Allie Chapter 34

Allie (Chapter 34) Bare

Chapter 34

 

            Jasmine knew her marriage was probably over and beyond repair. She’d been gone around 8 weeks or so and was ready to get back home. Her mother and sister kept an eye on her husband for a couple weeks for her. They said he was on his best behavior and that his little nanny was well behaved. So maybe she did have a chance? Her time away made her realize where she needed to be so here she was. It was late, after midnight so it was Jose’s 32^nd birthday. The house was dark and silent but it was a good sign he didn’t change the locks or the alarm codes. Or he just never expected her to come back. It had been weeks since she spoke to him, his last few messages were pretty nasty. He was right she was a terrible mother and an even worse wife.

            Everything was going to change now, it had to. Jose had been devoted to her for a long time and she hurt him over and over again. He was never the problem, it was always her. Because she was both immature and insecure she made a mess of her life. Her son was now being raised by a nanny, that wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to be the wife and mother her guys needed. And she was confident that she could do that now. It wouldn’t be easy to get Jose to trust her again but it wasn’t impossible.

            Everything looked the way she’d left it, which was good. First she went in to check on her son, he was asleep in his bed. Looking at him brought tears to her eyes, how could she have left him? Joseph was bigger than when she left and looked a little different. Babies did tend to grow fast and change often. Still he looked just like his father. Slowly she headed to her bedroom, she was nervous. It was ridiculous for her to be nervous; Jose loved her and always would. Her hand was on the doorknob and she heard something. Sort of a growling moaning type sound, it was something familiar.

            When she opened the door she stood there in shock a moment. Jose was in the bed completely naked with some chick giving him a blow job. His hand was in her hair and he looked down at her with something that wasn’t just lust. A little screwing around she could handle because his heart was hers. If she was honest with herself she could admit she sort of expected him to cheat on her. Jose was a man with an outrageous sexually appetite and she was supposed to be with him. But it wasn’t just lust for who she assumed was the nanny. He looked up and stared at Jasmine for a few long moments. The shock of this had her just standing there staring into his eyes.

            “F**k,” he hissed as he came in the mouth of his lover. The whole time Jasmine stood there arms crossed watching him. His little lover sat there swallowing like a pro and was completely oblivious. Which was proven when she climbed up Jose’s body and was about to kiss him. “Linds, we have company.”

            “Oh,” the girl said and turned to look at Jasmine. And she had the nerve to smile like she won something. “Guess I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight,” she said getting up. “I’ll go look in on Joseph and see you in the morning.” She slipped on a little robe then leaned in to kiss him.

            “Go pack up your s**t and get the hell out of my house,” Jasmine told her.

            “Do you live here?” The girl asked on her way out, this was ridiculous.

            “You have nothing to say?” Jasmine asked her husband who was still lying on the bed naked.

            “Not really, you left we moved on,” he said simply.

            “Jose you are f*****g the nanny, that’s not moving on for you it’s like moving backwards,” she said he laughed.

            “No moving backwards would be if I was with Holly. Have you spoken to your sister lately?” He asked, there was this evil sort of look in his eyes like he hated her.

            “I know you didn’t have sex with my sister and yes I spoke with her,” she sighed and sat on the edge of the bed.

            “Why are you here?” He asked, his voice was what told her how he really felt.

            “This is my house you are my husband so yeah that’s why I’m here,” she replied. “Oh Happy f*****g Birthday.”

            “How sweet you remembered,” he said. “I don’t know if this is your house anymore. Despite what it may look like I waited for you, again. I’m always waiting for you so I stopped when you decided you couldn’t even call to check on your son. You don’t have to love me or stay with me but he doesn’t deserve it. Good thing he’s too young to understand any of this.”

            “J, you’re right and I am truly sorry. I knew it was wrong after I told you and I should have stayed. What I thought was that staying would make it worse. And I stopped calling you because I felt guilty and it wasn’t helping anything. You don’t have to believe me now but I will make this right and we can fix this. We have loved each other for a long time and that’s just not going to go away,” she said. 

