(NFTMB)Chapter 95
Valentino
(Laura’s Replica)
What a morning!
Another day, another drama. Fabiano just wouldn’t stop.
Whenever and wherever there’s trouble there will always be Fabiano.
It’s like a magnet that pulls him. He can’t help it.
He has always been like that. For some people there are good times and there are bad times. But for Fabiano it’s always bad.
He has never been good. Right from when we were younger.
He was the prodigal son then when he was younger and now when he’s older, he has become the useless old creep.
A certified loser and an embarrassment.
He can never amount to anything good in life if he’s still useless to this age.
What a shameless old man. He’s quite an idiot for demanding for Jasmine so brazenly and so openly.
I wonder how they even connected. Did they know each other before she came back or did they just click and gravitate towards each other like moths to a flame?
It’s quite silly to be sleeping with your nephew’s girlfriend. I still can’t see past the graphic nature of the affair.
And then him raising hell for her disappearance is quite stupid.
I’m very sure he didn’t think it through.
Besides, she’s been gone for like forty-eight hours now. That’s like two days and he’s just barking about it now?
How weird.
Hello? Why are you asking about your nephew’s girlfriend?
Doesn’t that seem weird? He really has no brains in that empty old head of his.
He even went as far as lashing out on Amara and Victoria for no reason.
At this point he really deserves to die.
I can’t still wrap my head around the fact that that girl would stoop so much as to cheat on Niccolo with an old creep like Fabiano.
That’s very disrespectful.
Well, I’m not a saint myself as I’ve fucked Alessandro over. Twice now.
With Victoria.
But this morning she didn’t even look at me. She didn’t sit next to me and totally acted like I wasn’t there.
Did I offend her?
I can’t remember doing anything wrong or bad. What is the problem then?
She sat next to Alessandro, her husband and totally ignored me.
It hurt but then again what was I expecting? That she would leave Alessandro for me?
I know she won’t do that. He’s the father of her child and that’s enough reason for her to stay back.
But God when she walked in, the breath was knocked out of me.
She looked so much like her at that moment. I stopped myself from calling her Laura. I’m the presence of everyone because of how much they both looked alike in that moment.
It’s eerily creepy and strange how they both have the same features.
The blond hair, the pink lips, the blue eyes. It was all the same.
Just like the first time I saw Victoria, I stared like an idiot because she reminded me of Laura.
It’s weird and strange that they look so much alike but are actually total opposites of each other.
Like so very different from each other.
Laura was wild and fun and crazy and free spirited but Victoria was calmer, conservative, a traditionalist. She likes to leave things the way they are and who likes to do things the way they are done.
She doesn’t really like taking risks. She maintains a certain level and sticks to it.
That’s why she’s still with Alessandro. If it was Laura, she would have run away with the baby and damn the consequences or she would even have it removed. It’s bad, yes but that is what she would have done. She was a wild child and only cared about herself and what she wanted.
That’s how much she loved her freedom.
And that’s what ended up killing her.
“I knew I’d find you here”.
I turned immediately at the sound of the voice to see Victoria standing at the door.
The hideous red lights of the darkroom still couldn’t remove from her beauty.
She still looked pretty. Very very beautiful.
“Ohh Victoria. I didn’t know that you’d find your way here”
“I had help. Amara”. She said with a smile.
“Ohh that explains it”
“Just how many places are hidden here in this vast mansion?”. She said while taking a look around.
“A lot. But I got this place made into a dark room the last time I was home”
“I see.”
“So, what brings you here? Not like I’m complaining or anything. No, I actually love your company but I’m quite curious since you didn’t as much as look at me in the morning”
“Really? I didn’t even know. Maybe I was mad at you for keeping things away from me”. She said in a serious tone.
I stopped what I was doing and looked at her.
“Keeping things away from you?”. I asked in confusion.
Cause believe me when I tell you that I am confused.
“Yes, you never told me about Laura”
There was silence in the room after that question.
How did she know about Laura? Who told her?
“Who told you about Laura?”
“Doesn’t matter. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it’s not important, okay?. It’s not important. Just forget about it and her. She’s gone now”
“But I was honest with you. I was open with you. You held a lot of things from me. Why?”
