AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I was leaving the office at around seven when I got a call from a possible client,” I lied. “They said that they were interested in the Montgomery property, and they wanted to discuss it over dinner and see the property afterwards.”
“It’s ten o’clock at night, Savina,” he hissed. “What kind of meeting goes on till this late at night?”
“It was already past eight by the time that we finished dinner,” I said, still lying. “She gave me the impression that she came from money, so when she insisted on seeing the property after dinner, I…I didn’t want to offend her and possibly lose the sale.”
I closed my eyes, hoping that he was too mad to ask for the fictional woman’s name. Though I should be happy that he didn’t have a private investigator on me or knew that I was on this side of town, if he asked me for a name, then found out that it’d all been a lie, he’d kill me for sure.
“Get your ass home,” he ordered. “I mean it, Savina.”
“Of course,” I muttered, despising my weakness.
“And the next time someone is making demands of you, you need to remind them who your fiancé is,” he said, clearly offended that I would dare bow down to someone else’s demands.
“No…yes, you’re right,” I said, my hands still shaking.
“Get home, and we’ll discuss this some more when I get back,” he stated with authority, and I could feel everything that I was feeling lodged in my throat.
“I’m heading home now, Ashton.”
“Good.”
He hung up on me, and the coward in me wanted to start the car, then just keep driving until I ran out of gas. I didn’t even care where I ended up. Countless times, I’d fantasized about blowing Ashton’s cover, showing the world the monster behind the practiced smile. I’d remember the woman that I used to be and daydream about being David, bringing down Goliath.
Too bad that Ashton Oliver was holding all the cards.
He knew it, too.
Chapter 9
Aurelio~
Two days later, Savina’s glistening blue eyes were still haunting me, and I cursed my weakness when it came to that woman. I didn’t owe her a motherfucking thing, and she had no right to pop back up into my life, no matter the reason.
The door to Nero’s office swung open, and I watched him walk in, loosening his tie, obviously done for the day. Apart from his wife, I was the only other person allowed in this room when Nero wasn’t present, so when he had texted me for an impromptu meeting, I’d shown up at his place, and Kasen hadn’t even bothered escorting me to Nero’s office. She had simply greeted me, kissed me on the cheek, then had announced that she was going to go lay down. When I had insisted on escorting her, she had waved me off, saying that she was still quite capable of getting herself around.
Nonetheless, I had waited at the base of the stairs until she’d safely made it to the second floor. Kasen was about to give birth at any moment, so I could see her needing her rest. I also knew that Nero was driving her insane, so not wanting to be around any men probably sounded blissful to her.
At any rate, after Kasen had gone upstairs, I had made my way to Nero’s office, using my key to let myself in. When Nero had texted me, he’d been leaving his father’s, so I had poured myself a drink, making myself at home. Though my role in this family had changed some time ago, it was still hard not to follow Nero around wherever he went. I’d been the man’s guard for over ten years, and I loved him like a brother. Even though Fernando was good at what he did, and even though Nero could take care of himself, I knew that I’d never forgive myself if anything ever happened to him.
I watched as he walked over to the bar to fix himself a drink, and I was kind of surprised that he wasn’t lighting up a cigarette. Though he only smoked in this room, the man smoked a lot, especially when he came home from a meeting with Marco. Marco Sartori was a lot to deal with on a good day, and now that Nero was fully in charge, Marco’s ego needed boosting more than it’d used to.
“How’s Pop doing?”
Nero’s brown eyes shot my way. “Ha. Ha.”
I grinned. “Maybe he’ll stay out of your hair once Kasen gives him a grandchild.”
He arched a brow. “That man isn’t going anywhere near my son without me or Kasen present,” he said, and not for the first time. “All I have to do is get a phone call from Elio to know that Marco will have no influence on how we raise our children.”
I chuckled as I walked over to the bar for him to refill my glass. “At least, we can say that Elio’s a work in progress and not a lost cause.”
“I’d be more forgiving if he hadn’t saddled me with a dingbat for a sister-in-law,” he drawled out, taking his first sip of his drink.
“You got me there,” I chuckled before taking another sip of my bourbon.
After a few seconds of silence, he asked. “When are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on with you, Aurelio?”
My dark eyes shot his way, and Nero was intuitive enough to spot a lie, not that I would have lied to him in the first place. Plus, our entire relationship was based on absolute trust, and if he ever felt like he couldn’t trust me, he’d put a bullet in my head, despite our history or the relationship that we had now. Nothing mattered to this man more than his wife, and he would slaughter his entire family if he believed that any of them might be a danger to her.
