*flashback*
“I am not a liar, I am not a liar” Aurora repeatedly told herself as she sat in Avena’s bed. The party was in full swing and for the first time, everyone was catering to her needs and not the other way around.
Her new mother in-law, Carina Romano was a sweet woman, making conversations with her and introducing her to all of her friends. The rest of the employees were pleased with Signora Meta’s decision, so much that none of them had acted out of the ordinary. They even referred to Aurora as Avena and often she would forget that she had gained a new identity as of this day.
As soon as she got the chance, Aurora sneaked away into Avena’s room. Upon arriving there, she shut the door behind her, as she needed to be alone. Crying had been her last resort; she buried her face in her hands and fell to the floor.
The guilt was overwhelming, a white lie was s
HAPTER 14: ALONE“This looks just like it did in my dreams” Aurora whispered beneath her breath. Leonardo heard what Aurora had said and looked, she looked like a kid in a candy store which only made him want to know more about his new wife.Aurora feeling his gaze on her, turned her head and their eyes met.“Why do you like staring?”“I just find it so amusing that someone like you would find such a place beautiful”“So in essence you are saying that I am too much of a snob to appreciate good architecture when I see it?” she asked him, Leonardo stared at her in silence and then cracked a smile from the corner of his lips.“You said it not me” Leonardo told her, smiled and walked into the beach house. Aurora stood at the entrance almost smiling herself, for the first time, she noticed that Leonard had some sense of humor.She
The sound of the waves smashing against the rocks soothed Aurora; it was unlike her little room at the basement of the Russo mansion, which was often cold. The feeling she had in her beach house room was peaceful and warm.Her bed was extremely comfortable and there were no springs pinching through her mattress. She had always ran her fingers onto Avena’s mattress just to feel the soft cotton gracing her hand but now as she slept, Aurora could not help but to smile in her sleep.Aurora awoke from her peaceful sleep, as soon as she opened her eyes, rays of light streamed through her curtains as Aurora realized that it was already morning and she needed to get up. Being a house cleaner almost all her adult life had thought Aurora to wake up at dawn without fail.**Leonardo woke from his sleep, feeling more tired than he had ever felt before, he looked at the clock bedside her bedroom table and it was already eight in the morning, two hours later than
“If you are going to stand there the entire day, then I might as well walk without you” Leonardo arrogantly told her, killing the world of day dream that Aurora was experiencing.“You derive joy from ruining my day, don’t you?” she asked him, hands on her hips and she impatiently awaited for his answer but she was only met with silence. Although mad at her, Leonardo stopped himself from smiling. Aurora’s actions were just like his mother’s when she was mad at his father.He knew that arguing with his newly wedded wife would get him nowhere as he quickly remembered some wise words. Happy wife, happy life. Leonardo turned away from Aurora and walked along the beach, just like he had predicted, she followed behind him. Whereas his long longs easily navigated through the sand, Aurora struggled to keep up with him.“I could carry you if you like” Leonardo teased her, turning around, looking into h
Trying to lighten the mood between the both of them had not worked, so much that even Aurora kept to herself. They were simply two married strangers, just sitting together and admiring everything around them except at each other.Leonardo uncomfortable drank his coconut drink and gulped it down in haste, trying to calm the nerves and uneasy feelings that he was feeling within himself.“You don’t have to make things awkward like this” Aurora spoke, breaking the lengthy silence between the both of them. Leonardo turned and faced Aurora, her face unreadable but he could tell that she was just as uncomfortable as he was.“I do not understand what you are trying to say, mi Signora” Leonardo responded, his response stopping Aurora in her track as she felt a small jilt of happiness. For the first time since Leonardo and she got married, he referred to her as ‘his lady’ as though he was finally acknowledging her.“I
“Mother, mother!” Leonardo burst into his parent’s Dallas home, panicked as he looked around for his mother. He quickly ran up the stairs taking on three steps at a time until he got to his parents room. He stopped, unlocked the door as slowly as he could, anticipating the worst to come of this day.Leonardo unlocked the door, walked into the room and just as he turned his head, on the king sized bed laid his mother. She was asleep with two nurses tending to her. This scene replayed in his head a million times. Many times growing up he had seen his mother in her bed, sick.Her habit had nearly killed her not once but at least four times and it seemed as though every time that she got sick, the more she was determined to spiral out of control.“Mother” Leonardo whispered, fearing the thought of walking towards his mother. Seeing her weak in bed afar, was far worse than Leonardo walking close to his mother.“Signora Carin
