Page 187 of Valentino

“I didn’t hide the phone to protect him, I just wanted the situation to go away, and I thought that if Val knew he had called then everything would explode. He said that he didn’t kill Giovanna. He said there was another shooter.”

“Why would you believe anything that comes out of his lying mouth?”

“It wasn’t….”

“How could you lie for him?” She cuts me off. “After all Val has done for you…after everything we have done for you, this is how you repay us? By hiding a burner phone so you and him can sneak around behind everyone’s backs?”

I screw up my face in tears; it sounds so much worse when I hear it out loud.

“What the actual fuck is wrong with you, Anna?” she screams, she’s firing on both cylinders. “Let’s for a moment forget that he has tried to kill all of your friends. He actually did kill Giovanna and two of our guards, he would have given his right arm to have killed me. He tried to kill Enrico and not to mention the innocent people on the yacht. But even if you could forgive him for all of that…which I cannot believe you could.”

My heart drops and tears fill my eyes as I listen.

“Have you forgotten that he fucked around on you with other women, every single day…. Are you that much of a doormat, Anna?”

Her words cut me to the bone and I sob out loud.

I need you today.

“I cannot believe you’ve done this. You know how dangerous he is.” She’s crying too now. “How could you put us at risk like this?”

“I’m sorry, Chesk,” I sob. “I didn’t mean….”

“Yes. You did.”

“This isn’t all my fault,” I fire back. “Don’t blame me for last night. I didn’t know he was going to come.”

“Whose fault is it then, Anna? You’re the one who’s been sneaking around and talking to him in secret. If it’s not your fault then whose is it?”

“Will you just listen to me?”

“No. I won’t. I cannot believe you. I’m disgusted. You are supposed to be my best friend, and this is how you treat me? Sneaking around with a man who tried to kill me?”

“Chesk….”

My heart sinks.

“How does it feel knowing that you have protected him while betraying the people who actually care about you?”

I screw up my face in tears.

“My God.”

Click….

The phone goes dead; she’s hung up on me, and my heart breaks. I stare at the wall, hot salty tears run down my face, a river of regret.

Fuck.

What the hell have I done?

VALENTINO

I pass through the foyer and put my briefcase down at the door. “Anna,” I call. “I’m home.” In the distance I can hear music, she must be in the shower. I open the fridge and peer in; a bottle of champagne sits in ice in a silver bucket.

Nice.

I get out our two best crystal glasses, a wedding gift. Fill them both and go in search of my girl.