by Adom Sample
“Question. Why are you wearing a wedding dress?”
“I wanted to get to you as soon as possible, so I ran out of the boutique wearing whatever I had on. I left my regular clothes there.” I laughed and picked her up and took her into the house.
“Dante, could you set me down over there by the phone? Something doesn’t add up,” she said. I set her down and she picked up the phone to call her assistant. I wanted to burn those damn letters and break Nathan’s fingers.
“Hello, Hazel. I know it’s late, but I thought I asked you to shred all those letters. Yeah. That’s right. What? Are you kidding me right now? All right. Thank you. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.” Isabella’s face turned red, and I could hear her grit her teeth.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. She looked up at me fuming. “Are you okay?”
“Hazel just told me Liam—”
“Liam? The guy who tried to kiss you?”
“Yes, him. She said he requested to handle all the shredding personally. That little bastard took all those letters and put them in a box in my office, knowing you would find them. No doubt, he’s the one who opened them all and read them. Oh, he is fired, he is so fired.”
“Wait, he’s still working for you?”
“Yes, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Apparently, I made a mistake. He purposely tried to break us up. He’s fired and blacklisted. He’s finished.”
“Don’t worry, love. I’ll take care of him. I’ll also make sure Nathan doesn’t send you another letter ever again.”
“How do you plan to do that?” She looked at me curiously.
“I have my ways,” I smirked. “While we’re on the subject of honesty, I think there is something I should tell you.”
She slipped off her dress and went into the kitchen for something to drink.
“What is it?” she asked. I was reluctant about telling her. But if I didn’t, it would eat at me.
“Promise not to be upset.”
“I can’t promise that I won’t be upset unless I know what it is you’re going to tell me. Did you do something wrong?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“If it has anything to do with another woman, I’m going to strangle you!” She set down a cup of water for me, crossed her arms, and took a seat next to me.
“I would never do anything like that. Don’t even allow such things to enter your mind. I’d sooner have my hands chopped off than betray you like that.”
“Then what is it?” Her gaze on me was firm.
“Well, last year when I was living in the villa across from you, I inadvertently saw you and Nathan having sex.”
“Are you serious? How?”
“I came home from Spain and looked out my window. I saw you two kissing and hugging, and, well, you know. Your windows were wide open for the world to see.”
She sighed. “It’s in the past now, babe. Whenever I think about all the times I was with that shit-brain, it makes me nauseous.”
“So you’re not upset?” I asked relieved.
“Not really. That was a long time ago. I can only imagine what you felt when you saw it. You were in love with me during that time, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I was, and I always have been. Luckily, Gaspard was there with me. Otherwise, I would have gone over there. Actually, if I recall correctly, Gaspard had to hold me back. I know it wasn’t my place at the time, but when I saw him touching you, I kind of snapped.”
“What made you tell me this now?” She sipped her water.
“Because I was thinking about it on the way home tonight. With the letters and everything, I started to think that maybe you wanted to experience him one last time. You know when a guy becomes jealous; he starts thinking of all kinds of crazy things.”
“Trust me, Dante. I never want to go near that pig again for as long as I live. You have nothing to worry about. I am entirely devoted to you.”
“I know, babe. I’m just being an idiot. Sometimes jealousy can get the better of me. You’re the first woman to bestow this amount of jealousy on me. I guess I’m just scared as hell of losing you.”
“Listen to me, Dante. You will never lose me—ever. I want to marry you. I want to bear your children. I want to see them go off to college. I want to grow old with you. I want to see our grandchildren grow. And I want to be buried alongside you when the time comes.” She looked at me passionately.
“Do you really mean that?” My jealousy was crumbling to nothing.
“With everything I am.”
“Then take this, your real engagement ring.” I pulled a small box from my pocket and presented it to her. Her eyes were full of glee. She opened the box to reveal a 950 platinum 58-carat diamond ring with a blue sapphire gemstone in the center. I had this specially made for her with our initials engraved in the inner loop. The diamond shone so brightly that it blinded her with jubilation, a reflection of the fire that burned within me every time I looked into her eyes. Her jaw dropped when I placed it on her finger.
“It fits perfectly.” Her eyes were wide.
“This is one of a kind. You are the only woman to have a ring like this, just as you are the only woman on Earth I have ever truly loved. I love you, Isabella.”
She looked down at the ring and back up at me. I put my thumb on her face and wiped away her tears. She smiled widely and hugged me.
“A thousand times, I love you!” she screamed gleefully.
Soon, I would call her my wife. I had dreamed of this since I was a little boy asking her to the junior prom. She was just as beautiful then as she was now, and I was forever grateful fate had brought us together again. I turned on the fireplace, and we sat on the couch staring into the fire as I caressed her hair. She put her head on my lap to make herself more comfortable. I massaged her shoulders as she slowly fell asleep.
“Isabella . . .” I called to her softly.
“Yes, Dante?”
“I just realized something. I don’t need to go to paradise.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I’m already here.”
