Chapter 24- NEW YOU

Leonardo had been up since early morning, driving throughout town to find both his mother and his wife and there was no signs of either of them. He had not eaten a single morsel of food and neither had he drank anything.

Calling his mother's line was useless and her not picking up her phone was a sign that she was probably not on her best behavior. His father on the other hand did not seem bothered by his wife's absence, so much that Leonardo wondered why his parents had stayed married all these years.

He stood at the balcony, looking both left and right of the road outside his family home and yet not sign of the family car.

'You need to stop worrying about your mother like that, you have a wife now" Leonardo gripped onto the railings as he heard his old man's voice behind him.

'I would not be worrying about my mother if you had worried about her as you should have been, therefore I think you are the last person that should speak about what a good husband should be like" He told his father as he clenched his jaw.

'You have a point there. Anyways, I suggest you speak to that wife of yours" his father pointed out. The mere mention of his wife caught Leonardo's attention as he spun around to face his father, man to man.

'What do you want with my wife?" Leonardo angrily asked his father, balling his fist, readying himself to defend his wife. His father's lips curled into a smile as he raised his hands midway as a sign of surrender.

'Oh my bad for speaking about your dear wife, I was not aware that you were that into her. She must taste—" Leonardo gripped his father's collar and pushed him back so that his back slammed into the wall behind them.
He could feel his face heat up, his grip around his father's collar getting tighter as he angrily looked into the older man's eyes.

'Be careful how you speak about my wife, be it my father or not, I will not allow you to over step your boundaries" Leonardo told his father but Metteo Romano laughed at his son even though he was in a compromising position.

'Oh goodness, there are days when I am forced to believe that you are not my son"

'I would leap for joy if I were to find that I was not your son but unfortunately, the Romano blood runs through my veins and I dread that" he told his father, every word leaving his mouth being nothing but the truth.
Shutting his eyes and allowing himself to breath, Leonardo let go of his father's collar and stepped back. He watched as his father fixed his collar and wiped himself down.

'Now that we have that out of the way, I want to see your wife in my office when she gets home"

'Why would you want my wife in your office?"

'Let us be men about this, you only married Avena Russo because we needed some of their lands for the expansion of our vineyards and they needed our family name to boost their status"

'And?"

'And that means that I need her to sign over some of the lands that her family owns to me" his father told him with a straight face. Leonardo smiled, nothing his father ever did surprised him any longer, and the man was greedy and hungry for power at any cost.

'Avena's mother and father are missing the least you could do is to wait for them to come back before you start taking over their lands"

'I do not care whether Giovanni and Mia are missing or not, I no longer need them. All I need is Avena Russo's signature on that contract and then I can have my lands"

'She is now Avena Romano, not Russo and those are her lands, not yours!" Leonardo raised his voice at his father even though he knew that nothing could get through his old man if his mind was already made up.

'I do not care! Make sure that she signs them"

'And if not? Leonardo dared his father and he was surprised to see the smile on his old man's face.

'Well, then prepare to become a widower" his father told him before walking away. His father's words rung in his ears as Leonardo realized just how dangerous his father truly was and how often he made due on his promise.


Leonardo swallowed the lump in his throat, hoping that it would take the nervous feeling away from his body. He turned as he heard the honking of the car horn and he saw that the drier was at the gate. His settled a bit, knowing that both his wife and mother had returned home and without thinking, he turned away from the balcony and made his way down. Climbing down the marble stairs, two steps at a time, subtle anger flowed through his veins and he did not know whom he would take it out on first. Both his mother and wife had gone against his orders and in turn, he was highly disappointed in them.

As his feet landed of the last step, his mother and wife both stepped in, smiling with one another.

'Oh! My son, I did not know that you would be here?" his mother smiled at him when Leonardo could only stare at her.

'Where else would I be, if not at home mother? Hello Avena, my lovely wife" Leonardo angled his head so that he could look at Aurora. Even as Leonardo teased her, his mind was still smacked by her beauty.

