AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m…” I take the flowers and smile. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be at your dinner. I had to work. Thank you, though, for helping me this whole time and coming back to save me. I know you got into a lot of trouble for that.”
Luigi shrugs and looks into my eyes. “I’d do anything for the woman I love.”
My heart flutters, but I keep a straight face. “Luigi…”
I set the flowers on the table and turn to him, putting on my business voice. “I appreciate what you did so much but emotions are a weakness I can’t have. I need to rule my life with rational and logic, not weakness and feelings. I can’t let my emotions rule my life regardless of how they affect me.”
Luigi smiles and gently takes my hand. “I’m not going to convince you to date me, Ana. I want you to be happy, and I’ll do anything for that to happen, even if it means I can’t see you anymore or we’re not together. I want your dreams to come true.”
I squeeze his hand and nod. “Thank you. You’ll find someone, Luigi. Someone who’s meant for you. I know it.”
“I did once already,” he smiles. “But I think it’ll be a long time before I look again. Have a good day, Miss Volkov.”
“Same to you, Mr. Sorvino,” I reply.
I watch him leave and take the flowers to the back of the restaurant where my babushka is. “What a lovely young man,” she comments, still focusing on the bread she’s kneading. “Shame to see him go.”
“It’s not meant to be,” I comment, leaving before she can say more.
I spend the rest of the day going over every detail with Evgenii about the businesses books and I feel like my brain will explode as I’m driven home.
I walk into the house and set my things down. I kick off my shoes and call, “I’m home.”
“We’re just about to have dinner. Come join us,” Tori calls from the dining room.
I smile and stroll in. I stop to hug Tori, kiss Roman and then kiss my father's head. “Hello, family.”
“Looks like you had a good day,” my father says with a smile. “Did you absorb all that information from my cousin?”
I nod. “It’s a lot, but I’m getting it.”
“Why was Luigi there? Evgenii says he stopped with flowers?” I know my father isn’t asking casually, so I straighten up.
“He was there to declare his love for me…” I see Tori light up, but I hold a hand up. “But I told him there’s no room in my life for weakness and emotions. I need to be a strong leader. I need to be rational and logical. So I wished him the best, and I left it at that. He left, and I went back to work.”
I smile brightly at my father, who is looking at me with a quizzical look. “You know, Natalia once told me she can’t work for this family if she’s emotional. My father was still alive then. He turned to both of us and called us fools. He said the bravest thing a person could do, is fall in love. To be vulnerable with someone, to trust them with your heart and soul. There is nothing braver than that.”
We’re all silent for a moment, and I sit there, staring at my plate.
“Papa, can I be excused from dinner?”
“He’s at La Club,” Tori blurts out, and we both look at her. “Just, you know. A fact.” She quickly busies herself with Roman, and I look at my father, who nods. I kiss his head and run to get changed.
In mere moments I am on my way to La Club, being driven by my new guard. I fidget nervously. Is my father right? I mean, he basically just said I could have love and power.
I think of my mother. I remember her face and how she looked at my father. Then I remember how Tori looks at him and how he looks at her and Roman.
And me.
I can have money and power—and love.
Luigi
I sit at the bar, miserable. I thought I would be so suave going to the restaurant and declaring my love, but she blew me off as if it was nothing.
Dominic comes over and puts an arm around my shoulder. “You need to get your mind off things, cous. Why don’t you come to the dance floor? There’s a lot of hot chicks to hit on!”
I shake my head and shrug him off. “I’m not in the mood, Dom.”
