Chapter 16
I barely slept last night, still unable to get the argument Lorenzo and I had out of my mind. I had nowhere to go. I would have slept beside my grandfather’s grave if it wasn’t for Red taking me to Carmella’s house.
She did more than I ever expected her to. For the first time, I felt numb, unable to fathom what had happened or why he wouldn’t believe me—the woman who was supposed to be his wife or so he kept reminding me.
Carmella tended to me, and despite me saying I didn’t need anything, she didn’t take no for an answer. She took care of me, something my own mother hadn’t done in a while and forgot how to do. I found a safe space in Carmella’s home. I found someone who treated me as her own.
“He hasn’t always been this way.” Carmella sighed, handing me a photo of Lorenzo when he was a boy.
His boyish grin beamed up at me from the frame. My eyes fell to the two who sat beside him, Carmella and Franco. Looking at Franco was like looking at my own husband. Lorenzo was the spitting image of his father. It was clear he took a whole lot more from him than looks.
“He used to have a heart. He used to care, but the day he lost his father that changed, and I’m so sorry you’re caught in the middle of everything.
You don’t deserve to be.” She wrapped her arm around me, something I wasn’t used to.
The only people I ever felt that love and affection from were my grandparents.
“How could they do that to me? How could Lorenzo even suggest such a thing?” I let a tear escape and, for the first time, felt as though I was letting go. Something I hadn’t done in a long time. I didn’t need to scream or shout to let it out. I just needed to open up a little.
“I don’t know but perhaps give it some time. He might surprise you.” She smiled, but I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince me or herself. “Why don’t you get some sleep? Everything will seem better in the morning.”
“I don’t think anything will ever look better, Carmella.” I sighed, pulling the covers up around my chin.
“You never know. For now, get some rest. Red and I will be downstairs if you need anything.”
She flicked off the light, and I fell into a deep sleep until Lorenzo haunted each and every dream.
“Mornin’, A,” Emmet greeted as I entered the kitchen.
“Morning.” I glanced around quickly. “No Lorenzo this morning?” I asked.
“Nope, but let me introduce you to the next best thing.” I heard a voice from the garage door.One I never heard before.
"A, meet Nicolo, Lorenzo's cousin," Emmet said, nodding towards the new arrival with a welcoming smile. Nicolo strolled over to where we stood by the island, his footsteps softly echoing on the tiled floor. He was a tall man with dark, wavy hair that framed his face and intense brown eyes that seemed to take in every detail of the room. He couldn’t have been much younger than Lorenzo.
Maybe mid twenties. His presence seemed commanding yet approachable.
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee was already enough to brighten my morning.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Anastacia. My aunt has told me so much about you.” He kissed both cheeks before gripping me tightly in a hug.
“I’m so sorry I can’t say the same.” I breathed, taken aback by his gesture.
“Get your hands off my wife.”
And there he was, like clockwork. My so-called husband.
Nicolo released me as he turned to face Lorenzo, whose face was a vision of rage. “Alright, cousin, nice to see you!”
“Nice to see me or nice to put those grubby hands all over my wife?”
“Oh, calm down. There’s no need to get so territorial,” he teased. “From what I understand, you seem to keep messing up, am I right?” Nicolo was skating on thin ice, though he didn’t seem to care.
“Keep talking and I’ll slice that tongue right out of your mouth,” Lorenzo snapped.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to…” I pondered for a second. “Actually why lie? I just don’t want to be anywhere near my bastard husband.” I turned to Nicolo, capturing his attention. “It was nice to meet you, Nicolo. I guess I’ll see you around.”
I barged past Lorenzo, who, of course, was hot on my heels before I had time to stop him.
“Ana.” His voice was firm as he spoke my name, causing me to stop in my tracks for a moment.
“You should catch up with your cousin and get away from me. I’m here because I have to be, don’t think it’s because I want to be.”
“Listen—”
“No, Lorenzo, the time for listening was the other night, and you blew it. You fucked it up and let your own mother pick up the pieces.” I spun around to face him, slapping his chest as hard as I could.
“Did you think I would run home to my father? Or stay here while you belittled me? I had nowhere, but deep down, you knew that, and you let me walk out.”
“Ana—”
“You know, I thought that maybe, just maybe, whatever this was could work, but now? Now I want nothing to do with you.” I turned away from him as he exhaled a sharp breath.
