Deceptive (Deceptive Series Book 1) Read online

  My stomach started turning. I probably had a concussion. “I don’t feel so good. Can we please go home now?” I could see Dante nod out of the corner of my good eye.

  “What’s taking Roman so long?” Dante griped. “I will go get the car, stay here.”

  Roman busted through the door not too long after Dante took off. He headed straight for me making sure I was okay. Once I assured him I was indeed okay, he pulled Lucas and Emilio aside. He yelled at them for what seemed like forever. My head was pounding and my stomach was turning so bad I didn’t catch a word anyone was saying. The headlights of the car approaching sent my headache into overdrive. I tried to shield my eyes to stop the pounding, but it didn’t help. I don’t remember much after that.

  ***

  Blinding light woke me up the next morning. I reached down and pulled the covers over my head. It was still pounding, but my stomach felt better. I laid there trying to reimagine the events from last night. I don’t remember the ride back to the hotel, but I remember hearing the ding of the elevator and being woken up throughout the night.

  A few moments later, I heard a familiar noise. Was that snoring? I heard the soft snore again and my body tensed up. I would know that sound anywhere. Emilio. I hadn’t heard it in such a long time, but just like his voice, his touch, I could never forget it. What was he doing here? I slowly pulled down the covers and let my eyes adjust.

  I turned my head and saw the outline of his body sitting up in a chair beside my bed. It took my eyes a few seconds to focus, but his handsome face soon came into view. He looked so peaceful and his features were so soft. It had been a while since I had seen him so relaxed. I don’t know how long I laid there watching him sleep before Violet quietly entered the room.

  “Hey, you’re awake,” she whispered as she approached me and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Yeah.” I turned to look at her. “I’ve been awake for a while.” She touched my forehead softly. I flinched as the pain shot through my head.

  “Oops, sorry,” she said as she quickly pulled back her hand. I turned my attention back to Emilio. “He insisted he stay with you.” It didn’t surprise me. “He has been waking you up all night.”

  “I remember someone calling my name and shaking me awake, but I was pretty out of it.”

  “You were,” she kind of giggled. “That is why we will not hold anything you said against you.”

  “Do I even want to know?” I asked. Violet shook her head. I was going to take her word for it.

  “Do you want to see your face?” she asked. “It’s not bad,” she said as she helped me up.

  I felt very dizzy and almost lost my balance for a moment, but she steadied me and helped me into our bathroom. I didn’t immediately look at myself. I was scared of what I might see, but when I did get the courage to look in the mirror, it looked better than I expected. I had a small gash above my right eyebrow that Violet had gauze over. My right cheek was scratched up and the right side of my lip was busted. All in all it didn’t look bad. The worst looking part was the baseball sized knot protruding from my forehead.

  “I’m going to have a scar,” I pouted.

  “Battle wound,” Violet giggled. “You can look at it and think, damn, I had two men fighting over me when I got this one.” I shook my head at her.

  Emilio’s phone went off and he jumped to his feet. I could see him from the mirror in the bathroom. He looked at the bed and panic crossed his face.

  “We are in here,” Violet called out. He quickly turned to find us staring back at him through the mirror.

  “Good, you’re awake.” He cleared his throat. “That’s good.” I shied away from his glare for a moment, but then I turned to face him.

  “Violet said you stayed beside me all night,” I stated.

  “Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were okay. It was my fault.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.” He tried to speak again, but I cut him off. “It was an accident.” I didn’t want him to feel bad, although I knew he was still beating himself up about it. He usually let his temper get the best of him. I knew that. It was just the person he was and I accepted that. He was the one who couldn’t.

  The rest of the morning flew by quickly. Dante and Roman showed up shortly after Emilio woke up. Roman looked like death. Dante was as bright as ever. We had a plane to catch and Dante knew Violet was going to need help packing. We always took more home than what we came with.

  Violet stayed with me while I took a shower and got dressed. She insisted on fixing my hair and helping me put my make-up on. The make-up was a challenge, so it was nice to have her there to help. I personally think it was her excuse to get out of packing.

  Dante, Roman, and Emilio decided to pack for us. It had been a long time since I had seen all three of them together. They were always together back home until Emilio was sent to New York to work for my father. Dante and Roman didn’t talk about him around me anymore since Emilio and I parted ways, but I knew they missed him like crazy.

  The men were done packing and I was almost ready when Lucas called to check on me. It was so sweet of him. He apologized profusely and I told him, as I told Emilio, it was an accident. I told him I would call him once I got back to Toronto, and that on my next trip to New York, I definitely wanted to hang out again.

  “Okay ladies,” Dante said as he came back in to pick up my last suitcase, “it’s time to go. We packed up all your shit and are ready to roll.” Violet and I smiled at him. “By the way you’re welcome.”

  “Thank you!” we both yelled at him.

  I took one more look in the mirror. Violet had done a great job on my face. She was an expert with concealer. Most of my cuts were barely noticeable.

  “Are you doing alright?” Violet asked me as we stepped onto the elevator.

  “I’m good.” I smiled at her.

  “I meant with Emilio.”

