Chapter One

Two months ago

Timothy Giannato was excited about the surprise he had prepared for his beloved Gia. A journalist he had been dating for over a year. He was the typical heartbreaker and longed lover for every woman with two fingers of judgment. An Italian with a passion for automobiles, racing cars. 

When Timothy finally heard the key in the apartment door, he stood behind the door of the room he shared with Gia every time he slept over there. His heart began to race, smiling he watched out of the corner of his eye as the door slowly opened. 

He was going to take a big step that night. He had been with her for a year now, everyone at home adored the journalist, and he was sure he had found the woman to settle down with. 

On the bed he had placed the same petal of red roses in the shape of a heart, with his hands that were only practical and skilled at driving and closing deals. On a small table he had placed the champagne with which they would celebrate her yes.

It was then that he heard a series of laughter and a voice speaking urgently. Gia seemed to have come with company. Timothy frowned at the surprise, but told himself that perhaps, after leaving the newspaper his girlfriend had decided to have a few drinks at home. She had always been surrounded by women and men, who admired her for her work and her beauty. 

Timothy had thought twice before deciding to ask Gia for her hand, he had told himself that he was not ready yet, but his mother and father had a different concept. He was used to making them happy since he was a boy, he was their only son, and he didn’t want to give them a hard time. For that reason, even without being completely sure, he told himself that the best way to get to know each other was to get engaged and live together for a year or so. 

He had gone to close a deal in Spain, a week away from Manhattan and Gia, so he had decided to come back two days early and surprise her. He loved to see how her curls fell down her back and how her laughter spread joy and happiness wherever she was. 

That was one of the things he loved most about her. Her way of taking life slow and relaxed, and still doing a flawless and straightforward job. 

He heard a couple of voices heading into the room and stayed behind the door to surprise his girlfriend. He knew that his mere presence would make Gia’s friends leave, half of them didn’t like him, because they had thrown themselves at him in the past, in search of passions and his fortune, and he had rejected them in the blink of an eye. 

The Giannatos were a family from Italy, with pharmaceutical, marketing and advertising companies, and owners of a racing car tournament firm. He oversawmost of the business, as was his first cousin Hamlet Giannato. They had grown up together, surviving the fame and business of both Giannatto brothers. Hamlet’s brother had died in a traffic accident months earlier and the family was just beginning to get used to not seeing him. He was also a race car driver just like Timothy. 

Time passed and Timothy didn’t understand why his girlfriend was taking so long to come in, when clearly those had been her intentions all along. 

Minutes later he heard something fall and the door open. He almost melted into the wall to avoid being hit by the door. 

Just as he was about to step out to surprise her, he was stunned at the sight of his almost fiancée. 

Gia was kissing a man. 

In her bedroom. 

Timothy couldn’t believe his eyes. They were so focused on enjoying their caresses that they didn’t notice someone watching them behind the door. 

The guy grabbed Gia by the waist, and she entwined her fingers in the man’s hair. 

In a matter of seconds, he began to feel sick, he thought he was going to vomit at any moment. His woman, the one he was going to make his wife, was standing in front of him about to sleep with another guy.

He was sure she wasn’t taken, she couldn’t be, she was enjoying every kiss, how the man was unbuttoning his work shirt, a shirt he himself had given her for her birthday which had been recently. 

Timothy stifled a growl.

At least he thought he did. 

The man laid Gia down on the bed and they both looked over to where Timothy stood petrified from the pain and betrayal.

His Gia had blatantly betrayed him. 

“Tim,” she whispered and put her hand to her mouth.

“How could you?!” was the only thing that came from Timothy’s lips, who had never in his life felt so devastated. 

His world had just collapsed. 

He who had never trusted anyone enough, who had been with the best and most giving women, models, journalists, businesswomen, dancers, actresses. He had been a modern Casanova. But he had fallen in love.

Now there he was, almost on the verge of bursting into tears or breaking something. 

“Tim, what are you doing here? You said you were coming on Saturday,” she got out of bed and began to put on her loose buttons. The man whom Timothy recognized as one of the fellows at the newspaper where Gia worked couldn’t find where to put his face. 

Her lipstick was smeared across her face, and her eyes had that glint in them that he had seen so many times while they were making love. 

Timothy was a big, tall guy with a broad back and narrow hips, he spent a lot of time in the gym working out, he took fairly good care of himself. 

“Sorry for coming back early!” he burst out as he walked out of the room. 

“Please don’t leave. Let’s talk about this,” she begged him running after him. 

“Fuck you Gia. I was going to propose to you!” he slowed down and turned to face her. He didn’t even know what to do. 

“That meant nothing to me. It was nothing,” she had the finesse to start crying.

Timothy felt the desire to forget everything and forgive her, but the man his girlfriend had arrived with decided to show up at that moment.

“Didn’t it mean anything? You were going to fuck the guy!” he put his hands on her shoulders and shook her. “I thought you loved me! You lied to me, you took advantage of me, of how I feel about you, you played with me Gia.”

“But I love you, I love you!” she cried out to him putting her hands-on Timothy’s face. “I love you, forgive me, this really means nothing. I want to be your wife; I want to marry you.”

Timothy took a step back and looked at her with all the hatred he felt. He felt betrayed, they had mocked him and his feelings. He had never given himself away in such a way that betrayal could be something important to him. Except with Gia, she had come to sink deep into his heart. 

“I know you’re furious right now, but let’s talk about it. Don’t walk away like this. Let’s work this out honey,” she took a step closer to him. “Let’s work it out, you love me, and I love you. There’s nothing more to say.”

“It was over between us the instant you brought that man into your apartment,” he started walking toward the exit and stopped, “you were so eager to have him inside you didn’t even notice the petals on the bed.”

He closed the door, even though he heard her calling him crying, he didn’t pay any attention to her, he kept walking as if the devil was chasing him. 

Was it only him, was he the only one who had really fallen in love? 

He remembered as he rode the elevator down, every moment with Gia, their birthdays, the activities she needed to attend, every outfit or debt she wanted or had, everything he had supplied for her. He had been her bank account for so long and he hadn’t even realized she was just using him. 

Had she ever loved him too? Had she faked the burning desire she expressed every time they made love? Had it been a plan to get him to marry her? 

He had been so stupid to believe her bullshit. So weak. 

Now he doubted everything. He no longer believed that their kisses were real. Nor that her orgasms were anything but faked.

Just like her love for him. 

She had ruined him.