He Yearned for My Love but He Was Too Late

I held the lacy bra for his view. "This definitely is not mine.” He stood there, stunned. Then he slowly came near me, snatched the garment away from me, and walked away.

I opened my secret Instagram account and scrolled through his feed. There was a new entry. The words were so sweet that I felt sadness sweeping over me. It was addressed to Bianca.

“I should have been a better boss and skipped a boring business dinner. Tomorrow, my dear assistant, the night will be ours. Cheers, and keep the champagne on ice.”

I feel like crying, but I liked the post. I received a notification and saw the contract sent by Mr. Garcia. With fingers crossed, I uttered a silent prayer for my future. Without hesitation, I affixed my e-signature to the document.

It was early morning, and Rocco had instructed one of his men to buy chocolate and peanut bagels from a well-known bakery. As I was hungry, I was about to take a chocolate bagel, but he slapped my hand away and told me to pick the peanut bagel.

Shocked, all I could do was stare at him. We’ve been together for four years, and still he forgot that I am allergic to peanuts. I have an anaphylactic reaction to nuts and almost died of complications a few months ago when Bianca gave me peanut butter cookies, which she made. She must have known I was allergic to peanuts (she had access to HR documents), but she so conveniently forgot to tell me that the cookies had peanuts in them.

“Four years is a long time to get to know me well. In all those years, didn’t you know that I’m allergic to peanuts and almost died eating them?” Tears threaten to fall down my cheeks.

He stared at me, suddenly recalling that fateful night when paramedics rushed me to the hospital, bloated and struggling to breathe. Without swift medical intervention, I would have died.

His face flushed, and he couldn’t meet my gaze. What kind of man forgets the life-threatening moments of his girlfriend?

In order to hide his embarrassment, he assumed an aggressive stance. “You’re already old enough to protect yourself. You don’t need to use your imperfections against me to play victim and gaslight me! He grabbed me by the arm, his action hurting me. He gritted his teeth, then whispered harshly in my ear, “You don’t know the things I’m capable of doing.”

“I do,” I silently whispered to myself. I’ve heard of some Mafia atrocities going on in downtown Chicago and knew that Rocco was in the middle of it all. I’ve heard him having secret phone conversations and talking about ambush, kidnappings, and even murder. To what extent his evildoings were, only he himself knows. But I guess the police already had a clue, as I’ve seen plainclothesmen secretly following me and observing my every move. They thought that by tailing me, his girlfriend, I would unknowingly reveal some clues about his clandestine activities.

It was our first real fight. I am usually submissive by nature and avoid confrontations whenever possible. On some days when we had disagreements, I was the one who always crawled back to him and asked for forgiveness even though it wasn’t my fault. I tried to keep peace whenever possible, even to the point of agreeing with him at all times. “Sentimental fool,” I chastised myself.

But this time, something snapped inside me. My inner child could no longer be summoned. In its place, a demon reared its ugly head and took over my entire being.

I went to the kitchen and got the lacy bra from the garbage can. He threw it away after I gave it to him. But I have kept it solely for occasions like this.

I went back to the living room and handed him the undergarment. “Please give this back to Bianca, your girlfriend. I don’t want to see it; it’s too garish in color and stinks a lot.” I threw the bra at his face and walked away. He tried to stop me from leaving, but I was too fast for him. I ran to the street, got into my car, and sped away.

I looked in the rearview mirror. He was shaking his fist at me and shouting, “She’s not my girlfriend!”

He ran after my car, his anger palpable even at a distance. I revved up, frightened of a Mafia boss chasing me! Noooo! Stop chasing me please! Panic surged, I lost concentration and slammed the car into a post! The airbag deployed, a cloud of white bursting around me, and then everything went black. The last thing I remembered was the fury in his eyes!