SAME DAY - (Mon, 28 November 2022)
Madeline's POV
"Uhm... Yeah, it's time that you know the truth" Dante says weirdly and I just nodded my head and went to sit down on his bed and he followed.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, he looked deep in thought and the only thing running through my mind while looking at him, is the fact that I know his thinking about how to reject me, in a nice way. You see I've known Dante for years and I know he doesn't like desperate women, he loves the chase, not being chased. And even with this knowledge, I still acted like a desperate fool but I have my reasons though because time is something I do not have as I wasted a lot of time searching for him and now that I found him, I don't have time to ease him into the idea of us and I definitely will not take no for an answer, his mine and I won't allow anyone to stand in my way of having what's rightfully mine!
"Maddie you know I love you right? You're my best friend, you were there for me when I lost my mom, you were there when I needed someone the most, when I was going through the hardest thing I could ever possibly go through. You took care of me, made sure I was fed, you made sure I got home safe after drinking myself into a coma. You did everything to make me feel better, even if it meant playing my wingman, even though you were in love with me which I had no knowledge of. You must know, had I known how you felt, I would have never done the things that I've done back then, I would have never rubbed it in your face the way that I did, granted it wasn't intentional but I can only imagine how many times I've hurt you.
I'm sorry that I didn't realize before. I'm sorry that I made you watch or listen to me screwing other women. I'm sorry I was so clueless back then to not see what my actions must've done to you. I'm sorry that I was so clueless to not see that you loved me. I'm just so sorry for everything" he says shaking his head and I was about to tell him that it's okay, when he lifted his finger to stop me and I just nodded for him to continue.
"And I'm sorry for what I'm about to tell you" he says and I felt my heart drop before he even said anything, I couldn't handle him rejecting me, he started off so good, I thought this was him wanting to give us a chance, a real chance.
"I want you to know that I don't want to hurt you, I'm messed up Maddie. You deserve someone that can give you everything, his heart, mind, body and soul. I can't, because all of me belongs to someone else. I'm in love with someone else, she took my mind, heart and soul 5 years ago. Everything I am, belongs to her, I can't give you none of that. I can't see you as anything other than my best friend and I don't want to lose that, I don't want to lose you, to lose us" he says and my heart broke into a million pieces, I wanted so bad to hit him, to scream, to hurt him in any way I could, just so he could feel how he had just ripped me apart and I know exactly who the fuck is to blame for this, AND I WILL NOT LET HER WIN! HIS MINE!!!
"If you had told me back then that you were in love with me, you know our friendship would have ended, right? If you would have made a move on me back then, without mentioning how you really feel about me, then sure I might have slept with you but that's where it would've ended. I wouldn't have gone in a relationship with you, to me it would've been a hook up, a one night stand, maybe even a mistake...
You know how I was back then but I'm not that man anymore. I want more in life, and you deserve more than that Mads, you wouldn't have deserved that treatment, if I gave into you in the bathroom, it wouldn't have changed anything. I would've seen it as a mistake and that would've broken you're heart and our friendship. I don't want that Maddie, I can't be with you when my mind and heart is with someone, that ain't fair to either of us, especially you. I hope you understand" he ends his long speech and I just looked at him with tears running down my face, can't he see that he just broke my heart? Can't he see how much I love him, and he wants me to understand!
"You..." I started but then cut myself off as soon as a sob broke through and when he wanted to pull me in his arms, I pushed him away and stood up, wiping my tears furiously. "You were worried about braking my heart, if you called sleeping with me a mistake, yet here you sit and rip my heart out of my chest and want me to sit and watch as you rip it into a million pieces?" I asked through my tears and he stands up and grabs me but I shook my head and moved out of his arms.
"I don't want your sympathy, I wanted your love, your heart. I wanted you, I always have but I was never good enough for you was I? You slept with so many women, yet you reject me, twice! And don't even tell me it's because you'll betray her because we both know she isn't yours, you're giving yourself to someone, that doesn't even want you! Did you think I wouldn't figure out who you are in love with? I'm not stupid Dante! She doesn't want you!
The only reason she is giving you any kind of attention now, is because of me, don't you see that?! You just told me you loved her for 5 years, yet she isn't yours, she doesn't want you, here I am in love with you, wanting to love you but you reject me and for what?! A love you have that isn't even returned and you ask me if I understand, WELL I DON'T! I don't understand you anymore, I don't..." I said and then wiped my face again and he looked at me shocked, taken aback by my outburst. That's RIGHT Dante, you are not the only one that has changed, I did too, I'm stronger now and I'll fight for what I want, I always get what I want, when I want it and this time ain't any different!
"You of all people should know, that you can't choose who you fall in love with. I might not be with her and since you're so observant, you must have seen that she indeed loves me back. And this isn't me being under some damn illusion. I know you're hurt, and believe me it was never my intention to hurt you but Maddie common! Do you really want me to fuck you with her on my mind and then walk away calling it a mistake.
