Chapter 24 - Darya
Stefano goes straight to his office without even trying to come and talk to me, so I assume he must be furious with me. I don’t know how to handle him when he gets this way. I feel anxious and miserable. I wish he would just try and see if from my side.
He doesn’t seem to understand how much I care about him and how worried it made me when he disappeared like that. I head up to my own bedroom, needing some space to think and clear my head.
An hour goes by, and I start to feel more and more claustrophobic and stressed out.
The more I sit here alone, the more I feel overwhelmed with how much I have fallen for Stefano—and how cold he can be towards me. I think I have fallen in love with a man who is incapable of feeling the same way in return. Tears sting the back of my eyes.
Finally, when I can’t take it anymore, I grab a piece of paper, scribble a quick note and leave it on my bed. Then I grab my handbag and walk straight towards the garage. I choose one of Stefano’s cars and climb inside. I need to get out of here.
The garage door slides quietly open, and I know Stefano won’t even hear it, so that’s fine. I don’t need him rushing out of the house and cussing me out for going out without a security guard to accompany me.
I need to think.
And I don’t need a babysitter for that.
I push the car into gear and hit the open road. At first, I don’t know where I’m going, but then realize I am heading somewhere very specific without planning it at all. It’s as though my heart knew what I needed to do.
When I reach my destination, I pull off the road into the parking area of the garden park, right next to the graveyard where Stef’s parents are buried.
I need to talk to someone, and I think out of everyone, they knew him the best in this world.
Maybe they can send me some positive vibes or guidance.
I walk slowly through the park and the beautiful garden surrounding the graveyard, taking in the flowers and how peaceful it feels here.
When I reach his parents' gravesite, I sit down on the bench opposite the two headstones and sigh softly.
I watch them for a while, trying to get my emotions under control, fighting tears again.
I didn’t realize how much I was struggling right up until this moment.
“Hi guys. I wanted to talk to someone about Stefano. I wanted to tell you”—I take a slow breath—“I wanted to tell you that I have fallen in love with your son.”
Tears start falling silently down my cheeks. I can’t hold them back anymore.
I wipe them away with the back of my hand.
A soft laugh escapes my lips. “I don’t mean to be crying. I know it seems silly. I know when you fall in love with someone it should be a really happy moment, something you celebrate, but the problem is that I think this love is very one-sided. I don’t think he loves me back. I mean, actually, I don’t think Stefano even knows how to love anymore. I think he has been through so much that he ended up building these massive walls around himself and now he just shuts people out before there is even a chance of something happening.”
I swing my feet in the dirt beneath the bench and let the tears flow freely.
Saying my fears out loud has made it all worse.
I can’t deny it anymore.
It’s real now.
I don’t think Stefano does, or ever will, love me back.
I lean back against the bench taking a few deep breaths to try and pull myself together.
I’m not sure how long I've been sitting there when my phone starts to ring, and in the quiet graveyard it sounds so jarring, I jump with fright.
I pull it out of my handbag.
Stefano’s name is flashing across my screen. He is probably furious that I left without telling him where I was going. I don’t know if I can face his anger anymore. It’s breaking my heart.
I sigh and slide the green button to answer the call.
“Stef?”
“Where did you go?” he blurts out immediately, the worry in his voice is thick and obvious.
“I’m okay, I came to the park to sit for a while.”
I hear him taking a deep breath.
“Darya, we really need to talk. I need to tell you something.” His tone is softer. He actually sounds a bit nervous. My heart tightens in my chest as my anxiety gets worse.
“What’s going on?” I am speaking slowly, almost not wanting to know the answer.
He clears his throat and I sit anxiously on the bench, waiting.
“You are right.”
His words catch me off guard.
“Right about what?”
“Your family—I shouldn’t have hidden my problems from them. I should talk to your brothers and ask for help with things like this. I am the one who is treating them like outsiders, not the other way around.”
“Really?” I stammer, shocked by the way he is being so vulnerable in saying these things to me. This isn’t how I am used to Stefano being, and it is definitely not the call I was expecting from him today.
“Yes, really, especially since I have fallen in love with you.”
His words slap into me like a bolt of lightning. Love ? Did he say love?
I take a shaking breath and try to pull my thoughts together. Love ?
“Darya? Are you there?”
“I love you too, Stef,” I blurt out as I wipe my hand across my cheek to try and brush away the tears that are falling again. I am so overwhelmed with emotion I can’t hold them back.
“You love me too?” he asks, with obvious relief in his voice and just as much surprise as I feel right now.
“I do.” I laugh and cry at the same time.
“Darya, I’ve been in love with you for ages, I just didn’t know how to tell you. I never thought—I never thought that someone like you could even love someone like me.”
“What do you mean—someone like me?” I ask, confused.
“It doesn’t matter. Darya, please come home. I want to talk to you in person, not over the phone like this. I should have told you all of this to your face. But I couldn’t wait. Can you come home? How long will you be?”
“I’ll leave here now, and I think it will take me around thirty minutes to get home.”
“Good. I want to show you what you mean to me, baby girl.”
My heart flutters wildly. “I won’t be long,” I grin.
“I’m waiting.”
We say goodbye, both feeling a little overly happy and maybe shy after our confessions, and then hang up.
I push my phone back into my handbag and stand up.
“Did you hear all that?” I say to the two gravestones and laugh again. “He says he loves me.”
I am grinning from ear to ear when I walk through the park back towards the car. I can’t believe this is happening. I thought this was impossible. I thought I was living in some delusional fantasy land by hoping for this.
When I glance up, I can see the parking lot in the distance, but that isn’t what causes my stomach to knot so tightly.
Four figures, dressed head to toe in black, step out from the trees near me and start running straight towards me.
I spin on my heels and drop my bag as I start fleeing for my life.
I can’t run towards the car, because they are blocking that path, so I just run, anywhere—I just have to get away. My heart is screaming in my chest and fear is flooding me, pushing me harder, making me run faster.
But it isn’t fast enough.
Two of the men catch up with me easily just as a car spins across the sidewalk in front of me.
Someone grabs my arms and yanks me so hard I am pulled right off my feet to the ground, slamming into it so hard that all of the air is punched right out of my lungs.
I gasp for breath as I try to stand up again, but a man kicks me in the stomach with his heavy boot.
I gag in pain, fighting for breath again.
“Pick her up. Get her in the car. Hurry up before someone sees us.”
He lifts me off the ground easily and throws me over his shoulder. The pain in my stomach from the kick gets worse as it presses into his shoulder.
I feel like I am going to throw up.
Think. Pay attention. You have to gather as much information as you can. I fight for reason and logic through the panic as they throw me harshly into the trunk of the car and slam it closed. I scream loudly, finding my voice for the first time, but it’s too late. The engine starts and the car pulls out.
I don’t even have my phone on me. Stefano is waiting for me at home, and I don’t have any way of letting anyone know where I am or what has happened. Sweat glitters on my face as fear soaks through me.
I fight the new rush of panic that overwhelms me. You are a smart girl, Darya. Just pay attention to everything, and when you get your chance, you take it. It’s going to be ok.