Chapter 18
Dante
After a little disagreement, Isabella finally allowed me to do what I felt I needed to do. I could have come here without her consent or knowledge, but we’d made a vow to be honest with each other. I supposed the heart of her screaming and fussing at me for an entire week stemmed from her not wanting to lose me again to an accident. I promised her I would not do anything to jeopardize my safety.
She’d begged me to at least wait until after the wedding, but I couldn’t wait that long. I had to take care of this as soon as possible. I hated to see her upset, but this was something I had to do. I would not allow that bastard to keep trying to contact her.
Isabella wanted to come with me, but she had business in Beijing, and I didn’t want her to be within three feet of this man. The fact that he’d been a fugitive for so long was a testament to how our government couldn’t care less about catching people who committed financial crimes and fled.
He may have slipped through the fingers of our government, but he wasn’t going to get away from me. I guaranteed it. I’d found that he’d developed quite the reputation for his drug use and gambling since he’d come to Thailand. It seemed as if every low-level bottom-feeder in Bangkok had heard of him. In my search, I’d met some of the most unfavorable people. Hell, they were worse than a couple of my colleagues on Wall Street were. My team and I got a tip he was holed up in a nightclub in the backwoods of Bangkok so that was where we went. Evidently, he owed some people here money and was hiding out until he could come up with it. Typical.
The sooner I found the him, the better. I had no choice but to frequent the nightclubs here, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I had only been here two days and was already fed up with the club scene. I would rather be at home with my love, sitting by the fireplace drinking my favorite wine.
Maybe Isabella was right. Perhaps I shouldn�
�t have come here. I probably should have sent someone here in my stead to find him. My selfishness and jealousy got the better of me. That was something I’d have to work on. I was just glad Isabella could accept me with all my little flaws.
I was going to count on her to smack reason back into my head if I ever did something like this again. Most of this could be attributed to my ego. I wanted to look him in the eyes and tell him after all these years that she was finally mine, that I’d finally won her over.
He used to bully me quite a bit before my parents and I moved to New York. I didn’t tell Isabella this, but I wanted payback. I knew it sounded childish, but I guessed I was just being petty.
“Bring me three whores and a bottle of rum! You get your money when I say you get your money!” shouted someone near the bar. It sounded like Nathan, but I didn’t want to believe it.
“Do you hear me, you fucking cunt? Do you speak English? Speak fucking English, you monkey!”
That was definitely him. He was drunk at the bar with a girl on each arm.
“What do you think? Should I go over there?” I asked one of my bodyguards.
“Well, we did come all this way, and if it were my woman he was harassing, he’d be in a box somewhere,” he said. Against my better judgment, I walked up to Nathan and tapped him on the shoulder. He swung his arm around, almost hitting me in the face.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked. The little shit didn’t even recognize me. He didn’t know who I was, or maybe he was too drunk to see straight. He smelled like year-old rotting eggs, and his teeth were a bright yellow. He was disgusting. How could I have allowed this waste of existence to bully me when we were children? I grabbed him by the neck and pushed my face deep into his.
“Look at me closely. You know who I am!” I bellowed.
He squinted at me. “It can’t be. Dante? Is that really you?”
“Yes, you sack of shit. It’s me.”
He chuckled and threw my hand from his neck. “Hell, I heard you were a super-important multi-billionaire or some shit. The hell are you doing in a place like this?” he asked with breath that smelled of rotting fungus.
“I’m here to tell you that if you write Isabella one more time, I’ll put you in a hole so deep that not even the flies will be able to smell your remains after you’ve passed,.” He looked confused. I put my hand back around his neck and squeezed.
“Y-you’re choking me.”
“Good!” I threw him off his chair and onto the ground. “Remember when I tried to talk to Isabella, and you pushed me off my bike when we were kids? You told me to keep away from her, remember?”
He staggered to his feet, coughing.
“Why do you care about that bitch? I saved you the trouble. She’s not worth a damn in bed anyway.”
My rage increased tenfold. “I have news for you, Nathan. Isabella and I are engaged. She’s going to be my wife. And I—no, we—had better not ever hear from you again. She’s mine now. We’ve been together for almost two years, and we love each other, something you couldn’t possibly begin to comprehend.”
A devious grin grew on his face.
“Ha! I don’t want her. I never wanted her. I just need her help. I owe people here a lot of money, and if I don’t pay them, they’re going to kill me. I just need five hundred grand, that’s all, and then I’ll be fine. You’re a billionaire—just help me out and you’ll never hear from me again.”
This guy was fucking delusional.
“You’ve got to be joking. You’ve made your grave; now die in it. I’ll leave you to the life you’ve built for yourself. Never write Isabella again, or the money you owe will be the least of your worries.” I signaled my bodyguards to leave, but then he grabbed me from behind and held a knife to my neck. My bodyguards advanced.
“Don’t! Stay where you are,” I commanded of them. This asshole had no idea who he was dealing with.
“You’re going to help me, or else you’ll never see your little princess again,” he said. I grabbed his hand and twisted his arm around, snatching the knife out of his control. Before he realized what was happening, I threw the blade to the floor and put him in an arm-bar. It took every ounce of willpower in me to keep from snapping his arm in two.
