Chapter Nineteen
Beth
I couldn’t believe that I actually fell asleep in the Plaza Hotel, snuggled up with Alessio like he was my longtime boyfriend. The sex had been so perfect, so hot, that I hadn’t been able to move when we’d finished. And to my shock, Alessio hadn’t kicked me out. Instead, he’d ordered lobster mac and cheese and a bottle of champagne from room service. We’d stayed up all night, laughing at the cheesy soft-core porn movies on late-night HBO. I hated to admit it, but it was so easy to have fun with Alessio. I never would have expected someone as intense as him to be so relaxed, but then again, I never would have expected to fall in love with anyone ever again.
I was in a real bad situation, and I had no idea what I was going to go.
In the morning, I kissed Alessio for a long time at the door before he left me go. He was standing with just a white towel wrapped around his neat, muscled waist and the sight of him was making me wet again. The truth was, I was so sore from the night before that I had no idea whether or not I could perform again. Alessio knew exactly what to do to satisfy me and turn me on.
I’d never thought sex could actually be that good.
As I walked home, I was so happy that I felt like I was floating above the pavement. The warm streak from the previous day had turned chill and rainy, but I didn’t mind. If anything, it made me feel closer to Alessio than ever before. I knew that what I was feeling for him was real…but I had no idea whether or not he felt the same way.
It wasn’t just the sex. Alessio had really tried hard to show me that he was changing. In addition to volunteering at the homeless shelter and food pantry, he was also donating money to charity groups all over the city. He even donated two million dollars to a charity that helped little kids with cancer get wigs during chemotherapy.
It was like he knew all the right roads to my heart…and he was choosing to take all of them at once.
I had no idea what I was going to do when it came time for his trial. What could I possibly say to Detective Aberson? It was a crime to refuse to testify – I could even go to jail myself.
But would I be able to betray the man that I was slowly falling in love with?
It was so hard to believe that in six months, my whole life had changed so drastically. When I thought of the timid little Beth Wilson who had planned on marrying Michael Bennett, it didn’t even seem like me. And knowing that had Michael lived, we’d be married by now was really upsetting. It wasn’t upsetting because that was what I still wanted. It was upsetting because I caught myself thinking more than once that a divorce wouldn’t be so awful.
By the time I got home, I was feeling anxious and worried. Alessio wasn’t the kind of guy who talked about his feelings, but I was dying to know what he thought of me. Did he still think I was some stupid, spoiled, silly little girl? Was he only wooing me so that I wouldn’t testify when the time came?
And what would happen after the trial? Would Alessio revert to his awful ways, and break my heart?
Heather was in the kitchen making breakfast when I walked in. When she saw my rumpled clothes, she gasped.
“Oh my god, I thought you’d already left for work,” she said. She smiled slyly. “But I can tell you were working on something else.”
“Ha, ha,” I said dryly. “Spare me the humor, please.”
“What happened?” Heather poured me a mug of coffee with cream and sugar and passed it over. I took a long deep breath and a big swallow before answering.
“I had to go to the police station yesterday,” I said solemnly. I shook my head and my eyes filled with nervous tears. “Aberson doesn’t believe me, I can totally tell.”
Heather raised her eyebrows. “Well, it would probably be pretty hard if you get picked up by the very man you claim to hate,” she said calmly. “I assume you were with him last night?”
I nodded. “We stayed at the Plaza.” I blushed. “We…we ordered room service and watched stupid movies all night.”
Heather snickered. “I bet you watched a lot of movies,” she said. “Didn’t have sex, did you?”
I blushed hotly. “I did,” I said. I moaned and buried my face in my hands. “I’m so sick of feeling like this!” I whined loudly. “I can’t decide whether I’m upset or happy or falling in love.” I shook my head. “It’s like I always have butterflies, but then I’m also dealing with a million other ways to feel.”
Heather nodded. She reached for the remote and turned on the television, flipping through channels.
“I know it’s hard,” she said soothingly. “But I promise, Beth, things really will calm down. Just trust me.”
I frowned. “I wish I could,” I said. “But sometimes, I feel like there’s no end in sight, you know?”
Heather nodded. “I do,” she said. “I really do.” She frowned, pausing the channels at a news station. “Hey, look, something’s going on at the Plaza.”
My heart turned to a lump of ice in my chest as Heather turned up the volume. The camera panned in on a crowd of people standing outside the Plaza Hotel and yelling.
“That’s so weird,” I said nervously, taking a shaky sip of coffee. “I was just there, like half an hour ago. I wonder if there was a fire.” Please let Alessio be okay, I prayed silently. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to him, too.
“Oh my god,” Heather said. She dropped her mug of coffee on the floor. The mug broke into tiny shards of ceramic and hot coffee splashed on my feet.
