by Marian Tee
A new song started then, its hyper-fast tempo pumping everyone up. People started to shout and jump, and he decided to use the same trick Vivian did, pretending to accidentally stumble.
Vivian’s eyes widened when she saw Donald falling forward. “Hey—-”
He fell into her, and Donald’s perfectly positioned hand allowed his fingers to graze one sweet nipple.
But the contact was gone all too soon, with Vivian jumping back like she had been burned.
Vivian’s skin was crawling, but she did her best to keep her smile in place, telling herself that it was an accident. He wasn’t really copping a feel. Right?
Donald’s chest puffed up at the sight of Vivian’s smile. Oh yeah, this chick totally had the hots for him. She was just playing hard to get, was probably dying to know the feel of a younger man in her bed. For all the world knew, Luca Valencia wasn’t as great as he was reputed to be. Maybe the Italian billionaire only paid women to sing him praises.
When Donald started dancing towards her, Vivian tried not to be so obvious as she countered his every move with a step back.
“You should loosen up some more, you know?” Donald licked his lips as he spoke, and Vivian strove not to think about the way his gaze lingered too long on her cleavage. He was just too drunk to realize what he was doing. Right?
That Donald’s actions already showed marks of sexual harassment didn’t occur to her at all. Beside the fact that Vivian had led a fairly sheltered life, the stubbornly optimistic part of her refused to believe that a man supposedly in love with her friend would even think of hitting on her.
But then she heard Donald yell “How about a dance?” and Vivian had to struggle to hide her appall.
She was married, and Donald was Kay’s boyfriend!
Maybe she was being too much of a prude about it, but she didn’t care. It just didn’t feel right.
“Well? How about it?” Donald started to reach for her.
Her phone vibrated at the same time, and Vivian almost expired in relief. “Sorry, my husband’s calling me!” She eagerly showed her iPhone to Donald so he would know she wasn’t lying, and it was really Luca’s name on the screen. “I need to take this!”
Swinging away, Vivian missed the look of annoyance that crossed Donald’s face. Leaving the viewing deck, she hurried back into the villa and got into the first empty room that could afford her a semblance of quiet.
This turned out to be the third-floor powder room, and she winced at the way its black-and-white tiled beauty had been marred by the empty beer cans, cigarette butts, and used condoms littering the floor.
Ugh didn’t even cover it, and Vivian tried not to gag at the mixed smell of sex and sweat. That was a combination she only liked when it involved Luca, but anyone else made her want to pinch her nose and breathe through her mouth.
Locking the door, she struggled to open the window, and when fresh air was finally able to circulate inside, she quickly swiped on her screen to answer Luca’s call, hoping her husband hadn’t yet thought to hang up. “H-hello?” This is it, this is it, Vivian thought as butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Luca would tell her he missed her, and she would tell him she missed him, too, and—-
“Buona sera, Vivi!”
It was Eula, and Vivian experienced a pang of disappointment for one moment before she made herself shrug it off and allowed genuine pleasure at hearing the little girl’s voice.
If Luca didn’t want to talk to her, then...then she didn’t want to talk to him either!
“Ciao, principesa. I miss you so much!” And as she said the words, she realized just how true it was. “Come va?”
“Sto bene,” the little girl answered before adding, “Papa showed me your picture.”
“O-oh?” She wondered what picture that was.
“You looked like a princess,” Eula exclaimed. “I love your dress.”
“What dress?” She listened to the little girl’s description – a gauzy blue top, flowing sleeves, and a black skirt – and realized it was the exact dress she had on. Did that mean Luca knew she went out? And that she was still out?
Eula was still happily talking her ear off, and Vivian struggled to listen to the little girl.
“And then Nonna threw a party...”
Did one of those photographs also showed that she was with Kay and Donald, who were his least favorite persons in the world? Did he care? Did he—-
“We’re on our way to Mummy now...”
Vivian jerked. “W-what was that again, Eula?” Had she heard the little girl correctly?
“You heard her right.” Luca’s dulcet tone slid in without missing a beat, and Vivian realized Eula had been talking to her on loudspeaker the whole while.
Fuuuuuuuuuuudge.
Vivian backtracked on her conversation with Eula in her mind, frantically trying to recall if she had said anything embarrassing.
“Are you still there, cara?”
Vivian glared at the phone, but she managed to say cheerfully, “Still here.” It was important Eula didn’t think she was upset about the little girl spending time with her birth mother.
The sound of Luca’s chuckle traveled down the line, caressing her ear, and she couldn’t help shivering. It was just no use, Vivian thought helplessly. Even when she was upset with him, she still found every little thing he said or did too sexy by half.
“Did you miss me?”
“Of course!”
“And will that answer change if I tell you Eula’s no longer listening to our conversation?”
Fudge!
“She’s on her headset now.” The billionaire’s smirk was more than evident in his tone, and Vivian’s teeth gnashed. Fudge, fudge, fudge.
“About Maria...”
Hearing Luca utter his ex-wife’s name made her chest tighten, and Vivian cut him off rashly, “I don’t need to hear it.” She was startled and devastated by how much it hurt just thinking about her husband spending time with Maria, hated how it made her feel so weak and insecure.
