by Adom Sample
“If I had known you knew Isabella, I would never have come here.” I could tell she was nervous.
“I’m going to ask you one last time. Why did you come here?”
She looked at me, then down at her feet, seemingly refusing to speak.
“Fine, I guess I’ll just give Isabella a call. Maybe she might know why you’re at her house at 2 a.m. with her husband.”
“No, please don’t,” she said. “I’ll tell you everything.” She tightened her robe and adjusted her sitting position. I sat there, waiting for answers.
“I’m Isabella’s cousin,” she said. I was stunned. Nathan was fucking his wife’s cousin. The bastard had no shame. I’d thought she looked like Maya, but this was ridiculous.
“Do you know a woman named Maya?” I asked.
“Yes. She’s my sister.” Again, I sat there shocked. Words couldn’t explain the shit-storm that would occur if Isabella knew about this. I knew Nathan had no morals, but to cheat with his cousin-in-law was beyond reprehensible. I put my face in the palm of my hand and shook my head in disbelief. Maybe moving into this villa was a mistake. Now I was caught up in Nathan’s mess all because this woman decided to come to my door unannounced.
“Why the hell did you come here? I’m not much for passing judgment, but to fuck your cousin’s husband is just . . . Never mind. Just tell me what you want.”
“Promise me you won’t tell Isabella any of this,” she pleaded.
I sighed. “Tell me, and I’ll have one of my security team drive you home safely.”
“All right . . . all right.” Relief flushed her face. “Nathan, your neighbor, kicked me out and told me to walk home. He won’t give me my car keys, and I don’t want to involve the police for obvious reasons.”
“So why try and seduce me? Why not make your call and leave?”
“That was my plan. Until, of course, you answered the door. You’re Dante Alonso, aren’t you? I read Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. I know who you are. You’re the most desired bachelor there is. I thought I’d take a shot. Besides, why are you living here, anyway? You could have an entire beachfront of villas if you wanted them.”
I rolled my eyes. “You can leave now. Tell your little boyfriend to give you the keys to your car back. Threaten him if you wish. Just get out of my house.” I moved aside creating a pathway for her exit.
“Wait a second. I can’t go back there. He’s insane,” she bellowed.
“You’re both insane. Please leave,” I said remorselessly.
“I can’t go back into the house. He kicked me out because I wouldn’t consent to his pain-room treatment.”
My brows curled. “Pain-room treatment? He has a pain room?”
“Yes.” She lowered her gaze.
“Do I even want to know what that is?” I was afraid to ask, but I was also worried he may have subjected Isabella to whatever lied within this room of his. Crossing her arms and embracing her gut, she went on to describe some of the most sickening acts of sexual gratification I had ever heard. When she started to explain to me what he had done to her in that pain-room chamber he created, I almost vomited. I felt nauseated and ashamed of having to listen to it.
“Stop. Please, just stop,” I said.
She got on her knees. “Can you come over there with me and help me get my keys from him?”
I stared at her as if she were nuts. “There’s no way in hell I’m going over there. I’m not getting involved in this nonsense.”
She stood up. “Please.”
“Absolutely not.”
She dropped her head. I still had no sympathy for her. This was all her doing anyway. “Do you know if he ever did that to Isabella?” The question that would determine whether or not I would beat Nathan to near death.
She curled her lip and smiled. “Hell no, he hasn’t. Why do you think he fucks me? Isabella would never be able to satisfy his sexual urges. I’m pretty sure she’d divorce him if she knew what kind of man he truly is.”
Relief purged my torment. Picturing Isabella with him as she’d just described would have broken my heart. I ran my fingers through my hair and squinted at her in disgust. “I don’t understand how you could sleep with your cousin’s husband, knowing what type of man he is.” I shook my head.
Once again, she didn’t reply. She only gave that expressionless stare as if I were in the wrong for even asking such questions. I picked up my phone. “I’m calling Isabella. She has to know about this.”
