CHAPTER 71: DREADFUL POSSIBILITY

Instead of it being completely impossible, I knew that I was just desperately hoping that it wasn’t true. If what Rosabella told me was true, then somehow my mother had ended up marrying the ex-boss of the largest mafia gang in the country, and we were now a part of that family. Just thinking about it sent a shiver running down my spine and made my throat go dry. A lump formed in my throat, and it was difficult to swallow as anxiety built up inside of me. As I returned to the office building, it felt like I saw everything from a completely different perspective and in a very different light. The luxurious and modern office building felt like it had a mysterious secret that it was desperately trying to hide. I couldn’t help but stare at every single person I walked past as I wondered if they were actually mafia gang members. The men and women dressed in pristine suits who hurried about their duties didn’t look like they belonged to the underground world at all. Although I hadn’t been running or exerting myself, I felt oddly out of breath by the time that I arrived back at Raphael’s office.

"You’re back. What took you so long?" Raphael asked the moment that I entered the room. I almost jumped out of my skin when his intense gaze landed on me, and I realized that he must have been waiting for me.

"Is it time to go home now?" I asked while evading his question.

"Answer my question first. What took you so long?" he asked, unwilling to let it go.

"I was with Rosabella. We went to the cafe’ and we just shared some girl talk," I ended up lying to him even though I wasn’t sure that there was a need to.

For some reason, I couldn’t find it in me to tell him about exactly what we discussed. I found it difficult to talk about both his upcoming engagement and also the fact that Rosabella had revealed the truth behind his family business. I wanted to hear the truth from him, but at the same time, I realized that I was also frightened to hear the truth. I had no idea what I would do if what Rosabella said was in fact true.

"I see. I hope she’s not bothering you too much about the engagement. If you find it troublesome, you could just tell her so and she can deal with it by herself," Raphael said without much care.

I was reminded that I also had many questions regarding his engagement. Funny enough, all of those questions had to do with the future of our secret relationship rather than anything else. I found it slightly ironic that I considered that I had a relationship with Raphael because that wasn’t exactly true. I wasn’t even sure what it was that we had, if we ever had anything going on between us.

"Well, Rosabella hired a team of professional organizers to help her out, so I’m sure that there is nothing for us to worry about. I’m quite certain that the engagement would go perfectly even without my help," I replied honestly.

"That’s not what I was worried about," he said before turning away from me.

I watched Raphael’s movements in silence as he flipped through some pages of a document that was laid out on his table. Raphael seemed deep in thought as well, and silence settled in the room as we both got engulfed in our own thoughts. Soon enough, I found myself just staring at his face without saying anything as I wondered if Raphael was also trying desperately to keep the truth about his family business a secret. Without knowing it, I had already started to believe in Rosabella’s words even though I didn’t have any real proof.

"Gail. Gail!"

"Y-Yes?" I replied, stuttering as I snapped out of my own thoughts. Raphael was staring directly at me, and from the look that he had on his face, I could tell that that wasn’t the first time that he had called my name. I must have been so lost in my own thoughts that I failed to hear him.

"I’m sorry. I was just..." I began apologizing.

"What were you thinking about? I called your name so many times, but it seems like you couldn’t hear me. What’s got you concentrating so hard?" he asked as he slowly got up from his seat and approached me. I hated the way that my heart leapt fast and hard in my chest when he came close to me. Raphael stared directly at my face with a slightly worried expression, and I could tell that he was worried about me. I must have been acting besides myself, but I was certain that he could never imagine why I was really reacting that way.

"It’s nothing. I was just thinking about, you know, work..." I replied with the first excuse I could come up with. My mind couldn’t have been any further away from thinking about work, but that seemed like the only topic that was safe and hopefully wouldn’t lead to too many challenging questions. I quickly found out that I was far from being ready to confront Raphael about this matter.

What am I supposed to do if the rumor turns out to be true? Should I tell my mother? Would she believe me? Would she break up with Bennett? Should we just run away together?

Many questions flooded my mind like endless waves, and I couldn’t stop thinking about them. The sad truth was that no matter how hard I thought about them, I couldn’t find the answers, and I didn’t know what or who to believe.

They say that there can’t be smoke without fire. If that was true, then there’s got to be a certain degree of truth behind the rumors that have failed to die down even after so many years.

"Work? Are you starting to like this job?" Raphael asked, and I could hear the hope in his voice.

"I guess...I don’t hate it," I replied softly.

–To be continued...