Giancarlo"I want to believe you're pulling my legs," I whispered, my stomach churning."I'm not. He just called to tell me that he's on his way to the Maldives," Enzo said, pocketing his phone and giving me the what-are-you-going-to-do-look. "I don't know," I replied and turned the door knob. I was already drained. It would do much good if I was just given enough time to tend to Clara's wounds. "Just help him lodge successfully and keep me updated.” I said weakly ."And," I continued, pressing my eyelids tight. "Don't let Grandpa hear about what I did. Don't let the news stay more than an hour”Fear gnawed in my throat. Why did he have to come?"It's 1: 35pm," Enzo said."What was he thinking about flying this late?" I wondered out loud, trying to muster as much calm as I could.My head banged in frustration and my feet could no longer hold me."He probably used the jet. What should I do for you?" He asked gently, his eyes as gray as a cloudy sky."Help me," the words slid as weak a
ClaireJust to clear my head, I had gone out for an early morning swim in preparation for the war.I needed to renew my self-control by making it as waterproof as possible. Swimming was the best therapeutic exercise for me. The only way I could escape everything and prepare for anything.I dipped myself into the water, basking in its chilly glory. My heartbeat slowed to a calm pace while my blood boiled with a strange feeling of enthrallment, filling my nostrils with air.My thoughts trailed back to the reply I had given Carlo. It was the wrong answer but the right name to mention.Alex had been bugging me a lot. It was high time he backed down and at least took Tory seriously. It wasn't fair for either of us.The image of the smirk on his face when Sophia had laid her hands on me, still filled my heart with dread. And whenever I thought back to his betrayal, I had to remind myself to take in some breaths so that my heart would not stop.Still relaxing at the bottom of the water, hop
Giancarlo"Oops," Sophia's voice sizzled through the room. "I should get going. We have to prepare to talk business shouldn't we?" She pulled herself up, arranged her skimpy gown and walked out the door.I was bristling with anger, sick and ready to die. How best was I going to explain myself? The scenario was crafted beautifully enough to be believable that without concrete evidence, the case couldn't be won in court.Even with the best lawyers, I didn't think there was a way to pull out of the tunnel of mess.My phone rang and I cringed at the caller. "Grandpa Ettore? What did he want? Of all times to call?" The questions flowed through me, stifling me.I felt my brain shift from its position. Dramas just couldn't end, could they?"Good morning, Grandpa," I folded my anger into a ball of waiting happiness. Grandpa must know nothing about my mood."And what could ever be good about the morning?" His aged voice boomed the speaker and bit my ears into pieces. I drew the phone away fro
ClaireListening to Mr. Grayson's speech was equivalent to listening to a goat bleat. All the qualities he listed about Carlo, spurned my mood.They oozed hatred and jealousy. Calling Carlo a rapist? Sure Carlo was many things. But a rapist was not one of them.The more he spoke, the more I realized my mistake. I was seeing Carlo more as an angel than the devil Mr. Grayson was painting.He kept reiterating and using the words "flirt, always horny, and a woman beater" but I could accept them. It just didn't fit.Plus he didn't spill the words with concrete explanations. His vocal evidence was not strong enough to keep a stone rolling."You should stay away from him," he leaned forward, cocking his head a bit to the left. "Are you aware that his mother died because of him?" An air of superiority engulfed him. His shoulder puffed higher.I nodded in an offhanded acceptance. What he was saying was hanging over my nose, never penetrating nor leaving.He continued, pulling his expensive jac
Giancarlo "Did something happen?" I voiced out my nagging thoughts, casting a glance at Theodore who returned the favor with a machete-gaze.There was a time when I once loved him like a brother. But sadly, the love had evaporated quickly. Why? Because I had loved him too much and placed all my trust in him.The betrayal had hit harder because he was the closest to my heart. Him not believing me and joining the multitude to torment me was dagger-stab painful.If I had been told that my best friend would become my archenemy in the future, I wouldn't have accepted the ideology.Scaring the hurtful bullying from high school away from my memory, I caressed Claire's hair. I'd missed the texture even when it wasn't up to hours since we parted. It was so warm to feel."Did he say something?" My companion stirred. Anger had not failed to stand by me through the few hours of my existence on the Maldives island. "Well, some rubbish that made no sense," the reply came satisfyingly, putting to
Claire"There comes the power couple," Mr. Grayson's mocking venom slithered the audience as all eyes moved to grace our entrance.I pushed on my award-winning smile, happy with the contortion on his face. Did he think I was going to break it off with Carlo? How could I? When Carlo's cock, just as marvelous as his face, was a free train ride to heaven.Sophia's eyes reddened to the color of Tory's cherry dress. Did she also think her little child's play would break us? My smile widened as I watched her grow restless with Carlo's closeness to me.My confidence grew as Carlo placed his hands on my waist, patting it lovingly.I turned to give his angelic face a couple of appreciative smiles. No man has ever made me feel so good.For once, I was thankful to Alex for cheating on me and providing me with the opportunity to open better doors."Sorry, we're late," I began with a happy apology. "Some beyond-our-control scenes popped up," Lorenzo gave us a knowing smile and I nodded back."In
