Present
September 2016
I didn't see him coming, so I took a deep breath and answered him with annoyance.
"That's none of my clients' business.”
"I'm glad I'm no longer your customer!" He replied, handing me an envelope. “Here's your payment. Thank you for your service!”
He bowed theatrically, a clear mockery that infuriated me.
"You're welcome," I replied sharply, grabbed my things and left the room without looking back.
What the hell did the think he was?
It was too much for me at the time.
I walked down the hall and down the stairs in a hurry that surprised me.
I wasn't the fastest woman in the world, so you could tell I wanted to fly to the farthest place ever.
I felt like I was a hallucination and that damn night was just a bad dream, some kind of nightmare that got the hang of it all when the realization of it all hit me hard.
I had seen the only man who can love become a filthy rich billionaire capable of fulfilling his damn whims at my expense; He was a man I didn't know at all, a far cry from the sweet boy I loved, but who fit perfectly the description of the coward who abandoned me at my worst.
It was too much to process.
Tears of rage came to me with force, when I got outside, I wiped my eyes so that my weakness would not be noticed. The gentleman who handed Luc the keys looked at me curiously. I didn't think anything of it, I headed outside at once and walked two blocks to catch a taxi that would drop me off right at my house.
I was going to cut off the price of a damn kidney, but I had no choice. It was complete madness in the city that didn't sleep, but it was what I needed: to get to my place of peace.
I was so caught up in running away that I didn't notice the Bugatti in front of me. I only left my concentration when I heard Luc's voice through the car window.
"Come up, there's no transport here, so I'll take you home, and that's non-negotiable, Emma."
I cursed my luck because it had brought me here on purpose.
I just got on and didn't open my mouth, it was the best thing I could do.
I didn't have the energy to face it, not in those conditions.
Luc and I were just past...
"Did you check the envelope?" He asked tactfully.
I interpreted that to mean that I was curious to know if I was okay with the money he offered me, a detail that almost made me smile.
"I check it privately.”
"Are you really going to miss an opportunity to make more money?"
"What I'm not going to miss is the opportunity to never see you again.”
We plunged into a painful, bitter silence that was lacerating.
I closed my eyes, making a monumental effort not to let out any of the tears that threatened to come out in the form of rivulets streaming down my cheeks. The rage and confusion were playing a very bad trick on me, enough to stay afloat when I was in such a tight space with him.
Luc decided not to say anything else, silence became the best company and, in less time, than I expected, the Bugatti parked in front of my house, which told me a lot about how lost in thought I was.
"Thank you for bringing me."
I got down and he grabbed my hand, sending a rush running down my spine. It was a crazy thing.
"Is it possible that we can talk without being your client?" he asked, dropping the last word in disgust.
One that felt like a blow.
"No. The past is the past, so I repeat: there's nothing to talk about," I blurted out firmly, in a very sharp way, so I got out and closed the door tightly.
Worst of all, he didn't sit quiet.
I heard him get out of the vehicle and throw the hatch as angry or more furious than I felt at the time. I opened my purse in an attempt to pull out my keys and try to ignore him, but his footsteps followed me like a damn shadow.
"Emma, wait!” He climbed the steps beside me and positioned himself so I could see his expressions. “Give me a chance to talk, just one, and if you don't want to see me anymore, I'll walk away”.
It was a tempting offer.
"No, so you can fuck off."
"So, if you don't want to do things the hard way, we'll do it the hard way, I'll see you next weekend."
I was crazy if I believed that.
"That's not possible, Mr. Basciano." I set my boundaries and made up a few things to keep him away. “I have very strict rules as an escort and not repeating often with a client is one of them.”
The very stupid one raised both eyebrows in consideration of him and then laughed.
"You're such a bad liar..." “
See you on Friday," he said confidently and left without further ado.
I shook my head.
He was a fool with capital letters.
I opened the door and Alice was waiting for me anxiously and with a huge pot of chocolate ice cream and cream. I dropped everything on me and she just brought the ice cream closer with an extra spoon to me.
I took it without hesitation and took a large portion that made my head freeze.
I deserved it for being stupid.
"It was rough," said Lilly, who came from the kitchen with several bowls and looked at me from head to toe. “You don't look like you've been given a good wallow.”
I snorted in response, and his eyes widened like a couple of plates.
“They didn't have sex!”
