Shock hijacked my nerves as I sat there in disbelief. Victor had never lied to me before, and now all of a sudden he was?
He'd never hung up on me like this before either! What was going on?
It was genuinely starting to worry me with how Victor was behaving. Was everything truly okay with him?
I stayed up all night as my mind ran rampant. I stressed cleaning our closet and organized every article of clothing to try and settle down, but it didn't work.
It wasn't until close to midnight that Victor finally came home.
"Hey, I'm surprised to see you're awake." Victor hung up his coat and came to sit next to me. "Is everything alright?"
"I should be asking you that question. What happened earlier tonight? I was trying to call you and ask you when you'd be home and you just hung up on me."
Victor took out his phone from his pocket and handed it to me. "I didn't realize that my phone was on low battery and it died."
I thought about holding the power button to see if he was lying, but I decided against it. Him giving me his phone was a sign of trust, and even though I had my doubts now, I didn't want to give into them.
"Well, that was rude of it to die on you." I laughed, trying to shake away the nervousness I felt. "I was trying to talk to you."
"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't worry you too much."
"No, not at all." I hesitated before adding, "But Alexis did text me earlier this evening. She said she thought she saw you at some restaurant with another woman."
"Oh? I didn’t notice her.” Victor paused for a second. “She could've said hi. Although, I was with a new colleague tonight and we were discussing work for the company."
I wanted to accept that as the truth, but it was really hard given the audio messages I heard.
Why was he keeping things from me now? What made the woman so important that he couldn't be upfront with me?
Victor tilted his head to the side. "Emelia? Are you okay? You don't seem well."
I had to snap my focus back to the present as I gave him a half-smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just cleaned our closet out before you got home, and forgot all about dinner."
Victor smiled. "Well, follow me downstairs then. I can make you something to eat."
I absentmindedly followed Victor to our kitchen and sat on the stool next to the island. My mind still wandered even as I watched him cook.
I wanted to press the matter further, but would I come off as jealous or possessive? Would I come off as crazy?
I just wanted him to tell me the truth. I wanted this to be water under the bridge.
I sighed. Pushing Victor wasn't going to make things better, so maybe I just had to trust that he was telling me the truth.
The rest of the late night went relatively well, and my feelings had eased up enough to let me get some sleep.
When morning came, I woke up to the sight of Victor's handsome features sleeping next to me. Sleep made his sharp features smooth; I couldn't get enough of his beautiful looks.
I traced his jaws lightly, and brushed a strand of hair away from his face.
He woke up to my gentle touch, and kissed me on the nose. "Good morning."
"Good morning," I smiled back.
"I hope you slept well; we have a busy day ahead of us."
"Is that so?"
"Mhm, grandpa Antonio invited us over for another dinner party. You know how much he loves inviting us to those."
Grandpa Antonio was the reason why Victor and I got married. He was also the only one in the family who was truly kind to me. I always loved spending time with him.
"I can't wait to see him." I smiled. "Let's hope work goes by quickly."
Before we knew it, the evening had already come and we were getting ready for grandpa Antonio's dinner party. My heart raced with excitement since it'd been a while since I'd seen him last.
As Victor drove down the relatively calm road, his phone went off.
I looked at the caller ID—Lily.
Who was that supposed to be? How come I'd never heard of this person before?
Victor picked it up.
He’d suddenly gotten quiet. I looked over at Victor, his face only got more grave and tense.
Then without warning, he hit the brakes hard and turned the car around in a complete 180. After that, he switched lanes and started speeding in the opposite direction.
The sudden turn made me think the car was going to flip over. I grabbed the handrail in shock. What was Victor doing?
"Victor, slow down!" I called out. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"We need to get to the hospital now." Victor tried to keep his voice even despite the slight tremble in them.
I noticed how his knuckles had gone white from gripping the steering wheel so hard, and how there was a sense of urgency about him.
"But what about grandpa? Shouldn't we at least—"
"I'll call him once I know she's okay!"
The only person in this world, aside from me, that was important to Victor was his grandfather. To see him so wound up over this Lily woman was new and shocking.
She has to be really important to Victor for him to cancel dinner with grandpa…
It suddenly made me think of the unknown woman who had dinner with Victor last night. Was there a possibility that she and Lily were somehow connected?
When we arrived at the hospital, Victor rushed down the halls to Lily’s room. He hardly spared a knock and went inside, leaving me behind as the door slammed in my face.
Wow, he’s really worried about this Lily woman…
I took a deep breath and grasped the doorknob.
Mentally, I was preparing myself to see something far more grim given Victor’s erratic and alarmed behavior.
Instead, when I opened the door, what I saw was unexpected. She was looking fine.
The only thing out of place was her appearance, which was slightly disheveled as if she’d just woken up.
However, what stuck out to me the most was her long, wave brown hair; and the beauty mark she had at the corner of her mouth.
I completely understood why Alexis mistaken me and Lily in the restaurant.
Was it a coincidence she looked somewhat similar to me?
Before I could figure anything out, Lily finally reacted to us coming into her room.
