Forbidden Deception (Deception)

41

“V enezia, you have been locked in there for two days now. Please open your door,” Aurora tries once more, but I don’t feel like eating or talking to anyone.

My throat is parched, and everything around me has lost its colour. Heartbreak doesn’t have a correct timing, it doesn’t leave when you want it to.

Heartbreak takes away the life you once had. It steals the joy from everything around you. It further abandons you in a silent, lonely void.

“Talk to me. I’ll help you. I’ll explain to Remo, but talk to me so I can understand,” she says.

“You can’t,” I whisper.

“I can, I promise.”

“It won’t work, Aurora. You know it won’t. How could we—how could I ever fix this?”

“You have to talk to me, Venezia. You can’t keep going on like this and not allow us to help you. We can help you, sweetheart.”

I don’t reply; my gaze focused on the small picture I brought here with me, a polaroid of Rafael and me from Greece.

“You can’t possibly think we hate you or want you to be in pain. We are here for you. I am here to help you with this. Please don’t think we have given up or that we don’t want you to find happiness. You are my sister.”

I slowly get off the bed because her words feel like a comforting hand on my bruised heart. Taking a deep breath, I open the door. Aurora walks in with a tray of food, and I shut the door behind her.

She walks over to the bed and pats the space next to her. Her hair is tied into a half up style, and she wears jeans and a white top.

“Hurry before Lavinia wakes up.”

I quietly walk over and sit beside her.

“Tell me. Tell me about him.” Her soft voice makes my bottom lip quiver, and I just drop my head onto her shoulder. She instantly wraps an arm around me.

Every second since I’ve arrived has been spent thinking about him.

I didn’t know love could destroy you like this.

“He used to be so strict in the beginning, so rude and a total brute. He used to make me run around the office, grab this, grab that, I don’t like this, don’t like that. I used to get so frustrated with him, then type out my hateful feelings in a document, then delete it.” I softly laugh, remembering how much he used to make me run around.

“But then I got close to him. I needed to find a way to gain his trust, so I walked in the rain in front of him so he could feel pity for me. He did and picked me up in his car one day. I’d never felt happier for something so small before.” I chuckle.

“Some days he felt impossible to deal with, and some days he felt like my best friend. Somewhere along the way, he started lowering his defences, and I walked right into his heart, not realising that it was the first time he’d opened the door for someone.” I swallow thickly.

“And there he was, with my name written across his heart. I didn’t even realise that I’d become his in every way possible. I once asked him if I meant something to him, and do you know what he said?” I look at her, a watery smile painting my face.

“That he introduced me and let me in every aspect of his life, and I shouldn’t question him when he declared me as his love. I was his first and last.” I deeply inhale, shutting my eyes.

“Was…” I mockingly laugh.

“What a funny way to end a love story,” Aurora says.

I sniff and look away from her, not wanting to shed more tears.

“Look at me. Look at me, Venezia.”

I turn towards her.

“Why do you think people never know what love is?” She grabs my hands and pulls them to her lap.

“Love is sacrifice and selflessness and choosing the other person over and over regardless of how much it costs you. Love is unfair and it’s a choice. Only then can you truly conquer the world with the one who stood by your side.”

I look up at her. She smiles at me, her chocolate eyes full of passion.

“If Rafael is meant for you, against all odds, against life and death, you will both find your way back to each other again. I am a firm believer of love, and I promise you, if you love him the way you do, and your heart knows it, there is nothing that will be able to stand in between you two, not even your brother’s vendetta.”

She nudges my head and chuckles.

“Keep your emotions in check because you are going to need your energy to fight for your love.”

“Fight for what?”

I jump up at Remo’s deep voice.

He fills most of the doorway. He looks at me for the first time in months. I ran home as soon as my driver dropped me off at Remo’s home. I went right into my bedroom and didn’t let anyone look at me while I cried my eyes out.

“Fight for her love.” Aurora gets up and walks over to him, her hand lacing with his.

The sight makes longing throb inside me.

“Remo.” I get off the bed. “I’m sorry.” I look away in shame.

A beat of silence follows.

Then another.

“Venezia, I forgive you.”

My head snaps to him, and he dips his chin. “I do. You locked yourself in here so abruptly that I didn’t get the chance to tell you, but I knew you wouldn’t listen, so I let you be. Just know that I called you back because I fear for your safety. You may have fallen for Rafael, but has he fallen for you as deeply as you have? What will he do now that he’s probably figured out you are my sister? It’s why you need to wait and see what is waiting for you. Is it a fight for love or is it a heartbreak?”

I shut my eyes, my hands balling at my sides.

“What do you want from me?” he asks softly.

I open my eyes. “I know you are wary of him, Remo. I understand you have both been at each other’s throat for years now, but this love isn’t one-sided. It isn’t just me. It’s Rafael, too. I have been with him and saw what he doesn’t show to others. Rafael isn’t only what he portrays to others; he is much more than that. I have fallen, I admit, but what would you do if I told you that he may as well die without me?”

“Venezia—”

I raise a hand to stop him.

“We all have our doubts about people, but Rafael isn’t…” I shake my head, dropping my hand.

“But… what if he feels too betrayed to truly fight for you?” Remo asks.

I take a deep breath and hold eye contact. “We will see.”

“Even if I set impossible conditions?”

I don’t answer. Not because I don’t have faith in my love, but because I don’t know how his brothers or his father will take it. I don’t know how he feels after finding out I was a spy. I am protecting him in front of my brother, but what if he thinks my feelings were fake, an act?

What if he doesn’t believe our love is real?