  “Yeah, I’m good.” I nodded, convincingly.

  “Sure.” She smirked.

  “I am.” I cleared my throat. “I mean it’s weird. It’s easier to hate him when he isn’t around me you know.”

  “I can understand that.” She threw her arm around my shoulders. We both left it at that for now.

  The guys were waiting for us outside. They had already brought the car around and loaded it. Emilio was in the driver’s seat and Roman in the passenger. Dante was holding the door open for us. I let Violet slide into the middle and I took the door. Dante hurried over to the driver’s side and took the seat beside Violet.

  The traffic was horrible on the way to the airport. We tried listening to music to help pass the time, but any sound just made my head hurt even worse, so we all had to settle for silence. Emilio would glance at me in the rearview mirror every once in a while. I did my share of looking when I knew he was focused on the road. I wondered where that beautiful soul of a boy went after he turned into a man. My heart ached, because in all honesty, I missed him more than I was willing to admit.

  Emilio drove us right up to our gate. He didn’t turn the car off, which meant he wasn’t staying long. I don’t know why I expected him too. We gathered up our luggage and the men said their goodbyes. Violet and I made our way toward the door. I wanted to get back home as soon as possible.

  “Liliana!” Emilio’s voice came from behind me. I slowly turned and watched him jog up to me. “I’m really sorry,” he said apologetically.

  “I know you are,” I said placing my right hand on his arm.

  “It was so stupid. I lost my temper. I don’t know why I do that sometimes.” He paused for a second and shook his head in shame. “I’m an asshole and am beyond upset with myself.”

  “I told you it was a damn accident.”

  “It wasn’t an accident! It was a direct consequence to my actions.”

  I was starting to get upset with him. How many times did I have to tell him that it was just an accident?

  “What do you want me to say?” I started raising my voice. “Tha
t you always let your temper get the best of you. That I always end up hurt in some way or another, because you can’t get a grip! That this is one of the reasons we don’t work!” My heart started beating faster and my adrenaline was increasing. “Does that make you feel better?”

  “I’m an ass. I know that. I am so sorry Liliana. Will you ever forgive me?” he asked.

  I knew he was asking for forgiveness for more than just this accident. I nodded my head, but kept it down. I felt his hand press against my cheek, and he lifted my chin and looked into my eyes.

  “I love you Liliana,” he whispered as he kissed my bruised cheek.

  “I know you do,” I said backing up from him. Violet was standing a few feet away waiting for me. She wrapped her arms around my waist.

  Don’t look back.

  I knew he would be standing there watching us. I couldn’t stop myself. I turned and faced him.

  “La mia vita, il mio cuore,” ‘My life, my heart.’ I said loud enough for him to hear. He looked at me, shocked. I used to say it to him all the time. I turned and headed toward the doors.

  “Ti amo più della vito stessa,” ‘I love you more than life itself.’ He called back just as Violet and I reached them.

  I stopped in my tracks for a moment, but I didn’t turn around.

  “Come on, let’s go home,” Violet said as she tugged on my arm.

  Home sounded great, back where I belonged. I had everything I needed to start working on the projects my father had brought me to New York for. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to come back for a while, and if I did, the goal would be once again… avoid Emilio at all costs. I could do that. I took a deep breath and leaned in to Violet.

  “Let’s go home,” I replied.

  Chapter 5

  The next week was beyond busy. Violet and I had two homes, a restaurant, and a new club downtown to finish by the end of the week. We both spent the week bouncing back and forth from project to project making sure the painters, carpenters, and staff were getting their jobs done, so all we had to do was finalize everything. Plus between all of that, we had to make sure all the curtains, pillows, and decor were made and ready to roll and that the furniture was purchased and delivered.

  By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, we finalized everything and had very satisfied clients. That night Violet and I plopped on the couch, exhausted. We didn’t even care that it looked like a tornado had blown through our house. Since the plane landed, we literally had been home maybe a total of twenty hours in six days.

  “I’m so going to sleep in tomorrow morning, just to let you know,” Violet yawned. I was thinking the same thing.

  “I think we will be lucky if we make it to our rooms tonight,” I laughed. “It’s been one of those weeks.”

  We must have fallen asleep in the living room, because when my cell started ringing, we both jumped.

  “Lucas seriously calls at the worst times!” Violet griped. I picked up my phone thinking it was him too, but it wasn’t.

  “It’s not Lucas.” I grimaced. “It’s my father.” Violet even huffed over that herself.

  “Hello,” I said still half asleep.

  “Are you sleeping?”

  Really, that’s the first thing he asks?

  “Yes Papà,” I yawned. “Me and Vi worked almost a hundred hours this week and it’s only ten.”

  “Oh good, I expect to see the layouts for the new real estate at dinner tomorrow night.”

  “Okay, wait, what?” I was confused. “Papà I haven’t done them yet. I had four places I had to finish this week. I will have them for you by next week.”

  “That is unacceptable Liliana,” he firmly said. “You will have them to me tomorrow!” I didn’t even have time to answer back. He hung up the phone.