"I can't believe it.”
"I just gave him a good oral work.
"Is that the only thing?" I nodded, then narrowed his eyes and it made me smile.
"Let's just say that Mr. Basciano and I have a history..."
"How is that possible?" Lilly asked, very interested.
“Luciano Basciano es Luc. “
"Luc? That Luc we swore we were going to beat to mush?” Alice asked angrily.
"That same Luc"
"It can't be.”
"Maybe, I'm still in shock, and the thinks that if I don't talk to him the hard way, I'll talk to him the hard way."
"Is that why he asked you for Friday?"
Lilly's question made me look at her with suspicion.
"Did you hear us outside?"
His surprise was obvious.
"Did the scoundrel bring you?" She asked with a flurry of words.
"How do you know he wants to see me on Friday?" I was the one who demanded a good answer.
"Rocco called to let me know that a big businessman wants you for that day," Alice explained, and I narrowed my eyes because I knew his tricks. “Lilly took the information of who this man was for security reasons.”
"Did he communicate with Rocco?"
She nodded.
I couldn't believe it.
He must have done it when he left me alone in the room.
"You didn't know," Lilly interpreted, and that's when she knew she was screwed.
"No, but I'll call to refuse."
"That's not going to happen, Rocco wants all the money he can get out of this, he won't let you refuse. The Basciano called him to book you for the whole weekend and with exclusive intentions, basically forbade him to give you to other clients from now on.” My gaze urged her to keep talking. “The man paid him so much money that the old man didn't hesitate to accept.”
"This is bad.”
"He was so happy that he said he'd give you extra commissions.”
"Gods...”
That reminded me of the damn envelope, so I took it out of my bag to see how much my damn company was worth. When I opened it, a glittering check for five hundred thousand dollars and a note was what awaited me.
"This must be a big joke!" I exclaimed incredulously.
Alice took the note and read it without further ado.
"If this is the only way I can talk to you, I'll give you my fortune in exchange for you to stop being stubborn and talk to me. By the way, you give a fancy blowjob, Emma.”
My friends looked at me in disbelief, incredulous, as if a ball had hit them.
And I couldn't blame them, I was too incredulous. He paid much more than agreed, and his stupid note was confirmation that he would not leave me alone. That's what I didn't understand.
Why did he come back to me after seven years like this?
PresentSeptember 2016I didn't get rid of the check like I thought I would.The desire to break it into pieces was what was left over, however, I used it in something that really needed it: the women's shelter.This was my secret, my hidden place to help all the women like me who had difficult times, had to flee far away and had to stop being themselves to become someone else.The girls helped me with the shelter, so when I collected the money on Monday and sent it to the association, not only was there a party and happiness, but the green light was given to the project to expand it."I'm so grateful, Emma, you've been an angel to these women," Principal Chan told me."Just pretend it was someone else.”"It will be impossible, but I think I can help you with something.”She turned to look for some papers, so I frowned."What would it be?""I heard you're really into photography and were looking to specialize in photography, so I think you might be interested in this," he said before
PresentSeptember 2016Friday had arrived faster than I wanted and by the end of the night my phone rang for a message from an unknown number.I'm outside, get out before I'm forced to go in and get you. "You bastard," I blurted out as I read.It was obvious that he went to make sure that I wouldn't play one of my games to leave him standing, which not only spoke to the twistedness of the matter, but the control he had over me.He can't stop me from feeling bad."It's just another customer”.I said to myself like a mantra to remind myself that Luc couldn't affect me any more than I let him, so before I opened the door I put on a fake smile.He was leaning back in his spectacular car, and I couldn't help but catch a glimpse of how those dark jeans looked, how well the white shirt with the top buttons open and showing some of his tanned skin fitted, as well as the jacket that clung to his arms in a way that highlighted his worked muscles. The whole bearing was of a mature man, of a man
PresentSeptember 2016What started at the table made its way through the living room, the stairs and the furniture.Luc marked me wherever he wanted, as much as he wanted and he always did it looking me in the face, without letting go of the fact that he was the one who did it and that, whether I liked it or not, I wasn't enjoying it like I had ever until we had dinner."I never imagined we'd be this unstoppable, Emma." I stopped chewing as I listened to him talk. “My fantasies fall short.”"Well, are you pleased with the service, or are there more fantasies you want to explore? After all, it was your money that bought me.”At my monotone response, he looked at me as if he understood for the first time, since our reunion, that I was a different person and that I wasn't going to give in, so he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut after that.He didn't say anything else; he didn't want to go on, he just guided me to his room.The surprising thing when I walked in was that it bore a
