Chapter 82- SELFISH

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, very much materialistic and he could not see a future with her in any form or shape.

'You don't look too happy" Ricardo leaned in to whisper into his best friend's ear.

'Why would anyone be happy in a situation like this? I'm just here because I have to be"

'I see" Ricardo responded, stepping back as they heard the pianist play the piano and pretty soon Avena walked out. She was accompanied into the church by her father as she walked towards Leonardo who stood at the podium.

There was no smile on Leonardo's face and neither were there butterflies fluttering around in his stomach, because there was no feeling of nervousness other than nausea and wanting to leave the church after every step Avena walked towards him.

Avena had opted not to go to wear a veil as a father walked to the podium until they arrived before Leonardo.

'Who is this man that is giving this young woman's hand away?" The priest asked and with a smile on his face, Avena's father turned his head towards his daughter.

'I Giovanni Russo am giving my daughter Avena Russo away" He answered proudly. Signor Giovanni kissed his daughter on her forehead and left her at the altar, whilst he took his seat.

'Dearly beloved, we are here to witness the union between Leonardo Romano and Avena Russo and if anyone here has any reason why this two should not be joined together please speak now or forever hold your peace"

Everyone in the church looked at one other and there was no one standing up to object to the wedding until they heard someone object. Avena's eyes grew wide in shock as she looked Leonardo in the eyes, because he was the one who had objected to the wedding.

'Leonardo, what are you doing?" Avena whispered to him, looking very annoyed that he would do such a thing. Whilst still angry she kept looking at the crowd and putting on a smile. Leonardo smirked, in the last few days he had come to understand that Avena was good at playing her cards and when it came to pretending, she was a master of her craft.

'I said I object to the wedding! Should I repeat myself you asked?" Sensing the sudden change in the atmosphere, Ricardo leaned in closer to Leonardo.

'Leonardo think about what you are doing" Leonardo's anger rose and he turned to face Ricardo, who was supposed to be his best friend and all Leonardo felt was betrayal.

'You are the last person that should be speaking to me about anything, you were supposed to be my friend! Who knew I was feasting with the enemy all along" Leonardo's words left Ricardo stunned so much that his pupils grew wider. Without warning, Signora Carina walked towards her son on the stage, angrily pointing her finger at him.

'Leonardo you are not going to embarrass me and your father like this, you will get married if it's the last thing I make you do" She warned him. Leonardo turned to face his mother and he could feel nothing other than disappointment and disgust. This was woman that was there for him all his life but when there was money involved, she was his biggest enemy. The past four days had been an eye-opener to Leonardo as he figured out who was truly there for him and who his enemies were.

With a lump in his throat and hurt beyond measures, mainly due to what his family had done to him, Leonardo walked down from the podium what his family had done to him and he stopped right in front of his mother. Just looking down at his mother, left Leonardo feeling broken.

'You call yourself my mother but when it comes down to selling me off, you would not hesitate to do it" Leonardo told his mother, whose face reddened as she heard her son talk to her in such a manner.

'I will not allow you to speak to me like that!"

'Can you please stop acting, mother!" Leonardo grunted his words. He was beyond angry that his mother had been his biggest enemy all along and even as she stood before him, she continued lying to him.

'After all that I have done—"

'What have you done for me?"

'I have done a lot for you, I made sure that you did not go to jail"

'Can you please stop with that lie! You and I both know that I would not have been in jail in the first place!" Leonardo raised his voice at his mother. It hurt him to speak to his mother like that, but he knew that he had no other choice. The woman in front of him had ruined his life, for years he had lived live with the guilt of murder.

'What are you saying?"

'Tell me to my face that you did not know that I was not the one who shot my wife's mother that very day" He told his mother. Looking deep into his mother's eyes, trying to spot for any signs of lies. And just like clockwork, there was the glint in her eyes and before she could even open her mouth to lie, he knew.

'You were the one who shot that woman that day, you took your father's gun remember?" His mother accused him and with every accusation Leonardo felt as though a knife had been pierced into his heart.