“Vivi—-”
Afraid that he would insist on talking about how much fun he was having with his original family, she changed the subject, saying the first thing that came to her mind. “You s-shouldn’t put me on loudspeaker without telling me.”
There was a pause, and then Luca asked mockingly, “Why are you mad about it? It’s not as if you have something to hide – do you?”
She found herself glaring at her phone again, snapping, “Maybe you’re the one with something to hide.”
“About what?”
“About that woman, who else?”
“Ah.” Her husband’s tone became silky. “Jealous?”
Yes! But since she couldn’t say that, she simply kicked an empty beer can out of the way out of sheer frustration. Unfortunately, the can struck the wall with a loud clanging sound—-
Fudge!
“Are you by chance throwing a tantrum, cara?”
The amusement in Luca’s tone made her feel childish and pathetic, and she snarled, “Not at all. I’m having lots of fun, actually.” And unable to help herself, she said with exaggerated cheer, “So you have fun there, too. Let’s all have fun. You’ve got Maria there, and I’ve got...I’ve got other boys—-”
“The hell you do—-”
“So go have fun,” she yelled, “because I’m going to have fun, too!” Furiously ending the call, she stalked out of the bathroom, breathing hard. Vivian didn’t actually mean a word she had said, but Luca didn’t have to know that. Right now, she just wanted him to hurt the way she was hurting.
Her phone started ringing soon after, but she stubbornly ignored it while looking for Donald. The way she was feeling, she was liable to do something stupid if she didn’t leave.
Her phone vibrated again, but this time it was a text message, and Vivian couldn’t stop herself from reading it.
Luca: Answer your phone.
Vivian furiously finger-punched her screen in response.
&nb
sp; Vivian: Don’t mind me. Just have fun with your ex.
Luca: I’m only with them because I don’t trust Eula with her.
Vivian: Oh sure. I think it’s the other way around. You don’t trust ME. You didn’t even tell me about Maria attending Eula’s school play.
Luca: She was already there when I arrived, and I didn’t tell you right away because you were too upset that night.
Vivian: So it’s my fault you lied to me? CLASSIC. And what about Maria being in Tuscany the same guys you are? Why didn’t you tell me right away about it? Because I’ll be upset again?
Luca: This is also her hometown. Have you forgotten?
Vivian: EXCUSES.
She was about to type another text message when arms went around her from behind, and a familiar voice slurred in her ear, “Found ya, babe.”
Fudge.
Slipping her phone back in her dress’ pocket, she tried getting out of Donald’s hold without making too much of a fuss. “Let go, please.” She managed to twist around to look at him and grimaced. If he had been just a little drunk earlier, he was completely wasted now. His shirt was undone halfway, and several fresh lipstick smudges marked the side of his neck.
This time, she didn’t even bother to ask him to let go, simply shoving him away and then pretending to stumble when his arms slackened in release. “Sorry,” she yelled. “Someone pushed me from behind!” And in an effort to distract him, she asked, “Where’s Kay?”
“She already left!” Donald shouted something else, but when she only looked at him dumbly, unable to hear what he was saying, his hands made a cupping gesture over his chest, his face contorting in an expression of pain.
Oh. Right. Vivian remembered Kay telling her about her breast implants and how they tended to cause her pain once in a while. “Is she okay?”
Donald frowned. “What?”
“Is she okay?” she shouted more loudly.
Donald gestured towards the kitchen. “Let’s talk there!” At Vivian’s nod, he quickly turned around before she could catch a glimpse of the excitement he was sure was written all over his face.
Now was the time, Donald crowed in his mind, to prove the world that Luca Valencia was nothing in the bedroom compared to him. He was younger and he knew how to have fun. Intoxication had made Donald’s already oversized ego even bigger, and he was convinced he only needed five minutes to make Vivian moan his name.
Vivian frowned when she saw Donald insert a key to unlock the kitchen door. Following him inside, she asked, “Why is it locked?”
Pulling the door close, he pointed towards the kitchen table with a grin. “Because of that.”
Her eyes widened as she took in the packets of pills. Drugs, she realized dumbly. “Donald—-” She whirled around, about to ask him what was he planning, only to find out that he was standing right behind her.
The hairs on Vivian’s neck stood up at the look on Donald’s face, and when he wetted his lips, her stomach twisted into knots. He started to reach for her, and in his eyes she saw that he wouldn’t care about whether she wanted this or not.
Desperation slashed at her, and instinct took over.
Vivian shoved Donald away, taking him by surprise, enough to force him to fall back. As she made a run for the door, she saw Donald scramble to his feet in the corner of her eye.
Her heart smashed against her chest, and she thought, Please God. Please—-
But just as Vivian reached for the knob, Donald managed to grab hold of her hair and yanked her back forcefully.
She screamed.
Chapter Seven
“Mi dispiace, signore.” Mario, the head of Vivian’s security, spoke in a grave voice. “Mr. Donald Crane has been arrested. We did get to the signora in time, but the paramedic believes she’s suffering from mild shock.”
“And the situation there?”
The bodyguard reversed the video chat’s feed, activating his cellphone’s rear camera to show what was happening around him.