Aurora had left Leonardo’s mother’s room, leaving son and mother to talk alone. She had seen a different side to Leonardo once more, the nurturing and caring side of him had come out. Her heart had softened just a bit as she had seen him care for his mother, just thinking of that moment made Aurora smile at herself.“Signora” someone called out to her and Aurora turned around to face the person. She smiled as she realized that it was one of the helpers at the Romano mansion.“Si” Aurora answered.“I was just wondering where are you going at this time? It is getting late” The helpers told her and pointed at the window, where the sun was beginning to go down which had come as a shock to her because she had not realized how long she was in her mother in-laws room.“I am sorry, I did not even know that it was that late— to be honest. I guess I was day-dreaming because I do not even know where I am he
The door swung open, grabbing Aurora’s attention from the scenery outside, Leonardo appeared chest bare, water dripping from his hair, down his neck and then down his chest. Seeing Leonardo in this light, awakened an almost dead side of her.Aurora wake up! She snapped herself awake and stopped herself from embarrassing herself more than she already was.“What are you doing?” She angrily asked Leonardo, who seemed confused with Aurora’s question.“What are you saying?”“Don’t answer my question with a question Leonardo, why are you half naked in my room?”“Oh no sweetheart, the last time I checked this was our room therefore we share it. That also means that I can walk into this room half-naked all I want, there is nothing that you can do about it”“That is disrespectful to do this in front of someone” Aurora tried to convince him, whilst trying to keep he
Leonardo lay in his bed, looking up at the ceiling as he tried to distract himself from the damage that he had caused down stairs. His words had deeply hurt his mother, the saddened look on her face as he pointed out her addiction before his wife was a look that haunted him.The silence in his room was by far the second most annoying thing, the silence taunting him repeatedly, so much that he placed a pillow over his face. Anything was better than seeing his mother’s face appearing before his eyes.The door to his room swung open and slammed back shut, Leonardo removed the pillow from his face and looked at the direction of his door and there Aurora stood, hands on her hips and not a smile on her face.“You should not have done that” she uttered, giving him a displeasured glance. Another reminder that he had messed up and there was no better person to remind him than the woman he was made to marry.“Avena if you are here to upset m
“No! This cannot be true, I am the sole owner of all the Russo properties and I will not share it with anyone” Avena yelled, running down the stage with the intent of attacking Aurora but only for Leonardo to trip her into falling on the ground.Within seconds, the church was swarmed with police officers, the main officer walked towards Avena lifting her up from the floor and cuffing her.“Why are you cuffing me, what have I done?”“Avena Russo, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Rhea, please be quiet as anything you say shall be used against you in the court of law” The officer told her. Before they knew it, Avena was being dragged away kicking, screaming and her mother following right behind her, asking the officers to leave her daughter alone.On the other hand, Ricardo was being arrested for the murder of Aurora’s mother committed twenty one years ago. Leonardo’s parent were arrested as wel
“Oh sorry to disturb this wedding but we have urgent matters that need attending to. We are looking for Carina and Metteo Romano” One of the men in the suite asked, his question leaving everyone to stare at Leonardo’s parents.“Yes it is us” his mother responded, pointing at herself and her husband.“I've just come to inform you that the document that was signed for the land has been rejected”“Why has it been rejected?” Signora Carina asked, stunned by what the man in the suite was saying.“Unfortunately only the true heir of the Russo family is allowed to sign on these papers”“What do you mean the papers have been rejected? I am the only heir to the Russo fortune and I personally signed those papers not so long ago” Avena stepped forward as everyone stared at her questionably.“Yes you did but unfortunately you are not the heir” E
Over the past few days Avena had tried to get closer to him but he had not given her the opportunity to because even though Aurora was gone from his life, Leonardo did not want to move on so quickly. The only reason he was at his own wedding was because he wanted to make his parents happy.Standing on the podium, he looked at the crowd and there was not many people around but his parents and his soon-to-be wife's parents.Leonardo looked at his mother's face and she was smiling at him, yet Leonardo himself could not force himself to even smile. Today was indeed an unpleasant day for him, as he will be marrying a woman that he did not have any feeling for. This marriage had begun just as his first marriage with Aurora had begun but he had no doubt that this match would definitely be disaster and he was sure of it.Over the last few days he could not help but compare his wife Aurora to Avena. Aurora was calm kind and selfless, whereas Avena was vein,
