Fight or Fall (32 page)

I slowly got up, Morgan Morelli, Italy’s number one shoe designer had my feet showcased in a Specchio retro-gold leather upper and the 4 ½ inches that it added to my height bolstered my insides, a quick glance at my phone showed Milo’s text, “I’m here babe.”

He knew how hard it was for me to pretend to be happy anytime my father was near, but like many times before, I was just a puppet following the pull of my master’s strings.

Reaching my father’s side, I smiled in a way that stretched my gums, tilting my head as I recognized the business moguls and celebrities who were raptly enamored with the father-daughter bond that no one could fake like the Troudeau’s.

“I want to take this time to make another announcement.” My father reached around the shoulder of my vibrant two-toned purple Tim Wong’s long-sleeved tulle dress and placed a kiss on my cheek. “I’m very happy that Ava has represented Troudeau Enterprises. She has made me and her mother very proud.” This was a new low. Now he was including my mom in his speech. “I’m also excited to announce that she will be joined by another person who has my interests at heart.” He looked at the audience and winked. “And by heart, I’d like to be very specific, he has my daughter’s heart.”

My heart literally raced at his statement and my eyes flicked towards the back where my heart belonged. Milo had left his seat and he was now standing in the back of the room. I couldn’t see his eyes, but his frame looked as tight as the clotted air that had just filled the room.

“Senator Powers, my dear friend, you’ve raised a great man, and I’m happy to let you know that I thoroughly approve. Everyone, I’d like you to welcome the newest member of Troudeau Enterprises who will be joining Ava on some of her trips and they will ensure that Troudeau Enterprises has global and international appeal. He has just passed the prestigious bar exam and I’m sure he will educate my daughter in international law and maybe in a few months, they would be…” Clearing his throat, he continued, “joining each other in the eyes of the law and God. Cheers!”

The audience cheered my father on while I wanted to go to the closest table and throw every glass at his face.

All of a sudden, I found Emmett on my side and he was lifting my chin to his lips. I diffused his approach by saying, “Excuse me. I have to go to the restroom.” Emmett’s face turned red at my obvious dismissal. Whoever gave him the notion that I’d want him to be my husband, needed to be taken off whatever hallucinating drugs they were taking.

I refused to look at my father. This was too much. Way over the line.

He was really planning on having me to marry Emmett, maybe giving him a few grandkids along the way, while I’d be given snatches of my mom’s company as a prize.

I eyed Milo whose strides had reached Tammie Jacobs and her reporter friends’ table in a matter of seconds. I wanted to freeze time. Lock it in that continuum where it was just me, him, and the people whom we loved around us, beside us, with us.

After this, there was no way Milo would be okay with me dating Emmett in public. My father just made a statement that he wanted me and Emmett to go beyond dating. Emmett was obviously getting the wrong impression that I was into him. I couldn’t fault him for all of this because he was being played as much as I was. But for Emmett to be okay with the promise of marriage went beyond my wildest imaginations unless he had ulterior motives hiding behind that blonde goodness.

Instead of turning my heels to the direction of the restroom, I moved forward, away from my father and Emmett and watched as Milo closed the gap between us.

In a second he had my waist tucked into his arms of steel, locking a solid hold onto my body. His mouth was set in a grim line and his eyes turned dark obsidian, he was going to go unhinged in a few seconds and I had no doubt that this place would turn into carnage.

“No fucking way.” With his jaw clenching overtime and his nostrils flaring in anger, he reiterated, “You’re not marrying blonde douchebag.”

I was highly aware of the background drama behind him. If the number of jaws that dropped on the reflective floors weren’t enough, the numerous flashes of light with alternating sounds of clicking were enough to convince me that none of my father’s media lackeys would be able to stop the spread of what was happening right now during one of his company’s biggest nights. Daniel was probably doing damage control. But all the activity behind Milo was nothing in comparison to the man who was doing his best to hold his temper in, probably,
no
, most definitely for my sake.

I reached around his neck and found the spot just below the trapezius muscle and rubbed it gently, it was his favorite spot which made it my favorite spot. His chest was vibrating with barely-controlled fury, his eyes had drifted to where my father and Emmett stood, and I needed to change the course of the evening. There would be high price to pay for me ending up in Milo’s arms and I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen if Milo’s fist landed anywhere near my father or Emmett.