Luca saw his bodyguards still on alert, thrusting reporters away every time they tried to get nearer to his wife, who sat at the back of an ambulance with a blanket draped over her shoulders. “Has my wife been cleared to go home yet?”
“Un momento, signore.” After speaking to the paramedic, Luca’s head of security gave the affirmative. “Shall we take her back to the house, signore?”
Luca nodded curtly. “But make sure that a physician is on standby, just in case. And as soon as you have her in the car, I’d like to speak with her.”
“Si, signore.”
As soon as the call was terminated, the older man moved to assist his employer’s wife. “Signora? We have been asked to take you back to the house.”
“T-thank you.” Vivian swayed slightly as she came to her feet, but she shook her head when Luca’s men immediately lunged to help her. “I’m okay,” she insisted, doing her best to ignore the way her lower lip continued to tremble in the aftermath of her ordeal.
Her head of security fell into step with her, walking just a step behind.
Looking at him over her shoulder, she whispered, “Mario?”
“Si, signora?”
For a moment, all she could see was Donald’s crazy, leering face looming over her as she felt herself falling to the floor, and her chest tightened, remembering the way despair had strangled her.
For just one second, she had thought that was it.
But then the door had burst open, Luca’s men coming in to throw Donald off her.
She looked at Mario, saying fiercely, “Thank you for coming to save me.” Vivian swallowed hard. “I don’t know what would happen to me if he—-”
“We should have come sooner to your aid, signora,” Mario admitted heavily. “We had beefed up our numbers at il signore’s command. All new faces that you would not recognize and would be able to work undercover.” A grave look crossed the older man’s face. “Unfortunately, those who had been able to make it to the premises were unforgivably complacent. One of my new recruits had seen you enter the kitchen alone with Mr. Crane, but he chose not to call it in.”
The way the bodyguard avoided looking directly at her spoke volumes, and she realized with shame that some of them had probably seen Vivian allowing Donald improper advances towards her – and misinterpreted her actions.
Luca had warned her about Donald, but she had refused to listen to him.
And now—-
More police cars arriving at the scene with sirens blaring momentarily distracted Vivian, and she looked at Mario in dismay. “Is this all because of me?”
“No, signora.” When she turned to him in confusion, he elaborated quietly, “Numerous students apprehended in the vicinity were underage – and found in possession of either alcohol or illegal substances.”
And as if to emphasize the bodyguard’s point, police officers walked past them, dragging sobbing and struggling university students whose hands were cuffed behind their backs. When they noticed her looking at them, one of the girls spit at Vivian.
“This is all your fault,” the girl snarled. “We’re all in this mess because you played around and you couldn’t handle your shit!”
“If I get kicked out of varsity, I swear to God I’ll kill you,” a red-faced boy slurred.
As more invectives were hurled her way, Mario hastened to usher Vivian inside the Rolls Royce, and as the car sped away, she could only stare blindly outside the windows, unable to count the number of arrests being made.
There were so, so many – and were they all because of her?
“Signora?” It took Mario several times of calling out to his employer’s wife before she turned to him with haunted green eyes. “Signor Valencia wishes to speak with you.”
She took the phone with shaking hands. “H-Hello?”
“Are you okay?” Despite the tautness of her husband’s tone, the worry that threaded through it was unmistakable, and she choked back an involuntary sob, feeling like she didn’t deserve to have
Luca worry about her.
He had warned her, but she hadn’t listened to him.
“Luca—-” Her voice caught, as her eyes stung with tears that burned with the need to be shed.
“Tell me you’re okay,” her husband gritted out.
“I’m sorry.”
Luca exhaled sharply. “Just tell me if you’re okay first, per favore.”
Realizing she was only making it harder for him, she struggled to get her composure back and worked hard to keep her voice from shaking as she answered him. “I’m fine n-now. They c-came just in time.”
“Bene. It’s what I needed to hear.”
“Luca, I—-”
“We’ll talk when I get back.” His tone was still taut, but it was also cold now, and it hurt.
Did he blame her for what happened?
She would understand if he did.
“Eula and I will leave for the airport—-”
Unable to help it, she cut him off, asking tremulously, “Luca, are you mad at me?”
Silence.
Vivian bit her lip hard.
Finally, her husband said, “No, cara. I’m not. I love you, and I’m thankful that you’re safe.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. She knew in her heart he wasn’t lying, but somehow hearing the words still hurt, and she didn’t know why.
When she arrived back home, the silence in the house felt too eerie and oppressive at the same time, causing her to toss and turn in her bed. It was almost eight in the morning by the time exhaustion forced Vivian to sleep.
Vivian had vaguely wished that she would feel somewhat better the next day but upon waking up in the afternoon it was the opposite that happened, with her mood swinging from lethargy to anxiety, self-pity and terror.
Like anyone else, she heard of stories of sexual attacks from the news every day but even so she had foolishly believed it was something she would ever suffer from—-
Until last night.
The sensible part of her knew what happened wasn’t her fault, but the irrational part of her couldn’t help pointing inwards in self-blame.
Luca had warned her, but she had ignored it.
She had seen the signs herself, but she had ignored it.
