(NFTMB)Chapter 85
Victoria
(The Silent Man)
Breathe in
Breathe out
Breathe in
Breathe out
I’ve been doing this in front of the mirror in the bathroom but it still isn’t working.
Somebody died tonight because of me.
I can never get over that.
I killed her. I caused her death.
Niccolo might have pulled the trigger to protect me and Valentino but it was my fault.
I had blood on my hands now. I killed her.
I’ve killed someone.
God! What do I do now?
Alessandro will definitely know. He will get to the root of the matter in no time. It’s already bad enough that Amara walked in on us at the library but now somebody else has walked in again and has died.
This has become very serious. How am I going to get out of this?
What do I do now?
I had successfully deleted the photo and slipped the phone into Valentino’s pocket just as Alessandro walked in but what if he finds out what happened tonight?
What will I do? What if he kills me in my sleep?
He can’t kill me for now since I’m pregnant but what if he changes his mind?
I can’t handle all these thoughts right now. They’re too much for me.
What do I do now?
Do I just come clean and tell Alessandro the truth?
Well, what’s the point then? What will happen? Nothing except maybe my death.
The maybe being because of the fact that I’m pregnant.
He will find out.
He will find out.
He will definitely find out.
And he will end my life.
I’ve seen something like this in movies before: he’ll kill the cheating wife and will spare his brother because it’s his brother and they’ll reconcile over a bottle of cognac.
They’re both sharing the same blood and the saying, blood is thicker than water, is slowly starting to haunt me by playing and replaying in my head.
One thing is sure, at the end of this. I am the one that will get hurt.
This is all on me.
I should never have thrown myself at Valentino at a function like this where people are lurking at every nook and cranny.
First of all, why did I follow him into the hallway? Why didn’t I leave him alone?
Look what my jealousy has brought upon me.
Jealousy and promiscuity.
There are so many things I regret in my life and I wish that I could turn back time but sadly that’s just nothing but an illusion.
If I could, I would have done it a long time ago.
I hate this feeling of carrying a weight that slowly weighs me down and hangs over my head like a dark cloud.
Like I owe and know I must pay.
I know Valentino would definitely protect me if anything negative comes out of this whole fiasco. He will protect me and my baby.
So, maybe I shouldn’t be so scared right? I shouldn’t be sad.
But I still can’t help it.
God I’m so stupid.
I held onto the marble countertop to steady myself from my spinning head just as I felt a strong kick in my stomach at the same time.
At least something good has happened tonight.
I held my tummy as a smile spread across my face and tears escaped from my eyes as I felt my baby’s very first kick.
That was my baby’s own way of supporting me and being there for me.
I understand. Thank you for the comfort.
This feels so surreal.
It was already my little comforter and defender even before it was born.
I took a deep breath and wiped my tears before nodding at myself in the mirror.
You can do this.
I felt a strong kick again as I laughed to myself before gently rubbing my tummy.
I know and I understand, little one.
“If you continue doing that then I’m going to have a psychiatrist come take a look at you”
I jumped at the sound of the voice behind me.
“Alessandro!”
He was standing at the door of the bathroom with his hands in his pockets.
“How long have you been standing there?”. I asked, suddenly feeling self conscious and guilty.
“Enough to watch you laugh and cry to yourself. It’s quite disturbing to see. Are you in pain, Victoria?”
“No, I’m not in pain. The baby just kicked, that’s all. And please you should leave. You shouldn’t be in here. This is the ladies room, Alessandro”
He was standing at the door of the ladies room. He would be called a freak, a pervert and a weirdo if he’s seen by other women.
Someone might even call him out for being creepy and possibly a sex offender or even a stalker.
It gets really crazy in these kinds of scenarios.
“I don’t fucking care about your ladies room! My baby just kicked? Why didn’t you let me know?!”
He took strong steps to me and reached me in no time as I took a step back but he grabbed me by the waist and placed his hand on my stomach.
“Hello? I just told you now, didn’t I?”. I rolled my eyes in irritation.
I don’t want to deal with his rudeness now.
“You should have told me earlier and what the hell are you doing?”. I asked in surprise as he rubbed my stomach in hopes of finding the kick, I guess and then proceeded to place his ear on my stomach.
I took a step back immediately as his actions were kind of ticklish in a strange way.
“I’m trying to feel it too Victoria”. He said in anger.
“Well, it’s gone now. It’s stopped, alright? It’s not as if there’s a warning or anything before it happens. It just happens suddenly. Geez, didn’t Roberta tell you these things or you just didn’t pay attention.
Maybe next time I’ll sound an alarm so you can hear it or you can make do with Matteo’s own kicks when he was in Roberta’s womb”.
He looked stunned for a second as an indescribable emotion washed over his face.
I turned back to fix my hair in the mirror, not paying him and his demanding tone any mind.
“I never felt Matteo kick”.
My hand paused mid air as I was fixing my hair while the horrible feeling of guilt attacked me.
“How? Why?”. I asked not recognising my own voice as I felt like a very insensitive and cruel person for saying that to him.
“She and her boyfriend experienced everything I was supposed to experience as a father and as a parent. They shared things like happy parents while Roberta kept me in the dark and ultimately ran away with the baby”.
