Page 46 of Dark Masquerade
It was in the evenings when she had to return to Aldo’s house that she felt scared …scared and disgusted every time he came near her. They limped on for a couple of months, becoming more distant from each other, and even when Christmas came and went, they were civil, if not affectionate.
Elli and Indio spoke every day, and Indio urged her to break things off with Aldo. “We haven’t found anything we can use,” he said. “And every day I wake up wondering if today is the day when I hear that you’re dead. I hate this, Elli. Please.”
It was just after the New Year when Elli asked Aldo if she could talk to him.
“Of course.” They were in his study, and Elli’s eyes kept drifting toward the filing cabinet. He was clever, she thought, and didn’t keep a paper trail back to him. She wondered if he got paid in cash to sell those children into the sex trade. She pushed that thought away; if she dwelt on it, she might crack and start to accuse him, and then all would be ruined. Instead, she smiled at him with fake warmth.
“Aldo, darling …this isn’t easy to say. But …. I think we need to consider spending some time apart. We haven’t exactly been getting along so well of late. You must agree.”
Aldo nodded slowly, his eyes locked on hers. “I cannot deny that, Elli. It had been breaking my heart.”
“And I’m sorry for that. But I do think we have reached the end of our time together. I need to regroup and work out what I want from life.”
Aldo gave a soft, sarcastic laugh. “I think you know what you want, Elliana. It just isn’t me.”
Elli decided to ignore that. She did not want him to lose his mind. “I need time on my own.”
Aldo studied her. “As you wish.”
Really? He was taking it this easily? Something didn’t add up here.
“So, I’m going to pack my stuff tonight. I’ll ask Umberto to take me back to my apartment.”
“Fine. Is that all? I do have to get on.” He turned back to his computer, and Elli flushed. She hated him, but she also felt he was dismissing her.Like a whore. Again. Asshole.
She didn’t say another word, and in an hour, she was being driven back to town by Umberto. He looked over at her. “I’m going to miss our talks, Elli.”
She smiled at him. “Umberto, can I give you some advice? Between the two of us?”
“Of course.”
“Get another job. Work for anyone else but Aldo.”
Umberto looked shocked and uncomfortable. “Elli, I …”
“It’s okay, Umberto. Forget I said it.” She didn’t want to make his life harder, after all. She hugged him goodbye as he dropped her at her door, then she took her suitcase into the lobby …and waited.
In five minutes, Indio was there and she ran into his arms. “It’s over. It’s really over.”
But, of course, it wasn’t. Elli could never have guessed how quickly things would unravel.
Elli stretched her body as she woke in the late February sun. Carnival time again. Here in her new apartment—their new apartment—she rolled onto her side and studied the face of her love, her Indio, and as of five days ago, her husband. She was officially Mrs. Indio Navaro. They had married quietly, with just a few friends, but it had been the best day of Elli’s life. “Today, my life finally begins,” Indio had said in his toast, gazing down at his bride, and Elli had cried at the love in his voice. She had worn a simple, lilac, cotton dress to marry him, matching Indio’s tie, and they both wore lilac flowers pinned to their chests.
They had lived together as if they had always done so, easily, reveling in the time together, fucking each other’s brains out, and having adventures.
The only dark cloud was the unresolved issue of Aldo Constanza.
“He took ittooeasily,” Eli said, and Indio agreed.
“He’s up to something, for sure.”
Elli could tell Indio was terrified that Aldo would get to –her—even on their wedding day when she’d arrived at the city hall, accompanied by Vivienne and Tandy and three hulking bodyguards, she saw the relief as well as the look of love in his eyes. She couldn’t blame him. The night before the wedding, she’d had awful nightmares of Aldo coming for her as she got ready to marry Indio and stabbing her to death as he had done to Yvetta.
But nothing went wrong that day.
Elli got up now and pulled her robe on, going into the kitchen to make coffee. Indio may have been as rich as Aldo, but he didn’t believe in staff—unless it was security staff for her, of course. So they cooked for each other and cleared up themselves, and Elli liked it that way. They talked about their future, living in the country at his farmhouse. “Or, if you like, we can find something else together. I can’t look at my workshop without remembering what I did to you there.”
Elli swept a hand over his hair. “Our reunion, however brutal, was there. I wanted you to fuck me that day, so badly, and for me, it was heaven. Regardless of what happened afterward, you were just trying to protect me.”