            “So you expect things to go back to the way it was? You said you felt trapped and you didn’t want to be here. I’m tired Jas, I tried so hard but it never works. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be,” he said. Finally he sat up, no longer trying to make the ‘I don’t care’ statement. “I’m sorry about Lindsay, it definitely wasn’t my intention.”

            “We are meant to be and I was a mess but it was just me,” she said.

            “It’s like you blame me for getting you pregnant and all the s**t you did after. You have always known you could come to me about anything. The more I think about it the more it hurts that you wouldn’t think I would want our son. All I did while you were gone was think and think and try to make any of this make sense. We got married because you said you were ready. I knew we shouldn’t have gotten married but I wasn’t going to let you take my son away. And don’t deny that you are that spiteful, I know you, remember? Or I knew who you were, now you are a stranger to me,” he told her.

            “I’m sorry,” she whispered there were tears in her eyes. “I needed some time Jose, how could I be your wife if I couldn’t even figure myself out? Already I failed at being a mother, starting with you and then I was jealous of him. Do you know where I spent the majority of my time away? After I stopped calling to you everyday?”

            “Yeah I do,” he said with a tinge of anger. The calmer the Capriani the more they were truly pissed off. That she learned a long time ago.

            “And you still kept doing the nanny?” She wanted to just forget the nanny and pretend that little skank didn’t exist. But it did hurt even if she knew the reasons behind it and accepted that she pushed her husband to another woman.

            “At first I didn’t want to know what you were doing but Nick showed me. It was the first week I was with Lindsay, it helped me choose. I felt guilty for being with her and you wanted to go party and hang around in clubs. Why was I feeling guilty when you were out getting drunk and hooking up with other men? Then you decide to check yourself into a clinic for your supposed emotion stress or what the f**k ever. You send your b***h mother here to spy on me and I played nice. I love you and I have probably since I met you. There is no love worth this Jasmine,” he paused. “I like Lindsay, I’m not in love with her and I don’t want to marry anybody. That is the truth, she and I have gotten close, and that was before we had sex. With her I got to have a peaceful home and a happy family for my son.”

            “I didn’t do more than kissing,” she admitted.

            “What do you want from me?” He asked staring at her.

            “I want my family back, I want you and Joseph. We can work past this,” she pleaded. If he was just having sex it meant nothing but he was falling for that girl.

            “If I had thought you might come back I never would have been with her. The fact is Jas, I can’t play your games anymore,” he sighed. “Luis sent me over the papers for our divorce. If you want to see Joseph we can work that out.”

            “No, we are not getting divorced,” she protested.

            “I’m tired,” he said again. He got up and went to the dresser and put shorts on. “Take the bed tonight; the sheets are clean actually so you know. I’m going for a drive and then I’ll sleep in another room.”

            “Jose,” she started but he put his had up.

            “Can you just do me this last favor, please? You don’t have to stay in here or in the house but I’m done for tonight,” he said.

            “Ok,” she nodded. “I love you.”

            “Yeah,” he said as he headed out the door.

            This was it; her husband replaced her with a girl that was at least 10 years younger than her. How could he fall for someone else? Jose never loved women he had sex with, only her. Now she lost him, she never saw this coming. Jose was hurt and vulnerable and the nanny skipped in to take care of him. There were hushed voices in the hallways so she peeked out to see them together. Nanny Lindsay was telling him that it wasn’t fair what Jasmine was doing. That was agreeable, but it meant nothing. Jose was standing there with her arms wrapped around his waist and her face against his chest and he was holding her. She asked if he wanted her to come with him but he told her to stay with Joseph. They kissed and he left. It was ten times worse than she ever thought it would be.

            “Are you happy with yourself?” Lindsay asked turning to stare at her. “Do you have any idea what you put him through? He loves you and you just continuously hurt him. Leave him alone, I can take care of him and Joseph. It’s what I’ve been doing since you left. Sign the divorce papers take your money and leave.”