Giancarlo "Did I just hear you correctly?" My heart puffed in anger, as my thoughts evaporated swiftly."Who chose the partnerships?" My chest boiled like hot water, igniting my entire being as I gave the manager a heated stare."Mrs. Bennet," the resort manager said and I looked at Claire. She was a “miss” and I struggled to connect the confusing dots.Who was this mysterious Bennett?"Was it Elizabeth?" I asked."It's probably my mom," Claire replied, the unexpected announcement leaving me speechless.“But how?” I managed to make out half the question I wished to ask."Yeah. How could she have made the choice herself?” She said it fully. “Certainly there must be someone more powerful," she said suspiciously, tilting her head to the left."Ettore Caruso," I said the name as soon as it rang in my head, my jaw tightening with exasperation.Shit. I scratched my head in frustration. What was he playing at? Wasn't coming to the resort enough trouble?What did he stand to gain by fixing
ClaireI stared in astonishment at the diamond ring that shone like a thousand stars. The unexpected announcement left me speechless, eyes wide in disbelief and mouth unable to shut.I tried to speak but couldn't make out the words. Everywhere suddenly became unbearably hot. I fanned my cheeks with my hands to cool myself as everyone stared at me for an answer.Was this for real? My heart raced as I tried to comprehend the strange twist.Theodore, my client, asking for my hand in marriage after just three days of stay?" My upper lips were left hanging in shock and my eyes twisted backwards to piece the puzzles together.Wasn't he just a perfect client for a mental home? "Are you out of your mind?" Carlo shot up and before I could blink twice, the diamond had flown across the room, crashing helplessly to the floor. "Where did you fucking get the confidence from, to propose to my woman right in my presence?" He boomed and the scanty cafe began to attract people like flies."Let her ma
Giancarlo.It was already morning when everything finally settled into my brain and i was givem the liberty to unveil the hidden meaning behind all the happenings that had happened in just a night. It seemed very much like something that would take a week to fully occur and not something that could even occur in such a small period of time.The intruder and everything, felt like a dream. A dream that I needed to wake up from. But I discarded the foolish thought at once.I was sure it was no dream. Claire, was still lying naked beside me, her breathing even and normal and the mass of hair on her head spread across the pillow like a soft, fluffy silk reminding me of more details of the past dangerous night.I had not had the opportunity to inquire much about what had happened from her as she had been deeply asleep and I too, wasn't far from that, at that time. The amount of energy I had inserted in the intruder's push had taken a quick toll on me, promising my heart that it would stop
Giancarlo.I tried to lift my eyelids in response to the weird feeling that was swimming in my brain and distorting my wonderful sleep. But they were so heavy—too heavy to be lifted.They fell back and became tighter after few tries. What backed up my weariness the more was that, the bed I was laying on felt so soft that trying to get up from it was like me lifting myself from heaven and plunging deep into hell. I enjoyed its texture and its coldness that waking up was something I even wanted to try. I just didn't have enough bravery and confidence to do it.But a strong urge to open my eyes and view my surroundings was tightening and wrapping strong on my neck, it's grip iron-like and gummy, making my free flow of breath to shorten in span and my head to knack uncomfortably.It was a grip I just couldn't ignore even though yielding to its call was as torturous as breathing through my ears.I tried again with my eyelids using much willpower, lifting them and managing to keep them a l
Claire.I reacted before my brain registered anything; a hot and resounding slap that even quietened Carlo's snore and made everywhere as quiet as a grave yard."Are you stupid? Like what the fuck?" I howled, eyes blazing in fury of a thousand tigress and my mind whirring like a hurricane wondering what the time was and why he had such boldness in him."Do I look like a whore to you? A sex toy?" My chest heaved and fell with the scalding heat in my chest and I clenched my fist hard, ready to punch out the teeth he used in speaking out.What the fuck was wrong with this return-from-the-dead ghost? Was he nut? How brave could he be? Saying so much nonsense with stupid pride? How dare him speak such a condescending, corrupt sentence to me?The thought ran swift in my head making my lips quiver and my lashes blink fast in marks rage."Well, you leave me no choice," he shrugged and pointed the gun at Carlo, threatening to pull the trigger, while putting on a monster-like smile and looking
Claire.My first instinct was to take my hand to my breast to cup it out of the eagle reach of his eyesight. I looked around frantically, trying to register any escape route or something but I saw none."Who are you?" I managed to ask after looking around did not yield good and satisfying results. I bit my lips hard as his eyes still trailed down my body, settling a little too long on my thighs and pussy area and making my cheeks grow red in embarrassment."It's me, Theodore," he replied, his voice getting annoyingly seductive and his eyes shining with the shadow light casted by the light around. I tightened my arms against my boobs, suddenly regretting not at least putting on my panties before embarking in such an idiotic war.Now I was exposed to him, almost defenseless. What was I even thinking? I scolded myself for my stupidity. Although, I had planned enough for everything, my nakedness and the shame from it was making everything seem so hard.“It's me,” he repeated. “Theodore.”
