Episode 61

Ashley's POV.
I stared, dumbfounded at her as she smiled down at me. She's Ric's sister? How is that possible? He had a sister? How is that possible?
I didn't wanna think much on that and instead took her hand.
"Rebecca," Ric finally spoke "typical of you to make the entrance"
"Typical of you to always acknowledge that, Ricky" she replied, drawing herself a chair and sitting down.
"Sorry if I offended you there by calling you Ricky's partner," she said to me, totally catching me off guard "it's impossible to know if you're his girlfriend or just one of his flings. You know he's never taken his life seriously"
I snorted a laughter.
"Thank you very much, Rebecca" Ric said with warning eyes.
"All I'm saying is that I like this one," she turns from him to me "I'm glad you don't have a thing for blonds anymore. I always loved dark haired women and she's beautiful"
I found myself blushing. "Thank you, you look vastly beautiful too"
"Oh my God," she said with much interest "why thank you"
I cannot forgive myself that I thought she could be Ric's ex, girlfriend or fling. I feel suddenly stupid. Looking at her eyes now, I suddenly saw the resemblance between them. The lips were just the same in shape. There was something identical about them and it's so hard to pin point due to the gender difference. She looked to be the same age with me or at most, a year older than me.
"What is your name?" She asked.
"Ashley"
"Waw, that's a beautiful name."
"Thank you"
"Well I'm famished. I better order something. Hello!" She called to the waiter standing away.
"Did you come here to talk with me or my girlfriend" Ric said, showing more jealousy than necessary. I found it cute.
"Now that I'm here, I think I'd rather just talk with her instead"
The waiter came and she made her order.
"You are such a selfish bastard, Ricky" I nearly choked on my drink as she said that the moment the waiter left.
"Could you please not insult me in front of my girlfriend" Ric said with gritted teeth.
Rebecca glances at me before smiling sheepishly and saying " I hope you don't mind Ashley, he has been an ass to me over the years"
"Of course not" I replied.
Ric threw me a pitiful glance, causing me to laugh. The waiter comes back with her food and served her. Soon we started eating.
"So, " Ric said to her " why are you in London?"
"I heard LION's CEO is gonna be in London so I thought, 'why not go and see the brother who abandoned me?'" she replied.
"I didn't abandon you, Rebecca. Can we not talk about that right now?"
"Fine. And I was just kidding. I didn't know before hand that you were gonna be in London. I came for an art gallery opening show my friend's doing here"
"Okay. How have you really been, Rebecca? With everything that happened and. . . . . . . . . "
" I tried and survived, Ricky and here I am"
Ric nods and resumed eating again.
"So you and victoria still in touch?" She asked, breaking the building silence.
"No," Ric replied "you of all people should know that"
" Of course, Ricky. But I heard about your project. 'Manhattan'?"
"Yeah"
"I passed by the place yesterday. Huge nice thing you're building there. A public park that comprises of a moll, an art gallery and a green yard. I must say, it's gonna be the next big thing many nation's ever seen, Ricky. You've really done yourself some work this time"
"Thanks."
"I also heard victoria wants it from you"
I glanced from her to Ric. He doesn't reply for a moment, then he took a sip of his wine and set it back down.
"Well that's not how I heard it," he replied " from what I heard. Some company wants to demolish it because it's not legal, because it's not built on the right spot. Now you tell me, Rebecca, what and what victoria can and cannot do. You were close with her back then"
She takes a moment to watch him, chewing slowly on the food in her mouth. Then she settled back into her chair and replied " I don't know what Victoria's been up to, Ricky. But I'll tell you one thing. You're playing with your life here if you think you could win against Victoria. Come on, Ricky, you know how she is"
"I know exactly how she is, Rebecca, that's why I'm gonna do this to the end. I'm not gonna run anymore"
"Sometimes you need to keep running if that keeps you alive" she shot back.
Ric's smile slowly turned into a frown as he watched her. Then he leaned across the table to her and said " did Victoria get into your head again? I thought you grew up already"
"She didn't get into my head, Ric. But you, better than anyone else, should know that going down the road with victoria over a mere building isn't something to attempt"
"Mere building? You eso knows what that building is, what it means to me and to you"
"Look I know Ric. You're doing this for mom,I get it"
"You're wrong. I'm not doing this for mom. I'm doing this for the greater good. For humanity. For people who aren't like us. If you still remembered how childhood was like you wouldn't say what you just said. Don't you just see what she's trying to do here? Are you seriously gonna watch this repeat itself?"
