ROSALINE
'I will never fall in love with you, Rosaline' those words stuck to my head. Did I really hear them from him? Or was it just in my sleep? Was it a short dream?
It could not be a dream though cause I know Russo had carried me into his bed right after that and had tucked me in, to sleep.
Right now, I was awake in the middle of the night. I could feel Russo beside me, holding my body to his. Slowly, I opened my eyes and glanced up at his face.
Of course he would never fall in love with me because it would make no sense for him to fall in love with me. No matter what, I can't clear away the fact that Russo is my uncle and I am his niece.
Of course, love would never work between us and of course, I wasn't in love with him too. I... I hoped so.
But it just didn't feel right to hear him tell me that he would never fall in love with me. Perhaps I had somehow got entangled in the delusion that there could ever be more between us. Somehow, a delusion had grown in me that Russo liked me more than as a niece and more than as his fuck buddy.
I forced out a smile. Good thing I am getting pulled out of that delusion, I guess.
I felt my heart hurt and I shut my eyes tightly. Seconds passed but with each seconds passing, the heart ache just grew.
'Please, please Rosaline, you can't fall in love with Russo. Please don't do this. Don't break your heart yourself' I begged myself, knowing fully well that developing feelings for Russo meant heartbreak. We could never be together, our current relationship could never be let out to the public, not to speak of actually dating or intending on even more than dating. And apart from the nature of our relationship, Russo himself meant heartbreak. He had told me over and over again that good sex was all this was about and he had also told me how he had no plans of ever settling down or getting married.
It would indeed be my own fault if I fall in love with him after the series of warnings. I raised my hand gently and moved it to my aching heart as it to soothe it.
"Help me, please. Something, someone, whatever, help me please" I mouthed the words inaudibly before shutting my eyes.
Russo pulled me close into his body and I snuggled closer to his warmth, letting sleep take over.
I had to get back to work tomorrow.
In The Morning
Scrolling through my phone as I walked out of my room, a news ad dropped and I was going to ignore it as always but stopped when I saw the name, Mr. McAllister.
I clicked on the news, my brows arching as I wondered what the chances were that Russo was outside last night and Mr. McAllister was on the news this morning.
"Oh hell" I gasped the moment I saw the news.
"Sunshine, are you okay?" I heard Russo's voice and I turned to see him walking towards me.
"Successful businessman, Mr. McAllister committed suicide" I read out the heading of the article
"Oh, he did? I wonder why he would commit suicide though, he seemed like an happy man to me" Russo shrugged his shoulders and I sighed.
"Russo, you didn't have to kill him. I... I know he did all that but you could have just warned him"
Russo's face turned grim and his jaws clenched as he walked towards me. He stopped in front of me and leaned down, making my breath hitch.
"Cara, how about we don't question how I take care of the bastards who mess around with you?" He asked, moving his hand to my face and gently caressing my face.
"It was good enough to kill him in such a honourable manner. At least, now, everyone is going to be out on the internet raving about how he was such a good person and how he was so happy and jovial that one wouldn't suspect a thing" his gaze moved from my eyes to my lips as his thumb gently caressed my lower lip. Even these simple actions were doing something to my body but I could still recall the words from last night very clearly....
I would never fall in love with you.
"Russo" I grumbled his name.
"That bastard hurt you and made you stay away from me. I wasn't going to give him a fucking head pat for doing that" he gritted and I sighed.
"I have a question to ask you though" I said and he straightened up.
"What question, Cara?"
"Russo, you have to tell me about this. Who is that woman from the charity event?" I questioned and that look appeared on his face again. That looks that always appeared whenever I mentioned this woman.
"She's no one you should bother yourself about, Cara" he said, clearly wanting the conversation to be brought to an end.
"I want to bother myself about it. I need to bother myself about her identity. Call me stupid for being drawn into a misunderstanding by Mr. McAlister but you are clearly fuelling more misunderstandings between us, Russo. Tell me who she is" I demanded and Russo ran his hand through his hair.
"Is she your wife or your ex wife?" I shot the exact question that I had in mind and Russo looked at me with arched brows before laughing for a few seconds and then steeling his gaze as he looked at me.
"Wife? Her? That bitch? Fuck! She would never make me go up a fucking altar and, Rosaline, I've got no fucking wedding ring on."
"Rings are easily removable so tell me exactly, Russo. If she's not your wife, who is she exactly to you? Or to us?"
"Fuck! Fine! Some sort of half sister." He groaned the response out.
"Step sister?" My brows arched in utter surprise followed by confusion.
"What step sister? How in the world do you have a step sister?" I questioned, not being able to understand how that woman was his step sister?
Could this be some sort of lie? I didn't want to think so though, I wanted to trust Russo fully and believe his words.
"My biological mother had a daughter before me." He stated conclusively. It was still evident that he didn't want to speak much of it but I wanted to know more.
"Russo" I called his name gently and raised my hand to his face. He looked down, into my eyes.
"Why don't you like her then? She's... She's probably the closest you have to a biological family right now" I said.
"Cara" Russo's hand took my hand and pulled it away from his face, his gaze remaining hard. He kissed the back of my hand.
"She hated our biological mother too but the bitch, in exchange for your father setting her up to get married to a rich family, killed her biological mother without letting me know about it and then she was gone, showing up in front of me once in a while."
I was taken aback by what I had just heard. How bad was Russo's biological mother that Russo's step sister had agreed to kill her? What exactly were the circumstances surrounding Russo's adoption into this family? Why did my father go ahead to kill Russo's biological mother?
These questions and many more questions flooded my head but I couldn't ask any of those questions.
Russo gently let go of my hand.
"Meet me in the car" his words were brief as he began walking away.
Perhaps I shouldn't have asked the question so thoughtlessly? Perhaps I should have waited till night and ask when we were about to go to sleep? But I had had no idea the answer to my question would be this sensitive.
I wanted to find out more about Russo. I wanted to know everything.