"Hey, where have you been?" Belle greeted me first after I walked into my hotel room. Her mouth dropped open when she looked me up and down and then she shook her head again. "You-"
I brushed past her and entered the bedroom, saying, "The flies will come in if you don't shut your mouth." I cut her off and looked into Ace's room, but he wasn't there. I turned to Belle, who had her mouth shut but was blinking rapidly. "Where's Ace?"
"He went with Vito and Max to the mall. They're going to buy him ice cream." She replied. "Seriously, where have you been? You didn't come home last night, and now you come in your party clothes from last night, and without your shoes." She chuckled. "What have you become? Cinderella?"
"Is Ace whining? Is he crying?" I changed the subject.
Belle shook her head. "He didn't. He was just looking for you and when I said you were still taking care of things, he asked for ice cream."
"He had breakfast?"
"Mom made it," she replied. "Stop changing the subject. Answer me, where have you been? We've been looking for you!"
I sat on the sofa in front of the television, playing a reality show, leaning against the headboard with resignation like my world was over. "You all should have been looking for me harder,"
Belle chuckled. "Max said you went to spend the night with Dante Romano afterward, so we didn't want to bother your romance blah blah blah."
My eyes widened, surprised at that. I was curious to know how Max could make up that story or not even try to help look for me. Or do anything...Then, why would he assume something like this?
And I can't say I spent the night with the President's son because that's false. The fact is that I was drunk and slept without realizing that the man I was with was my ex-husband. What does that fact have to say?
Anyone but my grandfather would be shocked and condemn my carelessness.
"Whoa. Holyshit. First time meeting, and you two just..." Belle still needs to finish her sentence. Her mouth opened again, staring at my neck. Damn. She shook her head a few times. "Sister... is it you?" she said in surprise.
I sighed. "Shut the hell up. I don't want to talk about it."
"You should." Belle shifted her seat to face me still with her dumbfounded face. "Didn't you say you didn't want to be in a relationship with anyone? Has that changed?"
"It's not on purpose," I sighed softly. "I was drunk, and... a guy came over. We danced and then...that was it." I bit my lip. "And it wasn't Dante Romano."
"A stranger?" she let out another incredulous laugh. "You truly have a gift, sister."
I closed my eyes and exhaled softly. "Promise me that you won't say this to anyone."
"Sure."
"Sebastian Sanchez."
"What?"
"I slept with Sebastian Sanchez."
"Huh?"
"My ex-husband. I slept with him."
"WHAT?!!!"
I bit my lip and looked at her, who had an expression as if I had just grown two heads on my neck. She gaped wide again and was dumbfounded.
My breath caught. "Like I said, it was an accident. I was really drunk, he came over, he was wearing a mask and I didn't know it was him. He asked me to dance and he took me to a hotel. Then..."
"Sex."
I swallowed and nodded twice.
"Shit."
I rubbed my face roughly, my lips puckered with anxiety and panic. "I shouldn't have come last night."
"Did he recognize you?"
"I took off my mask." I cursed at the stupidity of it.
"And he was fully aware because he took you to the hotel," she continued.
I didn't know about it, but her statement was true. "He's here, and we're going back to the States today." I said final. "Last night was a mistake and I don't want it to open a path for him to find me or to find Ace. I don't want that to happen."
Fear seeped through me about Sebastian still being around and somehow finding Ace. That had to be prevented, and the first way was for me to get out of Italy as soon as possible.
She straightened up and then rubbed my shoulders. "I'll buy the tickets on the schedule early today, and prepare everything for you."
I looked at her pale. "Thank you."
***
"I thought you'd be spending a lot of time there. Doesn't Ace feel at home there?" Kate sat on the chair in front of me. I leaned back in my chair and looked at her like my soul was gone without answering. She frowned and shook her head. "Did something hit your head by accident?" she raises an eyebrow.
I sighed softly, leaned over, put my elbows on the table, and rubbed my face roughly.
Two days had passed, and everything that happened in Italy had followed me here. Everything was mixed up inside me. It could have made my day go smoothly.
"Hey, is something wrong?"
I bit my lip, looking at her for a few seconds before I answered, "I met him."
Kate blinked a few times. "Who?"
"Him." I replied in a depressing tone. "My ex-husband."
Her mouth formed an O with an utter shock expression before she made a sound. "Oh my god." Her shocked face was a reflection of mine. Kate shook her head with a look of disbelief and then leaned in. "How? I mean...I can't believe you two met."
"Bahms, Regina's husband is apparently Sebastian's business partner," I swallowed before continuing. I told her what happened, and her shocked face got even worse when I got to the story of where I spent the forbidden night with Sebastian.
"What the hell, Bella!" she squealed, standing up from the chair while looking at me like her eyeballs would pop out. It was an exaggeration, but who wouldn't when they heard my story? I thought Killian would give me a worse one.