            “No, little girl you can get out of my house and stay away from my husband and son. Like you said Jose loves me and he always has, he doesn’t love you,” Jasmine replied.

            “I never said he loved me, he doesn’t yet but he will. Notice he didn’t tell me to get out of his house. When he comes back he won’t be getting in bed with you,” Lindsay said. “Goodnight.” She turned and headed back down the hall to her bedroom.

            Jasmine was definitely in trouble, she had to fix this. If Jose divorced her than this little girl would be raising her son. Jose was clearly seduced even if he didn’t know it, she did. He was alone hurt and Lindsay plotted to get him, it was obvious. She got him use to having a woman around again to do whatever he needed and she waited for the perfect opportunity to get into his bed. Too bad for Lindsay that Jasmine was not going to give up without a fight. This was her husband even if he was a little upset with her right now. All these years of love counted for something. He was usually chasing her, now their roles were reversed. Lindsay or not she was going to get him back.

 

            Jose spent the night driving around aimlessly. Why did Jasmine have to show up now? And why did he care so much? It was easier to rationalize his life and put it into perspective without her. Something about her always dulled his senses and common sense. With Lindsay things were simple, they flowed naturally. Jasmine was easy nothing went right and it was a constant battle. So the obvious choice was Lindsay, so why couldn’t he choose? He could have told Jasmine to go to hell and get out of his house. And he had the power to keep Joseph away from her. But that wasn’t what he wanted. God help him, he still loved her.

            Before the sun came up he came back home and slept on the couch. Going upstairs he would be tempted to get in bed with one of them. Which, he had no idea and didn’t want to think further into it. Sleep was going to be his friend because he was tempted to drink. He only stopped himself because he needed to have a clear mind. Some birthday this was turning out to be. It was only going to get worse and he knew it. Sleep came on quick and easy because he was exhausted. Later he could have a huge fight with both women. His birthday just marked another year of endless drama and like his brother he didn’t really celebrate it.

            The first conscious thought he had was that someone was cooking. So he opened his eyes and saw from the clock that he hadn’t been sleeping very long. Still exhausted he got up and stumbled into the kitchen. Of course it was Lindsay there cooking and singing with Joseph in his high chair. Sometimes listening to her sing was mesmerizing for both Jose and Joseph. That was the effect Lindsay had on them and he was afraid he was starting to care a little too much. Joseph was sitting in his high chair smiling and eating cut up bananas. Lindsay stopped what she was doing when she saw him and smiled.

            “Honey, did I wake you up?” She asked looking at him with that look she often had. How any man could ever turn her down for anything, he didn’t know. 

            “No, I love when you sing,” he said. He went over to kiss her; it was almost like a normal day.

            “Even though last night wasn’t great I thought you might like a nice breakfast,” she said. “We could still celebrate your birthday, just the three of us.”

            “Is she still here?” He asked and she stopped smiling.

            “Yeah, sleeping in like she’s still on vacation. While I’m making your breakfast and taking care of our boy,” she said.

            “I told you I have to work things out with her before anything permanent can happen with you,” he said.

            “Jose, I don’t play games so just be straight with me. If you want to go back to her because you love her, I get that. Ultimately it’s your decision no matter what either of us says or does. I know you love her and you don’t love me, I’m not stupid. Just tell me if I should be packing my stuff to leave,” she said.

            Lindsay was just 21 and she was way more mature than Jasmine was. When he was with here these last few weeks he was happy and at ease. Nothing was ever easy with Jasmine. He pulled Lindsay to him and kissed her, showing her he meant it. This was best for him, his son and his sanity. Lindsay was the obvious choice and he needed to have something that just made him happy. Jasmine stopped making him happy a long time ago. Still he tried and resigned himself to a life with Jasmine even though it would have been miserable. It had been for his son. Joseph came first and living in a house with parents that didn’t get along wasn’t good. Which he knew from experience, at one point his parents hated each other.

            “I’m not playing any games that is her thing. You and I are good together and you are good for my son. That’s what is important to me,” he told her. He held her close and kissed her again, decision made.

