“Give it!”
“No!” Sofia shrieked.
“Lourdes, let go!” Gino admonished.
Lourdes held firmly onto the stuffed animal and looked at her mother for help.
“Sofia, let her have it,” said Olivia. “You can have hers.”
“No, she can’t,” interjected Gino. “All the girls picked out just which stuffed animal they wanted. We’re not going to make Sofia give up her toy just because Lourdes decides she now wants it.”
Gino took the stuffed animal from the girls and placed it on the seat next to him.
“There you go, Sofia. It’ll be right here, sweetie.”
Sofia nodded while Lourdes burst into tears and then went into a full-blown tantrum on the floor.
“Take her out of here!” Gino demanded Olivia in a harsh whisper.
Olivia rolled her eyes at Sofia and Gino and proceeded to pick up Lourdes off the floor to carry her out of the restaurant.
Chapter 39
Gino was doing some work in his study when the phone rang. He wasn’t going to answer it, until he noticed it was his business line and not the house one.
“Gino Valente.”
“Mr. Valente, Larshman here.”
“It’s a little early in the week to do your weekly check in isn’t it?”
“This is not a check in, Mr. Valente. I have a new development on your wife.”
Gino took off his reading glasses.
“I’m listening.”
“Right after you and your family returned to your home and Mrs. Valente went back out, I trailed her.”
“Where did she go?”
There was a moment of silence on the line.
“She went to Mr. Valente’s house, sir.”
“My brother’s house?”
“Yes sir. When she first arrived at his residence at seventeen thirty hours, it appeared they got into some sort of argument and he slammed the door in her face. After a minute she started back to her vehicle when Mr. Valente re-opened the door and summoned her inside.”
“She was gone for about three hours. Did she spend the whole time there?”
“Yes, she did sir. She didn’t exit the residence until approximately nineteen forty-five hours. Luckily, the pile of newspapers on the stairs of the house next door indicated the neighbor was away, so I got a good vantage point in their backyard.”
“What did you observe?”
Gino’s body was knotted with tension and he sat perfectly still. He had to or else he would get up and punch a hole in every room of the house. His thoughts went back to what initially caused him to suspect his wife of having an affair. Over the last two years, though they slept in separate bedrooms, one would occasionally show up in the other’s room for intimacy. About a month and a half before, after sharing almost two bottles of wine after dinner, they went upstairs to her room. He wanted to be adventurous and try making love in a different position. Before they’d only done it missionary-style and side-by-side when they were intimate during her pregnancy. That night he decided they should do it with her on her knees and him entering from behind. He had already slipped inside her when through his tipsiness, finally realized he was inside her anus and not her vagina. He hadn’t heard any protest from Olivia so he continued.
Afterward, as she drifted off in a slightly drunken sleep, she muttered, “We shouldn’t have done it that way. He would be so mad if he knew.”
He couldn’t get her words out of his head.
Who was he?
Supposedly other than the man who attacked her that one time, he was the only man she’d been with and they’d never had sex that way before. When they first had sex he had to enter her vagina with care, so he wondered why her anus was so easily accessed. And not only was she enjoying the act, she obviously was used to it. That’s when it then became apparent that the only explanation was she having an affair.
The next day he called Larshman, who had done investigative work for Valente Construction in the past when they needed the histories of potential business partners or high level employees checked out. Larshman tailed Olivia for weeks without finding anything. Gino was just about to call it off when he received the phone call. A couple of days later Larshman brought over the developed photos that were now on his desk. The pictures were taken from the neighbor’s yard and through Anton’s bedroom window. They depicted sex acts between his brother and wife. One act in particular she’d never performed on him yet in the photos she was happily obliging his brother.
He pounded his fist on the desk.
Over the next few weeks Gino said nothing to Olivia or his brother about what he found out. With the assistance of his lawyers, he put into motion all he needed so that he could cut both Anton and Olivia out of his life.
Chapter 40
Olivia deliberated whether a particular outfit she was eyeing would look flattering on her. She took another sip of the complimentary champagne supplied by the boutique.
“Mom could we like hurry up?” whined a teenager nearby.
“Tammy, did I rush you when you were getting your things?” asked the girl’s mother. “Now let me shop in peace.”
“What about this outfit? It’s totally bitchin’!”
“You know I don’t like showing my arms. What do you think of this one?”
“Eww, like barf me with a spoon! It looks like something Gran would wear.”
Olivia walked closer to the mother and daughter to get a glimpse. She peered with antipathy at their appearance, especially at the daughter’s teased and glittered hairstyle and leg warmers. No class whatsoever. I won’t be coming back to this boutique anymore if people like that are going to be shopping here! They should be at the mall, not in this place. They don’t look like they could afford a scarf from here, much less an outfit.
The daughter turned her head and glimpsed the disdainful way Olivia was regarding them.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing much,” Olivia sniffed.
