Chapter 12
Elena
I’M STILL A BIT NUMB FROM THE DAY’S EVENTS.
“Is there anything you’d like to add to your statement Miss.
Reeves?” The police officer asks me politely.
Apparently, he’s no stranger to calls of domestic violence and insisted that I press charges against Matt.
I decided against it much to the officer and Evie’s dismay.
“There’s no point Evie; I won’t even be here. I’m moving to another city. Matt doesn’t even know where so I’ll be perfectly safe. Besides there will be a police officer present when I collect my things.”
“I’m not happy about it, is all I’m saying. When not dealt with properly these things, and by things, I mean Matt, they come back to bite you in the ass.”
I’ve got a plaster on my cheekbone covering a scratch that I got from the altercation and I have bandages on my wrists.
They were worse than I expected. The skin has basically rubbed off and they were bloody and bruised with blue and purple shading around the wounds.
The medic applied a generous amount of what looked like anti burn cream on my wrists before wrapping them up.
My body is covered in tiny cuts and bruises but I’m just happy it wasn’t worse.
Matt had totally lost it. He seemed like a completely different person.
In the five years that I’ve known him; I have never seen that side of him.
Not even a glimmer of the man I saw only hours ago.
Matt was busy arguing with the same officer about pressing charges against Evie for entering his home and knocking him out, to which the officer just laughed it off saying… “Yeah, not going to happen buddy.”
I decided to take a day off to rest my mangled, beaten-up body, before calling Lorenzo to arrange the movers.
I don’t have the strength to deal with any of that right now, so I stay in bed for most of the day binging on ice cream and Cheetos in between naps.
Body aches and pains aside, it’s been a good day.
A fresh start and I’m feeling hopeful and positive in spite of it all.
Evie and I indulge in Chinese takeout while watching Pretty Woman, staring at the screen in utter appreciation of a young Richard Gere.
He really is dreamy. After the movie I head to shower and change into my comfy pj’s.
It’s still early, around 8pm when I decide to send Lorenzo a message regarding the movers.
I hope it’s not too unprofessional, perhaps I should have waited till morning.
I’m biting my lip when my phone buzzes with Lorenzo’s reply.
The movers will be at your address by 8am. You can instruct them as to where everything will be stored.
I type out a quick thank you but he doesn’t respond. The grouch.
It’s 7:45am, I’m outside the house with the police escort waiting for the movers.
Matt is there too, but I see he’s on his way out.
He looks my way before dropping his gaze and walks towards his car.
A few moments later and he’s gone. I exhale in relief; it would have been awkward with him here watching while I pack up our life.
The police officer informed me that Matt was advised to make himself scarce while I got my stuff.
Three hours later, the truck is loaded and not a single trace of me is left behind.
After locking the house up, I hand the keys over to the police officer.
He will return it to Matt later. And that’s it, the end of a chapter.
I walk down the pathway and get into my car without giving the house a second glance.
It’s been a hell of an experience and a lesson learned, one that I would never repeat. Thank God I have my new job to focus on, a beautiful little boy to take care of and my writing career to focus on.
It is not lost on me that I’ll be close to the book store that hosted me last week and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
All my belongings have been put safely into storage.
Evie had a key made for me as well, in case I needed anything from the locker and she wasn’t available.
I have four more days here and then it’s off to Chicago.
My body is mostly healed, but my wrists are still bandaged.
The welts have scabbed over but the bruising is still dark and have taken on the creepy impression of Matt’s fingers from when he held them so tight.
The memory makes my stomach churn. To be honest everything happened so fast, with the breakup, the subsequent attack, the moving company, the storage, packing my stuff and the back-and-forth texts with Lorenzo giving him daily updates that I haven’t truly had time to even absorb what actually happened.
I was attacked, assaulted and thrown around like a rag doll by a man I once loved, a man who betrayed me and then attacked me whilst proclaiming his undying love for me.
It’s all a bit fucked up and I don’t think I’ve really processed any of it.
Maybe I should go a day or two early, then I’ll have at least two days alone to come to terms with everything before starting over. Having made my mind up, I text Lorenzo, who responds almost immediately as usual. Does he have his phone on him constantly? Who responds that fast?
That would suit me fine. You could use the time to find your way around the house.
Perfect, it’s settled then. I leave tomorrow morning.
Goodbyes are hard. I left at 9am. Evie waved me off after crushing my ribs in a tight hug but she understood why I didn’t want the long-drawn-out goodbye.
I’d probably get cold feet and stay. I decide to take the scenic route along the M-22 before branching off further ahead.
Catching views of Lake Michigan makes the drive relaxing.
A few hours later I reach my destination, pulling up in front of the wrought iron gates, I check the address again to make sure I’m at the right place.
Yep, I’m at the right place but the house isn’t visible from here.
There’s a tall wall surrounding the perimeter and a few trees out front blocking my view.
I reach out to press the button on the intercom, some static and a crackling sound before a man’s voice, Lorenzo’s voice comes through.
“Drive straight ahead, I’ll meet you at the garage Miss. Reeves.”
“Thank you.”
