Page 16 of Memento Mori
We’ve had several conversations about his parents and their attempts to marry him off. He always assured me he would choose me, although I believed he wouldn’t because he hadn’t told his parents about us. However, I couldn’t be too mad about that because I hadn’t told Abasi about us either. And it wasn’t because I didn’t believe Abasi would have a problem with Antonio, but he always approached things from a business perspective. If he believed it would benefit the organization in the long run, he’d be all for it, but if he believed it didn’t, I think he’d forbid me to marry him. And I didn’t want to go against Abasi. He was my father even if it wasn’t by blood. But regardless of all of that, seeing it with my own eyes made me loathed this entire situation.
I wiped my tears and wrapped the plush comforter tighter around me, hoping to fall asleep. Maybe with sleep I would have a better perspective on my relationship. If there was a relationship after this. After a good night’s rest, I could gauge whether my reaction was appropriate, or if I overreacted.
I sighed and let the warmth of the bed take over. Just as I was about to fall asleep, the air in the bedroom changed and I caught a whiff of his cologne.
Antonio.
“Get out!” I screamed without facing the man who broke my heart. I heard his footsteps come closer to the bed. “Don’t. Don’t come any closer, Tony. How did you find me? How did you get into my suite!”
I spoke with such disdain that my own ears didn’t recognize my voice. Never had anyone affected me this much. There was no strength left in me to face him. I cried myself into exhaustion and if I looked into his eyes, there was no telling what my reaction would be.
“It doesn’t matter how, I will always find you, Aaliyah. I needed to see you. I would go to the ends of the earth to find you.”
“Well, I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. Now if you do not leave, I will call my men and have them escort you out of here.”
“No matter how much you threaten me, Bella, I’m not leaving this room until you listen to what I have to say.”
“Don’t call me that!” I snapped. “I’m not yourBella. I’m not anything to you. Not anymore. Please... please just leave.”
I suppressed the sob that slowly rose in my throat. I couldn’t believe how much this man played me for a fool. I believed he loved me as much as I loved him.
“I’m such a goddamn fool to believe you loved me.”
He let out a sigh. “I do love you, Aaliyah.”
The bed dipped, the covers lifted, and he slid in behind me wrapping his arms around me. I couldn’t deny how much I missed his touch, but I refused to give in to the wants of my flesh and my heart. He threw away everything we tried to build together.
I struggled against his tightening embrace, trying to push him away as anger boiled inside me. “You don’t know what love is!” I seethed. “Let me go! Get out!”
“I’m not leaving Aaliyah!” He tightened his embrace. “You’re going to listen to what I have to say, goddamn it! I love you.”
“You have a funny way of showing how much you love me, Antonio. If that’s how you show your love for me, I don’t want it.”
He tensed then rested his head against the back of mine. I stopped struggling, and we both remained silent for a few moments.
“I was going to tell my parents about us at breakfast,” he said, and I remained silent. “When I arrived, Francesa and her father were already there waiting. I swear on everything I love, Aaliyah, I didn’t know they were going to be there, or I wouldn’t have gone. I had made up in my mind that this arranged marriage bullshit was ending. I want you. No one else.”
“Do you know her?” I asked.
I wanted to know if he’d been having an affair or if she was some unknown woman, they were pushing on him.
“I do.” He let out a heavy sigh, the sound echoing through the room. “Francesa and I grew up together. We weren’t friends but ran in some of the same circles. It was supposed to be a family breakfast. Just me and my parents, but Francesa mentioned my mother invited her and her father. From the way they were acting my mother told them she was my pick from all the marriage prospects.”
“That still doesn’t explain why in the hell she was all over you, Tony! And why you didn’t push her away. Not once did you push her away.”
“I didn’t push her away I can admit, but did you see me return any of her affections,Bella?”
Abel’s words on the plane echoed in her mind, repeating the same thing over and over.
“I didn’t.”
“I explained all this to you. I have to maintain a show when this shit is going on. All fucking eyes are on me! And it’s disrespectful to do anything against the Don and Donna when in the presence of anyone who is a part of the Five Families.”
“Sounds like bullshit to me, Tony.”
I wiggled free from his tight embrace and slipped out of the warm bed. I needed to put some distance between us.
“It’s not bullshit, Aaliyah. And you know it.”
