Page 12 of DeLucas After Dark

“Okay, okay. Give me a second to think. Now, there’s no way she will get married without Simone’s opinion. She will call to inform my wife of her so-called good news. When she does that, I will insist on her having the wedding here. They will come to the States and then he will be at our mercy. It’s perfect.”

I wasn’t convinced at this being the perfect plan. I wasn’t going to allow that man to marry my woman.

“Are you sure about this, Nicolo? I don’t think he will return to Charlotte.”

“Sheree will not say no. She is big on family and won’t walk down the aisle without her parents and favorite cousin there. Besides, his plan has to be to get to me. There’s no way he will resist this. He thinks he has won because he has no idea that we know what he’s up to.”

“Fine, but I won’t keep her in the dark. She will end up getting hurt. Let me go to her and show her the footage of him with the other women. Then I will explain what’s really going on and convince her to play the game.”

“I’ll leave that up to you if you think she can handle it. Just make sure she doesn’t expose us. It may be our only time to get ahead of this bastard.”

“I’m on it.”

SHEREE

Icouldn’t believe my ears or my eyes. Did this man really just get down on one knee, in the very restaurant where we first met, and propose marriage to me? What the hell was going on? I should be happy, over the moon, but I wasn’t. The first thing I thought was ‘Is this fool serious?’.

At first, I just stood there. I am sure I looked like a big ass deer in the headlights of a Mack truck. My heart was racing, and I had this stupidly cheesy grin on my face. I couldn’t bear to break his heart, so I fixed my mouth and said the one word that I didn’t want to.

“Yes.”

Oh, God! What have I done? What was wrong with me? Red flags were flying out of this man’s ears and here I was tying myself to him for life. LIFE! What would make this man after only a couple of months of knowing me ask me to spend the rest of my life with him?

Something wasn’t adding up. Seriously, we hadn’t even felt each other up yet. I had no idea how big he was. Oh, hell no! This was a terrible idea. There was no way I could marry this man without sampling the goods first. I needed to call Moni for some good old-fashioned girl talk.

“You have made me the happiest man on earth,” Giorgio said, but the smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes.

Quick! Say something so he doesn’t try to kiss you.

“I need to call my family! They are going to be so happy! My mother is going to lose her mind. This is the day she has dreamed of since I was born.”

“Can’t that wait? I want to spend time with my fiancé.”

“Really Giorgio? This is important. I need to call my mom.”

“If you call her, she’s going to want to see me. I’m not ready to meet the parents, just yet.”

This was getting on my nerves. The man was flat out refusing to speak with my mom on the day he asked me to marry him. Either he thought I was an idiot, or he actually was one. No matter, I was about to put a stop to this mess.

“Giorgio don’t play me for a fool. You can tell me the truth. Do you have a wife posted up somewhere? Is that why you won’t let me take your picture or show you in my videos?”

The look on his face told me he was thinking of a lie to tell me. He wasn’t expecting me to ask that question. Well, too fucking bad. I knew a thing or two about a thing or two, and he was not getting one over on me.

“Wwww…what would make you say a thing like that?”

Oh, he was nervous. Stuttering and shit. My hand was itching to slap the mess out of him. One thing I hated was a liar.

“Because that is the signature of every man that is hiding something. I’m just trying to figure out what it is you’re not telling me. If you’re not married, then what is it?”

“I promise you, Sheree, I am not hiding anything. I am just shy about the scar along my jaw. I’m still not used to it, and I don’t want to be judged.”

So, he was playing in my face. He wasn’t going to admit to whatever it was he was hiding. I had no more time to worry about it. The truth would come to light eventually. Until then, I would bide my time. It wasn’t like I was in love with this guy.

“Whatever, Giorgio. Let’s just finish eating and then I need to go home and call my mom.”

After he dropped me off at Nicolo’s family home, I went inside and called my bestie. I needed her to pep me up before I had the draining conversation with my mother. She was going to ask a million questions. God forbid, my Auntie Michell was over there when I called. I would never be able to answer all the questions they had for me.

“Ciao, Sheree! How’s it hanging cousin?”

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