“I didn’t hide things from you, Victoria. I just didn’t think it was important. She’s dead and gone. And that’s it…. gone”
I don’t know what else to tell her.
“How did she die?”. She asked out of the blue again.
“Victoria, stop”. I said in a bid to let her know that I didn’t want to talk about this.
“Ohh okay then.” She slowly said
“Please”
“I’ll be taking my leave now”. She said turning to leave.
“No, Victoria. Wait”. I said as I ran after her and held her back by her arm.
“What now?”
“I’m sorry. I just don’t want to talk about this now. I’m not ready for that.”
“Okay. It’s your decision. Let go of my arm now”. She said with hard eyes.
“Are you serious?”. I asked her in disbelief.
“I’m not joking, am I? Let go of me, Valentino”. She said,
I was in shock and very surprised at her reaction and outburst.
“You h”.
Her words hung mid way as she stared at something far off behind me in shock.
Her eyes grew wide as he walked right past me and straight to whatever she was looking at.
I turned to the direction she walked off to only to see she was staring at the portrait shot of Laura which I took when I was younger.
Shit. Maybe I should have brought it down?
“Is this her?”.
She pointed to Laura’s smiling face as the wind blew her hair straight across her face as she smiled into the lens.
“Yes. That’s Laura.”
“Whywhywhy does she look so much like me?”. She asked in a shaky voice while still pointing at the photo.
I know, right?
“I have no idea”. I said honestly with a shrug.
“Is this the reason why you like me? Because I look like your dead girlfriend?”
“No! That’s not true!”. I defended myself.
“But that’s what it looks like! My hair! My eyes! My lips, Valentino! Is that why you kissed me?”
“No, that’s not it. That’s not the truth. Jesus, Victoria don’t say that!”
“What is?! What is the truth! That you’re doing this for some sick twisted thrill?! God! I can’t believe I fell for this!”
“Don’t say that, Victoria”
“You shut up! Shut up! And stay the hell away from me! I thought you were different!”. She said as she wiped her tears.
“No, please listen. Listen to me for a second!”
“I’m not wasting a second here with you! Stay away from me”. She said in anger before storming off in tears.
What just happened here?
She totally misunderstood everything just now coupled with the fact that I didn’t tell her about Laura on time.
This is all so messed up. But deep down I asked myself if really Victoria was right.
Did I do all this because she looks like Laura?
“Knock knock, nephew”.
I jumped at the voice only to see Fabiano standing behind me.
How long has he been there?!
“What is it now? If you’re looking for trouble then you must know that it isn’t here! Go find somewhere else”
“Really? Somewhere else? Like to Alessandro? With this recording of you and his wife? If you say so ”. He said before attempting to walk away from the darkroom.
Shit! He heard us.
I don’t want to point fingers or lay blame but this was literally Victoria’s fault.
If only she had listened to me and not yelled out in anger.
Oh God. Now what?
“Stop!”
He stopped in his tracks before turning around.
“What do you want?”
“You”
“Hmm?”. I said in confusion as I arched an eyebrow at him.
“I need your help”. He clarified.
“With what”. I asked while folding my arms across my chest.
What does this idiot want now? I really have no intentions of getting into any plan or partnership with this man for no reason whatsoever.
Damn the consequences.
“I need you, Valentino, to be my eyes and ears in this house. I need you to report to me what Alessandro does and what Niccolo does. You will inform me of whatever goes on in here behind my back, failure to do so will result in this audio recording landing in the hands of Alessandro and you know what that means.”
“Fabiano, I’m doing no such thing. Well fuck you, for being such a hateful old crook”
“Very well then you’ve said your own part now, there is nothing standing in the way of this recording of you and Alessandro’s wife reaching him where she alleges that you kissed her and you said nothing to refute that claim thereby making it true.
Who knows what else you two filthy souls have done in secret. Watch this recording land in the hands of Alessandro. Thank you for listening to my option and picking the wrong one. See you later, nephew”
Shit!
“Wait!”
“What is it Niccolo?”
“What do you need me to do?”