13. Valerio
THIRTEEN
VALERIO
Life was truly bleak. Two weeks had passed since Valerio had seen her, spoken to her, but not since he thought about her. He thought about her every day, destroying his mind with the constant cycle of wondering what she was doing, knowing he had to let her go, fighting the urge to kidnap her and keep her all for himself, and then falling back into his spiral. It took all of his willpower not to run back to her, begging her to take him back. But he didn’t. And he wasn’t going to.
He couldn’t be the reason she found misery in her life. After his mother, he’d learned desperation could push people into the worst situations. If Luna ever hurt herself because of him, he wouldn’t be able to handle it. That night, he saw the brokenness in her eyes, the exhaustion she was facing after having fought against him for so long.
So he released her.
Now all he heard about her were rumors that swirled through the people in their world. Her father had allegedly found someone else, but Valerio wasn’t sure how legitimate that was. He couldn’t pry into it either because it would only raise suspicions on whether he was trying to reinstate the contract or not. If there was someone new, it was better he didn’t know who it was.
He didn’t have time to start a war over it.
So he surrounded himself with work and beat the shit out of the punching bag, having to replace it too many times to count at this point. Only when he could hardly keep his eyes open did he make his way to his bed where he lay, begging sleep to overcome him. Rarely did it.
Valerio sat at the kitchen counter, his second cup of coffee in his hand. He hadn’t slept the entire night and felt like he was on the verge of a caffeine overdose at any moment. Still, no matter how badly he wanted to sleep, his nightmares shifted into finding Luna in the tub instead of his mother, making it impossible.
The first night that happened, he woke up in a cold sweat, barely making it to the bathroom where he threw up everything that was in his body.
He was absolutely terrified, his hands shaking, having to convince himself it wasn’t her. She was alive.
Valerio ran his hands through his hair. He was seriously losing his fucking mind.
Gianna stumbled into the kitchen on the phone, Allister following in after her. His brows were furrowed as he listened to his sister’s conversation.
“Tell her to stop freaking out. We’ll figure something out,” Gianna told whoever was on the phone. “Ask her if she has a passport with another identity.”
She rummaged through the fridge, taking out a water bottle. Valerio watched her, having a clear indication of who she could be talking to. He looked over at Allister, who had a look of worry on his face.
The hair on his body stood up in anticipation of some sort of bad news. Something bad was happening; he just didn’t know what it was yet.
“Maybe I can ask Dante if he knows someone who can create one for her,” Gianna said, running a hand through her hair. “Give her the phone.”
Valerio wished he had super hearing so he could listen in on whatever was being said on the other side of the phone. He craved to hear her voice one more time even if it was her telling him to go fuck himself. He tightened his hand on the coffee mug.
Gianna looked at Valerio before turning away from him to face the kitchen cabinets. “Luna, listen to me. We will get you out of this. Give me a couple of hours to figure out something. Give the phone back to Blair.”
She was silent for a second before she whispered into the phone, “Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. Don’t leave her alone.”
With that, the phone call ended and Gianna let out a deep breath. She turned around, a bright smile on her face that didn’t match her eyes. “Good morning.” She was a great actress; he would give her that.
“What’s happening?” Valerio asked immediately.
“Nothing you should concern yourself with,” she told him, crossing her arms in defiance.
“Gianna, now is not the time,” Allister said in a stern voice. “Tell him or I will.”
“Why do both of you know something I don’t?” Valerio asked.
“Because she didn’t want anyone to tell you,” Gianna said.
Valerio’s eyes narrowed. “Speak now.”
“If you must know, but you didn’t find out from me, Luna is having an engagement party tonight,” she said quickly and quietly. “Her parents found someone else.”
Valerio was sure his heart had stopped for a second. Or maybe it was longer than that because time seemed to have stopped so quickly, he didn’t understand how long he was silent for.
The rumors were true then. She was marrying someone else. He shouldn’t have cared.
Something murderous rushed through him in an instant. The mug in his hand shattered, leaving a mess of spilled coffee and ceramic pieces on the counter.
“It’s better I didn’t know.”
“No one is expecting you to do anything about it,” Gianna said. “You let her go, and that’s great for you, but I’m wasting valuable time talking to you right now.”
Valerio let her leave the room, his heartbeat so loud in his ears that he couldn’t hear anything else.
Allister turned to him, only when he was sure Gianna was gone. “What’s your plan? You’re not actually going to let her go through with another marriage, are you?”
“There’s nothing for me to do. She didn’t want me to trap her, so I let her go. We all knew this was the alternative,” Valerio said, standing.
“Despite all that, you still love her. You know you do. She cares for you too. She did before and I’m sure she still does.”
Valerio froze in his spot. In the next second, he had his hand around Allister’s throat, holding him against the wall. “You don’t know anything,” he spit out.
He didn’t need false promises about whether Luna cared about him or not. She told him she never would. She promised she never would.
But what if she did?
Allister gasped for air. “I won’t be surprised if you crash that party tonight.”
Valerio released his neck and left the room. He made his way into his office, attempting to take in a deep breath to calm himself, but it didn’t work. He leaned against the desk, letting out a scream before she swiped all the items on the desk on the floor. Valerio turned around, lifting the coffee table off the ground and throwing it at the wall.
He felt disastrous, destructive. Something dark swirled inside him, wanting to destroy something—someone. Over his dead body would Luna be marrying anyone other than him. He gave her a chance, an out. He did something good.
But that wasn’t who he was. He wasn’t good. He wasn’t the hero. He was the one that took what he wanted and destroyed those who denied him.
He was coming back to take his wife, and this time, he wasn’t ever letting her go.