Chapter 71- BLACKMAILER

Ricardo slowly walked towards Aurora, looking into her eyes and nowhere else. Fear ran through her as she walked a few steps back, until her back was met with the wall but luckily for her, Ricardo stopped right in front of her but never once taking his eyes off her.

'Then you better get prepared for him to find out who you truly are, because if I want something, I make sure to get that thing" Ricardo informed her and as he spoke, every word he said rang fear into all who were ready to listen.

'I am not a thing, I am not an object of pleasure and don't you ever forget that" Aurora warned him, pointing her index finger at him.

'I know that you're not a thing, you are a human being and you are my new obsession. You see, Leonardo has taken so much for me while we were growing up…I think it is only fair that I take you from him as well. If it means taking you and destroying my friendship with him, I would do it and it is about time that he gets what is coming to him" Ricardo's brutal honesty had come as a shock to Aurora that someone whom her husband trusted would say such things.

'So you are out for revenge, when all my husband did for you was to be a brother to you"

'You make it so obvious that you were nothing but a poor girl before all this, because rich people do not think like you do. It is true what they say, you can take a horse to the river but you can't make the horse drink from the river"

'I might be poor but I have a good heart, but that's not something that you can boast off"

'Neither can your husband boast of having a good heart as well! He makes himself seem so innocent but he is not worthy of being called that" Ricardo's words lingered in the air and left Aurora wondering what Ricardo was on about or was it just another one of his scare tactics to try to make her change her mind about marrying her husband once more.

'I know what you're trying to do but I won't fall for it, my husband is a good man" Aurora defended her husband against Ricardo.

'You can say whatever you want sweet Aurora, but mark my words when you find out about your husband and who he truly is, you won't think so highly of him"

'You are just trying to make me doubt my husband"

'I will not stand here and argue with you, I already told you what I wanted from you. You have three days to make up your mind because when push comes to shove, I will ruin that wedding" Ricardo threatened her.

'You're such an evil man" She told him bitterly.

'At least I don't walk around pretending to be who I am not. I love money but I want you more because once again, you are my obsession. I will be damned if I allow Leonardo to take what belongs to me once again" Aurora watched Ricardo walk back towards his bed and sat down, making sure to look at her in the eyes as if he were telling her to say another word to him.

'Mind you, I will not be coming back to your house. Tell your husband that I have a few loose strings to tie up, I mean it's not that like you will tell him that I offered you to be mine. You have just three days to make up your mind about what I said, otherwise there might not be a wedding and you will lose both me and Leonardo"

'You're such a—" Aurora tried arguing but Ricardo raise his hand up and stopped her.

'There is no use trying to scold me, please leave my room and take your things along with you. Shut my door while you're at it"

Feeling as though she had lost the war, Aurora's body felt drained of all the energy and this left her feeling sick that someone both her husband and herself considered a friend turned out to be their biggest enemy.

Aurora crunched down and reached for both her cheque book and pen, and slowly placing it in her bag as she began walking out of the room. With each step that she took, Aurora knew that her time was running out and there were only three days left before all her dreams were destroyed.
The trip down the elevator was the saddest trip that she had ever taken in her life, Aurora's mind was filled with so much ideas of how Leonardo would feel when he would find out the truth. She could only imagine the sadness on his face as the truth would come out.

She grabbed onto her handbag as the doors came open and she walked out of the guest house, deciding on what she would do when she gets home. One side of her mind told her that she should tell her husband the truth when the other had told her to keep it all to herself. Standing at the exterior of the guest house, Aurora had one hand placed on her stomach as she tried to feel the connection with her unborn child

With her eyes filled with tears, she slowly walk home not paying attention to where she was headed but allowing intuition to lead her back to a place that she now called home.

**
Leonardo received yet another letter from the very same person that was trying to blackmail him. This time he was given only three days to leave his wife, otherwise his secret will be revealed. The secret that he had tried so hard to keep, the secret revealing that he was a murderer.

He had lived his entire life trying to forget the one mistake of his youth, the one that had caused him pain all these years and now someone was trying to ruin his life with that very same mistake. All Leonardo could think of was how his wife would feel when she finds out that the man that she loved and trusted was a murderer that he killed someone that did not deserve it.

He swallowed a lump in his throat as he thought of all the ways he could try to get through to the blackmailer. Anger rose up inside him as Leonardo wanted nothing else but to take his fist and slam it repeatedly into the wall. He stopped himself, the last thing he wanted was to hurt himself and have his wife ask questions that he could not answer.

Leonardo looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was nearly three in the afternoon and his wife would be back from the cake testing sooner than later. Leonardo knew that it was best that he get his emotions under control, he had to find out who it was that was trying to blackmail him and now he only had three days left before this truth might be revealed to the rest of the world.

Years ago, Ricardo had taken the fall for something that Leonardo had done and for that he was forever be grateful for that. But now that the blackmailer was planning to reveal what he had done all those years ago, he had no doubt that Ricardo covering for him like he had done all those years ago would help solve matters.

All those years ago he was upset and he had done something that ended up with taking someone's life, Ricardo being the good friend that he was had taken the fall for something that Leonardo had done.

From that day onwards, Leonardo had never allowed his anger get the best of him. Years ago, his anger had caused him to take an innocent life and until this day he regretted it.

Wiping the burning tears from his eyes, Leonardo walked his way towards the kitchen and began cooking. The only thing that made him feel good other than being around his wife was cooking.
This time, Leonardo did not want to do or say something that will cause his wife any harm or any harm to the unborn child. For now, he will play it cool and he would find a way to deal with this blackmailer.

**

Aurora stood at the entrance of her home, looking at the white door, gold locks and she smiled at herself as happiness filled. Growing up, she had never had a home to call her own, now she had it. She also had a beautiful child on the way and a loving husband too.

As quickly as the feeling of happiness overtook her, the feeling of sadness was not too far away. Aurora thought of how all was about to be ripped away from her in just three days, if she had not made up her mind. The thought of leaving Leonardo, the man who had showered her with so much love, more love than anyone had ever showered her before.

Without hearing her husband's voice, she could already smell the sweet scent of food coming from within the house. She wiped away the last of her tears and walked into the house, plastering a fake smile on her face.

Walking into the house she could see her husband in the kitchen frying whatever it was that he was frying and just as though he knew she was there, he turned around and looked at her with a smile on his face.

'Welcome home my love" Leonardo told his wife, his voice filled with nothing but sweetness as he wiped his hands on to the dish cloth. Leonardo made his way towards his wife and he realized that her eyes were puffy and red. She had been crying and it was evident, his heart dropped to his stomach as he thought that the blackmailer might have told Aurora what he had done in his past. He quickly walked towards his wife touching the side of her cheeks, looking at her everywhere to make sure that she was not hurt.

'Who hurt you? Tell me, did anyone tell you something that made you upset" he asked her. Moving his hands away from her face, he held her hands in his and looked deep into her eyes.

'It's nothing, I promise. I guess it's just the hormones" She lied, as lies had become part of her everyday life.

She hated lying to him every single time but when there was a lie as big as this, she had no other choice but to lie to him that she was Aurora and not Avena.

The Italian's Runaway Bride
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