Do you not have anymore self respect?! You can call me stupid, call me pathetic for loving her for so long and not having her, that's fine, I don't care! I've waited for five years, yes you're right, as pathetic as that might seem to you, I don't give a shit, I can wait for her till the day I die, do you know why? Because I know she's afraid I'll hurt her, she's afraid of my love but that doesn't change the fact that she loves me too! But you loved me for so many more years then my pathetic 5 years but do I love you back? NO Maddie! I don't, and I'm sorry that I don't. I never did and it's not because of what I feel for Aurora, this wouldn't have happened even if she never existed.
You would have only been a lay to me, because that's how fucked up I was, until I met her. She changed me without even needing to speak. I fell in love with her the day I layed my eyes on her, you never had that affect or any kind of affect on me and I'm sorry but unfortunately no one has that power to choose whom to fall in love, I didn't and neither did you and I'm sorry for that, I truly am. I can't ask you to be my bed mate until she wakes up and claims me, that's wrong don't you see that, so please don't ask me to do that because it'll only cause you more heartache, then what you're feeling now" he says and then walks closer to me and cups my face in his hands and kisses me on the lips, a sweet, yet innocent kiss and then he whispers that his sorry and then walks out the door.
I couldn't hold myself up anymore, I fell to the ground and broke down into a sob. Seducing him would've never worked, sure it would've gotten me in his bed, it would've given me the chance to finally feel him, his kisses, his touches, he moans and groans but it never would've gotten me his heart and mind, because of HER! They will all be sorry, they don't know me anymore, I am who I am because of Dante, everything I've done was for him and I will NOT let all that go in vein, I will have all of him but for now, his dick will do and he'll soon find out that I, Madeline Wilson, WILL NOT GIVE UP! No matter what I have to do and if that don't work, well then the consequences of that, will all be on HIM!
Dante's POV
I walked out of my bedroom and I stood there listening to her cries, it hurt me that I had to break her heart. I never wanted to hurt her, I do love her, I really do and maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh about it but she pissed me off when she made it sound like I was pathetic for still loving Aurora. I know she might be right about Aurora, even Steph said there's a possibility that it's all just a game to her but like he said only time will tell, and because I love her the way I do, I will give her that time. What do I have to lose? I waited for 5 fucking years, what's a few weeks or days compared to the time already wasted?
Maddie is beautiful, I know it wouldn't have taken her long to get what she wanted, if she played dirty, the way she has done yesterday and today but it would've been lust controlling everything, there would have been no feeling there, it would've been a meaningless fuck, she would've been a release, that's all! And that's not fair towards her, and besides I'm not that guy anymore, I can't use women just to get off.
At the time it was all I knew because my father wasn't much of an example, at the time we thought he was screwing with my mom's heart, so I prevented myself from ever being in a situation like that, which is why I stayed clear from love and relationships but now I want it but I only want it with one person and that's Aurora. If she is indeed playing games, then I know I have to move on but I don't know if I'll be able too, she means too much to me.
Knowing that I might as well go and speak to her now as I don't know when I'll be back here at the estate, I walked to her bedroom and knocked. I knocked a few times and still got no answer and when I pushed the door open, she wasn't there and her bed was already made. But I knew she didn't leave, James went and got all the other girls last night and they were told that they will be living here until we know for sure that the threat was taken care of. I didn't even know Steph asked James to pick them up, or that he already texted all of them and informed them to pack. I'm glad he did though because then I don't have to worry about Aurora's safety, with her here it makes it easier to protect her, Gabby and Gia as well as Kiara and the kids at the same time. So I know she must be somewhere.
"Miss Aurora is in the garden, sir" I heard from behind me and when I turned I saw that it's Cindy, one of the maids that works here in the estate but she isn't suppose to be on the private wing.
"Thank you Cindy, but wait why are you on this wing?" I asked because there are only a selected few that's allowed to be on this wing, and only five of those selected few, are allowed on the side where Steph and the kids' rooms are, including his office, and he has Tim's men on guard to make sure none of the staff wonders around where they're not suppose to, my brother is paranoid like that.
"Miss Clarissa had extra help scheduled for this side of the wing as all Mrs Romano's friends will be staying here. I had just cleaned miss Aurora's room, I just brought some fresh towels for her bathroom" she says nervously showing me the towels I had not noticed before.
"Okay carry on then" I said nodding at her and made my way towards the stairs.
As soon as I got to the back porch, I looked around to see if I could see her but I didn't, so descended the stairs and made my way towards the garden but I still didn't see her anywhere. Where the hell is she? Deciding to walk around as the garden area is quite huge, and I'm glad I did because as soon as I made a turn, I stopped in my tracks. There she was playing with Max, the dog I got for Al for his birthday present on Saturday.
