Page 110 of Forbidden Deception

Ripping my eyes away from them, I look at my phone and tilt it, watching as Remo stands in his office, hands in his trousers.

A second later, the door opens and in walks Rafael.

He’s wearing one of his favourite dark brown suits, the one I told him I liked. It’s fitted perfectly to his broad shoulders, and his trousers flow down his legs. I still remember the feeling of the material under my hands. I ran my hands over his shoulders, to his neck, where I pulled his face down to kiss him. I remember his arms going around my waist to pull me closer. To hold me tighter. His hair is neatly done, and he looks just as he did on that first day I met him in his office. Dashing, handsome, and collected.

He keeps walking until he stands a couple of steps away from Remo.

I can almost feel the tense atmosphere of the room through the screen. These two never do well in a room alone, and if I’m the topic they have to discuss, it might turn lethal. Remo’s stillness makes me hold my breath. Rafael could say anything. He won’t care about how Remo might take it. He’s often only ever listened to his own heart.

Until me. He listened to me when I asked him to kiss me.

He also listened to me when I wanted quietness and did face masks, pizza, and movie nights with me.

He listened to my spoken and unspoken demands.

Will he now listen to my silent cries for him, too?

“Rafael Gustav,” Remo says calmly, and my heart throbs loudly inside of me.

Rafael doesn’t answer. He’s not acting like himself.

And whose fault is that?

I briefly shut my eyes to keep my mind silent.

“You’ve been in London for over a month, and now you decided to show up?”

He still doesn’t answer. Instead, he looks around his office, then takes a deep breath and let it out slowly. I can’t see his face because the camera is behind him.

“I guess so. It’s hard to step into your territory without remembering what you did.”

I hold my breath, my hand grasping Aurora’s tightly. She squeezes back in support.

“When you said you would bring me to my knees, I didn’t believe anything could truly get me there. I thought nothing in this world could. But you failed.” Rafael tilts his head, and Remo quietly listens. “You failed to retrieve the footage. You failed to bring me to my knees. You failed to force me under your control,and you failed to destroy me. It just wasn’t in your capacity.” He looks away from Remo to the side.

“But someone else has. Someone truly wicked enough to pull if off.”

My heart dips when I realise he is talking about me.

I look at Aurora, who only tightly smiles.

“You planted your own sister inside my office and home to get your revenge? At Vance’s party? At Theodore Ricco’s home? You knew all along. It was only me who was foolish enough to believe everything that came out of her mouth.” He chuckles, but it lacks emotions and humour.

Rafael looks back at Remo.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about and decide on this. I have come to ask for one thing. Anything you demand in return will be given to you.”

Remo lifts a brow, a small smirk on his face. “Anything?”

Rafael stiffly nods.

“What do you want?” Remo asks.

Silence follows.

What will he ask Remo for? Money? To leave him alone? To keep me from ever going near him?

I hurt him enough to justify him asking Remo to keep me locked up, so I’m never in his sight again.

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