“Ana, I believe you.” He sighed. “I believe nothing happened.”
Wow… that must have hurt him to admit.
“The time for believing me is long gone.”
“Just stop for one minute.” He rounded me instantly, his hands cupping either side of my neck. “Give me one more chance.”
“You never had a chance to begin with.” I didn’t know how true that was, but I said it regardless.
“I messed up. I hold my hands up to that.” He pulled me closer, not letting go of me. “Be ready tonight. I have a surprise.”
“Lorenzo—”
“Be ready at eight.”
He disappeared, leaving me no choice but to do as he asked. I had no idea what he had planned, but knowing him, it wouldn’t be something romantic or even remotely nice. I’d do exactly what I was taught. I’d keep my guard up and never let someone in who could weaken me.
Lorenzo Ricci would never become my weakness.
He would never become someone I relied on.
And he’d certainly never become the person I’d love.
As I reached the car, I noticed it was just Lorenzo.
No driver, no bodyguards, and none of the usual crowd.
Every instinct told me to turn around and let him go wherever he wanted to alone but I didn’t.
I forced a smile, one I hoped looked natural.
His charm was as polished as the damn car but it didn’t fool me.
It never would. I had no intention of letting my guard down tonight, not even for a second.
“You look beautiful.” His voice was as smooth as velvet, and his eyes swept over me, lingering just a moment too long.
“Compliments will get you nowhere, Lorenzo, so just start the damn car and take me to whatever it is you have planned.” I slid into the passenger seat, not giving him the satisfaction of looking at him.
We started the drive in silence but that was short-lived because he decided to speak a minute later. “I thought we’d go somewhere private,” he said with a smirk. “Somewhere we can talk without interruptions.”
Private…
The word didn’t sit right with me. Something about it was off.
I knew he wasn’t the type for a quiet dinner and a moonlit stroll.
No. He was fucked up. His kind of private was no doubt the complete opposite of mine.
He always had an agenda, always seemed to be playing some sort of game, and I was determined to not be his pawn.
The car slowed to a stop as I glanced out of the window. He’d driven us to an industrial area far from town.
Somewhere remote and secluded.
He opened the door, his hand brushing mine, but I refused to take it. “I can get out of the car myself,” I snapped. “Just tell me why you’ve brought me to a shit hole like this.”
“Alright, you caught me. I need your help with something.”
“Of course you do. Just as I thought, you have a hidden agenda.” I scoffed, shutting the car door behind me.
"This way," he insisted, his voice a hushed murmur as he gestured with a slight nod of his head, guiding me through the narrow alley towards the looming silhouette of a large, dimly lit warehouse.
Shadows clung to the building's corrugated walls, and the faint hum of machinery buzzed in the distance, adding an eerie undercurrent to the silence that enveloped us.
As we entered the building, I glanced around, and it was clear many people had died here.
Blood stained the floors and walls, the stench enough to knock even the strongest stomach sick.
I wasn’t scared. But with each step I took, I felt uneasy, something screaming at me from the inside that told me to go back to the house.
But right then, fear was the last thing I wanted Lorenzo to see.
“Here we are.” He smiled, but it was so fucking sly and cocky.
As we turned the corner from the corridor I realised why we were here and why he looked like a cat who got the cream. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I spotted the single chair in the vast and empty space.
“Surprise.” He chuckled, closing the door with a click behind me. “I thought you and your father could use a little heart to heart, reconcile perhaps.”
“What’s your plan, Lorenzo?” I asked, not letting my mask slip no matter how much my father stared at me.
Chains bound his wrists to the arms of the chair, blood trickling down his fingers as the rough metal bit into his skin.
The man who raised me sat there bloody and bruised, but fuck, he sat prouder than ever.
Not letting Lorenzo or anyone else faze him.
“Let me guess, you want to kill him, and for me to watch?”
“Wow. Ding, ding, ding.” He laughed, and it took all I had not to smash his damn face in. “Are you surprised though?” he whispered, leaning into me as his lips brushed my ear.
“Nothing you do could ever surprise me. You’re a sick and twisted bastard, I expected nothing less.” I retorted. “You deserve to rot in hell alongside your father,” I sneered, shoving him away from me.
He pulled my body flush to his, his eyes burning with anger. “Repeat those words again, and I’ll end you the same way I’m about to end him.”