Divergent Attraction

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

ENZO

I watched the NDA packet being tossed around from person to person. My lawyer, Thomas passed it to Isa's lawyer, Salvador. I noticed him around firms here and there. Especially around Luis's Davis law firm, which I now learned belonged to Nova. It's likely she could care less for it, but that is one great asset she has to take upon. Even if she doesn't have a law degree, the business is under her name. It's a gold mine. 

I wondered if Luis thought that was a smart idea considering most of his co-workers work for half of our organization. Lawyers in the mob are highly recommended. They don't ask you things unless needed and you won't tell them things unless it comes down to court. 

"Everything looks well written and good to sign." Thomas placed it in the middle. My father being the man he is, skimmed through the packet once more.

"The tricky part about this meeting is Thomas and I work under Davis Affirmative Law as a team. Though it's unheard of to go against different sides within the same firm, we will work our way around that." Salvador said.

"It's a small word I guess." Isa giggled. She had no care in the world that I forced her into this. The moment money came into the aspect, she jumped on the idea and forgave me for my harshness in the past. She never really cared about the comment I made, which boiled my blood. People were giving me hell for it, and here she is not caring and getting all the clout she needed. 

I hoped being married to her wouldn't be so bad. I've had sex with her once and she was good maybe she was still good in bed. She isn't Nova, though. I imagined Nova would be better in everything. Better at sex, better at loving me and being my wife.

"It's a good route to go." Father's Campaign manager, Livy spoke up from the corner of the room. She moved her blonde hair from her shoulders and walked closer to my father. Her hands touched his shoulders and I suddenly became sick of the idea that my father was still banging chicks at his age. It was obvious between the two of them,  it always has been. "Considering Isa is the woman Enzo offended, we can say they made up and fell madly in love with each other. Isa has a good amount of supporters on the web. Once she speaks up for her fiance, they will all jump on board." 

Father squirmed her hands away from his shoulders. He was in deep thought. He nodded after Livy spoke, agreeing with everything she was saying. He pushed the papers towards me and told me to sign. His thick index finger stabbed the paper. 

If I was to sign this, there would be no going back. If I was to back out after signing. I would owe Isa a chunk of money. Even now I would owe her just for keeping quiet about all of this.

But something, or someone was telling me not to sign. Even if Nova was so upset with me, I had a feeling she wouldn't want me to go with it.

"Sign it," Father demanded. I shook my head and pushed the papers back. "Dammit Enzo! Sign the damn papers!"

Livy clasped her hands together, knowing very well this conversation was about to get personal. "Let's give them a moment gentlemen, and Isa. Have you seen the rooftop view of the headquarters, it is to die for." Livy guides them all out of the room and stops right at the door to stare at us. "A decision is needed as soon as possible. The election is two weeks away. It's not looking good for us this year."

Father gripped the arms of his chair. "Have you heard of parasocial interaction?" 

I looked at him as if he was stupid. Of course I have, Livy only explained it to me a million times. 

Father continued on. "Maybe I was wrong about you going for Nova Davis, maybe not. But at the moment, I need you to screw your head on. You are the face of the election this year. No thanks to your show, when people search up my name you come up. Therefore I need you to make things right and marry, settle down, and make the groupies fall In love and the housewives wish it was them. I don't fucking care. It can be Isa, it can be Davis. I would prefer Davis, but only lord knows what you did to screw that up. Either way, you need to do your duty for my sake and the sake of the Marino name. I already spoke with Aldo. If you don't make an hier we are done for. So, do your duty son, and fuck one of the damn whores."

My fist clenched tight, I could feel my nails digging into my skin. Hate is a strong word, used to only dismiss those you wish were dead. I didn't mind using the word on my father. The word wasn't strong enough to describe how I felt about him.

If I had to abide by my father's rules I was going to enjoy every moment of it. I told Salvador to back off. The deal was over and told Thomas to get her price for keeping this an NDA.

I had to make a very important phone call to the girl I would rather marry.

I rushed to my car and called Nova the moment I stepped inside. When being transferred to voicemail, I pressed my forehead against the steering wheel. 

"I know I fucked it up between us. There's no going back from the things I said to you yesterday. But I don't take back how I feel about you. I'm not going to ask you to marry me, because I know that is unethical for you. I couldn't care less about my father and his wishes. Hell, I hope he fucking loses the election. He's no better than the rest of us. He's done far worse than me and anyone in this organization. What do you say we go away for a bit, me and you? Hide from the cruelty of this world?"

 I leaned back in my seat. The cold water fell from my eyes as I finally broke. "I hate this life I built. I hate waking up feeling like complete shit. I hate seeing the faces of those I wiped out from the earth. Every day I can hear their screams begging me to not end their life. But I still do it. I don't know why, I don't know how it benefits me, all I know is I was trained from a young age to live like this. Anything outside of this world of mine is scary as hell, but I hungered for it."

Releasing a chuckle I finished off with, "So maybe I am a Neanderthal after all. Anyway, all I know is that I want to have my own world, one with you in it. One where I don't have to worry about money and laundering all the damn time. That life is tiring, but then there's my father. I-"

The phone ended my voice message. I looked at the phone wishing or even hoping that one message got sent. With anger, I slammed my phone onto the steering wheel. The phone buzzed in my hand and I prayed it was Nova returning my call. I would have to ask her to delete that message because I am starting to feel embarrassed for saying those things. And even crying. That's way out of my character.

Instead, it was Stefanie. Nova told me weeks ago to take down her number in case something ever happened to her phone.

So maybe it can be Nova still.

"Hello?" I answered.

With a panic tone, Stefanie cried, "She's-she's gone!" she shouted through the phone.

"What?" 

"Nova! She's not here. Things are broken in her apartment and Her suitcase is still here. Enzo, her phone is here." 

In a rush, I started my car and drove off to head North. "Ok, calm down," 

"Don't tell me to fucking calm down!" Stefanie shouted. "My best friend is missing and it's probably your fault! I don't know what kind of crime you have going but you need to fix this, now!" With her voice calming down I hear her say, "Oh God, I'm going to vomit." 

I wasn't sure how fast I was going when I reached the highway. "I'll be there soon, don't touch anything, and don't move anything. I don't know what this could be about. Do you know if anyone has been following her around? Have you seen a black-tinted car at all?" 

I could hear Stefanie breathing awfully fast over the phone. "No, no car has been following us. But-" 

She paused. 

"But what?" Stefanie stayed silent over the phone. I wasn't sure what was happening. I removed the phone from my ears to make sure she was still on the other line. "Hello?" 

"There was this guy that came to her apartment last month when you left for your trip. Nova said he seemed weird. He was trying to get inside or something. I think his name was David, Dalio, or Daniel. One of the three." 

The world felt like it stopped rotating. Stefanie was calling out to see if I was still there, but I hung up the phone before answering her. I needed to get all my men on a search. 

I am going to kill that fucking bastard. 

First my sister, now Nova? He has a death wish that's for sure.