One day later“I should have known that sooner or later you would betray me” Rhea told Avena, who stood in the center of her living room. For months Avena had refused to let Rhea in on the big secret and if it were not for Ricardo telling her the secret, she would never have known anything.The more she spoke, it felt as though nothing she said had gotten through to Avena who had her hands crossed over her chest and was smiling. An action which only infuriated Rhea more. Looking at Avena, Rhea felt as though she wanted to strangle Avena. After all, Rhea had lost her one chance of having Leonardo to herself. She had thought that by working with Avena, she would get Leonardo but only for her to lose him in the end of it all.“Rhea why are you so upset? I thought you said that you wanted to break up Leonardo and Aurora’s marriage? They are over now, so why are you upset?”“Because I wanted Leonardo t
“How did this happen? How was there a switch between the woman I was supposed to marry and the woman that I married to now? I think its best that you start explaining to me because you will not like it when I get angry” Leonardo threatened them. Everyone who sat in the room looked uncomfortable, until one brave soul stood up and it was AvenaIt was the first time that Leonardo had seen her since he had left the altar and now as he looked at her, Leonardo noticed that she was quite a pretty young woman but nothing like his wife. Both women were beautiful with dark-ski but Avena’s beauty was still no match to that of his wife.Avena looked frail and scared of him, looking down at her feet and playing with her hands rather than looking up at him, until she finally looked at him with tears welled in her eyes.“Hello my name is Avena, I know that you do not know me quite well and that was mainly because Avena took my place the altar. I
“From a Distance you look like such a sweet and innocent lady but just like your little girl, you are full of secrets” Ricardo told Signora Meta not holding in any venom in his tone of voice.“You are such an evil man”“At least I do not hide that I am a villain, unlike you and your daughter who hide behind smiles. What do they call it? I forgot the words, oh I think it's called ‘Wolf in sheep's clothing” Ricardo ridiculed Signora Meta whom was not fazed by Ricardo’s words.“When you think about it, it is actually you who is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I mean you have proven yourself to be an impressive liar” She reminded him.“When have I ever lied about who I was?”“Well, you are you walking around pretending to be Leonardo's friend but actually wanting to take his wife from him, Is that not what you would consider a wolf in sheep's clothing? I t
Leonardo wanted nothing other than to run away, he could not believe that his entire life was falling apart. The woman who he had been married to for the past seven months, the woman who was to be the mother of his child and now he was finding out that she was an imposter and the woman that he was supposed to be married to was standing there, a few feet away from him.Leonardo nearly fell onto the ground but luckily Ricardo caught him right before he could hit the ground.“Relax my friend, relax” Leonardo heard Ricardo whisper into his ear.“Please tell me that this is a dream, please tell me that this is a dream” Leonardo begged his best friend as he tried to come to terms with the fact that his entire marriage has been nothing but a hoax.&nbs
“Calm down young man, if you keep shaking like that you might drill a hole through the Church floor” The priest cracked a light earning him a laugh out of Leonardo.As excited as Leonardo was, he could not help but feel a storm brewing and it was one that he could not explain. He knew it because he felt it in the core of his stomach, something is definitely wrong. Leonardo scanned the interior of the church and there was no sign of the blackmailer inside.The pianists began playing, ‘here comes the bride’ and the butterflies in Leonardo's stomach began flying around. Leonardo was truly nervous as he watched his wife walk down the aisle in a white dress and veil covering her face, with Signora next to her. He could not help but to think that his wife did not look happy, it had looked as though something was wrong with both women but he shrugged it off. He put a smile on his face as he watched them walked down the aisle to the altar, where
Two days laterIt felt as though this day was nothing other than a joke, carefully planned out but with a surprise looming. Aurora looked at herself in the mirror of the Old church down town, Leonardo had once again rented out an entire church just for them.She smiled thinking how romantic her husband was, always making sure to make her happy. Her only fear was that, Ricardo was Leonardo’s best man. Signora Meta had kept to her word, the poor woman had done nothing other than to find a way to keep Ricardo’s mouth shut. Aurora had no idea what Signora had told Ricardo but all Aurora knew was that Ricardo refused to look at her ever since then.Looking at herself in the mirror, she smiled. Finally she was a true bride and not a replacement. She had no idea where Avena was but she inwardly thanked her for running away that faithful day. If it were not for Avena running away, she would never have married the man of her dr