Page 23 of Adore Me
Mom and Dad.
Oh, my goodness. In the middle of the letter I must have slid down to the floor, because that is where I am now. I reopened the envelope and there was the money gram.
I screamed as I read the amount. A half a million dollars. This is insane. My parents didn't have this amount of money. Right? When they were alive, we lived in a nice house and in a nice neighborhood. I didn't want for anything, but I knew the value of working for something. If my parents had this kind of money... where did, they hide it?
Vincent barged into the door and crouched in front of me while scanning me. "Are you okay? Why were you screaming?" His voice is panicked and he's out of breath. I felt his hands as he cupped my face and rubbed my tears away with his thumbs. "Good god, woman! You are trying to send me to an early grave!"
I held the check and letter out to him, and he read it. "Wait, you were supposed to get this on your wedding day? But you got it today?"
I looked at Vincent and nodded. Anger took the place of my hurt. "On top of everything else, he stole from me. That is my money and he held on to it," I started shaking as I fell into a hug with Vincent. "I needed that to pay for college, to start my life over... And he just kept it. Like it was his." I felt the tears come flooding to my eyes as I thought about this further. "He kept a letter like this from me!" I screamed as I stood up and grabbed the letter from Vincent. "I am going to see him. Now!" Vincent stood up and grabbed me into a hold. "Please don't try to stop me."
"Savannah, I know you want to go and confront him; however, it isn't safe for you to go alone." He held me for what seemed like hours. I didn't go limp in the hug though. I was furious. "Leo!" Leo came running in and looked at my face since I was facing the door. "Go with Savannah. Make sure she doesn't get killed."
"What is going on?" Leo asked as Vincent took me out of the hold and looked down at my face.
"Joel. Go with her, please?" He looked at Leo and then at me. "I love you. Please don't do anything stupid."
"Why can't you come with me?" I asked even though I knew it would be way more dangerous if he did come with me.
"Joel will know it was a set up if I come. When you come back, meet me at our place. We will have dinner," he kissed me and then let me go.
I nodded as I walked over to Leo. "Come on. I am ready," I said in a stern tone to Leo and stormed out of the club.
The men were talking and asking questions as I walked out the door and into Leo's truck. I waited in there for Leo to come. He came out with my purse in his hand and Vincent walked towards the truck.
"Be careful," he kissed me as he opened the door to kiss me goodbye.
"I love you," I pulled him into a hug and brushed my lips against his.
Leo got into the truck and started it while Vincent shut the door. I scanned the truck to see what was in here. There was a box in the back, and I was curious as to what was in there.
"Where to?" I held out my keys and pointed.
"He will be at home. I am sorry that you have to be here." I looked out the window as Leo drove down the street.
"Savannah, there is nothing for you to be sorry about. You are part of the family now. Once you and Vincent got back together, you became important to all of us. I am actually excited that Pop let me come. Normally he would send Rossi."
"He wouldn't do that now..." I was hinting to the time when Ronnie kidnapped me. We drove in silence as we got to my old apartment building. Things became so weird during our last years of marriage. By far, this is the worst thing he could have done to me. It’s not even about the money. The letter connected me to my parents after all of these years. I heard my mother's voice as I read the letter; there was a warm feeling that I got because of the letter. I didn't realize that I missed them so much until just now. It’s amazing how the mind works to block out emotions in order to get through the day.
As soon as he parked, I opened the door and smoothed my skirt down. With a quick fix of my ponytail, I am ready as I could be. "Do you want to follow me?" Leo was putting a gun into his holster.
He nodded and I walked through the building like I still lived there. The guards greeted me by referring to me as Mrs. Castile. Weird. I wanted to tell the guard to drop dead. I haven't lived here in a while. Well, I suppose my brief time here does count. Honestly, you would think how many people gossip around here, people would know that we got divorced. Leo and I walked towards the elevators and rode in silence.
"It’s right there," I pointed at the door once the elevator reached the floor. "Do you want me to lead?" I was so nervous that I didn't know what to do.
"This is your show, honey. I will follow you."
I walked to my old apartment door and knocked. Once I heard movement on the other side, I stepped back. Anger and hurt warred in my body and I wasn't sure if I wanted to kill him or cry. I focused on my anger because crying wouldn't solve anything.
"Savannah, what are you doing here?" Joel looked good like always. I hated him more than I'm willing to admit for that. How can he always seem so unaffected by everything and I get to feel all of this? He is a bastard. "Who is this?" He pointed towards Leo and Leo just nodded.
I schooled my face, so I didn't look like the Mad Hatter who is about to go crazy. "I think we need to go inside. This is my friend," I walked past Joel and walked into my old home. "Sit, please. We have something to discuss."
"I'm not a dog..." he whispered under his breath. Joel sat down, and I paced the living room and kitchen trying to form words to say. Leo stood by the door and nodded at me.
"What's going on?" I have never seen him look so nervous. Secretly, hell not even secretly, I loved watching him sweat. He deserves this.
I stopped right in front of him and leaned into his space with my hands on my hips. My wedges made their clacking noises on the wood floor and it was rather annoying.