Her peach colored dress fitted her perfectly, perhaps too perfectly so that it hugged every inch of her body, revealing smooth terrains of body that he was not aware of. Standing before him, both women were quiet, looking everywhere but at Leonardo who patiently awaited their answers.

Even as he waited, half his attention focused on Aurora as she played with her hands, another thing she did whenever she was nervous. A little smile broke from his lips as he realized that he had truly married a gem of a woman.

'Why are you smiling?" Leonardo quickly reverted his attention to his mother who questioned him.

'Huh"

'I asked you, why are you smiling?" Signora Carina repeated her question, this time a sly smile plastered on her face as she realized just who had caught her son's attention.

'Nothing… I was just thinking of a time when I caught my students lying about something" Leonardo lied. But then quickly cleared his throat.

'Okay, I will pretend I did not see that"

'See what, mother?"

'Nothing, don't mind me, I am just an old lady" Leonardo rolled his eyes, realizing that his mother was about to play the pity party game all over again. Leonardo almost smiled but quickly straightened his face.

'Mother, I ask again, where have the two of you been?"

'Shopping!" Aurora answered from behind her mother in-law.

'Yes… I and Avena went shopping" signora Carina backed her daughter in-law, a response which got them a questionable stare from Leonardo.

'Okay"

'Okay?" signora Carina asked her son, surprised that Leonardo had believed them so easily.

'Yes, is there anything else that you would like to tell me?" He asked, staring his mother down, waiting for her to dig a deeper hole for herself.

'No, nothing at all. I will head up to my room and I will leave you and your wife here. See you later Mi hoja" Signora Carina planted a kiss on her son's cheeks before climbing up the stairs.

Leonardo watched as his mother carefully took her time climbing up the steps until she was gone, Aurora tried walking past him but Leonardo blocked her way.

'Why are blocking my way? I want to go upstairs, wearing heels the whole day is not as easy as you think" Aurora complained but nothing she said mattered to Leonardo because his face was blank and unreadable.

'Where did you and my mother go?"
Don't tell him the truth. She kept thinking to herself as she looked up at Leonardo who towered over her.

'Like your mother told you, we went shopping" Aurora told him, in a less than convincing tone.

'Where are the shopping bags" Leonardo asked, looking behind his wife for evidence of shopping bags.

'The store will deliver it" Aurora answered without thinking, shutting her eyes as she lied to him. Leonardo kept quiet, so much that she opened her eyes and he was there looking at her.

'Funny you should say that, because I drove all around town and in every store I went to, the owners said that you and my mother were not there. So I ask once more, where did you and my mother go?" He asked one more time, this time Leonardo's tone of voice more stern.

Realizing that she was caught out, Aurora batted her eye lids and her lips quivered.

'We were at the club, the Golden Anchor club" she confessed, without warning, Leonardo punched the air and swore.

'How could you allow her to go there?" he raised his voice at her.

'Why are you blaming me? She is old enough to make her own decision" Aurora fired back, her response rendering Leonardo speechless.

'Can I ask you a simple question and please do not lie to me?"

'Ask away" Aurora told him but deep down she hoped that his question would not require her to break any promises that she had made to her mother in-law.

'Did my mother have any alcohol while you two were at the club?" Leonardo's question had rocked Aurora, the one question that she did not want to answer.

'No, she did not" she heard herself respond to Leonardo as he stared at her deep in her eyes and she quickly looked away from him.

'You are lying to me"

'How would you know that? You don't know me" Aurora fought back, not tolerating Leonardo's analysis on her.

'I know mother and there is no possible way that she would be at the club and not take a sip of alcohol. I love my mother and I am only trying to protect her"

Please do not tell Leonardo about what had happened here. Aurora remembered the promise that she had made to her mother in-law on their way home. In as much as she wanted to tell him the truth, she feared that breaking her promise to her mother in-law would ruin the relationship between them.

For a long time Aurora had longed for a mother of her own and Signora Carina had become the mother she needed. Giving her up would mean that signora Carina would no longer trust her.

'No, she did not drink any alcohol" Aurora lied, her heartbreaking every time she lied she was becoming someone that she no longer recognized.