"Nothing is repeating itself Ric. Hand over the project to Victoria, Ricky. I already loosed you once, I don't wanna loose you again"
Ric settled back into his chair, nodding his head.
"You sit there and watch me, Rebecca" he said, anger still in his words.
Rebecca rose to her feet and grabbed her bag "that's what I came here to talk about, Ricky. I'll be leaving" turning to me ,she added "it was nice meeting you Ashley. I hope we can do this again"
I nodded with a smile before watching her walk out the way she came.
I turned back to see Ric. When his eyes caught mine his anger slowly subsided and he leaned across the table to take my hand.
"I'm sorry, Ashley" he said.
"You don't have to be sorry, Ric." I patted his hand. "Come on" I picked up my bag.
He walked us out and drove us away. I constantly thought about all Rebecca said. One time I'm supporting her wanting Ric to give up the project and in the next moment,I'm feeling conflicted about why she'd even say that. Didn't this project means anything to her like it meant to Ric?
Riccardo's POV.
I continued to glance at Ashley through the rearview mirror as she sat there, eyes fixed on the road. I knew exactly what ran through her mind and it hurt me deeply, knowing I'm the cause of her worry. I shouldn't have let her into all these, should've protected her against all of these madness.
When we returned to the hotel she barely said a word to me. And I got it. I'd nearly fucked up earlier with Rebecca around..even though she'd told me it was alright, I knew it wasn't. She was worried about me and my sister made it all worse when she talked about how dangerous Victoria was.
When we got back to our hotel room, I pulled her arm, stopping her from going any further.
"I have something to tell you" I told her.
She turns fully to me "yes?"
I looked down, Wondering where exactly to begin from.
"I know I said stupid things to my sister back there. I just can't give up that project, Ashley. It's the one thing mom has always been so passionate about. And when she said all that, I kinda hated her for it. It was like she suddenly forgot all about what Victoria did to us, what she took away from us"
She moves closer to me, her hand cradling my cheek and said "do you wanna talk about it? You know. . . . . Victoria?"
Talking about the past would only make things worse. As much as I wanted to let it off my chest already, I didn't wanna make her feel uncomfortable.
"Hey, you can tell me" she said, her gaze holding mine.
I looked into her eyes and all I saw were a beauty bed of ocean in her eyes as they stared back at me. God, I loved this woman. I felt my heart beat at the thought of that and before I knew it, I was leaning into her face. I placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and lingered there as I inhaled her scent. That fucking turned me on.
I pulled back and have her a smile "I think I'd rather tell you how much I love you"
She smiled sweetly, causing my heart to flutter.
I leaned in and kissed her lips gently, only pulling away to say "remember the first time you walked into my office? The first day I set eyes on you in my office? God you looked so fucking beautiful, I had to spend the day wondering if I've actually ever seen a woman as gorgeous as you"
She lets out a small laugh, leaning up to kiss me.
"Does you kissing me mean I can do what I'm about to do next?"
"What?"
"This" I swept her off her feet and strolled over to the bed, dumping her on it and climbing atop of her. She looked so adorable lying there beneath me, it drove me wild just thinking about the things I could do to her.
She rises to a sitting position and held my face in both palms, kissed my lips before running her hands over the edges of my shirt. I pulled it off instantly and leaned back to kiss her harder. She pulls her gown shoulders down her arms, revealing her bra hands on her shoulders. She looked so beautiful, I don't think I'll ever get enough of looking at her body.
"I want you to make love to, Ric," she whispered into my ear, causing me to shiver "so hard"
Her words instantly got me so hard,I wanted to rough her all over.
After discarding her clothes, I pinned her back on the bed and made love to her, each time a whole lot better than the first. Ashley made me feel things I only imagined possible and I fucking loved her, no words could express what I felt for her and between everything, I was scared she'd reject my love someday and leave me. Just like everyone else.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I stood tucking my shirt in a hanger when my phone started to ring. It was an unsaved number but I picked it anyway.
"Hello Riccardo"
The voice behind the voice was nothing to be mistaken.
Victoria.
"Victoria" I called back.
"You still know my voice,don't you?" She said.
"What's there to forget about you, Victoria? You never change" I shot back.
"my boys told me you weren't very nice to them the other day and that you wished to see me," she said "Very well, meet me tomorrow at the pool bar. 8a.m"
"I'll be there" I replied just in time before She cut the call and just like that my frown deepened.