*Caterina*
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
‘You’ve got to be kidding ,’ I snarled to myself.
I should have known that sothing else was going on with this business dinner the mont I stepped into the restaurant. Apart from the owners, there were a suspicious number of other n that were present with us. I couldn’t possibly fathom why their presence was considered mandatory when this was supposedly ant to be just a real estate expansion deal.
Sothing from the dark recesses of my mind told that this wasn’t the case.
While Elio was speaking closely with one of the owners, I’d taken the ti to study each and every person who sat around the table. Each guy carried a lethal air about himself and gave no doubt that they were carrying so concealed weapon on their person.
And if it weren’t for the way they looked, then it was certainly the way they spoke to one another that made suspicious. Nothing they said sounded as though it was real. It was all coded and ant to mask the truth.
It didn’t take long for to grasp the truth of the situation, and by God, was I infuriated.
I’d lost whatever appetite I ca in with and rely picked around my plate once dinner was brought out. Most of the people I sat around ignored as if I wasn’t even there, which left to nurse the glass of wine I refused to let go of.
I treated it like it was the only thing that kept grounded. Otherwise, I would have simply gotten up from the table and left. It wouldn’t have been difficult for to be taken back to the hotel, considering this entire eting was nothing but a complete fucking ruse.
I struggled to keep my expression as neutral as possible, but the second Elio turned to glance at , he was quick to pick up on my mood.
Dinner was all but done and everyone left the table to continue their conversations in the main lounge area. Elio excused himself from the conversation he was in the middle of and brought us off to the side.
“Are you alright? What’s wrong?” he asked.
He reached out to rest his hand over my arm. I tensed under his touch, causing him to stiffen in alarm.
I narrowed my eyes and spoke as calmly as my anger would allow.
“Expanding the real estate business? You must think I know nothing if you thought I’d believe that.”
At first, Elio seed taken back by my remark. He blinked several tis and took half a step back from .
“What do you an?”
“Do not treat like I’m so kind of idiot, Elio,” I hissed under my breath. I narrowed my eyes and squared my shoulders back. “I know that this has nothing to do with your ‘regular’ business. But I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around why you chose to not tell the truth about it.”
His guilty gaze dropped to the floor while he gently shook his head in denial.
“Cat, it’s not what you’re thinking. Believe ,” he said. “Alessandro knows the owners of this place and knew they were looking to either sell or co-sign with another potential owner.”
A sour grin curved my lips. “Yeah, that’s right, isn’t it? ‘Alessandro’ is the one who told you about this place.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not what you’re thinking.”
‘No. He’s lying,’ I thought bitterly to myself. ‘He’s not even willing to look in the eyes and tell this.’
The muscles in my stomach continued to twist and churn with dismay. My vision was on the brink of turning red from all the rage that started to flare up from beneath my skin.
Elio persisted on with his farce excuse until I reached a point where I just couldn’t stand to hear another word of it. I swiftly held up my hand, causing him to co to an abrupt stop in his useless rant.
“Stop,” I demanded.
I kept my voice quiet, not wanting to draw any further attention to us than we already had.
“I’m not going to cause a scene. But you can best believe that I am not going to stick to the sidelines while you proceed to act like you’re the only one who’s involved in all of this.”
The look in his eyes was pleading, begging to understand why he chose to, yet again, keep in the dark. But I had truly believed that we’d moved beyond this issue.
It was clear now that we weren’t. No, instead, I felt like I’d been dragged all the way back to the very beginning of it all.
“Caterina—”
“Valentino!” a deep voice called out from across the room.
We both turned our heads to see one of the restaurant owners gesturing for us to co over and join the conversation.
“How about we get to know this fine young woman who’s accompanied you this evening?”
Elio shot a warning look, telling to politely decline the invitation to further socialize. The man looked as though he were seconds away from telling everyone we were leaving and heading back to the hotel.
But I wasn’t going to give him the chance to make that decision for us.
I gave him one last glaring look before slapping on my most convincing, pleasant smile and headed off to finally speak with so of the other people who had co out for this unlawful eting.
I never turned back to glance at Elio once.
