CHAPTER XVI
~~~
“Don,”
Chase stopped in his tracks at the sound of Saige’s voice. As he heard the sound of her heels clicking against the tiles coming closer, he slid his hand inside his pocket and took out a cigar and lighter. Once he lit the cigar, he took it to his lips and returned the lighter to his pocket. “What?” He turned to Saige who was standing beside him.
“Who is she?”
He turned his face away and blew out smoke from his lips. “You’re not dumb. You heard Lucas,”
“Shouldn’t she have been killed then?” She asked.
“And if I don’t want to kill her?” He asked. “What if I want to keep her here as my property?”
“Are you fucking her?” Disbelief laced her voice.
“Not yet,” Chase said and turned to look at Saige who was looking anywhere but at his eyes. “But soon,” The balls he had to tell that to his fiancee.
“I’m your fiancee. We’re getting married,” Saige said. How could he tell her something like that? It was unbelievable! She’d tried so many times to seduce this same man to at least touch her but he never did. He never bulged, had an erection, or even looked her way. Only for him to decide he wanted sexual pleasure from a barely nineteen-year-old girl. But then, Saige knew better than to complain or voice out her thoughts.
“Looks like you’re forgetting how our world works,” Chase turned to her. “I do not owe you my loyalty. I’m the Don and you’ll respect my decisions, sono dannatamente chiaro?”,
{“Am I fucking clear?”}
Saige managed a small nod at him and he walked away.
“Dammit,” She hit the wall beside her with her palm.
It wasn’t fair. She loved him. She had always been in love with him since she knew him. She could see the disinterest for him in Sophia’s eyes earlier but had no choice but to shut up. If she fucked up even once, she’d miss the opportunity to be with the man she loved even though he didn’t feel like that towards her.
Saige didn’t know what he had done to make her love him. It just happened and ever since then, he had been the only one in her mind constantly. Getting him to agree to marry her wasn’t as difficult as she thought. She was only lucky he was in a good mood the day he agreed because he needed something important from her dad and her dad had seized the opportunity to make sure she had him. If it was the normal Chase, he would never have agreed to marry her no matter what. He wouldn’t have married any woman either, but she thanked her lucky stars for keeping Chase in the mood even though he knew her dad had taken advantage of him and simply ignored it.
~~~
Sophia slumped on her bed and buried her face into her pillow before she let the tears fall freely as Lucas’ words thrust their way into her mind.
“He has every fucking thing to do with all this,”
“He’s the fucked up reason why you’re here standing like a nuisance to all of us. If not for that fucker, we all wouldn’t be here. You should have just been killed like your fucking parents so we would live in peace”
She always knew Lucas hated her but she didn’t think it would get to the extent where he would bring her parents into it. Next time he would taunt her, did that mean he’d bring her remaining family members into it too?
Her parents didn’t deserve it. They didn’t deserve what happened to them. They didn’t deserve their death. They didn’t deserve such a cruel death. And even after that, they didn’t deserve to be badmouthed even after death.
Thinking about all that, the tears doubled and a sob left her lips.
“Soph,” Valerie caressed her hair as she sat next to her on the bed. “I’m sorry for what Lucas said out there,”
Sophia’s sobs increased. “Why does he hate me so much to the extent of bringing up my dead dad? It doesn’t feel like he hates me only for something like that. I think there’s more to it,”Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
Valerie fisted her hands into a ball and dropped them beside her. Sophia was right. There was more to it. Yeah, Lucas didn’t support letting her live but he wouldn’t hate her for that. He had another reason for hating her so much but it wasn’t a topic to ever be addressed.
Seeing Sophia in that state was making pain string in Valerie’s heart and she couldn’t comfort Sophia like a sister and a fellow girl would. The truth was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. She couldn’t say the truth because letting it out would destroy lives. It would hurt the only positive and happy person remaining among the four Romano’s-Luciano-and he might end up hating Sophia too just like his twin did if he finally found out. His hatred was more venomous than Lucas’ own. They all knew it.
Valerie didn’t hate Sophia. She had tried to hate her even before she met her but the moment she saw her that night in that small coffee shop, she felt the connection between them and that was why she didn’t let Lucas kill her.
Fuck. Sophia was innocent. She was unaware of whatever life they all lived and Valerie intended to keep it that way. Even if Sophia found out about their world, Valerie would do anything at all costs to hide that particular heartbreaking secret from her.
The secret Luciano and Sophia were oblivious to. The secret Chase and Lucas knew from the very beginning and had chosen to hide from the world and everyone else. The secret Valerie had mistakenly stumbled across and found out about. The secret Chase and Lucas didn’t know Valerie knew of. The secret Chase and Lucas thought only they knew except their dead parents. The secret that would make Luciano hate Sophia too, much more than Lucas already did.
That was the same secret Valerie had vowed to never reveal or even let her brother and cousin know she knew about.
The secret of Sophia’s father and their Lucas, Luciano, and Valerie-mum’s infidelity.