“Oh, don’t tell me you fell asleep!”
“Nope, no, I’m fine. I’m ready. Where are you?” I rose from the tub as I spoke, almost slipping on the wet tiles.
“On my way to your place. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”
“OK. I’ll be waiting!”
I hang up and raced to the bedroom. Digging through my messy wardrobe, I decided for a neutral combination of black cotton pants and a red blouse I had recently bought. I liked the way it floated around my waist, only short enough to show a little skin whenever I moved.
I let my hair loose and gasped at the sight. “Oh, Lord!”
What to solve next, the shoes or the hair?
I decided for the former and tired on three pairs before settling on some plain black leather pumps. I was on my way back to the mirror, armed with several of my strongest hair ties, to gather my hair into a bun, when I heard the doorbell.
“Oh, shit.”
I was frozen in place when he walked in, afraid he might get scared away by my mess of a hair. When I saw his jaw drop, I knew all hope was lost.
“You look…”
“I know,” I cringed.
“Amazing. You’re perfect, my lovely Lydia.”
“What?”
“I… I’m speechless. You’re stupendous.”
“Really?”
He didn’t say another word, just grabbed me in his arms and kissed me passionately.
“I hate to break this moment,” he said, pulling back, “but we need to leave.”
I nodded, still amazed by the fact that he liked the way I looked.
He held the door for me as we left, and kept his hand on the small of my back until we were outside.
In the street, a black limousine with coppery wheels awaited us. I was impressed. He helped me get in and opened a bottle of 1997 Cristal.
“Oh? What’s the occasion?” I asked, taking a sip from my glass.
He smiled modestly. “Nothing special. Just wanted to treat my lady with a special weekend.”
“A weekend?”
“Yes.”
“But I have to work Sunday. You should’ve asked, baby,”
I was disappointed. Everything seemed so perfect up until then.
“I don’t ask, my love. I have.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Don’t worry. You’re free until Monday evening.”
“No, I’m not. I have a shift on Sunday morning.”
“It’s taken care of. My family is an important contributor to your hospital’s charity and they have been generous enough to grant you Sunday off. This Sunday you’ll have to make due with just a morning on my humble private beach.”
“Oh, really? And where is that?”
“Maui.”
“Hawaii Maui?”
He nodded. I couldn’t believe my ears.
What came next thoroughly shocked me. Not long after I’d learned I was to spend a weekend in Hawaii, the limousine had dropped us at a private airport, where we took one of his few planes, as he put it when I asked about it, and I had the pleasure to spend a night in the air.
Now, up until then, the idea of such a long flight would have made my skin crawl, but my preconceptions dispelled soon after I stepped onto his flying mansion.
I had long since forgotten about being tired, too excited to explore a plane that was more luxurious than any of the houses I ever saw.
We had made love that night, all night, taking breaks only for trying delicious treats imported from places I didn’t even know existed. When I had confessed that I had planned to have ice cream that evening, he had asked me what was my favorite flavor and promptly ordered some vanilla gelato. I was stunned to discover that the foil adorning my cup like it was a haute-couture dress was, indeed, real gold. And I could eat it!
*****
I woke up as we were landing on the private strip that took up half of his estate.
The weather was marvelous, sunlight gently touching my body as I stretched. I was so excited about seeing Aldo’s house, and living with him for two whole days, I could barely contain myself. The second I stood up, however, I felt a wave of nausea that made me rush to the bathroom.
“God, what a time to be sick,” I complained.
When I got back to the bedroom, Aldo looked at me with concern. He apologized if the long flight had made me sick, but I assured him I never had any problem of the sort. Maybe I had caught something at work. I did spend long hours surrounded by sick people after all.
He kept fussing around me until we arrived at the mansion. I told him the nausea was settling down but he didn’t seem to believe me.
I gave up reassuring him when I saw the house. The excitement of being with him in that magnificent work of art trumped everything and I forgot I was ever sick.
Breakfast was already waiting for us and I realized I was hungry.
He fed me scrumptious pastries and the tastiest eggs Benedict I had ever had, insisting that, if indeed I had caught something from the hospital, I should eat well to feel better. My knowledge as a nurse was irrelevant before his stubbornness. I was feeling better by the minute anyway, so I resigned to enjoying this protective side of him.
He had to get up from the table before me, excusing himself to take a call. I finished the last bites of croissant and went looking for him. The conversation seemed to take longer than usual.
