Forbidden Deception (Deception)

45

“R afael has asked to see me,” Remo says from the threshold of the kitchen.

My head snaps up. Lavinia giggles in my lap, but my ears start to ring.

“What did you say?”

“He’s in London and asked for an emergency meeting in an hour. He’s waiting in my assistant’s office.” Remo starts to head towards the door.

I quickly place Lavinia in Aurora’s lap and run after him.

I grab hold of his arm.

I’m barely able to breathe or comprehend what Remo is saying, and yet my mind knows the name far too well to ignore. This could go so many ways, and knowing Remo and Rafael’s history, knowing their rivalry, I can’t think of a good outcome for this meeting.

Especially after not seeing him for close to a month.

Reason leaves, and I utter a question I should have long lost the right to ask.

“Why?”

“I’m not sure. Keep your phone with you. The CCTV footage with volume will be streamed for you.” He nods behind me and then leaves, leaving me stunned.

I run towards my phone and grab it, waiting for an email or anything. He didn’t explain how I would get the footage.

“Calm down. Everything will be okay. You know your brother is on your side, Venezia.” Aurora places a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“What if Rafael demands something from him? Or Remo loses his shit? Anything could happen.” I stress out, walking back and forth in front of her in the living room.

Minutes pass and nothing comes up. I start to bite my nails, pacing restlessly around the living room. I look at the clock, then restart my pacing.

Lavinia giggles from where she plays on the floor with her colourful blocks, and even her cute, angelic sounds aren’t enough to help me.

Twenty minutes pass, and my phone finally pings. I rush towards it on the sofa. I open it and find a link to the live footage. Aurora walks over to me and sits with me.

She looks over at Lavinia with a smile, and my niece smiles back, waving at her and blowing kisses. Lavinia giggles, and Aurora visibly melts.

Ripping my eyes away from them, I look at my phone and tilt it, watching as Remo stands in his office, hands in his trousers.

A second later, the door opens and in walks Rafael.

He’s wearing one of his favourite dark brown suits, the one I told him I liked. It’s fitted perfectly to his broad shoulders, and his trousers flow down his legs. I still remember the feeling of the material under my hands. I ran my hands over his shoulders, to his neck, where I pulled his face down to kiss him. I remember his arms going around my waist to pull me closer. To hold me tighter. His hair is neatly done, and he looks just as he did on that first day I met him in his office. Dashing, handsome, and collected.

He keeps walking until he stands a couple of steps away from Remo.

I can almost feel the tense atmosphere of the room through the screen. These two never do well in a room alone, and if I’m the topic they have to discuss, it might turn lethal. Remo’s stillness makes me hold my breath. Rafael could say anything. He won’t care about how Remo might take it. He’s often only ever listened to his own heart.

Until me. He listened to me when I asked him to kiss me.

He also listened to me when I wanted quietness and did face masks, pizza, and movie nights with me.

He listened to my spoken and unspoken demands.

Will he now listen to my silent cries for him, too?

“Rafael Gustav,” Remo says calmly, and my heart throbs loudly inside of me.

Rafael doesn’t answer. He’s not acting like himself.

And whose fault is that?

I briefly shut my eyes to keep my mind silent.

“You’ve been in London for over a month, and now you decided to show up?”

He still doesn’t answer. Instead, he looks around his office, then takes a deep breath and let it out slowly. I can’t see his face because the camera is behind him.

“I guess so. It’s hard to step into your territory without remembering what you did.”

I hold my breath, my hand grasping Aurora’s tightly. She squeezes back in support.

“When you said you would bring me to my knees, I didn’t believe anything could truly get me there. I thought nothing in this world could. But you failed.” Rafael tilts his head, and Remo quietly listens. “You failed to retrieve the footage. You failed to bring me to my knees. You failed to force me under your control, and you failed to destroy me. It just wasn’t in your capacity.” He looks away from Remo to the side.

“But someone else has. Someone truly wicked enough to pull if off.”

My heart dips when I realise he is talking about me.

I look at Aurora, who only tightly smiles.

