3- Flipping The Bird Up High

I crossed the distance between Ethan and me, grabbed his shoulder from behind, and pulled him off Stella’s body.

Stella stumbled back on her feet from the impact but caught herself from falling.

“Hope I am…” she started saying.

But before she could continue, I lifted my palm in front of her face to indicate that she should stop talking.

“Hope, I do not want this girl in my house ever again.” Ethan said while pulling himself off my hold and trying to manage his clothing. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and continued talking, 

“Stella tried to kiss me! She does not have enough shame to even think about you.”

I did not reply to his words. As soon as Ethan had freed himself off from my hold, I walked forward to Stella.

I grabbed her hand, pulled her close to me, looked her in the eyes and whispered,

“Can you please help me pack?”

And that is when I realized that my voice was trembling. I was not crying but my hands were shaking.

Stella’s fingers immediately tightened around my hand. Taking that as her approval I pulled her towards the closet.

I grabbed the suitcase that was on the top of it, pulled it down, opened the closet and started throwing my things inside without caring about folding them. Stella also got into action and started putting them in random folds so that I could have more space.

I grabbed my purse that had my identification documents, a nice sum of cash, and my credit card that I had since I was in college and threw it along.

I did not hear Ethan walking to me. He came and grabbed my elbow while turning me around to face me,

“What the fuck are you doing?”

I looked up at him then. No, actually, really looked up at his face. 

His caramel skin was turning a bit pink, probably because of the drinks that he had in the party and probably because he was angry right now. His unusual green eyes stared back at my face. Questioning expressions and confused gaze. 

Did he really not realize what he had done to me?

“What would have you done if you had seen me kissing your best friend?” I asked back.

I saw him gulp visibly. It was not apparent and flashy, but I saw it clear as day. If anyone else were in my place, they would not have noticed it, but I did.

My husband was the son of a mafia leader. He was used to not showing his weakness, his expressions. Not showing his feelings on his face was an art that was embedded in his soul since he had stepped inside the business with his father.

But I had loved him since I had come to know the meaning of word love. I had given my youth to him. I had seen him walk through hell and heaven when he had come to me with a beaten up face without any explanation. I had tended to his wounds that were not visible to the eyes.

How could I not see when he was standing in front of me being so confused about his own feelings?

I did not wait to hear his response. I turned around again to see Stella pulling the zip close of the suitcase. I grabbed her hand and the handle of the suitcase, and started walking out of the room.

Ethan did not even pretend to stop me. He watched me walk out of the room and down the stairs.

All the guests were gone and Ethan’s dad, Richard Romano and mom, Lena were also nowhere in the sight as I had walked out of the hall. They also had left, probably.

I grabbed the keys of Ethan’s Porsche that were on the dining table and continued walking. I heard a heavy set of footsteps behind me and did not need to turn around to see who it was.

“You know that the members of Romano family are not allowed to part their ways.” I heard Ethan’s voice from behind me, “You will have to come back to me.”

I did not reply to him. I knew of this tradition. I had watched it get embedded into the minds of children of our cousins and their children and so on. 

This was about the reputation of family. ‘If you can not keep the members of your own family in control, you are not strong enough to handle a gang that falls under your protection’, I had heard them say the quote a thousand times.

But in that humiliating moment when I was not even sure if I was going to have to spend my nights on the street or if I was going to be brought back in this house with their hands wrapped around my hairs, I wanted to get out of this place that my husband was standing in with no sight of any remorse on his face. Like he was daring me to walk out on him.

I did not turn around or answer back after hearing his words. But while I was crossing the threshold of the house, I saw Stella turn back to look at Ethan, lift her hand up in the air, the middle finger sticking out, and then flip him the bird up high.

And in that moment I did not know why or how, my mouth curved up in a grin at her action.