She looked so beautiful, not the normal confident, I don't give a fuck about anything, carefree aura she normally oozes, she looked sweet and innocent, maybe even nice, all the things one can't normally describe her as and I felt transfixed by it. She looked different, yet she still had that comfortable in my own skin look about her. She really is something else and I couldn't help but stare at her and as fate always has a way of busting my balls, Aurora had to feel my eyes on her and lifted her head up and when her eyes met mine, she gave me a soft yet unsure smile, oozing innocence, nearly knocked the wind out of me and almost made me fall to my knees.
"Hey" she says softly and stood up and took slow steps towards me and I walked closer to her as well, masking my emotions with a blank look on my face, not wanting to show her how much she affects me.
"Hi" I said in greeting, not really sure what to say because somehow she seems different. "You're up early again? I went to look for you and Cindy told me I will find you here" I said not knowing exactly how to start a conversation with her.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd bring Max a little snack and Walk around with him a bit" she say smiling and looking down at Max, who seems to have taken quite a liking in her, I know the feeling man, she is something else.
"Steph will lose his shit if Max ruins any of the roses or lollies he had planted for his wife" I said because the only thing he warned me about was the rose garden and the lilies, he was fine with Max but he said if Max ruins any of the flowers then he'll kill me.
"I know, I heard him warn you the other day" she says with a giggle and I smiled at her, we have never been like this, had an actual conversation without flirting. It's nice though, weird but nice nonetheless.
"Yeah so remember that when you're taking him on walks in the garden, my life is on the line so you better watch him" I said sounding odd even to my own ears, this shit is out of character for us, I mean sure we've spoken before but it was never really innocent and normal, it's always flirting or annoying each other, well that's before she started ignoring me.
"Anyway, listen I came because you said yesterday that you wanted to speak to me about something important?" I asked and watched her facial expression change slightly to a nervous one, from the smiley one she was just sporting, odd but I didn't question it as I knew I would find out any moment now.
"Uhm... Yeah but Kiara told me a bit about the shit that's going down and that you're leaving today for the mansion or something like that, so it's fine we can talk about it again when you're not stressed, I mean I can only imagine the stress you guys are under at the moment, so don't worry about it, I don't want to add to your worries, yo-" she was rambling, nervously might I add, and I had to cut her off.
I mean as much as I loved this new look on her, it didn't suit her and it definitely didn't sit well with me that something might have happened this pass few days that made her this way, and I needed to know what it was. So I placed my hand on her exposed arm to stop her rambling, ignoring the electric shock I felt when my hand touched her skin but I did not ignore her shiver and sharp intake of breath. It somehow made my heart skip a beat at the fact that I still had an affect on her, I couldn't help the small smile that appeared on my lips and the excited feeling I had being this close to her, and being allowed to touch her, even if it was innocent, which is why I kept my hand on her arm and it seemed that she didn't mind it one bit either, interesting...
"I'm here now aren't I? So just shut up and tell me already" I said with a smile because her nervousness was quite cute.
"Uhm okay but you have to listen until I'm done, don't fucking interrupt me because I don't know if I can explain all this to you again!" She says with that same fire she always has that radiates off of her, showing me MY WILDCAT, that I know and LOVE. Yes I love her, it's so fucking obvious, I can't believe I questioned whether I did or not yesterday after my talk with guys. I know what I feel for her and I feel it throughout my body, through every vein, every fucking cell in my body!
"Can't promise anything love because Lord only knows what'll come out of that mouth of yours" I said teasingly with a smirk on my face. I couldn't help it, I had to take the opportunity she was giving me.
"This is serious Dante" she says annoyed, hitting me on my chest and I just chuckled at the fact that I can still annoy her with my teasing. I've missed it but normally she would hit me with a comeback but not this time though, I guess it is serious then.
"Okay, I'm sorry. Go on then, I'm listening" I said seriously and let got of her arm and crossed my arms over my chest and gave her my full attention.
"I don't even know where to start, it's not like I practiced a speech or anything so I'm just gonna be straight with you" she says rubbing her hands together. "Saturday when your friend came here and you too embraced each other, the way you held one another. It made me feel sick to my stomach" she says with a bitter chuckle and it took me by surprise as I didn't know that, this was what the "important talk" was going to be about, but before I could say anything she continued, turning to her side not looking at me, causing me to look at the side of her face.
"Whole day Saturday, I had to watch how she made you laugh, made you smile and how easy it was for you to enjoy all her embraces and little kisses. I felt angry, hurt, sick, nauseous and most of all, I felt murderous" she says with another chuckle and then turn to look at me again with an emotion in her eyes that I've never seen on her before. "I never felt this before, ever! I didn't know why. I think I did but I just wasn't willing to admit it to myself but when Steph invited her to stay here, I wanted to scream and punch him. I wanted to yell no! But I knew it wasn't my place to voice my opinion, I knew the punch would get me killed" she says lightly laughing now but I was too stunned to move, I couldn't believe what I was hearing coming from her mouth.
