The following day, while on my way to meet Stefano at his hotel room, I take a detour after getting a call. I message Stefano to tell him I will be a little late. I drive to the address sent to me on my phone. I arrive after a few minutes of driving. I walk inside the restaurant with a lot of thoughts going through my head. The one that sticks out the most is how he knew I lived in Miami; but I will find out once I see him.
"Hello Ivan," I say once I reach his table. The last time I spoke or saw Ivan was at Aurora's party. I tried calling a few times, but the calls never went through. I always wondered how he was doing and hoped everything was fine with him.
"Hello Andrea, I am so sorry I asked to meet with you all of a sudden." Ivan was the one who called asking to see me urgently. He said he had something important to tell me.
"It's fine; I am just surprised you knew I was in Miami" I never told Ivan th
We arrived a few hours ago, I am so sleepy, but I can't sleep. As soon as we landed, we went to the warehouse to determine how much damage was done. I am so happy I came, the anger surging through Stefano is enough to destroy a whole city. He is furious about losing more than half of his weapons here in California, the fact that he can't find the person responsible is not helping. I do not know what to say to make him feel better, but I know my presence here is enough. I am in his office waiting for him while he tries to find out more information about the fire. I get sleepy and try not to fall asleep, but the next time I open my eyes, I find myself in Stefano's arms, moving towards a bed. I must have been exhausted to have slept through the ride all the way back to his apartment. I don't say anything to him as he places me on the bed. I give his hand a warm squeeze before he walks away to let him know everything is going to be ok
Aurora has been looking for her brother for hours since she arrived in California. Once her brother told her the devastating news about her friend, she wasted no time and took the fastest flight out of Chicago to California. She expected to find her brother in the hospital but was not surprised when she arrived and didn't see him there. Aurora knew what happened last time, she knew her brother could not stand to bear it, again. Aurora knew her brother must be going through hell because of what happened to her dear friend. She felt a little guilty about what happened. This is not what she wished to happen when she suggested her brother date, Andrea. Aurora only wanted her brother to be happy again after so many years, it feels like she only scarred her brother more for life. After searching for him with no result, she finally found him in the one place she never thought to look for him. He was in a gym close to his ap
I wonder when Santiago will get here. I check the time on my wristwatch, he is a few minutes late. I am meeting him for lunch. It has been a month since I woke up from the coma. I have fully recovered, and I have resumed work. Once the doctor cleared me for flying, I came back home. I couldn't be in a city where my heart got broken. I miss Stefano every day, I cried for weeks missing him, praying he will come back to me. I prayed that day in the hospital was all a bad dream. Every day when I wake up and don't see a text or missed call from him, I remind myself it was not a nightmare. I spend a lot of time at work these days. It helps keep my mind busy. It helps me think about Stefano less. I come back to earth when I see Santiago walking towards me. "Hello, Sis, sorry I am late," Santiago says, taking his seat across from me. "It's fine; you are always late," I say, chuckling. "I know, but I need to chan
It is Saturday today. If it was any other Saturday, I would have been on a plane to California, but not today. Today I am at a bookstore trying to find a new book to read to get inspiration for my book. I started spending a lot of my free time writing and reading again. Most of my free time was spent with Stefano. I really miss him. While I am looking through the shelves, I feel my phone vibrating. I check the caller ID, and it’s Aurora. “Hello, Aurora,” I say answering my phone. “How are you doing, Andrea?” She asks, a hint of worry in her voice. Aurora has been a fantastic friend throughout my breakup. The week I moved back to Miami, she spent two weeks with me before going back to Italy. I asked her if she knew why her brother suddenly stopped having feelings for me, she said she does not know.“I am doing great, how are you?”&ldq
It has been a few days since I found out I was pregnant. I have been avoiding my parents any time I see them in the house. I am excited to be pregnant, but I don't know if my parents will be happy about it. My dad might be a little angry that Stefano did not wait till marriage to have unprotected sex with me. It is actually not Stefano's fault. Once I got on the pill, Stefano stopped using condoms. The time we traveled to California because of the fire, I didn't take the pills with me, when we rushed to California. I barely took enough clothes with me. I am sure I must have missed a day during the whole trip. I also can't believe my baby survived the beating. I am sure at that point; my little angel hadn’t even formed. I might have only been a few days pregnant. I am so happy I am pregnant, even though Stefano doesn’t want to be with me anymore, I am still glad he is the father of my baby. I walk downstairs
It has been two weeks since I told Stefano I was pregnant. The night I told him I was pregnant, he had me move my things to his penthouse. He has been super protective of me, I know it is because of the baby. He has been excellent throughout my stay at his house. It makes me wish we were together while having our baby. We arrived at the hospital not too long ago. I have already changed into a hospital gown; and we are waiting for the doctor to arrive so that we can have the vaginal ultrasound. "Are we ready?" Doctor Angelina says, walking into the room. She is the English-speaking OB-GYN in Sicily, that Stefano trusts. "Yes, we are," I say and adjust myself a little to become more comfortable in the position I am in. Stefano is beside me, once she starts working on the computers in front of her, he takes my hands in his and gives them a warm squeeze. "
It has been a few days since I saw that horrifying video of Ivan torturing the love of my life. I have been trying to stay healthy for the baby and try not to over-stress my body. It’s hard because every time I remember the video. I end up crying and thinking about the horrors Stefano might be facing in the hands of Ivan. I tried calling the number Ivan used to call me that day, but it never went through. He must have used a burner phone and threw it away once he was done talking to me. I watched the video through a phone Ivan mailed to me because he didn’t want to send it through a means easier to trace it back to him. I might hate him, but he is brilliant. If he emailed it to me or sent it through messages or through social media, it would be easier to track the phone he used, which would lead us to him. The Costanzo family has been doing their best to find Stefano. I still can’t believe he
I wake up to a slight headache. I look around me and find myself in my room. "Andrea, how are you feeling?" Aurora says, rushing to my side. "Other than a little headache, I am fine. Please, can I have some water" I say, my throat feeling a little parched. She hands me a glass of water from the nightstand. "Thank you," I say, collecting the glass of water from her hand. "Why do you look like you have been crying," I ask once I finish drinking the cup of water. Her face is red, you can tell from her red nose too. She has been sniffing them a lot. "You don't remember," Andrea says, tearing up. "Remember what," I ask, confused as to what she is talking about. "Stefano is…" she pauses for a second before she continues speaking. "Dead," she says bursting into tears. I freeze on the spot as I realize that what happene