            “Maybe I should take Joseph grocery shopping with me and you can have time to get her to sign the papers. I mean I don’t expect you to want to marry me right now but I’d rather be with a man that isn’t married,” she said.

            “No, stay here I don’t trust myself to be alone with her,” he said.

            “Alright, go sit and I’ll bring your breakfast,” she said.

            Of course since it was his birthday she made him strawberry and banana French toast. Sitting eating at the table with Lindsay and Joseph was what felt right. Lindsay was feeding Joseph and it was all so perfect. No drama just peace and love. Joseph loved Lindsay and soon Jose would too. He watched her loving his son and making him smile, it made him feel things. Before he said he didn’t want to marry Lindsay, he just wanted to keep her around. Now he wasn’t so sure, if he could describe the perfect wife it would be her. In the past he never talked to women and had friendships with them. With Lindsay it was different, he could tell her anything. Even if it was about Jasmine and she didn’t get jealous.

Nowadays everything made Jasmine jealous and she use to be someone he could talk to. But she hadn’t been that person in a very long time. Lindsay was everything he wanted and needed. As long as he didn’t have sex with Jasmine he was safe. When she seduced him she could literally get anything she wanted. It was funny that Lindsay didn’t have to do that at all. Yes he had been physically attracted to her since she moved in but she didn’t have to do anything. He tried to resist and she gave him every opportunity to turn her down, but he couldn’t. When he never thought he could love a woman that wasn’t Jasmine, Lindsay came into his life.

 

 

            Wildflower was lying in bed at the hotel after she’d had a nice long bath. Today already she volunteered and went to marriage counseling with her husband. Now she was just resting a little while before this stupid party she was being forced to go to. Kati was coming over soon with her hair and make-up people. This charity event was at this hotel, conveniently. So she was relaxing and spending the night here. Last week she spent with Ivan at her beach house. She needed time to process the things her husband had done. Since Allie was desperate to see her on Friday her and Nicolas came out.

            It took a lot of talking for her to agree to come home. Knowing he was capable of anything hadn’t bothered her until it was right in her face. Part of her wished that he had lied and convinced her that it was all a coincidence. On one hand it was good that he was so honest with her. But sometimes she wished that she was ignorant to a lot of things. When they got back they started marriage counseling again. They’d gone twice this week but she wasn’t sure she wanted to go again. You couldn’t really tell someone that your husband’s family was full of psychos and murderers. And that he was the one they were afraid of. Sometimes she could understand why that was. But she truly believed that he would never hurt her.

            “Can we talk about something?” Nicolas asked her when he came in the room.

            “Sure,” she replied. Slowly he came over to the bed and sat down.

            “Did you have sex with Eric?” He asked and she knew he would eventually.

            “I told you we just slept together,” she said. “I’m pregnant and married why would I have sex with somebody other than you?”

            “Because you were mad at me and it seems like every time we fight you end up alone with him. I’m not saying that you would do something like that intentionally but sometimes things happen. And there’s the small fact that he’s in love with you,” he said calmly. The fact that Eric was still alive after she told him she spent the night with him was amazing.

            “He isn’t in love with me, ok? Nothing happened I was just upset and I didn’t need all of my brothers knowing this. Just because I had sex with somebody doesn’t mean it has to mean anything. I hadn’t been with anybody a long time before you and I met you. Eric is a friend and that is it, I would never cheat on you. I was honest with you about it and it was stupid but I just wanted to feel better,” she paused. “I wanted something that had nothing to with you. My family is your family too so I wanted someone you don’t know and can’t influence. I have never lied to you Nick so I have no intention of starting.”

            “Ok,” he nodded. But it looked like there was more he wanted to say. Instead he laid down with his head beside her stomach to kiss it. “I’m sorry for all of this.”

            “I know, but you can’t do these things Nick. It’s not ok and I can’t keep fighting with you. Sometimes I don’t know if we should be together,” she said. That thought had been troubling her constantly lately.

