All I've Never Wanted

by Ana Huang

  “You’ll see,” he replied mysteriously.

  Hmm. Well, color me intrigued.

  An hour and a half later, we were two towns over, parked in front of a…carnival, only this time, it wasn’t filled with celebrities. There were just regular people: couples on dates, families with laughing kids, all running around eating cotton candy and waiting impatiently for their turn at one of the many popular games.

  “I thought that since I, er, cut your last carnival experience short, I’d make it up to you,” Roman said sheepishly, turning off the engine. “I know this is a bit different than Hawaii, but it’s probably better than just dinner and a movie, right?”

  My heart swelled so much it nearly burst out of my chest. He could be so darn thoughtful sometimes. “This is way better,” I agreed softly. “This is perfect.”

  Roman smiled happily at that, and he got out of the car to open the door for me, grasping my hand firmly in his as we wandered through the carnival.

  Honestly, I liked this better than the Hawaii one. The Perrys’ over-the-top birthday party had been amazing, but this carnival was more down-to-earth. More real.

  After we’d stuffed ourselves with cotton candy and popcorn and went on almost every ride twice (and rode the Ferris Wheel three times) we decided to try and win one of the giant stuffed animal prizes at what seemed to be the most popular booth. At least, I decided and Roman had no choice but to tag along.

  It turned out to be an utterly classic carnival game: the plate toss. If you tossed a dime and it landed in the center of the plate, you won a prize.

  Since my hand-eye coordination was somewhere south of zero, I turned to Roman with pleading eyes.

  He sighed and held up a hand. “Don’t even ask,” he grumbled, as the booth operator handed him a dime with a toothy smile.

  Everyone had three tries, and the first two times, Roman struck out. The third time, though, the dime landed squarely in the middle of the plate.

  “Yes!” I jumped with delight, eyeing all those big, fluffy stuffed animals that just screamed “take me home!”

  “Which stuffed animal would you like?” the operator asked, his smile growing even wider as he looked at me.

  “Um.” I pursed my lips in concentration. “The frog. No! The unicorn…wait, no! Is that a horse?”

  “Maya, just pick one. There’s a line,” Roman said rather impatiently.

  His personality may have improved a bit but he still had a ways to go.

  “This is a very important decision,” I insisted, torn. “Fine. I’ll take the…” My eyes landed on the adorable pink animal. “I’ll take the pig!”

  I beamed as the man plucked the giant pig from where it hung and placed it in my arms. I sighed, hugging it happily. It was so soft and cuddly.

  “Out of all the animals, you had to choose the pig?” Roman shook his head in disbelief. He glanced at the pig then looked at me. “Although I guess it makes sense, considering how much it resembles you.”

  I gasped. “Take that back!”

  “I don’t think I will,” he replied nonchalantly, walking ahead of me. “I think I’m going to get some more popcorn instead.”

  I ran to catch up with him. “So you’re really not going to take it back?”

  “Nope.”

  “Fine.” I shoved the stuffed animal in his arms, a small smirk on my face. “You’re holding this for me the rest of the night then.”

  “Uh, I don’t think so,” he said scornfully, staring with disdain at the stuffed porcine. “There’s no way in hell you can make me carry this around.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Do it or I’m not kissing you again,” I threatened.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was happily munching on a new bag of popcorn while Roman trailed after me, the pig in his arms and a scowl on his face.

  I looked back at him, grinning at how adorable he looked, even though he looked like he wanted to murder me. A group of girls passed by, bursting into giggles at the sight of a hot, leather-jacketed guy carrying a big pink pig.

  “I’m going to make you pay for this,” Roman warned me, his face red. “For real, this time.”

  I was unfazed. “Yeah, yeah. Are there any more games you want to play?” I was getting a bit tired. Boy, carnivals can really wear a girl out.

  He immediately shook his head, obviously not wanting to be embarrassed any further. “You want to go?”

  “Yep.”

  We were halfway to the car when I accidentally bumped into a passing, older couple. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry!” I cried, while Roman chuckled behind me, obviously amused by my klutziness.

  “Just watch where you’re going next time,” the woman snapped, turning away from the distinguished gray-haired man she was with to face me.

  My heart stopped when I saw her. The long blonde hair, the sharp features, the petite body. Even though I’ve only seen her for about five minutes max in the past, I could never forget that face.

  It was Lexi. The woman my dad cheated on my mom with.

  CHAPTER 25

  My blood ran cold even as anger heated up my stomach at the sight of Lexi’s smug face.

  I was so shocked and furious I was literally shaking, but my feet were rooted to the ground as she turned to walk away with the man by her side.

  Probably another happily married man she’s seduced, I thought, clenching my hands into fists.

  “Want me to go scare her a little?” Roman’s voice broke through my thoughts. “I can’t hit her, obviously, but I can be quite intimidating if I want to.”