Except, Lily’s eyes only widened at the sight of Victor. Her body shook as tears freely fell from her face. "Oh, Victor! I’m so glad you’re finally here! I knew you'd be here to protect me, just like you always did when we were younger. Always my little knight, right?"
I recognized her voice—it was the woman Victor had dinner with yesterday!
Victor's POVMonday morning came by a lot quicker than I'd anticipated, and before I knew it, I was sitting in the lobby of the board's building waiting to be summoned. My foot tapped anxiously on their tile flooring."Mr. Russo?" A voice called out for me.I looked up at the receptionist behind the desk. "That'll be me.""Yes, sir. The board is ready to proceed with your meeting. Please head into the elevator and up to floor five. It'll be room 54-C, just a few doors down to the right once you step off.""Thank you, miss." I nodded in acknowledgement.As I got onto the elevator and pressed the five button, I used the time to get my nerves under control.Now that things were really setting into motion, I couldn't help but still feel nervous about this whole meeting. It was getting to a point where I thought I was going to throw up.When I got to the meeting room, I took one last deep breath."You got this, Vic." I said to myself as I put my hand on the doorknob. "Just go in there, and
Victor's POV"They rejected it?" I said in a dumbfounded, confused tone.I reread the email a few times to make sure I was reading it correctly. But there it was as plain as day.[Dear Mr. Russo,][The board would like to thank you for your years of dedicated service, hard work, and outstanding leadership. The Majestic Monarch Jewelry Co. would not be half the company it is now if not for your tireless efforts in striving for success.][While we understand the desire to move on to bigger and better things, given the nature of your request, it is within the best interest of the board that we discuss your options further before moving forward.][Our offices are open Monday morning. Please feel free to stop by when you have the availability.][Warm Regards, Members of the Board]"Interesting." Rory took a puff of his cigarette. "They're giving you quite the runaround over a simple resignation.""I don't see why they would…" I huffed. "They would have to assume full control of the company
Victor's POVThere was no amount of currency I could use as a bribe for the time I felt like had been stolen from me. Two years had passed since I saved Emelia from certain death. Yet, it felt like it all had happened yesterday.A lot has changed since then though. Physical therapy broke me in ways I didn't know were possible, but it also molded me into the man I needed to be. Not just for me, but for my daughter too.Violet turned six recently. I was forced to spend her third birthday in a hospital bed, but even then she came to visit me. She told me then that it didn't matter what she did, as long as she celebrated her special day with her daddy.Even now, it was like her heart hadn't changed since then. She was still just as pure—still just as innocent.It made me incredibly happy to know that she chose me to be her father in the end. She saved me, and I vowed to be a better person since.Following my discharge, Lily's parents contacted me one last time out of sheer desperation. It
Victor's POVSeeing Violet now given the state that I was in opened an old wound in my heart that I knew I also needed to mend.In truth, I loved her so much. Probably more than I was willing to admit at the time. I didn't care that she was another man's child. At the end of the day, she called ME daddy, not Dylan. She looked up to me and got excited when I walked through those doors.It made my heart hurt knowing that she wouldn't grow up with a mother figure, but I was glad that grandpa Antonio was willing to step up and care for her while I was still in the hospital. It eased my soul knowing she was in good hands.I patted the seat next to my bed and motioned for Violet to come sit. "How's my girl doing?"Violet hesitated, but after getting an encouraging nod from grandpa, she sat next to me and took my hand. "Good…" She looked away, like she was afraid of something.Like she was afraid of me…"What's wrong, Violet?" I asked."I…" Tears began to fall from her face. "I-I'm scared…""
Victor's POVTime passed, but I had no idea how much. Days. Weeks. Maybe even months? The only constant I was aware of was Emelia at my side through it all.Every so often I could hear her voice speaking to one of the nurses or on the phone with someone else. In the middle of the night when a nurse or aide would come in to check on me, I would look over to see her asleep on the recliner next to my bed.Throughout it all, Emelia never left.My heart swelled with a mixture of love and guilt.All this time, I'd taken her for granted, not realizing that she was the best thing that ever came into my life. She not only made life easier, she made my heart feel at ease.During the two years Emelia was away in Europe, I woke up every morning hoping that the long, beautiful locks of wavy brown hair would be hers. Every call of my name, every time my hand brushed against Lily's, and every faint scent of vanilla during the autumn months, I'd hoped were secretly things that were Emelia at my side i
Emelia's POV"And last time I checked, Emelia is no longer part of the Russo family! So if you think you can just give her the keys to your company just like that, you're wrong!"Now I definitely saw where Lily got all of her irrational thinking and stubbornness from. The truth was right in front of Bernadette and she was still so hellbent on seeking justice where there was none that needed to be sought after.I looked up at Victor who gave me a weary look. There was no reason that he needed to endure this while he'd just barely escaped the claws of death. I knew he was tired and simply wanted to make his mom go away."Excuse me, sir! There's already a lot of people in the room! I can't have you—""My GRANDSON is in there! You're not stopping me from seeing him!"I snapped my head up to see grandpa Antonio rushing into our room with a nurse close behind who had been trying to stop him. He breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Victor barely awake and I at his side.Grandpa Antonio ginge