Lahat ng Kabanata ng His Father's Obsession, I fell in love with his son. : Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

The maid had alerted me that Antonio was out of the house, I wondered why she dropped that information but I ignored it and ate my meal in bed after which I rushed to shower so I could nap before he returned.I had just stepped out of the bathroom, my skin still damp, and my towel clinging tightly around me when the door swung open with an abruptness that made my heart leap into my throat at the thought that he could have returned.I shuddered with fear till I took in who it was from the corner of my eyes. “What the hell!” I snapped, still facing the window with my back turned. My hair dripped down my neck in slow, ticklish rivulets, but the sudden jolt had frozen me in place.“Luca?” I bit out, fisting the edge of my towel. “Are you crazy? Don’t you know how to knock?”“I didn’t know you’d just come out of the shower,” he said from behind me, his voice low and breathless, like he was the one caught off guard. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”“You should’ve knocked regardless,” I hiss

The walls of my room were closing in on me. To me they weren’t just walls anymore, they were now bars, thick and invisible ones at that. The type that kept your body still but let your mind run wild with thoughts you had no business entertaining. I paced slowly from one end of the room to the other, my arms crossed tightly over my chest. It had been days or maybe more, I’d lost count, that I hadn’t heard from my close friend at the stripping club.Every creak of the house made my heart jump, but it was the silence that scared me more. I needed someone to talk to. I didn’t just need anyone, I needed her comfort and the laughter she always whipped out of me every time we were in the same space.She was the only person in the whole wide earth who ever looked at me and saw something worth saving. She never took my feelings for granted and would go to any length to ensure I wasn’t embarrassed by the perverts that paraded the length and breadth of the strip club every night. Whenever she

Stepping in and standing behind the door again was the company’s accountant with another file in hand. Our faces were too shocked to speak or even utter a word. I quickly narrowed my eyes back to my laptop as I leaned back in my chair, massaging the pain building at the back of my neck. Hours had passed since I started the simulation, and my head felt like a compact server tower about to overheat. The code lines on my screen were beginning to blur into each other. She knocked on the door audaciously to get back my attention. It was a soft knock on the glass door but I saw no need for it since she was already in. Her stilettos that made Roberto glance up like a hungry hawk. She strutted in, carrying a manila folder, hips swinging to the right and left like those of my personal assistant a few minutes ago. Her blouse had a dangerous V-shape that she never bothered to use a camisole and her breasts, God help me, looked like they were about to dive out of her blouse and introduce the

Roberto took the wheel like he always did when he wanted to run his mouth without interruption, and I didn’t mind. I had too much swirling in my head to argue about who got to drive. The Range Rover purred along the slick roads of the city, weaving through the traffic like it had a mind of its own. The soft breeze wheezed past our faces as the ornament trees that lined the road danced gleefully as we moved.He drove us into an upscale spot on the Upper West Side, a terrace-styled eatery with a rooftop view that overlooked other fancy places lined up like polished teeth and a busy view of corporate buildings. The moment he parked and killed the engine, Roberto turned to me.“So, about Carol and your old man,” he started.I unclipped my seatbelt and got out of the car without even glancing at him. “Knock it off, Rob,” I dismissed him before he got the chance to continue.He grumbled something under his breath and followed me. Rob was always a front seater, I don’t know if the seats at

I couldn’t stop thinking about what Elena had refused to say over the phone regarding Antonio and who he really and truly was. Elena never hid anything from me so this was strange and I was curious to get to the bottom of it. My mind moved back to the thought of Clara yanking her phone from my ears like I had been stripped of my honour. That was a hell of an audacity that can only have been fueled by Antonio’s misdemeanor and poor portrayal of me before her. The fact that I thought she had some big sister or motherly vibes needs to be studied over and again. I could attest to the fact that she had helped me by bringing me bandages, looking at me with soft, understanding eyes but now I wasn’t so sure. That tenderness felt like a mask and the moment she flinched when I asked who ordered her to lock me in confirmed it. I sat on the edge of the bed with my knees tucked to my chest, eyes fixed on nothing in particular as my thoughts took me back to the early days when Antonio would co