Chapter 22 IN THE PAST.
\~~~RAINA.
“Talia, is that you?!“ I cry out, my hand flying to cover my mouth.
“Answer me please…”
“Shit!” I hear a hiss from the other end and then the call ends.
God, that is Talia.
My hands tremble, and I dial the number again, praying she picks up.
Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.
I don’t care if she is in danger or if she is hiding or living some stupid fairy-tale life with a secret lover I don’t know about.
I don’t care if she never comes back to reclaim the life she had dumped on my head. I just need to hear her voice again. I need her to explain, to apologize and to fucking tell me why.
I would forgive her.
I am a very nice person.
All we need is communication, shit.
But this time, the call doesn’t ring at all.
The customer care voice cuts in cheerfully, like she isn’t just destroying my world,
“The number you are trying to call is out of service.”
Out of service?
My ass.
What bullshit?
I just heard her cuss underneath before the call ended.
Like a mad person, I kept redialing the number, hoping it was a glitch, but nothing came up.
And just then, the door creaks open, and I hurriedly wipe my tears before Luciano enters.
He looks around the room in suspicion for a while, and then he looks at me.
“W… what?” I mumble, my voice already hoarse.
“I thought you were just laughing with someone on the phone. Your voice was so loud, and your face… is red.”
Oh, so much observation coming from my loving husband.
I scoff inwardly and force a smile.
“Yeah, it was so funny.”
“What is?”
“The phone,” I raise the phone in my hand.
“The phone?” he asks again.
I swallow hard, turn away from him and then move to the other side of the bed.
“I’m going to sleep. We had a long day today.”
I can still feel his eyes on me.
And whatever he is thinking in that head of his, I am grateful he doesn’t say it out or ask me about it.
He just walks fully into the room, grabs his laptop, and just like that, he exits the room again.
This is my life now.
The realization claws its way into my chest, painful and heavy. For the first time since the wedding, it truly sinks in.
Talia is somewhere with a man. Laughing, being called babe and living whatever life she chooses.
And I am here.
Locked inside a marriage that is not mine.
Living a name that is not mine.
And sleeping next to a man who doesn’t even know who I truly am.
Maybe… maybe it would have been better if I had married Luciano as myself.
At least he would call me Raina.
At least people would address me as me, not as Talia Monroe.
Tears roll down my cheeks, soaking into my pillow. I clutch it tightly, squeezing it against my chest like it can keep me from breaking apart.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
“Shit…”
———
“You wanted to see me,” I say softly, standing in front of the man who sits on the chair behind the desk.
He didn’t raise his head to look at me, his eyes only went through the paper in front of him, his fingers flipping over gently.
I was in the room when the butler came to tell me that the boss wanted to see me, and I have been here, standing for a while, and this man has yet to acknowledge me.
Rolling my eyes, I finally pull the chair in front of him, and then settle on it, and only then does he raise his head to look at me.
“You wanted to see me,” I say again.
His eyes drop gently to my chest, like he wants to assess what I am wearing, and I shake my head, crossing my legs on each other.
“What?” I ask, this time, dramatically.
“I went through your chart, and it is fair to admit that you are excellent at your job.”
“Ah, yes,” I smile in pride, leaning back in my seat comfortably.
Wait… my job?
As Talia?
“What?!” I widen my eyes.
“It is all over here, you handle your father’s company so well as vice president.”
“M… me?” I sit upright, snatching the file from him.
Talia runs the family company with my father.
It was one of the reasons my parents love her the most.
It was even said that she would be taking over the company after my father retires and that was not refutable.
I mean, it is Talia Fucking Monroe.
She lands most of the company’s biggest deals
“That doesn’t sound foreign to you, does it?” Luciano asks, and I raise my head to look at him again.
“So, what are you getting at?” I ask him.
Luciano leans forward, collects the files from me and then drops it on the table.
He taps his index finger on it, and then asks me, a knowing smirk ghosting his lips,
“Where do you think I am getting at?”
Refusing to be intimidated, I sit upright, clear my throat and then tuck some strands of hair behind my ear.
“I know that I am good at my job,” I raise my shoulders.
“It is not to be argued about. But that is all in the past. I am leaving that behind me already.”
“Why, sunflower?”
I swallow the lump in my throat, looking away gently.
What the hell is he hoping to find with these ridiculous questions?
“Where exactly are you getting at, Luciano? You possibly wouldn’t call me here to compliment me.”
“Right,” he sits upright.
“Since you have so much knowledge already, you are to assume the position of the COO at the company headquarter.”