”
Vincenzo pulled back from my ear and placed a lingering kiss on my lips, taking me by complete surprise. Not only me, but Max, too. Before he could control it, I saw him jerk forward as if he was coming for me, his eyes popping open, his nose flaring in anger.
Suddenly, he got a grip on his emotions, turning his face to the side, not watching the show that we had put on in his honor. My eyes lowered to his balled fists, one of them holding his gun in an iron clasp. I could feel his nervousness. The raging hell that was burning inside him. The veins on his arms protruding into bulky blue lanes of rushing blood.
His jaw was so tightly clenched that I could see that muscle popping at any minute.
There it was. The truth behind the lies he had told me.
No. He never had.
The lies I had told myself, the ones he had led me to believe. A dangerous game indeed. And I knew exactly who was going to get hurt!
He asked me not to trust Vincenzo, to have my guard up, but at the end of the day, he was the one not being honest.
As Vincenzo swirled me around, Max vanished into thin air. He was gone.
My chest was tight with a strange agony. A sense of dread that had now taken over my whole body. I was sure this wasn’t what it looked like. I was more than sure that Max had no feelings for me other than lust and newfound disgust.
What happened on that plane was nothing but staking one last claim before he handed me over.
“Don Massimo,” One of the Fabs called, announcing his presence from the door before Vincenzo nodded for him to come in. “Senor Diego is here to speak with you. He says it’s an urgent matter.”
Vincenzo huffed in exasperation before turning towards me and replacing his grim expression with a gentle smile .
“I have to deal with this, Nessa . My driver will take you back to the hotel, and Fabio will accompany you to safety. I’m sorry to have to cut our night short.”
“It’s okay. You have business to attend to.”
“Take the day tomorrow to treat yourself to all the hotel’s amenities. The hot stone massage is close to heavenly. I want you to be pampered and relaxed for the engagement party on Saturday.”
“I will. Thank you for dinner.”
“It was truly my pleasure.” I saw a small spark of gloating victory. He did it on purpose. He used me and my doubts to assert his dominance and ownership over me. The sense of dread I already had deepened, and I couldn’t wait to get out of here.
Jimmy had the car ready to go, and I didn’t wait for Vincenzo’s men. I did not appreciate that display of propriety. I needed to think, to be alone and try to read between whatever fucked up blurred lines there were to analyze.