“You planted your own sister inside my office and home to get your revenge? At Vance’s party? At Theodore Ricco’s home? You knew all along. It was only me who was foolish enough to believe everything that came out of her mouth.” He chuckles, but it lacks emotions and humour.

Rafael looks back at Remo.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about and decide on this. I have come to ask for one thing. Anything you demand in return will be given to you.”

Remo lifts a brow, a small smirk on his face. “Anything?”

Rafael stiffly nods.

“What do you want?” Remo asks.

Silence follows.

What will he ask Remo for? Money? To leave him alone? To keep me from ever going near him?

I hurt him enough to justify him asking Remo to keep me locked up, so I’m never in his sight again.

“Venezia Cainn.”

I gasp, as does Aurora next to me.

My phone shakes and drops out of my hand. I quickly bend down to grab it.

“Right… You think I will ever willingly just hand her over? You think I will let her walk back to you so you can take revenge on her?” Remo crosses his arms.

“Revenge?” Rafael laughs loudly, shaking his head. “Have you seen me this past month? Have I looked even remotely like myself the whole month I have been here? I am going fucking crazy; so crazy that I am willing to welcome her back to my heart. I am not about to let go of the one and only woman who has turned me into this weak man. I am willing and ready to give you, Remo Cainn, my longest rival in business, anything you desire.”

Rafael steps back and spreads his arms wide. “Ask, Remo. Test me.”

Remo doesn’t waste a single second to utter words that make me spring up from the couch. “I want you on your knees.”

The world around me stops in place. It stops spinning, and time freezes in place.

“Would you accept defeat for Venezia?” Remo continues, taking a step closer to Rafael.

“What is he doing?” I whisper, turning to Aurora. She looks like she’s as shocked as I am.

Ego, confidence, and power are everything to these men. They are of equal power. To ask one of them to bow to the other is like asking him to give up everything.

All that for me? Rafael wouldn’t—

“Venezia, look!” Aurora screams.

I look down at my phone to see Rafael silently drop to one knee.

Then the other.

And I am running out of the door by the time he slowly lowers his head.

I ache with my love for this man who has admitted defeat in front of my brother for me. I rush to one of Remo’s car and demand for the driver to take me to Remo’s office. I keep watching the footage, my cries muffled by my hand in front of my mouth.

“The stupid shit you ask me to do, I swear…” Rafael grumbles, and a small laugh escapes me.

This stupid fool.

“This is a great sight,” Remo mocks.

Rafael’s head snaps up. I can practically feel the glare he is giving Remo.

“You want the footage back? I’ll give it to you. You want to infiltrate my home to get it back? I’ll allow it. All for one person and one person alone,” Rafael continues, still on his knees.

“Why would you ever go to this extent? To the point of being on your knees in front of me? Did my sister have that much of an impact on you?”

Remo knows how much I love Rafael, so for him to truly see if Rafael wants me back for love and not power makes me burst with love for him.

“Your relationship with her pales in comparison to the value Venezia has to me. I will avoid you for her sake. She clearly couldn’t choose between us, didn’t want to hurt either, so she chose to leave before even fulfilling the stupid mission you had. Our rivalry has forced her to stand in the middle, and I won’t allow her to ever pick, so I’m doing it for her.”

The driver stops in front of the building, and I rush inside, my phone still in hand. I run towards Remo’s private elevator. It arrives just in a few seconds, and I get inside.

“Instead of making her feel torn between us, I’ll fall to my knees, happily, for her.” I hear from my phone, but I keep pressing the button for Remo’s floor, over and over. My hands are shaky and slippery, but I manage to get it moving.

It rises, up and up.

“Okay, get up now. You’re embarrassing yourself,” Remo grumbles.

I hear some rustling, but I can’t look at my phone, too focused on the elevator numbers rising.

“Come on, come on.”

Just two more.

One more.

“I told you, I have a—”

Ding.

I run out of the elevator, past Remo’s receptionist, who jumps up from her seat, and fly to the door.

I slam it open, heaving chest and everything.

Both men turn around and find me near tears in the doorway.