            “No, I just need to remember how normal human beings behave,” he replied. His hand rubbed her belly and Iago decided to kick at him. Their son seemed to always know when his daddy was near.

            “When you do these things I feel guilty like I’m the cause of bad things happening to other people,” she admitted.

            “How could you have known? I only told Jose and I don’t think even you could bully it out of him. I’ve gotten use to living on the dark side and yes I do a lot of things out of anger and I need revenge. It was wrong but I hated to see you hurt or hurting and Owen deserved much worse. Work with me on this, because the lines have been blurred for a long time now,” he said.

            “If you think it’s something you would have to lie to me about then don’t do it.”

            “I don’t lie to you, but I get what you’re saying. Just help me; you know my family has no moral compass whatsoever. I need you to help me get back to the person I once was.”

            When Nicolas and Allie showed up at the beach house he said it was mostly for her. Allie freaked out whenever she was concerned about them getting a divorce. Apparently she’d just been acting crazier and crazier as the week went on. So half the week Allie wasn’t in school and Nicolas couldn’t work. She felt bad that Allie was having so much trouble and it was part of the reason she gave in. Having a daughter with as many problems as Allie did was hard. Allie was so dependent on them being a family that it was sort of an obsession. They’d already known how bad she was and how bad she could get before deciding to adopt her. Sometimes it was really hard because Wildflower had to deal with so much already from her husband. She loved Allie and didn’t regret the decision to keep her, but it was difficult at times.

            Now she had to teach her husband right and wrong and morality? That was ridiculous for so many reasons but also sad. It was also better than letting him go around doing whatever he wanted that hurt other people. Owen had hurt her and terrorized her but she wasn’t a violent person. So the violence was a lot for her, hadn’t she freaked out after shooting him? Even though she could understand why and part how his mind worked, it was a lot. The Mindy thing had already been bad enough, what he’d done was truly awful. Even if she’d wished that stripper and her bad would go away, she didn’t want it like this. Children weren’t responsible for their mother’s actions. That child would never be born and would never have a chance at a life. All because his or her mother was stupid w***e who picked the wrong man to mess with.

            Actions of parents shaped the lives of their children. Her life would have been different if her father hadn’t died. Or if her mother could have been responsible. Just like if Katrina ever put her children first everything would have been different. She prayed to God that her son would never have the same problem. Even before he was born he was her number one priority and always would be. Laying here with her husband rubbing her belly she knew that he would always put their children first.

            “Ivan thinks that you could get violent with me one day,” she told him. That made him look up at her and he stared for several minutes.

            “Do you think I would hurt you?” He asked and she shook her head. “I don’t want you or your family or anybody thinking something like that. You are my life; I never want to hurt you in anyway. Sometimes I do things and don’t think because what I did use to not affect anyone. Now I have to remember I have a family and you are what’s important.”

            “I told Ivan you would never be violent with me or the baby or the kids. It’s kind of like when you find these things out its hard to process. And it’s like sometimes you’re like a different person. I’m not afraid of you Nicolas, but you do scare me. Not all of the time but you have your moments. Then I also worry that all these things you’ve done are going to come back on us. You aren’t alone anymore so whatever you do or whatever happens it affects everybody.”

            “You’re right and I will work on that.”

            “Ok last question and we are forgetting this whole mess,” she paused. “Does she know what you did to her?”

            For a long time he was silent. It was her fear that stripper Mindy would retaliate. Hadn’t they just gone through that? It seemed like crazy people were drawn to them and those people turned out to be dangerous. So far the stripper was only dangerous to Nicolas’ reputation and their marriage. But was she going to be getting crazy? This was the man she tried to scam that now caused her to have a miscarriage. The fact that he did something like that disgusted Wildflower completely. That would absolutely never be ok but she wasn’t dwelling on it. If she did or thought about it too much or if anybody else knew, she couldn’t handle it.