“Excuse me, Mrs. Valente.”
Olivia turned to the store clerk.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry to ask you this but do you have another credit card? We’ve been trying to put this one through but it keeps getting declined.”
“Declined? That’s impossible. Try it again.”
“We tried several times, Ma’am.”
Annoyed, Olivia reached into her purse and produced another card. The clerk soon informed her it was declined as well. After going through other cards in her purse and finding they were all declined, a flustered and embarrassed Olivia informed the clerk that obviously there was a malfunction with the store’s machine. She strode past the other customers, ignoring the smirk on the teenager’s face, and out of the boutique.
Olivia walked to her vehicle to use the car phone and dialed Gino’s number at the office. She was told he went home early so she called their home phone.
“The Valente residence. May I help you?”
“Mrs. Petrova, put my husband on the phone.”
“Is this Mrs. Valente?”
“You’re a quick one. Put my husband on the phone. Now!”
A moment later Gino was on the line.
“Yes?”
“Gino, what’s going on with my credits cards? Have you paid the bills?”
“I’ve been calling around looking for you. You need to get home as soon as possible.”
“Is everyone okay? It’s not the children is it?”
“The children are fine. We have a visitor.”
“Who?”
“Just get home as soon as you can.” With that he hung up the phone.
“What is going on?” Olivia asked aloud.
As she pulled past the gate she noticed Anton’s Lamborghini parked in front. What in heaven’s name is Anton doing here? Something has to have happened for him to come here. Maybe it’s the business! What if Gino has lost his money and that’s why all the credit cards were declined? This can’t
be happening!
Olivia parked and rushed inside. She found Gino and Anton in the study. Anton was casually inspecting Gino’s collection of classic car replicas near the window. Gino was going over some paperwork. He looked up and saw Olivia standing at the door.
“Olivia, come in and have a seat.”
Anton glanced over his shoulder at her. She tried to read in his eyes an answer to what she feared. There was none. He took a seat next to her in front of Gino’s desk.
“All right Gino. Are you ready to tell me what’s going on and why you’ve called me here?”
Gino tossed his glasses on the desk and leaned back in the chair.
“I’ve called you here to let you know Valente Construction will soon be no more; at least in its present state.”
“Oh God,” Olivia moaned. Her worst fear had been realized. What am I going to do now? I can’t go back to being poor. I just can’t!
“What the hell are you talking about?” Anton barked.
“I’m dissolving our partnership.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Watch me,” Gino replied in a measured tone.
“I’ve already got things in the works to begin a brand new company in Georgia. I’ll be relocating there in the coming months.”
“Georgia?” asked Olivia. “Gino, I don’t want to move to Georgia of all places.”
“And you won’t have to. Because you see, I’m dissolving my partnership with you as well.”
Olivia was too taken aback to even respond.
“I’ve already had papers drawn up to begin divorce proceedings.”
For a minute or so no one said anything. Anton studied his brother and soon he had it all figured out.
“You know, don’t you?” Anton asked.
Gino turned his gaze from Olivia to his brother.
“Yes, I know.”
“Know what?” Olivia directed her question to Anton.
“About us,” he stated matter-of-factly.
Gino removed some photographs from beneath the pile of paperwork and slid them across the desk toward Olivia. With trembling hands she took them. After quickly shuffling through them she let the photos fall to the floor and she covered her face with both hands.
“I can understand you wanting a divorce,” began Anton. “But to leave the company our father worked so hard to build? You can’t be serious.”
“Oh but I am. I’m more than well aware of the fact that I’m leaving our father’s company. The only reason I’ve even been able to co-exist with you all these years is because I know it’s what our parents would have wanted. But there is no way in hell I’d come to work and look into your face knowing you’ve been screwing my wife!”
“Do you know what your leaving will do?”
“Not my problem.”
“You selfish son of a bitch!”
Gino leaped from his chair. “You have the nerve to call me selfish?! You weren’t thinking about this company or me when you had your cock up my wife’s ass!”
Now it was Anton’s turn to leap from his chair.
“And that’s all she was to me—a piece of ass! She’s certainly not worth throwing away our family’s legacy! I wonder what our parents would think about their favored son now!”
“You’re lucky I don’t take you out right now.”
“You don’t have the balls, big brother.”
Gino, with the dexterity of a man half his age, leaped up and across the desk, grabbed Anton by the lapels. They fell backward on the floor and Gino began pummeling his brother. Olivia got out of her chair and tried to pull Gino off of Anton.
Gino reached around with one hand and, with a mighty push, Olivia fell back toward the desk where she slid to the floor. While Gino was distracted with Olivia, Anton managed to land a blow to Gino’s jaw. Gino in turn rained even more ferocious hits on his brother. He stopped only when he heard a tiny voice calling him from the doorway.