I closed my eyes with a grimace, rubbing my face again. "I was drunk that time!" I yelled back at her.
"Yeah, but... geez," Kate ran her fingers through her hair with a thoughtless look at me.
I sighed softly. "If you're like this, you can imagine how I'll react when I see what I've done."
"And he knows it's you," she retorted.
I nodded.
"And you thought coming back here would be safe?"
"I actually don't know," I shook my head. "But it could be. He wouldn't have come here even if he knew I was here. You know?"
"Yeah, and what makes you think he won't stop?"
"He just mess with me," I looked at her sharply. "You shouldn't be freaking me out right now,"
"No," She shook her head and then sat back down. Looking at me with that genuine concern that I recognized so well. "I didn't mean it like that, I just want you to think about this. The reality is that he already knows you, if he really didn't care about you anymore he wouldn't have brought you to bed."
I chuckled reproachfully at her words. "Huh, you talk like you don't know him." I said. "He had even dared to cheat behind my back with that bitch in the past, and you think that he can't do it with me too behind her back?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't make sense to you?" I said. "He's just an asshole. That's what asshole do, play around with women and then screw things up." I continued. My head throbbing, I leaned back in my chair.
I never underestimated Sebastian Sanchez. The man was the prince of a Spanish business empire that ruled the Americas to Europe so he could do it all. He could have found out where I was by now, and then screwed me if he wanted to. But he didn't show up and that was a clue that he really just wanted to screw me that night for his ego. It was sad for me, it messed me up all over me because he was the only guy who had ever touched my body like that, and my inexperience made me vulnerable. It's crazy, and I hate Sebastian Sanchez more than anything.
Kate sighed softly and looked at me softly. "And you believe that he won't come after you?"
"I told you, he's just playing around, he wants to mess with me because that's what he does. He probably thought that I would miss him after the sex we had..." I shook my head again, looking for an excuse. ".... or maybe he thought that I would crawl back to him, or maybe he thought that I had been suffering without him all this time."
"Did you?"
"No," I answered immediately. "No, fuck. Of course not. Gosh, you know so well how my life was after him."
Kate looked at me, intense and stern in her answer, yet there was tenderness behind it. "You don't feel lost? Longing for a companion?"
I shook my head. "Ace is enough for me. He's my world. He's all I have. Only him. I don't need anyone else to help me make him see the world."
"Because you can," she said. "You're the strongest woman I've ever met."
I smiled. "I couldn't do it without all of you." I replied. "Certainly not without your sharp words that always make me realize reality. You are my pillar."
We laughed.
"I know this won't be easy, Bella, because I feel he won't just stop." She said softly and deeply, and it shook me. "But we're here. I'm with you. I'll still be your bull when he comes and messes things up."
I nodded. "Thank you. I don't know how to repay this,"
"Oh, you don't have to," Kate replied. "As long as you give me a free lunch,"
I chuckled, standing up from my chair to go over to her and hug her. "Come here," she said as we embraced. "I'm know you need this after that mess."
***
"It's not good," Belle, sitting on the bed beside me, shook her head as she stared at her phone, a pen between her left fingers, and a paper in front of us with our cafe's revenue calculations. In front of us was a laptop lit up, showing our website, which was empty of visitors.I sighed, my head throbbing as I leaned against the headboard. "Yeah, I think we're going bankrupt."My sister disagreed. "Don't be such a pessimist." She said. "We have some things to fix and add." She tilted her head, thinking hard. "We can look for trending coffee flavors and modify them."' Joy, 'The café we built together was still busy, but not like the last or two week after another trend-setting café opened up a few blocks from our kafe. Plus, they seem to have come up with some interesting menus because it's only been two weeks since they've almost won over my loyal customers.I don't blame them. Maybe it's just because we're not up to date with current coffee trends. This wasn't a one-off, and normal
I spent some time meeting some people from my college alumni who could help with my appeal for a fair outcome. Yes, I looked for more investors for my cafe, but it ended in uncertainty. It ended with me sitting in front of my computer and staring blankly at the park behind my cafe. Everything was completely abstract and chaotic. I didn't know the future or darkness I would face.I should have closed the café before everything went wrong because I was stalling for time, and I couldn't keep raking in my savings because I had Ace to support. It was his future savings, and I really had to give him the best.On the other hand, some people depended on me. Some people would lose their jobs if I closed the cafe, and there were my parents who would be disappointed in me. Now I'm really stuck.My head throbbed roughly. I massaged it and stopped when there was a knock on my door. I closed my eyes briefly and calmed myself before speaking, "Come in," I said.Elle, my sweetest employee, appeared a
