17

#Day 13#

I stared at Lorenzo from the corner of my eyes and bit my bottom lip.

Was he really going to pretend like that night didn't happen? I thought he was waiting for us to be alone before he mentioned anything about it, so why hasn't he?

If it was privacy he wanted, we had it. We had been driving to Gariton for the past two hours, and despite all the conversation we had, he hadn't brought up what happened that night. Not even once in the past few days. Not even a hint.

I swear I would have thought I made it up if I hadn't tossed on my bed all night because of how badly my body wanted him.

Why was he pretending like I was the only one that enjoyed it? Like I hadn't felt the large brick in his pants after he was done with me. I had affected him as much as he did to me, and yet he wasn't saying anything. F*cking coward! And playboy! Was this what he did to other women?

I frowned and swallowed the large lump in my throat.

Humph! If he was going to pretend nothing happened between us, then I was too. It wasn't like I cared about what he thought anyway. He could take his f*cking d—

"Unfortunately, if you kill me, you'll be captured, tortured and murdered before you can blink." Lorenzo said, snapping me out of my thoughts, and I frowned.

"Why the hell would you say that? I'm not planning on killing you." I retorted.

"Then why were you staring at me like you were plotting something?" He asked, and I cringed.

"I was thinking about something." I muttered, tearing my eyes away from him to the road. "Besides, if I killed you, who would pay me the five million? And honestly it would ruin all the fun. How am I going to enjoy my freedom if I can't imagine you living with the shame of your defeat? It would be the crappiest win ever."

"Fair point. But what was running through your mind that made you stare so intently at me?"

"Well..." I trailed off, searching for a suitable answer. No way was I going to bring up that night. If he wanted to have selective amnesia, two could play the game.

"I've been curious about the deal you made with Clara years ago. Why did you let her go? I know you knew she couldn't win, but you still didn't have to oblige her. You could have forced her, threatened her, punished her, but you didn't." I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe I pitied her. My uncle’s laws were written in stone, no matter how nonsensical or outdated they were. No was no, yes was yes, even for his daughter. Clara was a bird trapped in a cage; she was desperate for freedom, but she wasn't bold enough to defile him. Either that or she loved him too much to be a disappointment." He shrugged.

"When he died, she was determined to have a taste of the life he had forbidden her from having. I gave her a chance. I knew she was in over her head when she naively boasted of how much she would achieve in those four years, but I didn't think she would be so foolish. I didn't expect much from her, but she ended up poorer than a street rat with debt that I don't know where it came from."

"That wasn't her fault. It was a long story." I quickly defended Clara and bit my bottom lip.

My mouth itched to spill what had happened within those four years, but I held my tongue. It wasn't my story to tell, but God, I hated the thought of Clara as a failure. He didn't know half of what she had gone through.

"Then whose was it? I gave her a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do something for herself, and she squandered it. She doesn't know how lucky she was." Lorenzo gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "I never got that opportunity, no matter how badly I wanted it. I dreamt of living a life outside the syndicate's bloody and violent one for just a day, but my family killed that fantasy. And yet I offered it to her on a silver platter, and she squandered it. Spoilt brat!"

"Oh." I muttered, and my lips curved to a small sad smile. "I was wrong about you. You love your niece, don't you?"

"I'm baffled as to how you came to that conclusion from our conversation." He grunted, eyeing me like I was talking b*llsh*t.

"But you do, and that's why you're mad. You saw yourself in her; the younger you that wanted freedom but was shut down. You wanted things to be different for her, so you let her go, but she didn't live up to the expectation you had for yourself if you were in her shoes, so you're pissed at her for wasting the opportunity." I said, and he stiffened as though he was surprised that I had seen through him.

"I don't know what expectation you had for yourself, but you aren't seeing things through her eyes. Clara barely had anything except for a piling debt, which was enough to make anyone depressed, but she was happy. Like really happy. Don't tell her, but for the first few months we knew each other, I was pissed and confused at her happy-cat attitude. Like, girl, it's instant noodles you're eating, not a gourmet meal. Stop acting like it was." I laughed, shaking my head as the fun memory rushed through my head.

"But, the more I got used to it, the more I understood. Especially now that I know her full background. This might sound like the cheesiest thing you've ever heard, but for the first time, she had control of her life and made a genuine connection with someone, darling me. And she was damn right to be happy. How many people can boast of having a f*cking loyal friend who is ready to make a deal with the devil for their freedom?"

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in my life. So what friendship and love wins over everything? If there's cheesy, and there's whatever you said just now." He snorted, shooting me an amused grin.

"You're just jealous that you've never had a friend like awesome little me." I boasted, dusting an invisible lint off my shoulder. "But it's really sweet that you have a soft spot for Clara. Do you think that sweetness can extend into cancelling her marriage with Silvano?"