I already have your number, asshole.
I slide down the wall and sit hunched up on the floor as I cry out loud.
What the fuck just happened?
Enrico
I lean my forehead against Olivia’s door, the palms of my hands flat against it.
I can hear her crying. I just shattered any dreams she had of a future with me. Any dream that I ever had, too.
Everything she thought I was no longer exists. I knew she wouldn’t go for the arrangement, but I had to at least try.
If only things were different.
Her sobs are loud, and my chest constricts at the sound. I hate that I disappointed her.
“Bella,” I whisper as her cries escalate.
I can’t stand it. I can’t stand listening to her being hurt and alone. I grab the door handle to go back inside her room. I can’t leave her like this.
And offer her what, Enrico? A sleazy arrangement where you pretend to love your wife and secretly spend time with Olivia? One where you have children with someone else and always wish they were Olivia’s?
I don’t want that life for her, but I was too selfish not to offer it. I knew the consequences if I did. I will be forever tainted in her eyes.
I deserve to be.
I listen to her cry for half an hour with regret swirling deep in my stomach. I hear something bang, and I listen, knowing she’s thrown something at the wall.
She’s angry.
Good.
Angry is better than heartbroken.
I hear something else bang, and I close my eyes in relief. She’s okay. Anger, I can deal with. Heartbreak, I cannot.
I drag myself away from her door and make my way downstairs to head over to the car. Maso and Marley are inside. I trust these two with my life. They wind down the window as they see me approaching.
“Hey, boss.”
“Hi.” I force a smile. “I’m heading home, but I want you to stay and watch over Olivia.”
“Sure thing.” Marley looks across the road at her building. “How long for?”
“Just stay with her until further notice. I want her guarded around the clock. Arrange for a team to look over her.”
“Okay.”
“I want to know where she is at all times,” I add.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Ciao.” I make my way over to my car in the parking lot and I pull out into the traffic. Another car with my two guards inside follows me.
Never alone.
With every block farther away from Olivia, I feel a little more darkness creep in.