Her mouth dropped open.
Of course, Isabella didn’t know I was living in the next villa over, and giving her this knowledge was the last thing I wanted to do. Despite the emptiness of the threat, Valentina stood up and stopped me.
“Wait! Please don’t. Promise me you won’t call her, and I’ll tell you everything,” she begged.
“Everything about what?”
“About their scheme.”
“Scheme? What scheme?” I laid my phone down and gave her my full attention. She had my interest now.
“Look, I’m not fucking him just for pleasure’s sake. Things are in motion you can’t begin to understand. Regardless, after what Nathan tried to pull on me, I’m convinced he’s not going to let me in on anything. He’ll probably just disappear once they have the money.”
“The money?” I raised an eyebrow. “Tell me everything.”
“They’re going to siphon all of Isabella’s and Aerial & Kam Cosmetics’ assets. They’ve been planning this for years. I wanted in, so I lied to Nathan about being pregnant. But after he strapped me to the floor of his pain room and put a dagger to my stomach, I knew he was crazy,” she confessed. I tried to maintain my composure as best as I could.
“Who are they?” I hissed.
“Nathan and Oliver.”
Like whiplash, it hit me without warning. I couldn’t believe it. If she hadn’t come to my door tonight . . .
I slammed my hand on a nearby table, which caused her to flinch. “That fucking piece of shit,” I murmured. What the hell made them think they would be able to get away with this? They knew my team of forensic accountants would eventually find out.
Now, here this woman Valentina was, giving me all the information I needed to bring this destructive marriage to its end. One thing I’d learned about Isabella was that her company was one of the most important aspects of her life. She would give her all to make sure the business maintained its success. This woman coming to my doorstep was a blissing just as much as it was a curse.
“Do you have any idea what this means?”
She scoffed. “Yes, I know exactly what this means. But I have no other choice. The second I entered your home, I was screwed. You were going to tell her I was here, and from there, the dominoes would have fallen, leading to her finding out everything anyway. I think it’s better she hears it from you than me. You don’t know her—she’s insane.”
I shot her a confused gaze. “How is she insane?”
“Isabella is emotionally unstable. She beats her husband and treats my sister like a slave. There’s no telling what she’ll do when she finds out about this. When she does, I want to be as far away as possible.”
I almost busted out laughing. She couldn’t be serious.
“Who told you such nonsense?”
“Nathan. He has the scars to prove it. He told me Isabella put a couple of billiard balls into a sock and hit herself in the face and chest. Now, she wants to paint him as an abusive husband so she can divorce him, leaving him with nothing,” she confessed. I sat there mesmerized. Her gullibility knew no bounds.
“And you believed that bullshit? After what he tried to do to you? Even after he told you he was going to steal all her wealth, you still believed him? She’s your cousin. You don’t know your own damn cousin?” I started to become frustrated by her obliviousness. She said no words. Perhaps having said these ridiculous claims aloud made her come to her senses. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair once again. “Here’s what I want y
ou to do. I want you to call Isabella and tell her everything you just told me about Nathan’s plan to suck her dry. Say you got an anonymous tip or whatever.”
She stood up, shocked. “I can’t! She’ll kill me if she finds out . . .”
“Don’t tell her about your involvement. Just focus on Nathan and Oliver. You can gather whatever dignity you have left by leaving town before she finds out you were in on it.” She shook her head as I held out my phone. “The number to her hotel room is in this phone. The call will be anonymous and the number can’t be traced. Don’t tell her where you are.” Backing away, she continued to shake her head. “Take the damn thing and call her,” I demanded. She slowly reached for the phone, and I put it into her hand. I pressed the call button for her. It rang once and she hung up swiftly. Tears were rolling down her face. The phone landed on the floor as she dropped to her knees.
“Please don’t make me do this. My family will disown me,” she begged. I was puzzled as to why she would ask me not to do this when I had done nothing. This was all her doing. Hers, Nathan’s, and Oliver’s—they’d devised this plan to take what Isabella worked so hard to earn.