The gates swing open and I drive through to the top of the driveway.
As I take a slight left, the house comes into view.
Oh my God! All this from real estate? I’m in the wrong business for sure.
True to his word, Lorenzo is waiting for me in front of the garage.
There are five doors that all open into a common space.
The garage is huge. I drive into parking bay five as Lorenzo waves me in.
Getting out of the car, I make my way to the front of the garage to meet my new employer.
“Hi, this is a beautiful place you have here.”
“Thank you, Miss. Reeves. This will be your parking bay.” He says as he hands me a fob with a remote for the garage.
“It’s Elena, and thank you, I appreciate that.”
“Right, it’s going to take some getting used to. Elena. How was the drive over?”
“It was rather lovely, I took the scenic route, it was spectacular.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Angelo is staying at my mums’ place so I thought I might take the liberty of giving you a tour of the house and show you to your living quarters? That is if you’re up for it? I know you must be tired from your trip.”
“I would love a tour, thank you very much.”
“Fantastic, follow me.”
We make our way past the garage, towards the house.
There are huge square stone blocks laid into the plush green lawn, running all the way up to the stairs at the front of the house.
There are five steps leading up to a porch and a huge double door.
Lorenzo opens the door for me and waves me inside.
It leads to a foyer which has a round table in the centre and a huge bouquet of flowers set inside it.
There is a bifurcated staircase further back from the foyer that splits into two staircases at the top landing.
“The left wing houses your quarters as well as Angelo’s playroom and bedroom. The right wing is my area. I’ll show you that a little later. For now, can I get you something to eat and drink? You must be famished.”
“I had a sandwich earlier on but I would love a glass of water if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Of course not, follow me. You can look around the kitchen while we’re at it.”
We walk around the stairs and turn right to find a decent twelve-seater dining table, walking through the dining room we move through the wide doorway and into the massive kitchen.
Its huge, with state-of-the-art appliances, quartz counter tops and black and grey cabinets with gold fixtures.
There are six pendant lights that hang luxuriously above the centre island.
To the left is a well-stocked pantry and to the right is an adequate laundry room.
Lorenzo hands me the promised glass of water and I sip at it leisurely while taking in my surroundings.
“My study is just on the other side of this level, along with the main living room, spare bedroom and a small library which you are welcome to make use of. There are some first editions in there which I suspect you might find interesting.”
My eyes must look like they’re about to pop out of my head at the mention of a library with first editions. I’ve truly died and gone to heaven.
“Thank you, I’d certainly like that.”
We continue on, Lorenzo takes me to the sliding patio doors that lead out to the pool in the backyard, there is also a small pool house at the back equipped with a shower, sauna and change rooms. Coming back into the house we head upstairs, to the left wing.
Lorenzo shows me Angelo’s room which, apart from being rather large, is no different than your typical toddler bedroom.
Moving further inward we come across a closed door with a name plate on it that reads office.
“This will be your office or study, which ever you prefer, you can work on your writing in here without fear of disturbance. You can also work in your bedroom if you wish, I have moved in a smaller desk and a chair in there as well.”
“Wow this is amazing.” I step into the office and it’s lovely, not too big.
It has a large sturdy desk towards a wall with high windows which let in the natural light.
There is a single chair across the desk and a large comfy looking chair behind it.
The left wall has a tall and narrow bookcase which is currently empty and the wall on the right has a large navy-blue couch pushed against it.
There is a tiny round table with a lamp on it next to the couch.
I’m overwhelmed, it’s truly beautiful and so much more than I could ever hope to imagine. I love it.
Reluctantly, we leave my office, then head to the bedroom.
Stepping inside, I find myself speechless yet again.
There is a wall of glass on the right side of the room, A huge king-sized bed in the middle with a little bedside table on either side of the bed.
There is a huge ottoman at the foot of the bed, the bed is adorned in a soft lavender comforter and I notice a white fluffy throw draped on the ottoman.
The other side of the room has a wall of doors, some of which are closet space and two are disguised doors which open up into a full bathroom. It’s nothing short of spectacular.
“Lorenzo, this is all too much, I absolutely love everything I’ve seen so far but I feel like I’m taking too much space. A smaller room will suit me perfectly and a desk in my bedroom will suffice. I don’t want to cause any inconvenience.”
“Nonsense, you are going to be taking care of my son and you should be comfortable while you do it. You are free to roam around the property at your leisure, use the pool if you wish and make yourself at home. You still have two days to get acclimated so use your time wisely. I left schedules and a list of things to be done during work hours on your desk, feel free to go through them, we can discuss any changes you may wish to make later. For now, I need to head back to the office for a meeting. I will be home later tonight. I wanted to be here to greet you when you arrived and show you around. I do hope you enjoy your time with us Elena. If there’s nothing else you need, I’ll be leaving now.
Help yourself to the kitchen if you get hungry. ”
“Thank you so much, I honestly don’t know what to say. This is all so much. Much more than I ever anticipated.”
“I’m glad you’re happy Elena. Please call or text if you need anything. Enjoy your day off.”
With that he turns around and leaves and I’m left looking around the enormous bedroom.