Her family definitely knew about the Owen thing and her brothers obviously didn’t care. Since of course they wanted to kill him anyway. Only Ivan really knew about this, she couldn’t tell anybody else, not even Brooke. Her family would never let her stay with him; Ivan sure didn’t want to know. But he was keeping it to himself because she asked him to. Everybody knew she had a fight with Nicolas obviously since she left, but they only knew half. Of course she was open about not liking the violence, so yeah they knew. Brooke definitely suspected that there was more, thankfully she didn’t push for once. And of course Ricky knew something else happened but he would respect her decision not to divulge information.

“Not to my knowledge it was a very discreet thing. As far as I know the drug is undetectable,” he said. “I’m not proud of what I did, it was wrong and I know that. And it’s not an excuse but sometimes the need to get revenge is very strong. You know me I do things out of anger and don’t really think them through. I’m already going to Hell I’m just adding to reasons for eternal punishment.”

“Why is it that you and Jose say things like that so seriously?” She asked, she’d heard them say things like that before.

“Because it’s what we accept and expect to happen when we die. I don’t think I should be forgiven for a lot of things,” he said seriously. “This is why I don’t deserve to have someone like you. Your first instinct would never be to cause someone else pain. You are too good for that and you were raised right. My grandparents tried so hard but you know my parents they are just toxic people. They infected us and I lost sense of right and wrong a long time ago. Not just because of them or because my oldest brother is a psycho and a borderline serial killer, it’s a lot of things. From my observations people can be so hurtful and generally evil. I’ve never really chosen much in my life before I met you. Mostly I did what I was told.”

“I guess now I kind of get why you say that,” she said. This gave her a lot to think about. But there was a knock at the door, which meant Kati had arrived.

“I’ll leave you to get ready,” he said. He kissed her stomach again then kissed her lips and went to the door. This was her husband who could love so completely but also hurt people. Like Ricky said she chose to get married and had to deal with the consequences.

 

 

Jasmine slept in because she was completely exhausted. Last night was very draining and she needed to rest up to win her husband back. It was some time in the afternoon so after a quick shower she got dressed and headed downstairs. She had to figure out a strategy for this situation. Her husband was falling in love with another woman and so was her son. An idea came to her so she detoured into Jose’s office. Didn’t all Caprianis do extensive background checks into people who came into their lives? That OCD trait could come in handy; she would use that to her advantage.

She headed towards the kitchen because she heard voices. Jose was in there talking to Nicolas. Lindsay was out in the pool with Joseph. Of course the little tramp would be running around in a bikini. The men stopped speaking when she came in but she had her head held high. This was her house so she had a right to be here. And this was her family not the little w***e nanny’s.

“Nice to see you Jasmine,” Nicolas said sarcastically.

“You too,” she replied. She went to the refrigerator like everything was perfectly normal. Meanwhile she was going to war with a 21 year old for her husband and child. The fact that she was 15 years older wasn’t going to bother her.

“Well I have to get back to the hotel to get ready,” Nicolas said getting up. “Good luck, brother.” He left then shaking his head.

“Did you sleep well?” Jose asked, this was a little awkward.

“Not as well as I would have with you,” she replied.

“Jasmine I need you to sign the divorce papers,” he said.

“No, why can’t we work on this? We can go to couples therapy or whatever, anything. I love you and you love me and we have a child together,” she paused. “Don’t you owe it to Joseph to at least try?”

“Did you really just say that? All I’ve done is try with you and give you chance after chance. I can’t believe I’m saying this but my mother was right about you. Love isn’t a good enough reason for me to continue to torture myself. Maybe we could have been happy if you didn’t play games and if you behaved like an adult. I like to have fun and I know I’m not always responsible. But since you told me about Joseph and came back into my life I was devoted to you. Did I care about my own happiness, nope. What was important was taking responsibility for my actions.

“I did everything I could to make you happy. All you’ve done is push me away like always, so I’m done. The jealousy and paranoia and just plain craziness is too much. If you want to see our son I wouldn’t keep him away from you. Unlike you I’m not that spiteful or selfish. You wanted to find yourself Jasmine; instead you’re finding yourself without a family. Why should I be miserable? Since you’ve been gone I’ve been happy with less stress. I don’t want to be with you anymore,” he told her.