The begging did nothing but build on my anger and wear on my patience. In a last-ditch effort to win my sympathy, she confessed that all she’d ever wanted was a way out of a life of mediocrity, which was why she’d lied to Nathan about being pregnant. She saw him as a way out, a way to get enough money to get far away from here. Isabella never trusted her enough to give her a job in her company, as she saw her as nothing but a gold digger, willing to use her looks, and not her brains, to get ahead.
With that rejection, she’d decided to start sleeping with Isabella’s husband, something she now viewed as a colossal mistake. The more she talked, the more sickened I became. It seemed she and Nathan were made for each other. I picked up my phone again and handed it to her. “You either call your cousin and tell her what they’re planning, or I’ll call her and expose you in the process. It’s your choice,” I threatened. She wavered but took the phone from me. Dialing the number, it rang three times before Isabella answered. She put it on speaker so I could hear what Isabella said.
“Valentina? Why are you calling so late at night? And how did you get this number?”
Valentina bit her lip, and then sighed into the phone. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
I sat on the couch and stared daggers at her as she confessed Nathan’s plan. Isabella began to shout over the phone. I could hear the anger, disgust, and betrayal in her voice. Despite Valentina’s efforts to calm her, Isabella continued to scream in revulsion. It tore me up inside to hear her go through this, but the truth had been hidden long enough.
Isabella threatened to kill both Nathan and Oliver before hanging up the phone. To my surprise, Valentina had also described Nathan’s sexual deviance in rich detail. While I told her only to divulge information about Nathan’s scheme, she went ahead and outed herself. I couldn’t believe it. Valentina handed me the phone and walked over to my front door.
“Why? Why’d you tell her about your affair with Nathan?” I stood there perplexed.
“Because . . . I couldn’t live a lie anymore. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to her. It’s obvious Nathan only cares for himself. If I can’t get what I need then neither should he.” She opened the door and was about to walk out. I was stunned by her crisis of conscience.
An Uber was waiting outside for her. “That’s for you. I called them before I ever opened my door.” She gave me a slight smile before climbing into the car. With her gone, I was now more worried about Isabella.
I could only guess she was on her way home to see Nathan, and it was anyone’s guess what she would do once she got there. Nathan had a collection of people over there already. If Isabella saw him for who he truly was in rich hedonistic detail she might do something she’d regret.
Worried about what Isabella may do, I called Maya in the hopes that she’d answer so she could meet Isabella there to calm her down. I knew once she was calmed, I would have to tell her everything. The time for secrets was over.
Chapter 29
Isabella
I couldn’t believe it . . . I-I couldn’t believe it! That lying, cheating, perverted piece of inhuman shit. I couldn’t believe it. Everything I had done for him, it was all shit. It was all shit! I was going to kill the both of them! All the years I had suffered, all the heartache, the pain, the bullshit, all of it for nothing. How could he! How could he! My phone rang, and I fumbled in my purse to get it out. Who the hell was calling me at this hour?
“What? Who is this?” I snapped.
“Isabella, it’s Maya. Are you all right? Where are you?”
“I’m on my way home to kill that cheating son of a bitch! You were right, Maya. You were right. That sick fuck has been sleeping with my cousin, your sister, for years. She just called me and told me everything. He’s a dead man. Do you hear me, Maya? A dead man,” I shouted through tears.
“Look, Isabella, I’m on my way to your place right now. Please meet me at the gas station off the highway, close to the theater. I don’t want you to do anything you may regret.”
“The time for repentance is over, Maya. I have to get everything he’s done to me off my chest. Do you remember that pain room I told you he once mentioned to me? Well, that sick bastard built one underneath our house. He’s been abusing women there for years. He doesn’t deserve to live. I should have listened to you, Maya. Why the hell didn’t I listen to you?”