'Don't bother lying, I know what happened that day. Because even if you lie, the truth remains that I had a gun, Ricardo had a gun and we both shot at the very same time"

'I know that you two shot at the same time, but it was your bullet that killed that woman and you know that!" His mother accused him, yelling at him as though he were some child who needed disciplining. Beads of sweat ran down this forehead, he looked between his best friend and mother as his mother lied to him

'You could have just told me the truth" Leonardo told his mother, emotions welling up inside him.

'What truth son?" Leonardo's father stood up from his seat and walked towards him, trying to defend his wife at any cost.

'Father it is best that you stay out of this, because as evil and conniving as you are, mother is the brains behind this operation"

'I don't know what you're trying to do but you will get up on that podium and you will marry Avena" His mother pointed her index finger at him and then at Avena.

'I will do no such thing"

'I have done so much for you" his mother told him, reminding of him all the things that she had done to make sure that he was out of jail. Once more using guilt to win him over.

'Mother enough with that line! I know that Ricardo and I shot at the very same time but there was nothing in my gun! My gun shot blanks that day and you knew it" Letting out all that pinned up anger, he yelled at his mother.

'You are lying"

'Mother I am not lying, you are the one who's lying. You knew that I did not shot that woman and it was Ricardo who shot her, but you kept me under your control using that one lie. Almost all my life I felt guilty for something that I did not do, I was so stupid. I could have gone and checked up on the woman but I allowed Ricardo convince me that I should run and that he would handle it" Looking at his mother's facial expression, he knew that she was caught out in a web of her own lies. Removing his attention from his mother, Leonardo turned to face Ricardo.

'You knew you killed my wife's mother all those years ago but you pretended to take the fall for me. All those years ago you and your family went behind my back, made a deal with my parents so that you, Ricardo could take the blame in return my parents paid your parents hush money.

It all made sense how come your parents were bankrupt but all of a sudden they came into money. You and your family made money off of my pain, till this day you continue to do it but today I say no more"

'You don't have any evidence" Ricardo told him, worried that he was caught out.

'Is that what you think? Because I have all the evidence I need" Leonardo answered as he smiled at his soon-to-be ex best friend. Returning his focus to his parents and the Russo's who were just as shocked as everyone else including the priest.

'You know they always say, do good to others and they will do good unto you. Luckily for me, I stumbled across none other than Mr. Brown" Upon mentioning Mr. Brown's name his mother and father looked worried.

'You see, Mr. Brown knew that there was no way that I had killed someone so he did some digging and he found the exact same files that you and father were trying to make disappear. Those files had all the evidence that would turn things around, the files showed that it was Ricardo's gun that fired the bullet that killed my wife's mother" Leonardo informed everyone, both Leonardo's parents looked at the ground. They were too ashamed to look at their son and their reaction to what Leonardo had said was more than enough for him to realize that he had just told the truth.

'I don't know what is going on here but we have a wedding together and the longer we wait, the longer this process will drag" Avena jumped in to speak, her voice only irritating Leonardo.

'Shut up!" Leonardo yelled at Avena, he was too upset and the last thing he wanted was for Avena to complain.

'I have never met such a self-absorbed person such as yourself and for such reasons I am so happy that I married Aurora rather than you. She is so different to you…She's loving and caring—"

'Shut up! It is always about Aurora, everyone loves her, everyone cares about her but no one ever cares about me!!" Avena lashed out, throwing her flower bouquet onto the floor in frustration.

'So is that why you came up with all those lies about Aurora?" Leonardo asked her and Avena fell silent.

'I did not come up with anything, Aurora has always been jealous of the wealth that I have"

'Funny you should say that, because it doesn't take so much digging for me to find out that you had run away with your lover out of your own free will. I thought it was going to be difficult getting the truth out of that lover of yours, but I got out a few dollars and he sank like a bird. You are such a selfish woman, you are out here calling my wife selfish when she put her life on the line so that she could save your family's name" Leonardo spoke to Avena, not hiding the disgusted look on his face.

The doors to the church swung open, revealing two men in their suits and they walked towards the podium.