  I looked up at him, cracking a tiny smile at the serious expression on his face. “Thanks, but I can handle it,” I said, my voice hard.

  Without waiting for a reply, I stormed over to where she’d stopped at a food vendor. Resisting the urge to yank her around and bitch slap her, I settled for a rough tap, almost a push, on the shoulder instead.

  Lexi whipped around, looking annoyed. “Oh, it’s you again. What do you want?” she asked.

  “Why?” I demanded.

  She stared at me like I was crazy, while her date just looked confused. She didn’t recognize me. Not that I expected her to, considering I’ve only seen her once and she probably hadn’t gotten a good look at the crazy crying girl running out of the restaurant that night.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said coolly.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. Bitch slap. Now! my mind yelled at me, but I held back. I felt Roman come up behind me, his scent calming me down a little, but to my surprise, the man Lexi was with broke out into a smile.

  “Roman! How are you?” he asked jovially, holding out one hand.

  Both Lexi and I turned to stare at Roman, who now had a polite smile on his face. It looked jarringly out of place next to the giant pink pig in his arms. “Mr. Henderson, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” he said, reaching out to take the man’s hand.

  Wait. He knew him?

  “How is your father? I haven’t spoken to him since we had that business summit in Switzerland,” Mr. Henderson said, shaking Roman’s hand.

  “He’s doing well, thank you for asking, although he’s busy as always.” Roman flicked his eyes toward me. “As a matter of fact, he wanted to ask you about the Wyatt-Triage merger last week…”

  He led Mr. Henderson to a bench out of earshot, talking about some business concerns the whole way. Huh. I didn’t even know Roman knew anything about his father’s business dealings.

  Nevertheless, gratitude seeped through me. It was obvious he wanted me to speak to Lexi without an audience.

  “I’m sorry, but I have no idea who you are,” Lexi said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

  Right. Back to the task at hand.

  I leveled her with a glare that could’ve slain a hundred dragons, had they actually existed. “No, but I know who you are. Lexi, right?”

  She suddenly stiffened, narrowing her eyes at me as recognition spread across her face. “Ah. Arnold
Lindberg’s daughter, I’m assuming. I should have guessed. You have the exact same eyes.”

  This time I was the one who stiffened. How did she know automatically who I was? Maybe she really did recognize me and had just pretended not to.

  My question must’ve been written all over my face, because Lexi rolled her eyes, twirling her hair around her fingers. I couldn’t believe my dad had cheated on mom for her. She acted like some stupid, ditzy teenage girl!

  “I suppose I can tell you part of the truth now, just because I’ve already gotten paid, and I certainly don’t need you complicating my relationship with Thomas,” she said in a bored voice. I assume Thomas was Mr. Henderson’s first name.

  “What’s there to tell? You seduced my dad, knowing full well he had a wife,” I hissed, the rage boiling up inside me like a volcano about to erupt.

  Lexi didn’t even blink. “True.”

  I’ve never been a particularly violent person, but at the moment, I wanted to smack that smirk off her face.

  “I have to say, though, it wasn’t necessarily my idea.”

  A cold, penetrating chill slid down my spine. “What are you talking about?” I demanded through gritted teeth.

  She eyed me almost pityingly. “I never really worked at your father’s company. I was a temporary intern there, and I only took the internship to get close to him.”

  I felt dizzy as my mind scrambled to make sense of her words. “You said it wasn’t your idea,” I accused.

  Lexi rolled her eyes like I was a particularly dumb child. “It’s not. Someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It was simple. Seduce your father, shake up his marriage a bit, and I get paid.” She shrugged. “The fact that you saw us that night at Masa only made things easier.”

  That was when I snapped. All the pent-up anger I’ve been feeling towards my father and Lexi fueled the loud slap I delivered across her face. I could hear it even over the cheesy carnival music, and several passersby had stopped to gawk at the drama.

  Roman and Mr. Henderson, however, didn’t seem to have noticed yet.

  “Wow, so you’re a prostitute. Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I spat, feeling sick to my stomach. How could there be people in the world who were callous and greedy enough to break up someone’s family for money?

  Although I lived in Valesca. That sort of stuff shouldn’t even surprise me.

  To my ire, Lexi didn’t look particularly put out by my slap or accusation. It was like she was used to it, which she probably was.

  “Au contraire, my dear, I’m not a prostitute,” she drawled, reaching up to touch her face lightly. “I just hit some hard times and like I said, someone made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Honestly, you shouldn’t be taking this out on me. I’m not the one diabolical enough to come up with the plan. I was just carrying out orders.”

  I stared at her, trying to discern if she was lying or not. She stared right back, her eyes not leaving mine. She looked almost bored by our conversation, but a horrible gut feeling told me she was telling the truth.

  “Who was it?” I demanded. “Who was the person who paid you?”

