Chapter 31

GISELLE

I rushed out of the bathroom with a robe wrapped around me when I heard my phone ring for the fifth time.

"Jeez, I'm coming." I grabbed my phone off the bed, pressing it to my ear. "Who is this?"

"Giselle!" I recognized the voice immediately. 

"Oh, Matteo."

"Have you seen Nicholas?"

"I should ask you that question. Where's he? I haven't seen him since this morning when he offered to take Cara to school. Did something happen?"

"We haven't seen Nicholas since we parted ways last night. He scheduled a meeting for this morning, and when I called him, he said he was on his way back to the house. That was the last I heard of him."

"He came in this morning when Cara was about to leave for school. I had a migraine, so I couldn't take her to school. He stumbled upon our conversation in the kitchen and offered to take Cara to school. That was the last time we saw each other."

Dread pooled in the pit of my stomach. Did something happen to him and Cara and their way? Did they get into an accident? If that was the case, I was supposed to have gotten a call, right?

"Cazzo."

"Did Eduardo get his hands on him? Was he kidnapped?"

"I don't think Eduardo did anything to him."

"But it wouldn't hurt to ask, right? You can just ask a…" I trailed off when I heard a loud bang from just a door away.

"What was that?" Matteo asked. So, I wasn't hallucinating. The gunshot sounds were real. 

"I don't know. Do you think someone broke into the house?" I asked, lowering my voice.

"That's impossible. Nicholas takes security seriously. Go see what's going on."

"But what if someone is here?"

"Don't be scared, Giselle. Go check the scene out. Stay on the phone with me, so I know if I have to send backup."

"Okay."

I tiptoed to the door, cracking it open slowly, so I didn't make any sound. Sure, Matteo might be right about no one being in here, but I still couldn't take the chance.

Another loud bang filled the air, and now I could pinpoint where the sound came from. I pushed open the door to my intended bedroom, and all I saw was chaos. The room was in complete disarray. 

Sheets were on the floor, nightstands tossed across the room, picture frames laid broken on the floor, and bullet holes riddled the furniture.

One man caused all of this destruction. Nicholas. He must have done this while I was busy with my skincare routine in the bathroom.

"I'll call you later, Matteo. Nicholas is here."

"Thank fuck. Make sure he's okay after his sudden disappearance."

"I will." I hung up. I opened my mouth to speak to him, but another loud bang interrupted me. 

This time around, he'd shot a mirror. The glass shattered to the floor loud enough that it triggered a memory in my head. Memories of a car hitting a tree, and a trunk falling on the windshield. Another bang followed, forcefully jerking me out of my memories.

"Nicholas, what's going on?" Why would he ruin a room that held memories of Gianna? I placed my phone carefully on the dresser, tightening my grip on my robe. "Nicholas?"

He finally looked at me, and the look on his face was unexplainable. It was a cross between anger and regret? I wasn't sure about the last part.

He dropped his gun on the floor, and without a word, he brushed past me, walking into his. Now probably wasn't the best time to approach him, but did my stupid brain register that? Nope. My feet carried me across the room until I was standing on the bathroom's threshold.

"Nicholas," I tried again. "Did something happen?"

"You should go," he said out of the blue.

"Huh? Go where?" I asked, puzzled. What happened to him after his disappearance? 

"Anywhere you want. You should leave. As a matter of fact." He stormed over to me, grabbing my left hand in his. I'd barely processed all that was going on before he roughly tugged the wedding ring off my finger. "This marriage is called off. You're free to do whatever you want with your life."

I yanked my hand out of his grasp, glaring up at him. "I'm done with you thinking you call all the shots in this marriage. Now, here's what's gonna happen. I'm going to go to bed, and we'll address your foolishness tomorrow morning."

"You're the foolish one here. You finally have a shot at freedom, and you're fucking it up for yourself. Didn't you say you wanted to have kids and a husband who loves you? I'm telling you, you can have all that."

"What if that's no longer what I want? What if I want to stay?"

I didn't know when my feelings about staying or leaving changed, but with the recent happenings, Nicholas was mine and Cara's best shot at surviving. 

There was never truly freedom in this world we were born into, and I realized that after I got married to Nicholas. I always thought Father would eventually forget about me, but a few weeks after I graduated, he came knocking on my door. I was powerless against him, and I had Cara's life hanging on the line.

With Nicholas, I wasn't so powerless. Father was afraid of what would happen if he went against the Rossis, even though he didn't want to admit it. If Nicholas broke things off with me, that security would no longer be there.

Father would hand me over to the highest bidder just so he could get rid of me, and with the new enemy I made, I didn't put it past Eduardo to make my life miserable by getting married to me. I also had Cara depending on me to survive, and by a stretch, Nicholas.

"Why not? Because we fucked?"

I huffed, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "I don't care if we had sex or not. This isn't about that."

"Then why are you adamant? I could give you a new life. You wouldn't have to worry about Gregorio finding you."

"You think Father will take that news lying down? He'll hunt me down. And what about Cara? I can't keep living with the thought that I'm a fugitive at the back of my mind. My refusal isn't about you or me, or what we did in your office. I couldn't care less. I'm looking out for my sister."

That was the reality of the situation. After learning what my father was planning to do with Cara, I couldn't be stupid with my decisions. My thirst for freedom would have to wait for now. At least, until Cara could fend for herself.

"You'd stay all because of Cara?" Nicholas shook his head, pulling away from me. "You're even more foolish than I thought."

"I think you're mistaking two different words here. It's called being loyal to the ones you love. If all of this is because we had sex, stop it. I do not expect you to love me or cater to my every need because you made me come two or three times last night. Get some sleep. You need it."

I walked into the other room just in time to pick up Matteo's call.

"Do you know if something happened to Nicholas?" I asked, my eyes sweeping over the chaos in the room.

"News just got in."

"What news? And don't you dare lie to me, Matteo. I will come knocking on your door first thing tomorrow morning."

"He visited Gianna's gravesite," he replied, his voice filled with pity. "That was where he was all day."

"Oh."

"Don't feel bad, Giselle. I know this is none of my business, but this might not be what we all think. For the most part, no one knows what goes on in his head."

"I don't feel bad. I already expected this," I admitted, but that didn't stop it from hurting any less. "Gianna always comes first."

"For what it's worth, he did seem happy with you the other day in the kitchen."

Yeah, right.

"Goodnight, Matteo. I need to clean up here. Get some rest and tell your mom I said hi. If she has any housekeeper she can recommend, tell her to send them my way."

"I will. Goodnight."

All the things I said to Nicholas were true. I didn't expect love or attention from him because we had sex. I knew he could never love me. Another woman held his heart, and frankly, I didn't think I could ever be in love with a man like him.

I was deeply attracted to him - that wasn't up for debate - and I felt pity for him at times, but that was where it ended. Asking for more from him would only leave me heartbroken.