Chapter 10 #2
It was official. Pietra had just become my ex-best friend. Josie would still get a second chance, obviously, after being properly tortured.
I punched out the last message in this lifetime that I would ever send that bitch.
I shoved my phone into my purse and stood.
“Thank you for the company…”
Heithor cut me off. “Where are you going?”
“To the mansion, since your crazy sister abandoned me here.”
He stood. “I’ll take you.”
“I appreciate it, but I don’t want to bother you. I’ll get an Uber. It was a pleasure, Ms. Hunter. Have a good night,” I finished, skirting the coffee table, almost proud of myself for managing to make my voice sound polite.
Then Heithor happened—or rather, his fingers closing around my arm happened. I looked at his hand and then at his hard, unreadable face.
“I said I’ll take you,” he growled aggressively.
I narrowed my eyes, holding his stare. He got the message and loosened his grip. I pulled my arm away, my expression closed off.
“And I said you don’t need to bother. I can very well call an Uber!”
“I’m not letting you take an Uber at this hour and in your condition.”
“What condition? I’m pregnant, Castellammare, not sick.”
“You’re coming with me, and that’s final.”
I swallowed a curse so I wouldn’t make a scene right there, because scene or no scene, I knew Heithor wouldn’t budge.
Hell, I was going to kill Pietra!
When we reached the Audi Q7, Heithor opened the front passenger door and waited for me, but I ignored him and climbed into the back.
His irritated gaze lashed me. There was a very good chance I was behaving like a two-year-old.
But who cared? He could go to hell with his little friend.
During the drive, I tried to be indifferent to them, keeping my gaze to myself while the two of them, all cozy, chatted away, until we finally stopped and the engine shut off.
I was already prepared to get out when I looked through the window and was surprised.
We weren’t in front of the mansion, but outside a house in a place I didn’t recognize.
“Thanks for the beer and the night, handsome. And if you want to stop by to talk or whatever, you know where to find me.” I went tense as I watched her lean toward him and kiss the corner of his mouth.
Still with the door open, she looked at me with that friendly smile, which only made my nausea worse.
“It was a pleasure, Antonella. Best wishes to you and the baby. Oh, dark-haired boy, I still have that insomnia.” She winked.
Heithor smiled crookedly, the same wicked smile he gave me when he was turned on, and I fought not to punch him in the head.
“Good night, Sophie.”
Jealousy and rage fermented when I saw that the car was still sitting there.
“Can we go? Or do you want to go in and have some coffee? Maybe have that little chat she wants, huh?” His eyes snapped to mine and narrowed seriously. “Go ahead! God forbid I get in the way of your fun when I can call an Uber.”
He smiled, and I wanted to wipe that arrogant grin off his face.
“We’ll go as soon as you put your pretty ass in the front seat.”
“I’m perfectly fine here, and I’d appreciate it if we left already.”
Heithor leaned back against his seat in a relaxed sprawl, watching me through the rearview mirror, one eyebrow arched with arrogance. God, he was delicious… and so hateful.
In a careless tone, he said,
“We’re not leaving until you sit in the front seat. I’m not your driver.”
“I didn’t ask you to be! You offered. Actually, you decreed it. And you know what?” I reached for the door lock. “I don’t need you to take me anywhere!”
“Don’t you dare get out of this car, Antonella, unless it’s to obey me.”
“Or what? What are you going to do? You should know I’m not afraid of you, idiot!”
“Oh, I know you’re not. You never have been, have you? By the way, from what I remember, you seemed to like my…” He paused, tilting his head to the side, his shameless jet-black gaze locked on mine. “…corrections.”
“You’re crude!”
“You liked that too.”
“You… you… Hmph!”
“Do you really want to stay here all night? Not that I’d complain. The car is very comfortable, but I imagine in your condition it isn’t exactly convenient. So stop throwing a tantrum and move to the fucking front seat before I do it for you.”
“I’m not…”
Snorting with rage and mentally calling him every name I could think of, I changed seats, slamming the door so hard the whole car shook.
“Now we can go.”
“You’re ridiculous!”
“Why? Because I didn’t give in to your tantrum about taking an Uber at this hour, when the streets are full of every kind of lunatic?”
I clenched my teeth and pressed my lips together.
I didn’t want to speak at that moment, when the tiniest spark would send my self-control straight to hell.