“Let me go!” he screamed.
“These bodyguards aren’t here for my protection, you piece of shit. They’re here for yours!” I bent his arm back farther, and he howled in pain. Just break it, Dante. Just fucking break it! said my rage. Let him go, Dante. You have to, said my conscience. I sighed and slowly loosened my hold. That was when I began to think of everything he did to me when we were children. All the crap he put Isabella through. All the cheating, sex, deviance, the abuse, the bruises on her chest, her black eye . . . all of it filled me with rage. I found myself tightening my grip again.
Break it! said a little voice in my head.
People crowded around us, and some of the men started making Muay Thai gestures with their fists and legs. Should I allow my better nature to prevail, or should I just go ahead and break his damn arm? He had pulled a knife on me, so I would be justified. I bent his arm back even farther as he screamed in pain. I thought of Isabella and what she would want me to do. I knew she hated violence, and her image of me might be tainted if she ever found out about this.
I kicked him in the ribs and threw his arm back before recovering.
He coughed and held his arm. “I knew you couldn’t do it. You’re a pussy just like that whore of a fiancée of yours. Did she tell you she cheated on me with five different men during our marriage? While you’re here, she’s probably sleeping with your best man. She’s a whore, and you’re going to end up just like me.”
“Your feeble attempts to get a rise out of me are pathetic.”
“Ask her yourself. If you give me the five hundred grand, I’ll give you the names of all the men she’s slept with. What do you say? It’s a small price to pay for the knowledge that your sweet little princess is a cheating slut.”
I wanted to kill him as soon as he said that. His insult threw me into an uncontainable fury. His jaw dropped as I launched toward him with a spin kick to his face with such force that it slammed him into the floor.
Someone stop me before I end this fucking prick.
I grabbed him by the shirt and hoisted him up.
“I don’t ever want to see or hear from you again. Do you understand me?”
“I can see why she likes you,” he said, licking the side of my cheek. I dropped him to the floor to wipe his disgusting saliva from my face. “You taste better than your sister.” He laughed.
“I don’t have a sister, you sick bastard.” I shook my head and attempted to walk out of the bar, but he stopped me with a sly comment.
“Aren’t you going to invite me to the wedding?” he asked with a snicker.
That was the last straw. “Look, I came here to ask you to stop contacting her, but you chose to insult us and assault me with a knife. You just sealed your fate. These men will be escorting you to a shipping boat where you will be extradited to the US for trial. Let’s see how far your letters go from a cell, you pathetic simpleton.”
“That’s fine by me—you’re doing me a favor!” he shouted. My bodyguards black-bagged him and ferried him to our Humvee. I could have just left him here to his fate. However, I wasn’t a savage. I would rather see him pay for his crimes than be killed.
I called Isabella to tell her I was on my way home without spilling the details of my altercation with her ex. The only thing on her mind was my safety. She was due back from Beijing in the next couple of days, and we’d planned to meet up at the airport in New York and travel home together.
I loved her so much, and I was starting to regret coming here. Once I got back, I might take a more active role in planning the wedding. I’d told her I would give her full control, but I was sure she wouldn’t mind my input. I couldn’t wait to see her.
If I spent more than just a few days away from her, a depressi
on would set in. She had me. I couldn’t help but wonder whom she was with and what she was doing. With lights, partying, and alcohol consumption all around me, the only thing in this world I could think of was her. It was almost as if temptation itself no longer had any effect on me. I went outside to see Nathan fighting with my bodyguards. He was like a frantic little worm that refused to go into the car.
“Just tie him up!” I shouted. With the black bag over his head, he couldn’t see which way my bodyguards were grabbing him, so he flailed about, kicking his legs and moving his body awkwardly.
“I didn’t want to have to use this,” said the driver. He got out of his seat, removed the bag from Nathan’s head, and pressed a white pad against his face. In under a minute, Nathan had stopped moving.
“What the hell was that?” asked one of my bodyguards.
“Chloroform,” he answered. We all hopped into the Humvee and made our way to the port. I hoped Nathan would enjoy his ride back to the US in a shipping container.
Chapter 19
Isabella
“I know that’s what we planned, babe,” I said into the phone. “We need everything to be on schedule. The florist had to ship international for the flowers. The caterer is still trying to get in contact with the chef from France, and many of the people on our guest list have conflicting schedules. To top it all off, you’re still not back yet, and my conference here in Beijing is taking longer than I expected. We’re going to have to push the wedding back three weeks or so.”
“I’m not complaining, love. Whatever is for the best, you do that. I just look forward to the day I can call you Isabella Kam-Alonso,” he said. I’d thought he would be upset, but he was delightfully calm. I guessed he got what he wanted in Thailand.
“I’ll be there in about ten hours. I love you and good luck at your conference.”
“By the way, Dante. I won’t be known as Isabella Kam-Alonso. I’ll just be Isabella Alonso. Love you,” I said, and then hung up the phone swiftly. I hoped that put a smile on his face. We’d talked about it before, and I’d told him I wanted to keep my last name. I’d done the same thing with Nathan because I’d felt it was the right thing to do.