I found him on the beach, barefoot, animated by whatever exchange he was having on the phone. As I got closer, I started hearing his side of the conversation.
“He’s as involved as we are. He has nothing to use against us and we have no reason to pay him. Go find The Spider and get it over with. I’ll deal with the consequences when I get back.”
He caught a glance of me and smiled. “We’ll discuss this later,” he said and hang up.
“Bad day for business?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Something like that. Done eating?”
I nodded. Lifting myself on my toes, I placed a gentle kiss on his lips. His body felt tense under my arms.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, my love. Just business. Sometimes bad things happen,” he waved me off.
“Baby, this is not just business. I know your business and you’ve never been like this before. Tell me.”
“It’s complicated. Besides, why would I want to fill your pretty head with nasty details?”
“Be my guest,” I said, somehow offended by his remark. “I just wanted to help.”
He sensed my change in attitude.
“Yeah? How would you have helped, baby?”
I raised my eyebrows. “How should I know? You haven’t told me anything.”
He chuckled. “OK. How about this: I tell you the general idea and you tell me what you think.”
“Deal.”
He took my hand and we started walking on the warm sand, small waves of blue water touching our feet gently.
“Let’s say I had a business deal with someone of a… more Christian background than mine. I might’ve needed his expertise.”
I nodded.
“The business is over, quite successful, if I might add, but the person in question threatens to spill the beans about our little project if my organization doesn’t pay him more money. You see, in order for this business to have ran smoothly, I had to let this person in on a couple of … family secrets. Now, I had already made my decision, but humor me, my love. What would you do?”
“Uhuh. How much is this person asking for?”
“250 000. Why?”
“That’s not a lot of money. Why don’t you just pay the man?”
“And then have him ask for more? That is a slippery slope I don’t want to go down of.”
“It’s not, if you play your cards right. Besides, you’d have to pay for The Spider's services anyway. Wouldn’t it be better to shoot more birds with the same stone?”
“How do you mean?”
He see
med amused by my suggestion.
“Well, if he’s not asking for more, even if he knows how much you’re worth, it means he’s scared. Maybe the man has an issue that’s pressing him. He sounds desperate to do that. And, if you, hypothetically, would decide to pay him the 250 grand, you could make it in such a way that it could only be interpreted as a small token of your generosity. This way, you look better in the eyes of your other … ‘partners’ and you show him who’s the boss. It’s all a matter of perspective.”
He stopped in his tracks so suddenly, he pulled me back by the hand.
“You’re a genius, Lydia!”
“I am?”
“Yes. I know he has a gambling debt to the Chinese Triads. I didn’t think to find out how big of a debt, but I think you're right. It is too small of an amount to ask for. It has to be the debt!”
“See?”
“I don’t need to pay a penny. I can resolve his debt with my connection to the Triads in a matter of five minutes.”
“Now you're talking!”
He looked at me and we both laughed.
“Oh, I knew I loved you for a reason,” he joked, pulling me into a hug. I struggled and pouted.
“That’s your reason?”
I saw he was going for another hug so I ran. He had to pay for his words!
My habit jogging regularly was paying off now, as I managed to give him the chase of his life before he finally caught me.
He grabbed my arm and we both fell down, laughing like teenagers falling in love for the first time.
“You little vixen,” he teased, pinning my wrists in the sand.
I squirmed underneath his weight but there was no way I could escape. He used his pelvis to hinder my moves and I felt the struggle was giving him an erection. I giggled like a little girl, giving up on my plans to throw him off me. This kind of imprisonment was always welcomed.
He grinned at my reaction and pushed down harder. I got into his game and spread my legs slowly, unable to suppress a playful smile. I wrapped them around him, pulling him onto me more.
He groaned and bent to kiss my neck. My hands were now free and I started exploring his body, oblivious at the sand scraping against my skin.
I found his mouth just as he pulled up my sundress, trailing his fingers over my wet pussy.
“Oh, baby, you really want me,” he breathed into our kiss.
“I want you now, Don Galeone.”
There was no stopping him, he wanted me too. I bit his shoulder, unprepared for the first thrust.
He cradled my head into his arm, keeping me in place as he rammed into me. I moaned, the pleasure of him stretching my pussy too much to bear.
“Fuck. Yes,” I managed to whisper, moving my hips to take more of him. He knew exactly how to pleasure me and I wanted to have every inch of him inside me.
He raised to his knees and lifted my hips, holding me at his discretion. The angle gave him complete control and he wielded it maddeningly well.
