20

I looked closely at the cell phone in my hands, thanks to Nina's generosity, knowing the story of what had happened, clearly avoiding the details that would endanger my life along with Dante's and my revenge against Mauro.

I sighed as I noticed the anger that man had provoked in me and how different he was from the first time I met him; I was naive to be blinded by love after having avoided it at all costs. I didn't know how to recover from a betrayal of that magnitude, without feeling like I hadn't done justice for my life.

I wanted to make him pay, even if it could leave me with permanent wounds. I wanted to make him pay for Lexi, for his lies, for his inhuman capacity for betrayal.

But that didn't mean risking the chance of finding my best friend and getting back to my life; Dante would be furious if he knew I had a cell phone stashed away, but it wasn't because I was running away, it was because I needed someone like Nina. Another person and another opinion other than Dante's intense eyes, or his employees.

I kept it in one of the jackets in the closet, in the clean clothes. I knew the maids were in and out of my room, moving everything around to make sure it was spotless, and that put me at risk of discovering the cell phone.

In the closet, in the jacket I wouldn't wear, they wouldn't have anything to check.

We returned late from Nina's villa, so I had a quick meal, since the maids had gone to rest in the small house that was for them.

I was distracted by the sound of a helicopter approaching from afar and realized through the window that it was Dante; I knew from the light in my room that he had noticed I was still awake.

I didn't want to see either of them, until I was sure I could control myself. Discovering new feelings for Dante was dangerous.

I changed into red silk pajamas; the entire closet was exclusive and foreign to me. I felt like everything I wore belonged to someone else, because my things stayed at the university.

I missed the campus, the classes, my classmates, my stuff and most of all, my best friend.

My heart softened, so sensitive and broken, at the memory of everything I missed and the worry. It wasn't the first night I cried non-stop because I didn't know what to do.

I needed to calm what I needed and the only thing that came to mind was the bar Dante had in the middle of the living room.

I sighed heavily several times and finally, after more than an hour after the helicopter landed, I decided to leave the room quietly in the dark.

The bar had colored lights in the background, it was the only thing that illuminated my miserable face bathed in tears.

I saw a bottle of Bourbon uncorked on the bar and grabbed it without thinking. I wanted to find a glass to drink, but I realized there was no one around and the last thing I cared about was being decent, when nothing that was going on was decent for a student who just wanted to finish her degree and have a quiet life, away from her parents' problems.

Everything around me was unknown, an alien place that I was willing to endure just to lessen the pain and anger that my heart felt.

My reasonable conscience was getting farther and farther away from me and the barriers that prevented me from acting on impulse, collapsed at the entrance of alcohol.

I let the bottle of bourbon roll until it fell to the floor and took off my blouse in the heat I was feeling; my face still bathed in tears, not in control of my emotions.

I picked up two bottles without caring what it was and walked to the pool; I drank from one and from the other, I dropped the liquid into the water, as if I was giving a bitter drink to the place where my feelings began to change. When it was empty, I dropped it right there.

"Evie, what happened? There's a broken bottle in...," Dante's concerned voice stopped, as I turned around without a drop of encouragement and drunk, "Evie?" he looked down at my feet in the pool and at my hands; he was silent. I had no idea what expression he had made, I was lost in my head, "Are you drunk?

"You," I pointed at him, "You and Mauro, the two of you ruined my life.

"What are you talking about, Evie? You're drunk. Give me that bottle," he got close enough to me to take away what I was drinking, but I pulled away fast.

"Don't touch me. The only thing you've caused by touching me, is to drive me crazy," I growled, "But you couldn't help it, could you, you love me, or rather, you're obsessed with me," I put the bottle in the direction of the pool and let the liquid come out in the water, again, "Damn the time I got in that pool with you, and damn the time I met Mauro.

"That's enough, Evie, you're losing control.

"No, you're in control, of my life. I didn't lose it, you took over me and I'm going to make you pay," I growled angrily.

"I will not tolerate that behavior, give me the bottle now, Evie," he ordered sternly and stopped a few steps away from me.

"Or what?" I sentenced without a hint of fear. He seemed surprised that I was confronting him, but mostly it was due to the false will of alcohol.

He tensed his jaw angrily and without a word, moved ahead of me to take the bottle from me and at the same time capture me in his arms, but I slipped and my whole body went into the pool.

I was so confused, I could not find my way back to the surface and my body did not react to stimuli.

However, I was pulled up and coughing, I was left on the stairs of the pool, which were still sunk in the water. The cold water was helping me to come to my senses and I realized it, when an angry Dante was catching me in his arms.

His wet hair was falling down his face, exposing the darkness of his angry eyes, to the point that I felt shivering under my body.

The tension he was transmitting did not please me at all and I was afraid I would explode. I feared he would hurt me, but at the same time, in my lower abdomen I felt pangs of desire, as if that unrecognizable image of him was exciting.

It was just him and me, in the middle of a pool that was beginning to smell of alcohol.

Dante slowly lowered himself to my face and whispered above my lips, "I want you to pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you," he said and stared at me, "If you keep behaving like that, you'll stay here and be mine for the rest of your life.