AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 20
Stefan
I have managed to stretch out seeing my parents for a month now instead of the two weeks I had originally planned. I don’t want them ruining a good thing, and what I have with Presley is beginning to be just that. We have fucked so many times now, and each time is better than the last and more exciting. She is a freak in the sheets, and I love it. I devour every minute of it. But there is more to it now, too. We connect on a deeper level. I don’t know what it means – if it will have me saying that four letter word that I don’t trust or not, but we feel something for each other. I think she feels the same for me, like she is right there. She has seen some of my layers; the monster who teaches her how to be tough and rough to her enemies as well as the romantic man who loves expensive dinners, dresses, and jewelry. But she also knows things I never planned on revealing about myself, like the way my parents have always made me feel like an obligation to them rather than a beloved member of the family. She feels much the same about her family.
I have also watched her rise to the challenge with her father’s company, even as there are plenty out there waiting to see her fail and tear her down for it. They don’t trust a young, spontaneous woman with a business that was once run by a conservative man. But she is killing it, especially when it comes to investing in charities and projects to better the image if her family, even if they deny her still.
She has even tried calling her siblings to make amends and offer them positions at the company, and they don’t want to touch her with a ten foot poll unless she repents her scandalous ways and comes home, signing everything back over to dear ol’ dad. Its bullshit, and if they ever show their faces to me, I will make sure they are fucked up for life as a sign of what they did to their own flesh and blood.
But my wife is strong. She doesn’t let it get to her, and she has found strength in the community of Rio as well as with her friends; Paulo and Roberto who are now engaged and asking to throw their wedding right here at my estate.
He has been a blessing I didn’t realize she needed, and though I am being more lenient than I ever thought with her, it is making everything bloom more perfectly than I had planned.
The only thing hanging over our heads is I still have no idea who hired Heather or who sent that photo of her father. And since then, I have gotten several more images that even Enzo is having a hard time tracking. But there has been no more violence at least, though I get the feeling something bad is right around the corner.
I curse under my breath as my phone buzzes. It is my father’s birthday tomorrow, and my mother and father have both been calling and texting me all day. Eventually, I am going to be forced to give them the time of day or they will just show up here. That is not the way I want to ease my wife into dealing with them, when she has to. This country is only so big, and if we do have children, my mother will want a chance at being close. There is no avoidance forever. I just really don’t want to do this right now.
I look down to see a text from my mother.
Your father’s birthday is tomorrow, and we are having a big party. A couple of my friends and even your aunt and uncle will be here. I really hope to see you and your wife here. It would mean a lot to the both of us.
I sigh, knowing I am not getting out of this. Luca Dalca is turning 65, and I will be expected to show my face. Maybe not bring a gift, but at least be at the dinner table and let them see who I have chosen to marry over their catalogue of boring virgins.
We will be there. Give Dad our best.
Fuck! I put my phone in my pocket and go into the dining room to find my wife eating an early dinner alone, a book next to her. She is deeply involved in it when I have to make a knocking sound on the wall to get her attention. She looks up at me with a noodle hanging partially from her mouth and then slurps it up, causing me to chuckle at her.
“You know, I am horrified to think that a guest could catch my wife, in a mansion like this, slurping noodles with both her feet tucked under herat a dining table thatcosts more than a month’s wages for some people.”
She glares at me and dismisses me with a fanning of her hand, but I know she knows I am just teasing her. And she likes that about me, that I tease her. It keeps us fun and young.
“You look stressed, should I be worried?” she says, reading me like that book she has at her side. I don’t exactly feel comfortable that she can do that. I am still getting used to all the things that having a wife means, and I am finding out I am a much more readable and emotional person than I ever could have imagined. I always saw myself as this psychotic criminal who loved to fuck women until they couldn’t walk and liked the drama of someone who’d didn’t follow the rules. But there is more to marriage than that that I like, but I can’t wrap my head around it enough to admit that.
“I have some unfortunate news for you,” I tell her, walking over and leaning against the empty chair next to her. “We are going to have to go see my parents tomorrow. It’s my father, Luca’s birthday and they are throwing a party. They demand that we are there. I have been trying to keep them away from us for as long as possible, but it’s time,” I tell her apologetically.
She stands up and walks past me, heading into the master suite where she has now moved all of her things as of two nights ago. We don’t exactly cuddle, but we have been sleeping in the same bed for a few days now. I follow her and listen to her call back to me as she rummages through the closet that’s as big as the guest room she used to stay in. I have had my assistants get her so many dresses and other clothes to wear over the last couple of weeks, wanting my wife to have the absolute best. “Hey, at least they still want to see us. I mean, my parents don’t even want that. Not that I can blame them since I took over the family business in an underhanded way, but I bet they’ll be angrier at Father once they find out what he’s done.”
She comes out of the closet with a dress in hand that is such a brilliant red it shines in the dim light streaming into the main room from the closet.
“Red again?” I ask her, and she only nods with a smile.
I shake my head at her.
“You know it’s my power color, and if I am going to meat these supposedly evil parents of yours, then I am going to need all the power I can get, she argues, hanging it on the back of the door so that it will be easy for the next day. “So, how old is your father, anyway?”
“He will be turning 65, though you won’t be able to tell from is looks. He has the salt and pepper hair going on, but that’s about it,” I inform her, watching her move back to the bed and flop down on it, bringing her feet up under her like she had them at the table. I love seeing the way her body moves no matter what she is wearing – even if it’s nothing at all. “And also, my mother is not evil. Though, she often goes along with what my father says because she would be punished otherwise. I think deep down she is miserable. That’s why they had me, to keep her company, and now she is alone in that big house with him – when he is home, anyway.”
She nods her understanding and just listens. She already knows that whole saga. We both have daddy issues, though hers make for interesting bedroom play.
I smirk at the thought but put it to the back of my mind so we can continue the conversation. “You have to be prepared for my father to be as cruel as possible. He doesn’t approve of this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to split us up so he can swoop in with another option of his choosing. I can’t promise any good behavior.”
“I wouldn’t expect any, but thanks for the warning,” she says, her face serious. “So, we’re just going over for a party?”
“Yes, that’s all. It will probably be some champagne or wine, mingling, dinner, and dessert. They said a few friends and family would be there, but it doesn’t sound like a big production; just enough of the right people to make a scene without alerting anyone that would be angry at his behavior,” I add bitterly. I don’t know why I am so on edge, but I have a bad feeling about what he might say or do.
But I don’t think I can get out of it.
***