I leaned my feet on his shoulders and thrusted against his every thrust, clenching around him as I neared my orgasm. He watched me through hooded eyes, licking his lips at the sight of my sweet agony.
“You’re mine,” he groaned, filling me with his seed and I lost every notion of myself.
Yes, I was his. Completely. And it felt heavenly.
He collapsed on top of me, my quivering legs to his sides. We were breathing heavily, exhausted from the pleasure.
“Oh, my God!” I exclaimed.
“What is it, my love?”
“What if someone saw us?”
He chuckled. “There’s no one around, baby. The only neighboring house is empty. I know this because it is also part of the family estate.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Look, there’s no… Oh, fuck!”
He hurried to his feet, struggling to pull his pants up.
“What is it, baby?” I panicked.
“Someone saw us. Go inside. Now.”
I was mortified. I followed his gaze and saw that two men were watching us from the other estate. Then, it hit me. La Famiglia had discovered our secret.
“Go!” he said, more like an order, and helped me up.
I was too petrified to argue. I ran back to the house, where I went straight to the bathroom. I was sick again.
*****
I was in utter shock. Three days had passed since the incident and things could not have gone any worse.
I stood in my bathroom, frozen, incapable of comprehending what that little stick was telling me.
“Oh, my God,” I kept whispering, my hands shaking uncontrollably. This was not possible, there was no way.
When I was finally able to move, I went straight for my phone. I called in sick and balled up on the couch. “Please, Lord, make this be a mistake,” I prayed, hoping that the third test would show a negative.
How could I tell him? Should I?
We had left Hawaii the same day we had been discovered. I had never seen Aldo so tense before. I had been afraid to even touch him. When we had arrived back into the city, he had sent me home alone in the limousine, explaining that we needed to wait until the situation had cooled off before we could see each other again. He had promised me he would do everything he could to defuse the situation and I had believed him. I had even suggested that resolving his organization’s little blackmailing issue would help. He had agreed and that was the last I had seen of him.
And now?
What was I to do now?
I looked at the clock and jumped up. This test would set things right; I was sure of it.
In the bathroom, I had to try hard to steady my hands to read the test. With the gasp of shock, I collapsed to the floor, feeling myself shatter into pieces.
For the first time since Hawaii, I dared to cry. I let the tears roll freely down my cheeks, unable to stifle the helplessness that infused every cell in my body.
I was hurting. Physically hurting.
All day, my mind was blank. I couldn't even muster the energy to turn the stove on so I didn’t eat for hours. Then I worried for the tiny sparkle of life forming inside me and I forced myself to chew some nuts. They tasted like dirt in my mouth.
By nightfall, I had decided Aldo deserved to know. I knew he had the right to know, regardless of whether he ever meant not to see me again.
Why would he want to be with me? After all, who was I to compete with his powerful family?
I grabbed my phone and hovered an undecided thumb over his name before finally pressing the dial button.
“Yes?” he answered and I shivered at the thought of the news he was about to receive. “Give me a second,” he excused himself and I heard him move to a quieter place. By contrast, I realized the noise that had I heard before wasn’t in my head, but that it meant he was somewhere, busy.
“Hi, Aldo. I’m sorry to disturb you like this,” I began but didn’t know how to continue.
“Yes?”
“I… Can you talk?”
“No, not really. I am a bit preoccupied at the moment. Is it something important?”
“Depends on how you see it,” a cynical thought crossed my mind.
“Yes. Yes, I think it is,” I mumbled, instead.
“Can this wait, Lydia?”
I didn’t want to press him. I was hurting too much as it was. Fighting back the tears threatening to choke me, I said:
“No, it’s OK. Just… Please call me when you can. We should talk.”
He paused and I heard him exhale in frustration. “Look, give me a little time. Let’s see what I can do tonight.”
I hang up, too weak against the torrent of pain that spilled out into bitter tears. I had a suspicion he wouldn’t call anytime soon so I just lay on the couch, where I had fallen on the side, and cried hard, holding my belly.
It had to have been too good, too perfect to be true, what we had. It all happened so fast, I didn't have time to prepare myself for the possibility
of losing him. Especially like this. But I had to face the music.
I had a good job, I could afford to be a single mother. I had a big family and they could help me. All that mattered now, strangely, was to have a healthy baby. I had just learned of it’s existence today, but my thoughts were already revolving on him. Or her.
SEALing The Victory Page 29