His gaze was fixed on me. My heart raced as a whirlwind of emotions flooded my mind.My pulse quickens, and my stomach tightens with worry and nostalgia. Seeing Sebastian after so long stirred up memories I thought I had buried deep in my heart. There's a flash of vulnerability hidden behind the veil of calmness I'm trying to maintain.The air crackled with tension as I prepared myself for whatever was happening next, and I tried to calm myself with that."What are you doing here?"Sebastian wasn't the same, and how stupid was it that I thought he would be kinder and gentler? What happened was the exact opposite. The man was looking more and more dangerous. More... charming and deceptive. Maturity radiate better in him. Everything about his physique was already very alluring from the first time I saw him, and it had increased many times over. However, I knew that it was just a mask. A deliberate facade to attract more victims, to cover up all the rottenness inside him.I should have k
I was wearing a t-shirt, jeans and a leather jacket as I left my house to head to the Club after spending an hour getting Ace to sleep. He didn't want to be separated from his legos and was eager to invite anyone to play with him.Elizabeth even fell asleep in the playroom, hugging the lego while accompanying Ace to play in the playroom. Ace is good with time limits, though. He stopped when he saw Elizabeth was bored and then he would rest too. It is only when he is exhausted that I can put him to bed.Now I was in front of Kate's older brother; Beau's Club, and of course with Kate because I never dared to come here alone. Beau's Club is one of those expensive clubs with a clientele that doesn't mess around, and I'm just afraid of looking like a lost woman if I show up alone.A large bodyguard blocked our entrance. Kate widened her eyes and snorted. "Seriously! You don't know me?" with her chatty voice, she started to scold the man, but then the man next to him whispered, and his ster
"Thank you for today." Dante Romano's words made me stop as I entered my house."You're welcome. It was a good show anyway," I smiled at him."Really? I didn't expect you to like it. You were silent throughout, making me think that you don't like those kinds of social events.""Ah, no. I was just tired.""Take a rest, then. I'm sorry, today I seem to have been very troublesome for you." He said with a guilty look.I could only nod my head and smile slightly. I was still standing in the courtyard when the Italian President's son's car drove away and disappeared behind the fence of my parents' mansion. I immediately took off my smile, turned flat, and breathed a sigh of relief that I was free from the damn fake attitude that I had to wear for the past two hours. It was exhausting, it wasn't me.This must all be because of my grandfather. A few hours ago, Vito and Stella-his girlfriend just come from Milan to Boston on business, and they were with the President's son, which surprised me
Everything in my body froze. My eyes widened to look at my son, who was staring at Sebastian with his big eyes.At the same time, Ace's crying subsided. He even immediately clung to Sebastian's leg.Sebastian released his embrace on my body and looked at Ace silently. I looked at him, his expression shocked, but there was another mixture that I couldn't decipher."Papa. .. buy me a train, will you? Please Papa...," Ace said as he pulled Sebastian's hand, asking for attention. His seductive expression appeared, and he blinked his blue eyes a few times; it was what he had always used to get someone to comply with his requests.Ten seconds...Twenty seconds.Sebastian was silent.I was silent, too. Frozen with my breath rising and falling. I wondered what Sebastian would do."Buy me a real train, Papa! Now!" Ace finally cried out in annoyance because Sebastian was silent. Ace went back to crying, rolling on the floor while shouting the word real train over and over again.A few seconds a
I sat on the sofa, linking my fingers, looking down at the police officer's room. I've been here for almost three hours, waiting for Vito with Stella, and Mommy. But there was no sign of Vito coming out of the interrogation room."Has this news reached your grandpa?" Mommy asked me."If there hasn't been a call from him then he still doesn't know," I answered quietly, wringing my fingers in agitation. "What if he doens't knows?" I asked her."Then he must be told," she replied. "Only he can provide a way out."I wasn't sure about that because Vito was the golden boy of our extended family because of his political connections that could make Grandfather increase his power. On the other hand, I felt Grandfather wouldn't be happy because Sebastian Sanchez had always been in the water in the desert for him. He wouldn't let that opportunity slip away. He'd probably let Vito go to jail somehow and lick Sebastian's boots to make my ex-bastard's ego happy.The door opened, and the attorney ca
I could hardly close my eyes, always open with anxiety and restlessness. My mind couldn't stop running. I was already wandering to images of Ace being snatched from my arms.I lay beside my son and held him, stroking Ace's thick black hair and handsome face as he slept peacefully. Can't imagine what would have happened to me if Sebastian had taken him away.Even my heart hurts now.I may not be able to breathe if the time came.I hugged Ace when the back of my eyes felt stung. I held it in because I didn't want to cry. If I cry, it wouldn't stop, and it would be a loud cry and disturb Ace. I didn't want him to see me crying. He would be sad, too.I kissed his forehead and held him while staring blankly at the blue window curtains in Ace's room. I'll be like this until my head is exhausted, and then sleep.But the vibration on my cell phone on the table made me pull my gaze towards it. What kind of crazy person calls at two o'clock at night? I sighed softly and moved slightly to reach