“Please, I’m begging you, Isabella. Just meet me at that gas station.”
“No! I can’t go on with the knowledge of what I’ve been married to for all these years. It hurts so fucking much. I’m going to end it. I can’t do this anymore. I’m going to drive off this highway down into the mountains. Fuck everything! I can’t.”
“Isabella! Now you listen to me. You are a successful businesswoman who shattered the glass ceiling as if it weren’t even there. You built a cosmetic empire with your own two hands. You are one of the wealthiest women in the city. Thousands of people depend on you and love you. I love you, Isabella. We’ve been through everything together, thick and thin, better and worse. I promise you we will make it through this too. Don’t let that piece of shit dictate the outcome of your life. Just meet me at the gas station. Please, I’m begging you!”
“But . . . I-I can’t do this anymore.”
“Isabella, wait. I see you driving up near me. That’s you, isn’t it, driving like a maniac? I’m not going to allow you to hurt yourself.”
She pulled out in front of me and blocked my path. I slammed on my brakes and we both stopped abruptly. “Maya, are you nuts? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” My heart was beating out of my chest.
“If that’s what it takes to keep you from hurting yourself. Now get out of the car.” She had me boxed in, and there was no way to get around her. Luckily, it was three o’clock in the morning, and no one else was on the streets. Otherwise, we both would have seriously screwed up traffic, if not caused a huge collision. She approached my car and banged on the window for me to open up. My mind was in a state of flux. On the one hand, I seriously wanted to murder that bastard, and on the other, I wanted my suffering to stop, even if that meant forcing my heart to stop and taking my last breath.
How could my Valentina do that to me? Deep in the back of my mind, I’d known. I’d known it all. I’d only been delaying this moment. If I cried any more, my eyes were going to seep out of my skull.
“Isabella, open up. Let me in,” Maya said, face full of concern. I opened up the passenger-side door and let her in. She sat down and hugged me. I held her tight as well. Thank God for this woman. “It’s all right, Isabella. Everything will be all right. We’ll make it through this, I promise you.”
“Please do me a favor and get Malcolm on the phone. Have him start writing up the divorce paperwork. I don’t care what time it is.” My tears were soaking her shoulder.
<
br /> “Sure thing, but first scoot over because I’m driving. I need you to calm down before I trust you behind the wheel.”
“I’m sorry, Maya. It’s just my mind. Everything I am is going to shit. I could never have imagined he would do something like this to me.”
“I know. He’s a scumbag. But don’t you ever talk about hurting yourself again. I’m serious. Do you hear me? He’s not worth it.” I gazed into her eyes and wiped my nose with the cloth Dante gave me when we were in South Korea. His scent was still on it, and it soothed my rage a bit. “Do you hear me?” Maya said, shaking me back and forth.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I had a moment of weakness. I just want the pain to stop.”
“How about we go over to your place and confront him right now?”
“Yes. I was on my way there anyway. What about your car? Are you just going to leave it here?”
“I have a friend who’s going to take it back to my house for me. You didn’t think I was the one driving, did you?” Upon further inspection, I could see someone was in the driver’s seat in her car. They turned on their headlights and drove away, leaving Maya and me there alone. Allowing her to take the wheel, I moved over to the passenger seat, and buried my face in my lap. I screamed at myself, internally wondering how I could have been so stupid. I couldn’t even begin to wonder how Maya knew what was going on and how she could have been heading to my house without having been told what happened first.
“Did you know your sister was sleeping with him all these years?” My eyes felt as if they were bloodshot.
“I haven’t spoken to Valentina in three years. Not after she stole that five thousand dollars I was going to use for our mother’s birthday gift.”
I guess I would have to ask her how she knew about this later. Right now, I could only think of the many ways I was going to fuck up Nathan’s life, just as he had fucked up mine. I looked up at Maya, face flushed. She seemed to be smiling as if she had been waiting for this moment to come.