  “Damn it!” I threw my head back into the cushion, “that man irritates me!”

  “Yes, I know,” Violet mumbled. She was already on her way back to sleep. I sat there for a minute in silence before I got up. I was agitated, and apparently, I had more work to do. I hadn’t even loaded all the information and pictures into my computer yet, so I dragged myself up off the couch and headed to our office.

  The office was a mess. Fabric was all over the room and vision boards were stacked up against the wall. I sat down at my computer and found my camera and measurements. If I could get all the pictures uploaded and all the measurements entered, then tomorrow morning I would brainstorm ideas.

  Apparently the real estate business my family had was starting to really take off. I didn’t know how they found the time to deal with all the businesses they owned. Between the construction companies, restaurants, clubs, and homes they constantly flipped and sold, it definitely took four out of the five of my brothers to run everything.

  I got straight to work. I loved the program we had on the computer. It would take all the data I entered and help me make a blueprint of the building. The pictures helped me remember where the windows, doors, and walls were so I could get a mental image of how the place was arranged. I was almost done when my phone dinged. It was a new text from Lucas.

  Are you up?

  Yes.

  Hopefully I didn’t wake you up?

  You didn’t. My father did. :/

  I’m sorry. Are you up for a video chat?

  Always. =)

  His face popped up on my computer screen seconds later. I missed his face. For the past week I hadn’t had any time to really sit down and talk to him. He looked as handsome as ever.

  “Hey.” He smiled and waved.

  “Hi.” I smiled and waved back.

  “It’s good to see your face finally.”

  I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks.

  “You too,” I said sheepishly. “Are you just getting home?”

  “Yeah, I had to do inventory at the club. It sucked.”

  I laughed. “Sounds like it.”

  We spent the next couple of hours catching up on everything that happened this past week. I told him more about Emilio, without going into great detail about our relationship. He figured we had dated, so I left it at that.

  He asked when I was going to be back in New York, and I figured it would be in a month or so. I would make a weekend trip to talk to the contractors and do a few more walk-throughs of the places and get them started. Lucas seemed really excited about that. We made plans to go and have dinner together.

  We said our goodbyes just as the sun was starting to set. It was hard to see him go, but I needed to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a hectic day.

  I didn’t even change out of my clothes before I crawled into bed. I set my alarm for 9:00 a.m. That gave me enough time to get a good night’s sleep.

  My last thought was of Lucas and how much I missed him already. I was anxious about getting to know him, hoping that this was going to turn into something incredible.

  ***

  I slept through most of the night, but my nightmare woke me up sooner than I wanted. I hadn’t had it in over a week. It scared me that it was back. Just like the other times, I woke up in a cold sweat with my heart racing. I sat in bed for a while trying to calm myself down. I didn’t understand why I kept having the same nightmare over and over again.

  I dragged myself out of bed, took a shower, got dressed, and had the coffee pot running by nine. Violet was still asleep, but I knew as soon as she smelt coffee she would be up. I made myself a cup, headed to our office, and got straight to work. I was right though. As soon as Violet smelt coffee, she was awake.

  We spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon working on sketches and the presentation boards. It was close to five when we stopped and looked at our progress. We had colors, fabrics, and designs ready to roll. I knew there would be a couple of changes, but at least we had a place to start. I hurried to get ready while Violet called out the time to me every fifteen minutes. When I finally came running down the steps, she was standing there with my computer bag and vision boards.

 
; “You got this, you’ll do great!” she said as she pushed me out the door. It wasn’t fair that she was going to stay home. We were partners after all, but I’d rather present than stay home and clean.

  Running late, as usual, I headed down the street carrying everything. I was dreading walking into my parents’ house. I knew my father would be standing there waiting to give me a lecture about being punctual.

  He was waiting by the door, but he didn’t mention my tardiness, and I wasn’t going to bring it up.

  Dinner went great, even Benito joined us mid-dinner. He apparently was in town for the next week. My mom made homemade pizza, which was delicious. After we ate, we retired to the living room. I pulled out my computer and sat up the boards. They all sat there quietly through the presentation and nodded at appropriate times. We had conversations about certain details and the meeting went very well.

  Something was up though, I had a feeling. The meetings never went this smoothly. Sure enough I was right. After we had discussed the two restaurants and the two nightclubs, my father’s voice changed from pleasant to stern and I knew he was finally going to tell me why he actually invited me over for dinner tonight. I would have loved to have believed it was because he loved me and wanted to spend time with me, but it wasn’t. He always had a hidden agenda.

  “Liliana,” he began, “I think with all the work that needs to be done in New York, along with several more businesses we will hopefully be acquiring soon, you’re needed in the city permanently.” He paused for a moment and waited for my reaction. I was speechless. “You will be in charge of all the construction and remodeling, along with helping with the books when needed.”

  “Excuse me?” I finally blurted out.

  “To make it more clear,” Benito chimed in sounding just like my father, “you will be moving to New York…to stay.”

  “Thank you Benito for that clarification,” I snapped at him. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! I never imagined that this is what my father had planned for me, not even in my wildest dreams.