That was pretty straightforward and honest. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. But it didn’t mean she was going to give up. How could she? This man was the love of her life and father of her child. If she was going to go down she was going to fight hard. Nobody was going to take them from her. Yes, she completely screwed up, but it wasn’t the end. This could not be the end. So what did she do? She kissed him; sex was always away to control Jose. There was never a time when he could resist her and right now wasn’t hardly the time. It was a temporary fix or delay, but it was something.  She wasn’t 21 but she knew him and what he liked. Pathetic though this was, she had to do something.

 

 

Nicolas watched his wife working the room with Kati and Tara. She was beautiful and looked like she belonged here. People chatted her up and touched her belly and she smiled. It was an honest to God miracle that they were still together right now. For awhile he wasn’t sure if he could get her back. Then there was Allie who nearly had another breakdown. Because of how it affected his family he regretted what he did. Well just a little, he didn’t want to stress anybody unnecessarily. And he really didn’t ever want his wife afraid of him. The rest of the world could be, but not her. He also couldn’t have her brothers thinking he would physically hurt her.

Their talk earlier really made him think. Some things needed to change, he couldn’t lose her. Once again here was an opportunity to let her out of her obligation to be with him. It was what would be best for her and their children. Well one of them anyway, Allie would never get over it if they weren’t together. It was together that they accepted the huge responsibility that was Allie. So together they still had to figure out what to do with the girl. All of last week Allie slept with him because she was very upset and a little crazed. It would take time to get this girl better and she needed the support of her family.

These days Nicolas fully grasped the importance of family. Now that he had his own little family he was responsible for he had to make changes. Everything he did would affect them in some way. And he couldn’t take it if something else happened to his wife or any of the kids. He may not have wanted them all in his house but they were his responsibility. Sometime in the last year he went from preferring to be alone to not hating his house full of people. It all reminded him of being young and his grandparents taking over the parenting his parents were inept at. There was a lot to lose now, so he had to tread carefully.

The stripper did deserve to be punished for her stupidity but maybe he went too far. Though if you really thought about it what child deserved a mother like that? A mother that only wanted you for what she could use you for. That wasn’t ok and too many people did things like that. Nobody messed with him and got away with it. Did Owen truly think taking a deal to plead guilty instead of a trial would save him? There was no place on Earth safe from Nicolas. Like if he wanted to find the Mandrakes he could and it probably wouldn’t be hard. But he figured they suffered enough from his brother. Death was better than being left with Delanoz when he was in those psychotic moods.

This whole situation gave him a lot to think about and he would proceed accordingly. Sadly this wasn’t even the worse thing he’d ever done. But it was the first time he truly regretted it. Only because of how it affected his family, his wife especially, otherwise he wouldn’t care. Maybe he needed therapy to undo whatever was wrong with him. The counseling he went to with his wife didn’t really help too much. Yes, they needed to communicate better and he needed to learn boundaries and how normal people behaved. They needed to work on getting alone time and adjust to being together. He was so happy that she told him she didn’t want to go anymore.

People talked to him and he only have paid attention, he mostly just watched her. For some reason he felt like something was going to happen. It was just paranoia and they were just three months away from meeting their son. That had to be it, he was a worrier and the baby was coming soon. He was very anxious about the baby coming. What if someone wanted revenge against him and hurt his son for it? That was why he really needed to get a grip on this vengeance thing. Nobody would come near his child and live to tell about it. As those thoughts were in his head he saw Alejandro Moreno creeping towards Wildflower. That man would be lucky to live to the end of the year.

 

“Don’t look now but I’ve spotted your admirer,” Kati said.

“Oh God,” Wildflower shook her head.

“Only you would want to run from a man like that,” Tara said.

“Have you never met my husband? He like hates him and they do business together,” she sighed.

“Olá meu amor,” Alejandro said when he reached her.