He saw it was Sofia.
“Father, why you hitting that man?”
Gino wiped his hand that was smeared with blood from Anton’s nose, on his slacks. He went over to Sofia and picked her up.
“It’s okay, honey. We were just wrestling.”
At that moment Mrs. Hopkins arrived. She looked at Olivia sitting dazed on the floor and then at the gentleman laid out and bloodied opposite her.
“Mr. Valente. I’m so sorry. Lourdes put paint all over the wall of the playroom and when I was cleaning it, Sofia slipped away.”
He planted a kiss on Sofia’s cheek and handed her to Mrs. Hopkins. “Just please get her out of here.”
“Yes, sir.”
After Mrs. Hopkins left with Sofia, Gino went over to his brother.
“For as long as I can remember you’ve whined about how Mom and Dad loved me more. You really need to put this stupid, petty, sibling rivalry bullshit to rest. But I tell you one thing. If our parents did love me more than they did you, it’s because you’ve never in all your miserable life thought of anyone else but yourself. So now I hope you feel you’ve exerted your spiteful revenge on me for being the so-called favored son by sleeping with my wife. As far as I’m concerned, you may as well be buried with our parents. Now get out of my house!”
Anton strained to get himself up and when he did stumbled to the doorway and out of the room. Gino went to the credenza and poured a glass of sherry. He drank it in one gulp and poured another glass.
“Gino…”
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. You’re a deceitful bitch and I can’t wait until you’re out of my life, too. I should’ve listened to Betty. By the way, I’m getting custody of the kids.”
Those words brought her out of her stupor. She sprung to her feet to face Gino whose back was still to her.
“You’re going to take my kids from me? You can’t do that!”
“I’m so weary of you and my brother saying what I can’t do. It’s already done. I’ve already compiled my arsenal in case you want to fight me. I have statements from the hospital staff about how you showed no interest in our babies. I have evidence of you leaving them a mere two weeks after their births to unwind in a Palm Springs resort. Of course my staff here will be more than willing to testify about how your stunts put you in contention for Worst Mother of the Year. On top of that you don’t have the money or clout that I do. It’s a battle you are in no shape to fight much less win.”
“At least let me have Lourdes,” she pleaded in a desperate whisper. “She’s not even your flesh and blood, Gino. Please don’t take her away from me. Please! I beg you!”
Gino turned around. Gone from his eyes was anger. Instead it was replaced by morose.
“Any other mother standing where you are would plead for all her children but you only want one. I’ve seen from the time they were born you didn’t have the love for the twins like you did Lourdes. Still, somewhere inside I hoped I was wrong. You know, even if my parents did care little bit more for me than my brother, they would fight equally hard for both of us. But you...Never mind, I won’t waste my breath. Despite everything that you’ve done and all that’s transpired, it would be nice if you showed an iota of devotion for the children you had with me.”
Chapter 41
As Olivia drove to Anton’s, she thought over the events of the past twenty-four hours. She was certain Gino would give her custody of Lourdes. He didn’t outright say it but she felt assured he’d do the right thing. One conclusion she came to was that Gino’s investigation was aimed only at finding out about her affair. He didn’t mention anything about knowing her identity was false so she felt safe knowing that was still under wraps. There was no reason for Anton to tell Gino anything at this point. When she arrived at Anton’s she hoped it would show him she still wanted to be with him and she wasn’t only seeing him because of what he knew about her. She also needed to make him see she would be a good partner for him—a good wife. Anton always said he wasn’t interested in settling down but she would wor
k to convince him marry her. There was not a chance that Gino would ever reconcile with her and if she couldn’t be Mrs. Gino Valente, she needed to become Mrs. Anton Valente. She didn’t want to lose the status that being attached to that name brought.
Olivia exited the car and walked to Anton’s door and knocked. A minute later he opened the door. Most of his face was covered with bruises.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to see you, obviously.”
He walked away from the door and sat down on the couch. Olivia entered, closing the door behind her. She took a place beside him. She reached out brush aside a stray hair from above his brow. He jerked away from her touch.
“Would you like for me to prepare something to eat for you?”
“What could you possibly prepare? You only know how to be waited on hand and foot.”
“I could make you a sandwich. Would you like that?”
“No.”
“Why are you being so cold?”
“Better question—what are you doing here?”
“You’ve already asked me that. I wanted to be with you. Now that everything is out in the open, we don’t have to hide our relationship anymore.”
He looked at her and a slow smile spread across his face. She returned his smile. He took her hand in his, brought it to his lips to kiss it. She found the sweet gesture touching.
“Take off your clothes.”
She found herself getting aroused at the sound of his words. She got up and stood before him. She stepped out of her heels and kicked them to the side. With slow seduction, she took off each piece of clothing and undergarment until she was naked. He took in her body from head to toe.
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