Page 10 of Don Caselli

His loyalty should have been with his wife, but I guess he couldn’t be rich, handsome, and loyal, too. The man had to fall short somewhere, and loyalty was where his shortness fell. Along with being rich, he was older.

Alex was in his late forties, and I was in my early twenties. The things that excited me didn’t get him excited. It was fun when we traveled around the world because he was paying me.I could pretend to be into the shit he was into and then go back home.

As his future wife, I couldn’t pretend anymore. I had to get to know the man and take this seriously. He asked me to marry him and instead of telling him that I needed to think on it, my dumbass decided to tell him yes and now I was stuck planning a wedding that I wasn’t excited about.

“Why did you tell him that you would marry him, then?”

I shrugged. “Because this could be my ticket out of all of this shit.”

“What ticket? Your godfather is Menace Caselli, and he has told you plenty of times that you needed to quit Case House. Being stubborn is the reason that you refused to leave.”

Menace was my so-called godfather, although I never looked at him like that. On paper he was, but the man didn’t even know me. He was tossed into that role as a favor to my late father. How could he even guide me when I was already grown and doing things before he met me?

Other than the fact that he would randomly have Jeffie call to check and see if I had money, I never heard from Menace. It never bothered me because I could only imagine how annoying it was to be stuck with the semi responsibility of someone that you never knew existed.

“I don’t want his money. I’m tired of always feeling like I’m asking for a handout from people. It was the reason I started working for Case House. To make my own money and not have to depend on the Caselli’s. At least with Alex, this secures my future, and he wants kids.”

“His old ass has kids already and one of them is about a year younger than me,” Maki reminded me.

I crossed my legs. “If one of your clients wanted to marry and take care of you… you wouldn’t do it or give them a child?”

Maki debated like she wouldn’t hop at the chance. “Bitch, you already know I would, without a second thought.”

“Exactly.”

She knew the minute a man asked to marry her, she would be down to spend the rest of her life doing nothing.

“So, humor me with this… if this is what you want, why did you snatch your ring off when Don came to your dinner?”

“I didn’t feel like having a conversation with him about it.”

“Or you didn’t want him to find out because then it would really mean the possibility of you both being together would never happen.”

I shot her a dirty look. “We cannot even be together, anyway.”

“Because Menace says so? Don has shown and done everything against what his brother wants. Do you honestly think he gives a fuck?”

Landon didn’t give a damn about anything his brother said. I think he was the only person who didn’t care that he was directly disregarding what Menace wanted. I was off limits to him, and it was because I was a Case House girl.

Now that I had stepped back from Case House, there was no excuse that he could use. Well, Menace didn’t need an excuse. He couldn’t deny the fact that we were both grown adults and could do whatever we wanted.

Don was different from any man that I had ever gave my attention. He didn’t look at me like my Case House clients. He saw me as a person, leaving sex out the equation. When he found out that I had been raped, he was there for me.

As much as I tried to push back what happened to me, it was him who encouraged me to seek therapy and not ignore it. Ignoring things until they no longer hurt was my specialty. I liked living by the out of sight and mind philosophy.

I wasn’t the type that always talked about my problems and harped on them. It was hard having to live with the fact that the Caselli’s even knew and then having Don wanting to heal me. He wanted to take care of me, and I didn’t want that.

Not from him.

I wanted us to be on equal footing, even though he was a whole billionaire. With my clients, I didn’t care about them and wanted them to take care of me.

Not with Don.

It was also hard to be serious knowing that what we both wanted was forbidden. Don would always be set for life because his last name was Caselli. Who knew how long Menace would continue to give a fuck about me?

Alex was rich and wanted a life with me, and I needed to go with what I was familiar with. I had to take care of me, and being Alex’s wife secured that piece. As fucked up as it was, I enjoyed the life of luxury, and this man wanted to keep me in it.

Don would never choose his family over me, and I never wanted to put him in the situation where he had to make that decision. Menace would never approve of us being together, and I had to go where it was safe.

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