“Mr. Moreno,” she replied.

“Call me Al,” he said. What man was really this interested in a pregnant woman? A married pregnant woman who had a husband with a very bad reputation. Apparently this man was completely crazy.

“Have you met Kati Capriani my cousin and my dear friend Tara Lowe?” She asked politely.

“No I do not believe I have had the pleasure,” he said smiling. He then turned to introduce himself to both women that smiled shamelessly at him like teenage girls.

Wildflower scanned over the room for her husband. Now was a good time to feign exhaustion and need to be taken to bed. It wouldn’t completely be untrue either; she was tired of pretending to care. This wasn’t her scene and she was tired of it. Fake people wanting to ask about her like they cared. And if another person touched her stomach she was going to scream. If it was her husband or her family it was ok, but not strangers. Especially not these gossipy people who just wanted to get into her business. At least so far nobody said anything about the stripper and that whole scandal. Kati chatted about her TV show and the movie she was starring in, still Alejandro watched Wildflower.

“Baile comigo,” Alejandro said in a commanding tone. Then he repeated it in English. “Dance with me.”

“No thanks,” she replied.

“Come,” he said taking her hand and leading her away. So as not to draw attention she didn’t fight. “Is this so horrible?”

“I’m tired, I had a long day,” she said.

“I was in New York and ran into your sister-in-law, she had some ideas. Modele comigo,” he said.

“You are out of your mind, besides I am no model.”

“Once you have the little one you can leave him home with his daddy. Then we can have some fun,” he whispered in her ear in Portuguese. “I can make you forget you are married.”

“There is no way in Hell I would ever be with you,” she replied in the same language. He laughed, she just walked away.

Before she could get to either her friends or her husband she ran into one of Nicolas’ aunts. Lusa, she was polite and invited her over to lunch on Friday. The way she said it made it a little clear that ‘no’ wasn’t an option, so she agreed. Then thankfully Nicolas found her and offered to take her upstairs. All she really wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep. It really had been a long day and she was drained.

 

Friday after taking Allie to an appointment with her psychiatrist to discussion medication, Wildflower was headed to Aunt Lusa’s house. Instead of taking Allie to school she just went with her. That way at least she had someone there with her. She didn’t really know the aunts that well. They seemed a lot nicer than their children though. Nicolas said that they were definitely not like his mother and this was a good thing. He also warned that it was possible that the other aunts would be there too. So she and Allie started on the 2 hour drive to Aunt Lusa’s house. Since she didn’t feel like driving they took Allie’s car.

It was after they stopped at Starbucks to get drinks for the trip, that she noticed something odd. There was a truck that seemed to be following them. Maybe being around Nicolas’ paranoia so long was making her paranoid too. Or he had someone following them, that was so him. Something just felt wrong about this whole thing. Then she saw the driver and he looked familiar. Where had she seen him before? When it came to her she was panicking. How could she forget she’d seen this man on one of the worse days of her life? Suddenly the aunts were the last thing she was thinking about.

“Allie, I think we should go home,” she said.

“They aren’t that bad,” Allie replied.

“It’s not because of them, we are being followed,” she told her.

“Um what, by who?” Allie asked looking in the rearview mirror.

“The stripper’s brother,” she explained. “I have a really bad feeling about this, we need to get home.”

“Alright,” Allie nodded. This was one of those times when she needed Allie to stay tuned into reality. There was no good reason for this man to be anywhere near them.

“I’m calling Nick,” she said digging around for her phone.

They were on a bit of a secluded road with just trees around and no houses. Stupid GPS with its shortcuts, her sense of dread kept growing. Before she could make the call he hit the back of the car. Allie looked at her panicked and the stupid cell phone fell on the floor. And nobody was around, he hit me again. The third time was the worst of them and the last thing she really remembered. Other than being shaken up and turning upside down and Allie’s screaming.

Reviews

[deeps]

This is amazing chapter here. I like this so full of vivid imagery and such wonderfl detail. A very well written write.