Claire.I woke to a strange toxic gas smell, making my nose get peppery and itching my skin. My nose itched with it too, dragging the hairs in my nose violently. My ears confirmed that something was wrong as there were sharp gasp for breathing, sounding in the roomMy eyes had to haul themselves open to find out what it was. I opened my eyes slowly and tiredly, my head banging with the promise of a bad occurrence and my heart getting foggy in fear.Another sound graced my opened ears. It was a thudding sound that sounded exactly like the fall of a giant and another thudding that could not be mistaken for anything but a footstep. I lifted myself upwards into a sitting position, blood rushing fast in all my body and my mind tattered with savage fear that moved electrically through all corners of my mind.My body began to shake violently and the environment, threatening to spin as I caught the mask appearance of a man and another sprawled figure on the floor. I immediately looked to my
Giancarlo.I widened my eyes as i stared doubtfully at her, heart pounding hard with the mere thought of everything.Could Claire truly do this to me? My blood pressure plummeted as I tried to understand the scenario and my mind felt like it was encircled in a spiky hammer.Her eyes burnt ever so harshly, furnace of hate and resentment glowing so hard that the blood that was bubbling in my mouth had to still in fear.Nothing seemed to make sense, everything was just moving in a zig-zag fashion that it was extremely difficult to track it down.How could she do this to me? I wondered hurtfully. Could this really be her? The thought was icy in my head, sizzling with the fire burning inside me.As if in reply to my question, her appearance began to change. First, her lips; soft and succulent, were transformed into a darker and more manly lips pursing hard with hatred and determination.Her eyes grew worse than ever, feeling as threatening as it was dark and sinister. I held my breath sharp
Giancarlo.I looked intently at the liquid, more in pondering than in horror, the veins in my head popping in and out in worry.With my banging head, it was hard to make connections properly especially when Claire was not even around to make things clearer. Or was she? The idea suddenly popped into my mind as I remembered the balcony, hands moving away from the liquid for a moment and look out to the chairs at the balcony.She could be there and waiting patiently for my return or probably receiving some fresh vegetation air.I moved with slow, unsteady steps towards the balcony, eyes checking backwards to reconfirm that the fading red dot from my eyesight was blood, and head thumping hollowly, feeling as empty as a useless milktin.Even when my tired mind thought that it was blood, I was still too confused to understand the enormosity of everything and make quick moves to a health practitioner.So I lazily walked up to her, like nothin
Giancarlo.I didn't even know what put me to sleep nor how long I had slept. But I certainly did know what brutally hauled me awake, panting like a dog and eyes widened like a pussy. My ears were not even spared from the brutality as my shrieking phone was literally shouting painful waves into my newly awakened senses, circulating pains into my upper body and making me wish there was a way I could just die at once. Its loudness was no doubt the source of my awakening as it continued on tiredlessly proudly teaching me a lesson I was certain to never forget.I looked around, head banging in confusion, hands finding trouble feeling, legs feeling more like there were two planks of wood lying peacefully on them.I was still looking around trying to put two and two together and maybe find an explanation why I was just so confused.Aside from the violently ringing phone that was threatening to rip my head and ears off and plunge it into the vegetations across the balcony, I found it diffic
Giancarlo.Suddenly, everywhere grew hot and suffocating, my chest beating faster than a talking drum and forehead throbbing hard. I tried to think of a time I had actually helped Lorenzo out with something, but surprisingly my mind sang nothing back.I shook my head sharply in disappointment, continuously hoping for just one scenario to surface and save my friendship and brotherhood.My brain was blank and suffering much with the hard exertion, my eyes growing blurry from the many colorful stars that appeared before them and fingers hardening from too much clenching and unclenching.Was there truly no time that I had gone through thick and thin for him? I brooded helplessly, guilt and hurt fighting for a room in my already tired and weak heart and my stomach churning with a promise of a successful nausea.I racked my brain harder, his glare growing more intense, burning through my self-control and leaving me nakedly exposed to his perfect judgement.The result from my intensively ra