**
As the evening carried on, the wine continued to flow. I’d managed to work my way through a majority of the crowd. Once I got past one or two awkward introductions, many of the n I spoke to were rather interesting and were impressed by my involvent.
I certainly hadn’t forgotten Elio’s failed attempt to try to divert the attention away from . It only proceeded to anger further. But by the ti our night ca to an end, I was sober as a pin, despite all the wine I drank. Most, if not all of it, was clearly burned off from the rage I felt simring inside of .
“Well, Mr. Valentino. You and Ms. Caterina, here... it was a true pleasure,” one of the owners said.
“Yes, it was,” I agreed politely. “Thank you for a lovely evening.”
We said our goodbyes and waited outside for the car to pull around to take us back. Out of the corner of my eye, I could sense Elio glancing at .
Both my hands curled into tight fists at my side. I forced myself to ignore the biting pain of my nails stabbing into the palms of my hands.
‘I’m not going to blow up in front of this restaurant where everyone can see ,’ I told myself coolly. ‘We’re going to get into the car and go back to the hotel, where I’m sure Elio is going to try to defend himself yet again.’
The problem was I had zero intention of letting him speak. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, he could say that was going to take away the irritation that his actions had caused. There was no undoing the turmoil that he created due to his choices.
The second I noticed the car pull up, I took off like a rocket to get inside. Normally, Elio would have opened the door and allowed to slide in first, but I was in no mood for his chivalry.
No.
I didn’t want to hear him speak. And I didn’t want him to act as if everything between us was okay.
The ride to the hotel was nothing short of unpleasant. The tension between us was so thick that soone could have easily choked on it. I continued to feel Elio’s eyes drift back over to several tis, yet he was wise enough to remain quiet.
I silently comnded him for it. I truly had nothing nice to say and I think, deep down, he knew that.
We arrived back at the hotel, and Elio was hot on my tail as I made it over to the elevators.
I was purely exhausted. I had every intention of taking off my dress and removing my makeup before falling straight into bed, yet the mont he and I were in the privacy of our suite, those plans were instantly halted.
“Cat.” He spoke softly. “Can we please talk about this?”
I let out a long sigh. “Elio, there’s nothing that needs to be said at this very mont.”
Was I being stubborn? Maybe.
I knew that the mature thing to do was to openly give him a chance to explain himself properly. Now that we were alone and away from prying eyes, he had a real chance to talk and, hopefully, tell the truth.
But the heavy emotions that burned inside of were a clear sign that now wasn’t the ti for it.
“Please, Cat. You need to understand—”
“Oh, I understand perfectly,” I snapped. “I understand that I will never truly be by your side. You have made it abundantly clear, ti and ti again, that you are determined to keep in the dark. I an... seriously, Elio? After everything we’ve worked through, we’re heading straight back to the original problem.”
He shook his head frantically. “You know that’s not true.”
“Yes, it is,” I insisted. “Why try to keep out of it then? Why can’t you trust ?”
“I do trust you. You know I do,” he said beseechingly.
I resented the tears that started to prickle the corners of my eyes. On top of everything that I was dealing with, I was not about to let myself cry. But my God, it was difficult to hold back.
Sothing resembling fear crossed Elio’s eyes. He took nurous steps forward, trying to close the gap between us. But my one, single, step back caused him to stop short altogether.
His features grew strained. He pinched the bridge of his nose and bit back a curse.
“I did it to keep you safe.”
I refrained from rolling my eyes. Oh, where had I heard that one before?
I slowly shook my head and started to pull the pins out from my hair. “You and I both know that there’s a lot more to it than just that. You say you’re just wanting to protect , but I can do that myself. And what I don’t want is to continue fighting. I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to bed.”
I turned my back on him without so much as speaking another word. What more was there to say, honestly?
“Cat!”
“We can talk about this another ti... maybe.”
Our day had started out so wonderfully, but so disturbing shadow in my mind told that none of it was as it seed. Had Elio taken to the art museum because he thought I’d enjoy going? Or did he rely see it as a way of distracting into overlooking the true business behind this trip?
Was everything just one big cover-up to pacify ?
The more I thought about it, the more my head ached. But nothing could compare to the pain that I had swelling inside of my chest.
‘And here I am... right back where I started.’
Reviews
All reviews (0)