His eyes held no emotions nor his face except the slight tick in his jaw and the venom with which he said the word boyfriend.
I opened my mouth and closed it with no words coming out of it as I was at a loss for words.
I didn’t know what to say.
“Alessandro-II didn’t know. I’m sorry for what I said. Here”. I said moving close to him and placing his hand on my stomach. “You can feel the baby but I doubt it will kick again”.
He looked at my stomach before looking at my face and then withdrew his hand before speaking.
“No. Fix yourself up and let’s go. The bidding has begun”
“Ohh okay. Give me a moment.”
I desperately needed a new extra coat of lip gloss but I wasn’t with my purse now so I just touched up my hair instead.
“All done”
“Let’s go”
As we walked back into the ballroom, the very first thing I saw was the bloodied wedding dress that I had removed from Jasmine’s body and I cringed.
Very hard.
It was there with the big red stains on it.
It had blood on it and these freaks didn’t notice or seem to care as they bid thousands and hundreds of thousands on it.
It looked beautiful on the mannequin that modeled it.
“Six hundred and fifty thousand dollars!”
“Seven hundred thousand dollars!”
“Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars!”
“Eight hundred thousand dollars”
“Going once! Going twice!”
“One million dollars”
A representative said on behalf of a man who he pointed to.
The man sat like a king and watched the whole room from his side.
Doesn’t he speak for himself?
Gasps and applause was heard everywhere around the room as I was left in shock that a dress that someone was just murdered in was being auctioned for a million dollars.
That is absolutely insane.
Who is this crazy person that dared to try this?
“One million dollars! Going once! Going twice!! And sold to Mr. R!”
The whole room erupted as most stood on their feet and clapped while others hooted and cheered for whoever that masked man was.
“Who is that?”
Bianca whispered to Alessandro.
I was listening in on their conversation.
“I have no idea”. Alessandro replied, but I could tell he didn’t sound quite pleased.
He must hate whoever that was.
“Wow! He must be loaded”
“Seems so”. Alessandro said while scratching his jaw as he stared at the man.
“Bianca, quit gossiping!”. Elena chastised Bianca, hitting her on the arm.
“Hey, I didn’t say anything! I was just making an observation”
“Hush now! You should be grateful to him. He’s participating in the fundraising for the children’s hospital”
“I am, mother.”
I felt a pair of eyes on me as I looked in that direction and saw the man who bid a million dollars staring straight at me.
I was transfixed and stared right back at feeling like I was being pulled in by a force.
“Are you okay?”. Alessandro asked, cutting into the trance and pulling me out.
“Yes. I’m just a little tired”
“Do you want to leave now? Amara is at the house with Matteo. They’ll keep you company”. He offered.
No, thank you.
“No, I’ll just wait for a little longer before leaving”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I am”
“Do you want to dance?”. Alessandro asked me immediately the orchestra started playing the waltz.
I was completely shocked by the fact that Alessandro could dance.
“You dance?”. I asked in surprise.
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.” He said with a smirk before standing up.
I stood up while shrugging off his jacket and placing it on my seat then took his hand which he offered before heading to the dance floor.
“I really don’t know how to dance”. I confessed.
“Do you ever know how to do anything?”. He said.
“Yes. There are lots of things I know how to do but this thing called dancing is not one of them”
“Oh shut up”. He said, twirling me.
I almost felt dizzy as he pulled me back into him, crushing me into his chest.
“Alessandro, respectfully if you do not want me throwing up on on your shoes then I suggest you don’t do that again”
“Are you telling me what to do?”. He asked
“No”. I said while trying to find the right words to use to avoid getting him upset.
“Good”.
The dance floor slowly started to get occupied by other dancing couples as it got to the point where Alessandro informed me that we were about to exchange partners.
I turned around and came face to face with the masked man from the bidding.
His green eyes shone in the dark as his face was hidden by the skeleton looking mask on his face.
“Good evening”. I said to him as nodded his head while he skillfully swayed me from side to side.
Wow.
So he’s mute? Okay.
I looked at Alessandro to see he was dancing with that lady that was with Valentino earlier.
And as testament to her true personality and character, she was staring at him lustfully.
Please. Don’t be so obvious.
I looked back to my current partner as I found him already staring at me.
“Don’t you talk? Or are you just going to nod at everything I say?”. I asked him, feeling my irritation increase due to his irritating habit of not speaking a word.
As a complete idiot he was, he nodded once again.
“You’re really going to make this difficult for me aren’t you?”
He nodded once more.
That’s it.
“Well, have a pleasant evening, Mr. Mute, I’ll be taking a bow now”. I said in anger and made to walk away from him but he dragged me back instead as I felt him squeeze something into my hand and then dipped me to which I gasped and stared straight into his green eyes.
It felt like paper as I squeezed it to discern what it was.
It felt like paper of some sort.
Is it money? Did he just squeeze cash into my hand?
Or maybe it’s a note.
It had better be a note.
I was still eyeing him to let him know to stop with the dipping so that my breasts don’t spill out of this dress before Alessandro cut in.
“I think that’s enough. Let go of my wife”