I looked at the clock that was on the desk in my office. It was four in the morning and I was unable to get a wink of sleep. My mind wouldn't stop going over what was going to happen in just a few days. Damn... I was going to have to see her again.
I half-closed my eyes as I looked at the damn wedding invitation. There was nothing in this world that I hated more right now than a stupid ceremony where two people swore eternal love to each other: what a load of bullshit.
I had agreed to be the godfather because I wasn't such an asshole as to refuse, knowing that Lion didn't have a father and his brother Luca was an ex-convict who I didn't even know if they would let into the church. But as the day got closer, my mood worsened and I got more nervous.
I didn't want to see her... I had even spoken personally with Jenna, had tried to corner her into choosing, her or me, but Lion nearly beat the hell out of me for putting her in that position.
I had thought of a thousand and one excuses not to have to attend, but none justified being such a bastard as to abandon two of my best friends.
I got up from the armchair and went to the immense window that allowed me to contemplate those incredible views of New York City. There, standing on the 62nd floor, I felt so far from everyone... so far from anyone, that an icy cold ran through me completely. That was what I was, an iceberg, a block of ice.
Those ten months had been a nightmare, I had gone down to hell, had done it alone, had burned myself and had risen again from the ashes. The smiles were over, the dreams were over, feeling anything more than simple carnal desire for someone was over. Standing there, far from the world, I had turned myself into my own prison, mine alone, no one else's.
I heard someone's footsteps behind me and then a pair of hands wrapped around me from behind. I didn't even flinch, I no longer felt anything, I simply existed.
"Why don't you come back to bed?" asked the voice of that girl I had met just a few hours earlier in one of the best restaurants in the city.
My life now was reduced to only one thing: work. I worked and worked, earned more and more money, and then started all over again.
Only two months had passed since the anniversary of Leister Enterprises, when my grandfather Andrew decided that he was tired of this world and that he wanted to leave it. If I have to admit something, it is that it was that moment, the instant I received the call informing me of his death, when I allowed myself to finally break down. It was in that instant when they took from me yet another person I loved that I understood that life is shit: you give your heart to someone, you let them guard that part of you only to later discover that not only did they not take care of it the way you expected, but they crushed it until it bled; and then, the people who truly loved you, the people who since the day you were born decided to protect you, one day they decide to leave this world without even warning, they go without leaving a trace and you are left alone without even understanding what has happened, asking yourself why they had to leave...
That said, he hadn't left without leaving a trace, no: he had left behind a very important document, a document that changed my life and gave it a radical turn.
My grandfather had left me absolutely everything. Not only his house in Montana and all his many properties, but he had left me Leister Enterprises, entirely. Not even my father had received part of his inheritance, although it wasn't as if he needed it, he was already leading one of the best law associations in the country, but my grandfather had bequeathed me his entire empire, including Leister Corporations, the company that together with my father's dominated a large part of the country's financial sector. I had always longed to be part of the world of finance with my grandfather, but I had never wanted it all to fall from the sky for me.
So, all of a sudden, I had been forced to take on that position that I had so longed for and had officially become the owner of an empire, and all of that at the early age of twenty-four.
I had thrown myself so much into work, into proving that I was capable of overcoming any obstacle, into proving that I could be the best, that no one doubted my abilities anymore. I had reached the top... and yet, I couldn't ignore how broken I felt inside.
I turned to look at the brunette girl who had wanted to entertain me for a few hours. She was slim, tall, had blue eyes and perfect breasts, but she was nothing more than a pretty body. I didn't even remember her name. In fact, she should have already left, since I had made it clear to her that I only wanted to fuck and that when we finished I would gladly call her a taxi to take her home. Nevertheless, seeing her there, after feeling so broken and angry at having to face a situation that enraged me more than I could admit, I felt the urge to at least release part of the tension my body seemed to be accumulating.
Her hands went up over my chest while her eyes sought mine.
"I have to admit that the rumors about you weren't unfounded," she said pressing herself against me in a tempting way.
I grabbed her hands by the wrists and stopped her caress.
"I don't care what they might say about me," I replied sharply. "It's four in the morning and in half an hour I'm going to call you a taxi, so you'd better make the most of the time."
Despite the harshness of my words, the girl smiled.
"Of course, Mr. Leister."
I clenched my jaw tightly and simply allowed her to continue. I closed my eyes and let myself be carried away by the momentary pleasure and simple physical satisfaction, trying not to feel the emptiness I had inside. Sex was no longer what it used to be, and for me... even better that way.
(Above mentioned words are all from the book of Culpa Nuestra, Spanish book written by Mercedes Ronn, I just traslated this in English if you want to communicate with me ...my Instagram account @_._priyeah_._)
Be ready for chapter 4 guys...