Heithor didn’t say anything else either.
Only the sound of the car stereo playing low broke the unpleasant silence between us while I tried to calm down.
But no matter how deeply I breathed, the damn thing wasn’t helping at all.
Quite the opposite. I wanted to take off my sandal and shove it down his throat—or at least smack him in the face with it until there wasn’t the slightest trace of sole left.
The whole situation was so ridiculous that if I hadn’t been on the verge of exploding with rage, I would have died laughing right there.
And I’d thought it couldn’t get any worse.
My throat closed, my eyes burning as I realized we would never be what we had been before, and worse, that I was doomed to suffer.
What a shitty life!
I didn’t wait for Heithor and stormed into the mansion with stiff steps as fast as my heels allowed. Holding back tears at any cost.
“Antonella?” Heithor came after me. I stopped in the middle of the living room and turned to face him, my posture making it clear I didn’t want to talk right now. “Why are you so upset? Listen, if it’s because Pietra and Josie disappeared…”
“I’m not upset!”
“Right, right. You’re not upset, sorry, my mistake. Let’s ask the right question, then. Why are you being aggressive with me? If it’s because of what I said in the car, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I was joking.”
“Today is not a good day for you to test my patience. I’m pissed as hell and dying to slap the shit out of you, so don’t tempt me, Heithor!”
I turned to leave.
“Antonella, I’ve already told you not to turn your back on me when I’m talking to you, damn it! It’s past time you started acting like a grown woman who’s going to be a mother.”
Defiant tears slid down my cheeks. “I’m tired, my feet are fucking killing me, and my backstabbing friends left me alone. The package is more than complete. I really don’t need anything else.”
“You weren’t alone. Sophie and I were there with you.”
I turned to face him. “Wow! I couldn’t have wished for better company! I should feel so honored, huh? Should I thank you now? Thank you so much, Castellammare, for the exceptional role of fool of the year!”
“Are you insane, woman? What the fuck is this role of fool you’re talking about?
” he bit out, his fierce gaze burning into me, but I held it.
I wasn’t much different from him. “I couldn’t let you take an Uber at this hour.
Do you have any idea what kind of shit is out on the streets at this time?
Do you know the danger you’d be putting yourself and our son in if I gave in to your childish tantrum?
It’s unbelievable that you’re angry with me for looking after your safety and our son’s, since apparently you don’t have the slightest sense of self-preservation and prefer to act on impulse without thinking about the consequences of your actions, putting yourself and our son in danger. ”
My heart took a deep cut.
Once the initial shock passed, I walked up to Heithor. And then my hand collided with his face with all the force and rage I felt.
“Don’t you ever dare accuse me in such an arrogant, reckless, cruel way again, you bastard!
” I hissed in a low voice, pointing a finger at him and staring into his eyes, which stared back at me with a faint shadow of shock.
“Listen carefully to what I’m telling you, Heithor, because I’m only going to say it once.
Never, and I mean never, dare speak to me like that again.
You want to accuse me? Judge me or whatever other bullshit?
If any one of those options—or all of them—makes you feel better, if that’s what’s missing so you can feel good about yourself and we can live together in peace, then fine, do it!
But be man enough to do it openly, please. I’m sick of your damned insinuations!”
Heithor stayed silent and still. His expression unshaken, his deep eyes swallowing me whole. I swallowed with a sound and forced my feet to move, desperate to shut myself in my room and finally cry over my misery.
“You can’t demand even the bare minimum when you’re unreachable to anyone around you, don’t you think?
” His biting tone, followed by an ironic laugh, stopped me, and tears splashed down my face before I could contain them.
“I’m acting like a coward, taking shots at you?
How do you think I should behave after everything you did?
Do you think words of judgment and accusation will erase the suffering I went through?
Do you think it’ll make any difference to me?
No, Antonella, it won’t. And I don’t need to take shots at you, nor do I need to accuse or judge you, not when you made a point of having an audience to throw your shit.
There are no words in this language or any other good enough to make me feel better.
And do you know why? Because you, girl, sent me to hell with a one-way ticket. ”
I wiped my face. “Y-You think I’m in heaven? That I’m not aware of what I caused? That I’m indifferent to all of it? Do you think any of this was ever easy for me? That it still is? You don’t know anything, Heithor. You have no idea what I went through to still be standing. No one does!”