Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
But she needs to know that this isn’t just physical between us. The way I open up to her, I want her to do the same with me.
About twenty minutes after Matteo picks up Leo, I have Dominick text Vanessa that she needs to come into work for a meeting and that her uniform isn’t required. But when he texts back that it turned green, meaning her phone has been turned off, I call my assistant to let her know that I need to cancel my appointment because I have an emergency.
“Are you sure?” she asks, knowing how important this meeting is.
“Yeah. Apologize and offer to pay for his accommodations and ask if we can reschedule for tomorrow.”
When I get home, the condo is quiet, and Vanessa’s door is closed. Nicole texted me that everything was set up for their spa day, and I let her know that Vanessa would be on her way shortly.
“Vanessa,” I yell through the door, “can I come in?”
There’s shuffling on the other side, but she doesn’t say anything. I should wait for her to let me in, but my worry over something being wrong has me opening the door anyway.
I find her in bed, under the covers.
“Vanessa,” I murmur, pulling the covers back and forcing her to face me.
Her usually bright violet eyes are dimmed, and her face is red and splotchy from crying.
“Baby, talk to me.”
She sniffles and shakes her head. “I’m just having a bad day.”
So damn stubborn.
I lift her bridal-style, making her squeal in shock, and then have a seat against the headboard with her in my lap.
“Usually, one’s birthday is a cause for celebration, not tears. Especially as young as you are. You shouldn’t start dreading your birthday until you turn at least thirty-five.”
I quirk a playful brow, and her eyes go wide.
“Nicole told you?”
“She was worried when you didn’t answer.”
Vanessa sighs. “When I was growing up, my birthdays weren’t a cause for celebration. It was a day for my mom to remind me that keeping me was the worst mistake of her life, and if she had aborted me, she’d have been with a rich man and living her best life instead of being broke and weighed down by a child. There was no cake, no presents. Just hours of guilt.”
I already knew her mother was a piece of shit, but as I listen to her talk about the horrid way she treated her daughter, I wonder if Matteo would make an exception about killing women being off-limits. Maybe he’d agree to torture her …
“When I got older and was shipped off to boarding school and then moved to Seattle for college, I was able to ignore the day. I think moving in with you caused me to lower my guard, and this morning, even though you didn’t know it was my birthday, when my phone went off with a text, I checked it, thinking it was you. But it was her.”
I snatch her phone off the nightstand, not wanting her to have to repeat what her bitch of a mother wrote. After turning her phone back on, I type in her code—which I know because she’s had me check her phone when she was busy with Leo—and click into the messages.
I find several unopened texts, but I bypass them until I get to Ilene Vanderbilt.
Ilene
Another year of regret. Thanks to you, we’re going to lose everything. Santiago is threatening to ruin Eric, all because of your selfishness. You’d think you’d be more grateful that I kept you instead of having you flushed down the toilet. But you’re a selfish bitch. Do the right thing for once and help your family.
Rage simmers in my veins at the audacity of this woman.
“Why the fuck isn’t she blocked?”
Vanessa shrugs, but I already know why. Because every child hopes that, one day, their parents will love them. And blocking her will mean there’s no way her mom can redeem herself.
Well, that shit ends today.
Vanessa
This is Lorenzo, Vanessa’s husband. If you ever reach out to my wife again, I will make YOU regret ever being born.
I hit Send, and then I go through the motions of blocking both her and Eric’s numbers. But while I’m doing that, I notice a tracking app.
“Did you put this on there?”
She leans over, her brows furrowed. “I don’t know what that is.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s how Leysa knew where to find us.”
Her eyes go wide.
“Eric might be tracking you.”
I never considered that when she was almost taken during our date. An oversight on my part. All of us have our phones checked by Eddy to ensure they’re clean, but I didn’t think about Vanessa’s phone.
“Oh shit,” she breathes. “I thought my phone was okay since it’s not on their account, but when my mom insisted that I visit, I stayed with them for a couple of weeks before Bri’s wedding.”