  Lexi just shrugged. “Sorry, hon, but I’ve told you all I could. Besides, you think I’ll tell you after that little slap?” She smirked. “Word of advice though? Be careful who you let into your life.” She flicked her eyes over to where Roman and Mr. Henderson were seated. “Not everyone has your best interests at heart.”

  With that, she turned and started to walk away, but after a few steps looked over her shoulder and added, “If it makes you feel better though, I didn’t sleep with your precious father. Actually, you can commend him for holding out so long. I’m very good when it comes to men.”

  I just stood there, stunned, as I watched her and Mr. Henderson say their goodbyes to Roman and disappear into a waiting Town Car. Roman walked over, a concerned look on his face, but I couldn’t move.

  My mind was spinning faster than the carousel I was standing next do, and the carnival music was jumbling up all my thoughts. Breathe…just breathe…

  “What’s wrong? What did she say?” Roman asked, a frown creasing his brow as he touched my shoulder.

  It wasn’t until then that I noticed I was shivering.

  “Nothing.” My voice sounded far away. “Nothing at all.”

  Nothing except something that had thrown yet another wrench into my life. Who could possibly have hired her? I felt nauseous at the thought that it might be one of my friends, someone I trusted. Out of everything else, that would devastate me the most.

  * * *

  For the next week and a half, I couldn’t push Lexi’s words out of my mind, but I didn’t mention them to anyone else. Not Roman, not Carlo, not even my father. I mean, the whole thing was just unbelievable, like something in a movie.

  Could someone hate my family that much? It was hard to imagine. Up until a few months ago, I was practically invisible. My parents didn’t have any enemies that I knew of. It was just baffling.

  Still, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I was determined to push those negative thoughts out of my mind for at least one night. Actually, with the exception of my run in with Lexi, everything else in my life was falling into place.

  My relationship with Roman was going fairly smoothly. Sure, we had a few minor arguments here and there, because honestly, he could be a huge idiot sometimes, but he was also a lot sweeter and more thoughtful than I ever thought he could be. We went out on dates several times a week, from dinners at expensive restaurants to more low-key outings to the park.

  Can you believe he’s never been to a public park? That boy had no idea what he was missing out on, but now, I can’t tear him away from the swings. The park was also a really good place to walk Mickey, which we did together sometimes. Mickey and Roman still have their differences, but at least the former has stopped peeing all over Roman’s Armani shoes.

  When I told Roman it was out of love that Mickey did that, because “isn’t peeing supposed to be marking your territory? You don’t mark things you don’t love,” he glared at me and told me in no uncertain terms that he was not a “thing” and that if Mickey peed on his custom-made shoes one more time, he was going to use him to make a dog fur coat and give it to his animal-hating aunt in Milan as a Christmas present.

  Of course, that prompted Mickey to bite down on Roman’s finger, which didn't help matters. But that's another story.

  I’ve continued my friendship with James, because, much to Roman’s chagrin, I am not the type of girl who will stop being friends with someone just because her boyfriend said so. Roman will just have to get over it.

  By the time actual Thanksgiving night rolled around, I was a nervous wreck, but for an entirely different reason than you might think.

  “Mom? Mom! Have you seen my pearl earrings?” I asked, bursting frantically into my parents’ room. I studiously avoided my dad’s gaze as he finished knotting his tie.

  “Ah, I have them right here.” My mom held up the pearl drop earrings my grandmother had given me as a birthday present last year. “I thought you didn’t like pearls.”

  “I don’t.” I quickly clipped them on. “But it looks classy, right?”

  She smiled knowingly at me. “You look beautiful. You shouldn’t be nervous.”

  “Nervous? Why would I be nervous?” My voice was high-pitched as I smoothed down the front of my simple black dress with a shaking hand. “I’m just meeting the wife of the richest man in the world.”

  Yep. I was meeting the parents tonight. Apparently, it was tradition for everyone to have a huge Thanksgiving dinner at Roman’s house. According to Adriana, he has “the best cooks,” and this year, since I was dating the heir himself, my family was invited.

  Personally I think my parents are slightly relieved. We’ve never been huge celebrators of Thanksgiving, and my mom hated making turkey.

  “I’m sure she’ll love you,” my dad said, gazing at me hopefully.

  I didn’t meet his ey
es. “Thanks,” I mumbled. Things have been less frigid between us since I now knew he told the truth about him and Lexi having never slept together, but still. He did cheat on my mom, even if the person he’d cheated on her with had been hired to seduce him.

  No. don’t think about that now, I instructed myself as we piled into my dad’s SUV. Just think of happy things. I rested my head on the back of my seat, trying to focus on nothing other than the soft classical music piping through the speakers. My mom was a huge classical music fan.

  By the time we arrived at the Fioris’ estate, I had calmed down somewhat. My parents, on the other hand, were gushing over the Versailles-like structure in front of them, especially my architect dad.