Part II. The BeginningPastApril 2009 "Your mother killed herself.”Those aren't the words you want to hear as you come home from taking a calculus test at the end of a difficult day at the distinguished elite high school you attend at.Actually, I never expected anything from my family, not when it didn't function as a proper family set, however, hearing it from my neglected father when my little sister was in shock, was not what I thought would happen.Everything had turned into a mess in a matter of hours.I was supposed to do my usual role as a caregiver, I never expected to have to manage a loss like that. At the time, he was just another kid waiting for his mother, a woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder type two, to come in and finish off the bad joke.I couldn't believe it.I opened my mouth from the impact, about to say something stupid, but the hard look of Matteo Basciano, my father, was enough for me to even say anything. So, I turned my attention to my sister and went i
PastApril 2009 Days after burying our mother in the family crypt, we went with Grandpa to visit her. We were sitting on some blankets that Giulia arranged so that we could have a picnic, something that surprised us because she felt completely disturbed, so much so that the doctor prescribed some tranquilizers. Faced with that, Adriano had the brilliant idea that a season locked up in a mental nursing home would do him good to overcome the trauma and Enzo almost pulled his teeth.It was my grandfather who calmed the waters and had a private meeting with my father and older brother. That's why I realized that whatever Grandpa would tell us wouldn't be a simple thing."Now they don't have their mother, and they have to be strong together, more than ever, at least until I figure things out," he said earnestly. “They have to be strong, hold on until their father arrives and if something happens, they need to get back to me as soon as possible.”"Thank you, old man," Enzo replied calmly,
PastApril 2009 After the scene with Mr. Russo, my father didn't come to me like I thought he would. Honestly, I thought his response would be to crucify me, but he just went on to ignore me which was generally excellent, yet meant the calm before the storm.Hadrian looked at me with suppressed rage, an almost blinding rage that meant revenge, but I didn't understand why marriage was more important to him, what it might or might not mean in his scheme of things in his head.I wasn't on a mission to understand my cruel elder brother.I had enough on my plate with an absent mother, a controlling father, a sister on the verge of mental breakdown, and a brother capable of going to war, while Grandpa fought our battles. It was too much to worry about my father's importance to a marriage I never asked for.So, I took advantage of the fact that I had the last free hour to go to the Central Library to do some research. If Matteo Basciano found out that he had done extensive searches on Mr. R
PastApril 2009My father ushered the guests into the dining room, only he didn't count on the great detail that my grandfather Maurizio would be sitting at the headboard, drinking the most valuable whiskey in his collection. Matteo restrained himself, didn't let go of the fake smile, invited the Russo’s to sit down, then he took the other chair at the headboard, and so his children sat down to the side. I was wise to sit to my grandfather's right.I didn't want to get married."Dear Fabio, you know my eldest sons and father-in-law," Matteo said in a grim tone. “He introduced you to my youngest son, Enzo, he is sixteen years old, he goes to the Magno school, in the tenth grade and he is an excellent athlete.”"It's a pleasure to meet the male offspring of the Bascianos," replied the old man, looking at us condescendingly, and you could see at once how patently macho he was.” They seem like good prospects.”"Of course," Grandpa added with amusement. “They are Moretti after all, they ne
Past April 2009 Calm was what I was looking for and I only did that in the pool, so I headed there and swam for a long time before lying down on a sun lounger, there I realized that a brown leather wallet, aged, was underneath it. I opened it and noticed that it belonged to Grandpa's mechanic friend, Mr. Bruce, and it was my golden opportunity to investigate it. The wallet contained a debit card, two credit cards, a South Dakota driver's license, an organ donor card, about $500 in cash, and a copy of a tax permit from a shop in Aberdeen. That proved that I was a mechanic, and that I had to go back to the public library or my father would hunt down the trail. However, he trusted Grandpa, he wouldn't bring him, just like that. Seeing one of the pockets, a series of photos were hidden. There was that of a blonde woman, very beautiful, and on the back, it said: the love that could not be. It felt very intense, which made the memories of conversations with my grandparents make sense.