Emily had smirked at me, until she saw the look on my face.
“Well, she just needs to learn that you have needs she can’t fill.” She started to approach me to put hands on me, but I stepped back. I didn’t like that look that had crossed her face when I mentioned my wife seeing us together. She stopped a foot away, hand outstretched, her smile faltering.
“This doesn’t change shit between us, Emily.”
She forced her smile at me. “Of course not Carlo. We will keep doing as we have always done.” And she continued coming to me, putting her hands on my chest. I felt dirty then too. I gently moved her hands away.
“You should head out. I need to go deal with my wife.”
Her smile remained as she shrugged. “Okay. Call me when you need me again.”
To be fair, of all the four hookups I had with her since the wedding, this was the only one where I called her.
I had to refocus back to my phone. I didn’t want to think about that shit that went down earlier. What was done, was done.
Me:I’ll see you at the dinner next week.
Emily:I’m still allowed to come, even with your wife there?
Was this bitch testing me? Did I really want her at the dinner? Yes, because I had to show Catalina that Emily would be in the picture for as long as I wanted her to be.
Me:Yes. You will be my guest.
Emily:I will see you then. ??
What the fuck was that? Fucking emojis. I tossed my phone on the bed, grabbed the remote, and tried to settle in for the night.
I soon realized not having my wife in bed with me would be for a long, horrible night.
Chapter 3
Catalina’s POV
I managed to avoid my husband for the past three days. I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull it off for much longer so I had to mentally prepare myself for his attitude and bullshit. Also, we were to host a dinner within the next few days, so I would have to work on tolerating his presence. One of Carlo’s biggest allies was expected to be at the dinner as the main guest along with some of his men. Enrique Lopez was more of a businessman, but very well respected and could get things done. I knew I was going to have to make an appearance, but I didn’t want to.
I headed down for breakfast, hoping my husband had left for work, but not getting lucky. He was sitting at the smaller table we ate at for meals when it was just us at home. The table was so small and intimate I really didn’t want to be near him, but I needed to suck it up.
He looked up as I walked into the room. I avoided eye contact. He rose as if to pull out my chair like he usually did, but I moved to another chair and sat in it. I could feel his presence, still standing for a moment longer, then returned to his chair. I could feel the tension in the air. But the sad truth, I was used to this from home. I just didn’t know how he would respond. I was expecting him to hit me, punch me, or grab me by my hair.Instead, he remained in his chair, sipping his coffee as the staff came to set my food in front of me.
“Good morning, Miss Catalina.” I had asked all the staff to refer to me this way, giving me some respect, but not the way my mother was addressed in our home. I didn’t want anything to be like it had been at my childhood home. They called her Donna. I had never wanted that title. I honestly didn’t know what my title would have been considering Carlo is not a Don, but I didn’t want such titles.
“Morning, Mrs. Silvia. How are you doing today?”
She seemed hesitant to respond. We usually greeted each other this way, but it had been three days since being in my husband’s presence.
“Ummm, I’m doing just fine, Miss Catalina. And you?” She didn’t sound like she really wanted to ask, so to put her out of her misery I kept my response simple.
“I’m okay. Thanks for asking.” I forced a smile for her, then turned to my breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast.
The only sound for a few minutes was my cutlery scraping against the plate as I ate, continuing to ignore my husband. Normally I sat directly next to him, but I chose a seat across and to the side from him. I could feel him watching me.
“Catalina. We need to talk.”
I didn’t bother to respond to that. I kept eating like he hadn’t said a word.
“You need to stop this bullshit and move your shit back into our room.”
I continued eating, continued ignoring, and just being in his presence.