"I wanted to shout at her, to leave, I wanted to yell that I didn't want her anywhere near you. But I knew I had no right to do so, I had no right over you. I asked myself why the fuck am I feeling this way, why am I getting mad when I was the one who pushed you away, when I was the one that said you must leave me alone and move on, when I was the one that said you meant nothing to me, then why was I feeling the way that I was at the time?" She says but it came out as a question and I took it upon myself to answer her but with another question.
"And did you come up with any answers to your questions?" I asked and she shook her head sadly and I felt my heart drop but then she looked at me with tears in her eyes, shocking me once again.
"I was jealous" she says with a shrug and then wipes the tear that escaped her left eye, furiously. "I was jealous and every part of me envied her because she got your smile, that was suppose to be mine. She got you to laugh, where I made you sad. She made you happy by just being around you for a minute maybe even less, where as I made you hurt in places that's hard to heal" she says and then wipes her tears away again, shaking her head and turning away from me again. I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms, but I knew that would be a bad idea.
"I never meant to hurt you, I swear that wasn't my intention. My insecurities caused by a past that I wish I could forget, intensified the day I met you. You oozed danger and I knew it'll be emotional and mental suicide being anywhere near a guy like you. You scared me because the day I met you, the feeling I felt instantly towards you, scared me, the pull I felt Everytime you walked in a room, scared me. I was scared because I knew you could bring me to my knees, make me fall hard for you and then you could destroy me like no other man had before, not even the man that scarred me" she says wiping the tears away from her eyes and I so badly wanted to know more so I could rip that son of a bitch apart but she gave me no time to respond as she just kept going without looking at me, she seemed lost as she spoke.
"I knew the moment I met you, just how dangerous you would be to my already fucked up mental and emotional state. The night we spend together was nothing like I had convinced not only you but myself of, it was the most amazing and memorable night of my life and what I felt when I saw you laying in bed, petrified the shit out of me and my walls only grew because of that, it went so high up but yet you still managed to climb my thick walls, that I have build for so many years around my heart and I did what I had gotten use to doing, I ran! Convinced myself that you meant nothing to me, that I felt nothing when we were together that night. I convinced myself that you were bad, you could destroy me worse than he ever did..." She says and her voice broke on the end and I knew she was fighting against her cries of pain because she didn't want to look weak in front of me, I knew she hated looking vulnerable.
"Aurora..." I was saying but stopped myself because she shook her head, obviously not done yet.
"Please let me finish..." She whispered so softly and brokenly that it pulled on my heart to see this side of her. Kiara always said to Steph when he was being a bit hard on Aurora, that she isn't what she pretends to be, that she knows how soft and gentle Aurora really is and that things changed her, her demons she wouldn't even share with best friends but they all knew not to nag her about it. I understand now what she meant.
"I never wanted to admit that I felt something towards you the moment I met you, I didn't want to admit what you made me feel that night, I didn't want to admit how much all the romantic gestures and dates, letters and gifts meant to me, even though I never kept any of them, even though I declined all the dinner invitations. I didn't want to admit how I felt Everytime you walked into a room, I didn't want to admit to feelings I felt everytime you touched me, whether it was innocent or one of your teasings.
I didn't want to admit how it broke my heart to hurt you with all the things I've done and said to you, which none of it I meant or was even remotely close to the truth. I didn't want to admit any of these things, do you know why?" She asks clearly rhetorically, turning to look at me with the same emotions in her eyes that she had that night. And I held my breath for what I knew or hoped she would admit too, THIS COULD BE IT!
CUE SONG IN PROFILE ABOVE👆
"I was afraid too because then I would have to admit that I was madly in love with you, I don't know whether it started the night we met but I do know that night we met, I felt the connection but fought against it, I fought against my love for you but I will not be afraid anymore, I can't live in the past anymore. I am so sorry for everything I did to you... I truly am sorry. I love you Dante"
TO BE CONTINUED 😏
Hey guys 👋 Sooooo... Aurora finally admitted to Dante what she feels but I want to know what you all feel or think about her confession, and what do you think Maddie's up to? Please do send me your theories I would love to know what you think, whoever guesses her plans correctly, I will reward that person, how I'm not sure yet but I definitely will lol so send in your theories and we can discuss your reward😉 if you get it right that is 😏 Next update will be out on Monday, the last update before shit starts to go down, so hold onto your seats as it's going to get REAL, REALLY FAST 😉 Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please don't forget to comment and vote.💜
THANKS FOR READING
KIMMY 😘