Chapter 94: 94 ~ Mira
After sleeping off on the couch with a bottle of wine by my side, I woke up with body aches the next morning.
So, for my own good, I pushed thoughts of Jace to the back of mind throughout the day or so I told myself. I archived his chat and willed myself to not look at any of his messages no matter how much I wanted to.
The dinner with Massimo? I apparently took a rain check the previous night and scheduled it for this one.
The scenery in this apartment was beautiful but on this fine sunny summer day, I insisted that I wanted let my hair down and just go out.
That’s exactly what I did. I wore a sundress, donned a sassy hat and sunglasses as I drove myself to a coffee shop.
Since I took my laptop with me, I did the one thing I had been doing for the past couple of months as a means to escape my mind, I wrote.
I wrote about my experiences. How life had dealt me with continuous blows and how I had to find a way to recover but before I could fully heal, I was dealt with another. It was a never sending cycle of pain and turmoil that hit my gut every single time.
The hardest one had to be my miscarriage. It shattered me in more ways than I could understand. Every other thing that had happened to me seemed external but this one, felt like something was stolen from the inside of me and there was no way to recover it.
How do you grieve someone you’ve never even... met?
I typed till my hands ached and my coffee went cold. I even made them reheat my croissant in the microwave just so I could put something warm in my stomach as I skipped breakfast that morning.
When I finally decided to pause after a few hours, I looked up and saw someone very familiar walk in.
It was a weird coincidence. But what are the odds that Caterina would walk into the same cafe I was seated out as I was just about to leave?
She was gorgeous as always. In fact she looked more beautiful than the last time I saw her few years back. Even in her casual attire, she was still able to turn heads.
Yes she was a mean bitch but there was no denying how good looking she was.
I made sure she did not see my face. I didn’t want any of her drama.
A curious part of me wondered what she was doing in LA though. Did she move down here because of Jace?
Then a slight pang of jealousy hit my chest at the thought of her and Jace still hooking up. I immediately shook it off. Why would I let myself feel anything but hate for the man who broke me?
I was going to divorce him anyway so he could whatever he liked for all I cared.
I just had to have my revenge first.
~
I took my time getting ready for this dinner. I wasn’t ready to face Massimo and his scheming self but he had insisted and I didn’t want to turn him down especially because we had a deal no matter how I felt about him.
So when his driver told me he was downstairs, I spent a good twenty minutes putting finishing touches on my outfit before stepping out of my apartment.
A pastel green dress that was anything but revealing was what I wore with a black pair of mole heels and a sling bag. I straightened out my hair and let it rest on my shoulders looking like a blunt cut.
The driver looked somewhat agitated when I got downstairs. Maybe his boss was already questioning him about my whereabouts. Too bad.
My eyes stayed glued to the window for the most of the ride as the driver sped through traffic like a man on a mission. Well, he was on a mission to not get his head chopped off by his boss that’s for sure.
As expected, Massimo had an ultra modern mansion. I wasn’t surprised by his grandioseness anymore.
I got out of the car.
My heels clicked the tiles as I was led inside the building.
Like most homes of this nature, there was a clean minimalist aesthetic about the space. I merely glanced around. I just wanted to get this visit over with.
~
"Belissima," he drawled as soon as I entered the dining room where he was seated, waiting for me.
"Massimo," I said without a smile.
"Why the long face? You’re not happy to see me?"
"The last thing I wanted to do today was step out of that apartment."
"Yet you went out for some coffee."
My brow raised. "So you’re stalking me now?"
He was unmoved by the sternness of my glare. "I have to keep eyes on what’s mine."
"I’m not yours."
He wagged a finger as he tsked a number of times I couldn’t count. "That’s not what we agreed to."
"I’m sure you know I’m still married to Jace."
I didn’t plan on using the marriage card to ward him off but it was necessary. I did not belong to anyone.
"Makes it even better. What better revenge than an angry wife to her oblivious husband." He grinned sickly.
I fought back a grimace.
Maybe I should not have thought of it but I missed the charming, flirtatious Massimo back in Lisbon. The same one who used to help my business boom better by buying out everything in stock just to impress me.
If only I knew he had a much bigger plan in mind, maybe I would have avoided his advances even more. But it was too late to cry over spilled milk.
I barely ate anything on my plate after what he said.
"The documents I want are most likely in New York. I need you to get them and then our deal is over. You can do whatever you like afterwards." He spoked up after several seconds of silence.
"What are those documents about?" I asked.
His hands stilled mid air. "When you see them, you’d surely know."
"That’s a very vague answer Massimo. I need to know what it’s about."
"Get to New York first."
"Am I supposed to just show up at his house when I’ve been shunning him for weeks?"
"He sent you flowers and came to your apartment, you sent him away, big deal."
I held in my surprise as he spoke. This man was watching my every move.
He continued. "You’re just playing hard to get. He hurt you and you have every right to be offended. But you can’t deny you still love him."
"I don’t." I cut in quickly even though I felt my heart thump louder as he mentioned it.
Massimo frowned. "I didn’t say that you loved him."
It was my turn to frown. "Then what-"
"I was narrating the plot line. That’s the script. Act it out well so you can get what we want. I hope you haven’t forgotten what this means to you?"
I squeezed my thigh under the table. "I haven’t."
"Good." He smiled. "Let’s have dessert," he said to one of his staff.
I didn’t have the appetite but I forced myself to have the mango puree anyways.
~
On my way back home, danger struck.
All of a sudden the vehicle swerved to a curb.
"What’s going on?" I yelled at the driver who seemed terrified.
Someone opened the door from the other side.
"Get down."
"Not again," I muttered with a roll of my eyes.
"Do as I say! Now!"
I got down and faced the masked bulky dude. He had a gun that was pointed at my face.
"What do you want?" I asked as I handed my purse to him and he shoved it aside.
"You’re coming with us."
"No I’m not."
"I’ll blow your brains out." He said gruffly.
I figured that if he really wanted to kill me he would have done it by now.
"Do it then."
He seemed stunned and tried to manhandle me. I disarmed him in the blink of an eye and cocked the gun at him.
"I’m not afraid to use it." I warned him, my voice colder than the metal in my hands.
Losing my child forced me into going for self defense classes.
If only I had known how to defend myself sooner, maybe I would have been able to save my baby.
I would have been a mother and life would have been so different from what it was at the moment.
Pangs of guilt filled my chest. It distracted me.
Someone came from behind me and put a chloroformed handkerchief over my nose and that was how I lost consciousness.
~
My eyes opened and I found myself strapped into a cushioned leather chair.
"Where am I?" I groaned.
My hands weren’t tied.. There was only a seat belt.
"Oh hell no," I muttered as I looked around my surroundings.
This was none other than a private jet.
"Fuck you, Jace Romano."