Levi

Chapter seven

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If there's one place Valentina wants to stay at for the rest of her life and never wants to be at the same time it would be Sicily. The sense of being home, of being in the place where she belongs, where everyone understands her, it's comforting. Like she can finally be herself again, because everyone here is just like her. No judgements. It's addicting.

And it terrified her to her very core.

Because she knew it would kill her to leave again. And she would have to force herself through the pain and get on that plane back to New York as soon as possible. Because the longer she stayed, the more she'd fall back into old habbits. The longer she stayed, the more memories would break through the wall she build in her concious to keep those very memories away. The longer she stayed, the more she'd break down and the harder it would be to build herself back up again when she gets back to New York.

Valentina took a deep breath, forcing those facts to the back of her mind.

Like the old days, she took the bus to get from the airport to her destination. Of course, her clients lived in mansion in the middle of nowhere, so it took her a 20 minute bus ride and a good 30 minute walk in the scorching sun from the busstop to get to the mansion.

When she finally arrived, she faced the two humongous gates. They were closed. She peered through the bars of the gates and could see a handful of guards in front of the mansion in the distance. She rang the intercom and faced the camera, for the guards to recognize her. The gates opened shortly after and she started making her way through the front lawn to the front door.

As she finally neared said door, she nodded at the guards who recognized her immediately and parted for her like she was moses and they were the red sea.

She fished her keys out of her purse and entered the house. As a woman on a mission, she walked to her destination on the second floor, not wasting a glance on the museum of a house surrounding her.

She didn't wase any time as she went up the stairs, through the red carpeted hallway to the door to his office. A single knock she granted as a warning of her presence before she opened the door and entered. He sat at his desk and hadn't looked up from his work yet. She took that as a gesture to take a seat, knowing full well that he hated it when she barged into his office like that and that the lack of attention he was giving her was anything but a gesture to take a seat.

But she hardly cared. They go way back, after all. She doesn't owe him any respect.

She parked her suitcase in the far corner of the room before she took a seat in front of his desk. She watched him finish up what seemed like a letter- deciding not to comment on his ancient ways- before he put down his pen and looked up at her.

His brown gaze caught hers and for a moment neither one of them said anything, both of them silently reminiscing old times. But the moment didn't last long.

''Wine?'' He broke the silence.

''I wouldn't survive having to look at your face without.''

He nodded, by now used to that big mouth of hers. His hand went into one of the drawers of his mahogany desk, where Valentina knew he always kept two wineglasses and one bottle of red wine. As predicted, two wine glasses and one botlle of Cheval Blanc appeared when he pulled his hands out of the drawer. He poured the wine into the two glasses and handed her one of them. It wasn't untill after his first sip that he continued the conversation.

''When are you leaving?''

''As soon as possible.'' She replied to which he responded with a low growl from the back of his throat that could've been interpreted as annoyed. Valentina knew he didn't agree with the way she chose to spend her life. He thinks she was running away from her problems. And in a way, she was.