Page 194 of Valentino

“Gladly.” I march past him and begin to throw my things into my suitcase. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I spit. “How could you be so cold?”

“My God.” He gasps in an overexaggerated way. “Wow.”

“Don’t fucking wow me, Valentino.” I continue throwing my things into my suitcase.

“I’m cold?” he asks as he puts his hands on his chest. “I’m the one who’s cold?”

“That’s what I said.” I try to close the suitcase.

“Coming from someone who would rather fuck someone than tell them the truth, that’s laughable.”

“Well…I’m not laughing,” I explode. “You know what…. You’re pretty fucking pathetic.”

“Really?” He stands and comes to stand in front of me, his temper now hanging by a thread.

“Yes. Really.” I put my hands onto my hips as I stare up at him. “You never trusted me, from day one. I was always under suspicion.”

“I never said that,” he fires back.

“Yes. You did. Because you have a chip on your shoulder about Carlo and me…because he made a move on me and you never did.”

“Shut. Up.” He steps forward.

“No. You shut up,” I fume. “It’s your fault I was with Carlo. It’s your fault that you didn’t speak up and I blame you for breaking my heart. Not once, but twice.”

“I’ve never broken your heart.”

“Yes, you did.” My eyes well with tears. “I was the one who wanted you for years. Not the other way around. Carlo and I only became friends because we talked about you.”

“Ha.” He throws his head back with a dramatic huff. “Of course you first talked to him about me. Why didn’t I think of that?” He begins to pace. “Yes, it all makes sense now, you know when you think about it, that’s so honorable that you two got to meet that way. Planning to deceive me, going behind my back, a pattern you have both fallen into…two people that are just so alike, it’s romantic actually…. Must have been fate.”

What the hell did I ever see in this egomaniac?

My eyes well with tears. “I hate you for what you’ve done to me.”

“Well then, Anna, we finally have something in common…because I hate you more.”

“Good.”

“You chose a side; you can live with the consequences.” He goes to stand at the window to look out over the view.

“What does that mean?”

“Lombardi can tear you limb from limb if they want to. It is no longer my concern.”

I stare at his back through tears; he really doesn’t care.

“I…” I whisper.

Silence.

The lump in my throat hurts as I try to hold my heartbreak.

“You’ll never love me as much as you hate him…. Will you?”

He turns back to face me, his haunted eyes hold mine. “Why is that, Anna?” he murmurs sadly, and I can feel his heart breaking right alongside of mine.

Tears run down my face, the vision of him blurred.