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There’d also been the fact that Marco Sartori didn’t get involved in his Capos’ personal family squabbles unless he’d had to, and Nero Sartori hadn’t had time to bother with the likes of me. I had voluntarily left that life, so if my parents couldn’t care less about what I was going through, why would the heads of the family care? They were running a multi-million-dollar criminal empire, so it’d be easy to say that they’d had better things to do than listen to the troubles that I had brought on myself.
Despite all that, I was here because I really no longer had a choice. Even if nothing could be done to help me, I still needed to try. I needed to be able to say that I’d done everything that I could to escape this nightmare, so that I could sleep at night. While I didn’t mind the outcome not ending up in my favor, I did mind not trying. Hell, trying was the reason that I was in this situation in the first place. I had wanted to try my hand at a different life, and I’d accomplished that in spades.
After Ashton had finished with me the other night, he had woken me around eleven to put a five-carat diamond solitaire on my finger. He’d said that it had sounded stupid when he had introduced me to Cooper as his girlfriend, and that calling me his fiancé sounded more elegant and refined. He’d also made the point about us dating for two years already, so getting engaged was the next logical step.
The announcement was to come out this weekend.
Luckily, the ring had ended up being too big, so I was free from its shackles for another couple of days, but when it was all said and done, I knew that I couldn’t marry Ashton. Because the Olivers were the All-American dream, children would be expected of me, and I couldn’t imagine having kids with a man as vile as Ashton Oliver. My children would grow up brainwashed by his side of the family, and they’d also have zero respect for me, which I would deserve. There was nothing more damaging to a child than having a weak mother, and no matter my reasons, they wouldn’t know them, so all that they’d see was a weakness that was borderline loathsome.
Staring at the line that was waiting to get into the club, only my future children would have me here, even knowing that I was grasping at straws. I knew that the odds were stacked against me, but I needed to try. Before Ashton put that ring back on my finger, I needed to try.
With my heartbeat drumming painfully in my ears, I walked past the line and straight up to the bouncer working the front door. Like I’d done at the previous clubs, I smiled at the behemoth of a man, doing my best not to look like some vapid groupie that was trying to use her looks or tits to cut in front of the long line that spanned the sidewalk.
“Hello,” I greeted, his bored expression telling me that he wasn’t impressed by any inch of me. “I’m not trying to cut in line…honest. I’m…I’m looking for Aurelio Provenza, and Giovanni at The Den said that he was going to be here tonight.”
For all of his size, his keen brown eyes reflected the intelligence in them. “If Mr. Provenza wanted you to know where he was, then you wouldn’t have needed Giovanni to direct you here,” he stated, knowing better than to talk to strangers about Aurelio’s whereabouts.
“I’m not here to cause trouble,” I lied. “If you could just tell him that Savina Valentine needs to speak with him-”
“Lady, I don’t give a fuck who you are,” he said, repeating the same thing that I’d been hearing all night. “Go stand in line like everyone else if you want to get inside.”
Like the others, he had an earpiece nestled safely in his right ear, the communication obvious. “I’m just asking you to get him a message,” I practically begged. “Or…or can you just tell me if he’s in there? I’ll wait in line if he’s inside, but I don’t want to wait if he’s not here.”
“Not my problem,” he replied coldly.
Hating to do it, I said, “My father is Paolo Valentine.” His eyes narrowed a bit at that piece of information. “I’m not some…groupie or club hopper. I really just need to speak with Aurelio.”
“If Paolo Valentine is really your father, then he can get you a meeting with Mr. Provenza,” he said, not willing to budge. “It’s either that, or you can go to the back of the line.”
The problem with waiting was that I didn’t have that kind of time. I’d waited to go in at the other two clubs, and both times had been a waste. Once inside, I had looked for Aurelio everywhere only to come up short. Though I had lied about Giovanni telling me that Aurelio was here, I had overheard him talking to someone else about Aurelio possibly being here tonight.
I glanced back at the line, and it looked to be a two-hour wait at minimum. By then, it’d be past midnight, and I was already going to pay for this little excursion as it was. Ashton had gone out of town with his father and brother this morning, and he wasn’t due back until tomorrow night. My plan had been to find help, then pack only what I couldn’t leave behind, finally leaving Ashton for good.
I looked back at the doorman because time really wasn’t on my side. “Look, if you could just-”
“Do I need to have someone remove you?” he threatened. “Because I will if you don’t get out of my face, lady.”
While he was being incredibly rude, I couldn’t blame him. Given the choice to be rude to me or piss off a high-ranking member of the Sartoris, it was a no-brainer. There were no repercussions from sending me on my way, whereas he risked a bullet if he pissed Aurelio off.
Knowing that he wasn’t going to budge, I turned back towards the line. If I’d known then what I knew now, I never would have deleted Aurelio’s number from my phone. I’d been so determined to stand on my own that I had practically erased my entire life. In all actuality, I wasn’t even sure if I had the right to feel hurt and angry over my parents’ rejection last year. There’d been nothing wrong with my life, but I had acted like there had been. I’d been ungrateful and had acted accordingly.
“Thank you anyway,” I muttered before letting out a deep breath.
I’d just taken a step towards the daunting line when I heard a door open behind me, the bass of the music inside escaping for just a bit, reminding everyone in line of what they were missing. I turned just in time to hear the heavy door swing shut, making sure to keep the good times inside while everyone else waited outside to join.
Three men had exited the club, all three dressed to the nines, but my breath caught on the third man, as I would recognize him anywhere.
Aurelio.
Though I’d been looking for him, my feet refused to move now that I’d found him. Suddenly, self-doubt washed over me like a tidal wave. However, before I could decide what to do next, Aurelio’s head snapped sideways, his dark eyes locking me in place, the look on his face very much like the one that my father had worn.
After a few seconds, he stepped my way, and I could hear the bouncer laugh as Aurelio asked me, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Chapter 7
Aurelio~
Though she was really standing before me as plain as day, I was still having trouble trusting my eyes. Three years ago, Savina Valentine had walked away from me, and she hadn’t looked back. Three years ago, she’d made it clear that I hadn’t been enough for her, and by the way that the media followed her and her boyfriend around, I supposed that she was right. For three years, she’d been living the perfect life, and three years later, I still could barely sleep.