But I didn’t even feel any pain.
Staring at me, from the screen of the kitchen television, was Alessio Amoruso.
“I’m reporting with KPNG, here to tell you that Alessio Amoruso, business owner, has been arrested on suspicious charges.” A perky blonde anchor bobbed in front of the camera, oblivious to my heart breaking inside of my chest. “He was arrested shortly after ten-thirty this morning, and he’s being taken downtown to stay in custody as we speak.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks but I felt powerless to move – I couldn’t even raise my hands to wipe them away. My heart was barely beating, and my stomach felt like a stormy sea.
“Beth,” Heather whispered. “What happened? Do you know anything?”
I shook my head and swallowed. When I spoke, my voice was barely louder than whisper.
“Detective Aberson said they were very close to catching Alessio, but I thought he was bluffing,” I said tearfully.
On screen, the perky anchor was making a show of demonstrating all of the police cars. I counted at least seven parked outside of the hotel, sirens flashing and horns blaring loudly. There was an ambulance, and two fire trucks.
“Sources say that Mr. Amoruso was not hurt in the arrest, but that he’s known to be a wanted man. If you have any information regarding the murder of Michael Bennett or the Amoruso crime family, please call KPNG at five five five, sixty-seven, eighty-three.”
“Turn it off,” I said weakly. “I can’t take it anymore, Heather.”
Heather reached over and slammed her hand against the power button. The screen of the television cut to an inky black that matched my current mood. The coffee I’d drank was threatening to come back up as vomit, and I could barely breathe as my heart thudded heavily in my chest.
“Everything’s okay,” I said tearfully. “Everything. I had no idea how I could be so stupid, Heather! How the hell did I do something that dumb?”
“You aren’t dumb,” Heather said gently. She pulled me into a tight hug. “You can’t help who you fall in love with, Beth.”
“But that’s just it,” I said. “I was just starting to see the real Alessio! It felt like we were just getting started.” I sniffled and buried my face in my hands. “And now I have to choose between testifying against the man I love or facing charges myself!”
“I’m sure it won’t be that bad,” Heather said soothingly. “You know, those rich guys are really good at getting away with crimes,” she added. “Maybe he’ll have some hotshot lawyer who can really help him out.”
I buried my face in my hands. “Obviously not,” I said. “Or else he wouldn’t have served six months in the first place!”
Heather opened her eyes wide. “Yeah, and maybe those six times were bad enough where he realized he could never go back to jail. It’s rough for a guy like him on the inside – he’s going to have to pay a lot of people to keep him safe.”
The thought of Alessio being hurt in prison made me cry even harder. Soon, I was hunched over and rocking back and forth with my arms wrapped around my knees. Heather stepped behind me and rubbed my back, soothing me over and over with mindless chatter.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Nervously, I pulled it out. When I saw that it was Detective Aberson calling, my heart sank.
“Hello?” I sniffled, wiping my nose. “Sorry, I mean, hi,” I said quickly. Act normal, Beth! I ordered myself. Stop being such a freaking spaz!
“Hi, Beth,” Detective Aberson said. “Not sure if you’re following the news, but Alessio was arrested this morning. We really got him,” he added. “This is an airtight case, as long as you testify. We found some kind of a loophole in the legal system, and we’re going to exploit as much as we can.”
I sank lower. “Um, no,” I said softly. “I hadn’t seen the news. At least, not yet. When did you arrest him?”
“Just about an hour ago,” Detective Aberson replied. “We’ll need you to testify, Beth. You do know that, don’t you?”
I nodded slowly, even though he wasn’t there to see me.
“I do,” I said softly.
“Well, I’ll be in touch,” Detective Aberson said. “Glad this thug is off the streets.” He chuckled heartily and hatred burned through my body as if it were seared right onto my skin. I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the smug detective, make him really understand just how much he was hurting Alessio and me.
As soon as I hung up, I turned to Heather in dismay.
“I have no idea what to do,” I said, shaking my head. “He’s going to ruin both of our lives.”
She shrugged. “Well, you have to do what you have to do,” she said softly. “Beth, you’re a strong woman. You’re going to make it out of this no matter what. I know that, from the bottom of my heart.”
I shook my head. “I wish I knew that.” I sighed. “My heart is breaking. I can feel it right now, cracking apart in my chest.”
Heather reached out and put her hand on my shoulder. She looked deeply into my eyes.
“Beth, I promise, things will work out.”
“How can I even know what’s happening anymore,” I wailed. “I feel like up is down and right is left and red is blue!”
Heather squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.
“You just have to follow your heart,” she said. “That’s the only way you’ll know.”