AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He took a large suitcase with him, mostly filled with clothes and electronics. He’s leaving tonight on business, and then he’s going to spend a few days in France before coming back to Porto. He told me that while he’s gone, I need to decide between him and my family.”
My blood is boiling, and I take a breath before I say something about Marco that she might not easily forgive. Asking Valentina to give up her family for him is like driving a stake through her heart. He knows it. What a huge asshole. “Did something happen?”
“I don’t know. He won’t talk to me about it. When I got home from having dinner with my parents last week, Marco wasn’t there. He came in shortly after, and he was in a mood—preoccupied and gruff. Which isn’t like him.”
My heart falls into my stomach. “What night was that, again?” I ask, even though I know the answer.
“Wednesday.”
Shit. “He didn’t say anything at all?”
She shakes her head.
“Do you know where he was before he came home?”
“Meeting a client.” She begins to pace the kitchen, reordering items on the counter. “How can we possibly work things out if he won’t talk to me?”
My insides are shaking, and I pull out a stool from the island and sit down. I know this has something to do with Rafael. I just know it, but I can’t tell her. Maybe someone else knows. Someone who’s not afraid of the truth. Daniela. “Have you asked your mother about it?”
“No. I can’t talk to her about this.”
“You can,” I say gently. “You might not want to, but you can.”
“I can’t, Lexie. I’m still a newlywed. I feel like a damn failure.”
Exactly how I’m going to feel if I tell you what I know, and Rafael kicks me out on my ass. Because he will. I glance at her anguished face. This isn’t about me.
“Stop it right now. You are not a failure. You’re running a very successful Port company that’s about to become even more successful.”
She takes a bottle of spray cleaner and a rag from under the sink and begins to scrub the spotless counters. Some people collapse in a heap, but Valentina is a whirlwind when she’s anxious.
“I get why you don’t want to talk to your parents about this, but there isn’t a chance in hell that they would ever think of you as a failure.”
She doesn’t respond.
“Did your father let on, over dinner, that he had some kind of problem with Marco?”
I don’t know if Rafael was on the phone with Antonio, when he mentioned Marco’s name the other day, but I’m hoping I can lead her to the information she needs without betraying Rafael or lying to her. It’s an untenable predicament, and I’m starting to worry that I’m going to be forced to choose between my best friend, my sister, whom I love, and the man I’ve wanted—and yes, loved—for so long.
She thinks for a moment. “No. His name never came up until I left. My father told me to send him his best.”
With Antonio, it could go either way. Maybe he wasn’t involved, or maybe send him my best was the equivalent of sending Marco a huge middle finger.
Have you asked Rafael? I don’t say it because it feels wrong to encourage it, but it’s only a matter of time before she brings it up.
“Has Rafael said anything to you?” she asks, and my stomach rebels.
I can’t lie to her, but I can’t betray him either. I need to walk the line between two bad choices, but that prospect doesn’t feel very good either. You have no choice.
“He hasn’t said anything to me. Why don’t you talk to him?”
Valentina stands by the island, across from me, with both hands on the quartz top. “You know something, don’t you?”
Oh God.
I shake my head. “I don’t know anything that could help you.” My conscience twitches as soon as the words are out.
She shakes her head, and a different kind of sadness and maybe disappointment envelops her. “I thought we were friends, Lexie. Sisters.” She pounds her index finger on the counter. “This is my marriage I’m fighting for. What do you know?”