“Milo, baby…” I steered us away from the room, outside of the commotion, not without struggle because Milo barely moved but when I moved, he moved. If there was one thing that could top Milo’s temper, it would be his innate sense of protectiveness. He knew I needed him. As much as he wanted to beat the crap out of my father or Emmett,
I
came first.

We were now standing on a small balcony, the busy lights of the city below us uncaring of all the turmoil going on at the 35th floor of The Executive Hotel. Taking off his suit jacket, Milo wrapped my shivering skin inside it. Protector first. Always.

“Milo, look at me. Listen to me.” Tilting my chin up, I pressed a kiss on his mouth which was etched with palpable tension. “I’m not marrying Emmett. It doesn’t matter what my father says, I’m not.”

The balcony doors were opened so we both heard Daniel’s apologetic voice over the microphone, “Please enjoy the rest of the evening. Mr. Troudeau sends his apologies, he has to leave for an emergency meeting.”

Milo’s eyes were still glazed over in wrath, no amount of pacifying would temper him down, so I said the only words I thought of which could penetrate through his ferocity. “I love you.”

Not the best time and place for my revelation, but who cared.

Milo and I had never been conventional. Our lives were far from what fairy tales were made of, our pasts were lined with sadness and tragedies, so if this was the time when I felt best to tell him those three words, no one had the right to judge me.

“What did you say?” His eyes honed in on my lips, his eyes clearing, the green in his irises peering back. “Say it again.”

“Ava, we need to talk,” Emmett’s voice cut off our tender moment, and if I wasn’t in front of Milo, Emmett would probably be splat on the floor by now. He must have followed us here.

“No, you don’t.” Milo spat out, I felt his fists clenching around my waist. “Go away. Stay the fuck away from my woman.”

Milo had me pinned in place, I couldn’t even turn around to face Emmett, so I tried my best to convey what I thought with my back facing him. “I’m sorry, Emmett.” I pushed with my elbows so Milo would at least let me face Emmett, but Milo refused to give in. He was in one of his moods, or he’d just had enough of my drama with Emmett that he was finally putting his foot down.

“You’re with him?” Emmett’s voice rose, and he moved forward so I was finally able to see his face. Emmett was not a puny little thing. But Milo was already on edge and he was primed for a fight. “Ava, he’s a scandal-ridden has-been who fights for money. Why would you choose him,” wrinkling his nose as if he was sniffing something rotten, “over me?”

Milo’s left hand left my waist and landed on Emmett’s shoulder in a hard shove. Emmett staggered back a foot before regaining his balance.

Could this night get any worse?

Emmett hissed, huffing in between angry breaths. “You can still change your mind, Ava. Look at him.” Righting himself, he stood straighter, completely ignorant of the danger he was facing. “He’s a ruthless egomaniac who thinks he can beat everyone up.”

“Emmett, please leave,” I said desperately before Milo landed a punch anywhere near him. I heard a small commotion behind me, behind us. Daniel, my father’s right hand man, was obviously trying to divert everyone’s attention to somewhere else as I could hear him say, “We’re going to be moving this event to the Blue Room.”

The bloodthirsty pack wanted center stage to the drama. The thing with the people in my social circle was that their lives were so boring, gossip was an aphrodisiac and they got off when someone’s life was more miserable than their own.

Emmett strode forward and I could only shake my head.

Wrong move.

Milo’s left hand grabbed the front of Emmett’s suit. My man wanted blood and he wanted the blood of this particular guy, the guy who everyone saw as mine in public. Milo was not an insecure guy; he had no reason to be. But if there was one guy who filled his mind with doubts about my feelings for him and the reason why every time we made love, he wanted to brand my body as his – it would be Emmett. Just for the simple fact that my father wanted him for me.

“Emmett, I love Milo. I always have.” Trying my best to insert myself between them, I continued. “Remember when we were kids and we played truth or dare? I was describing Milo when the bottle pointed at me. He’s always had my heart.”

Milo loosened his grip on Emmett’s clothes and Emmett let out a long breath of relief. While Emmett was a fit guy, he was no match for Milo’s strength and power.

I stepped in front of Emmett. “You’re a nice guy, Emmett. You’ll find a nice woman the minute word gets out you’re single and available. I’m just not the one for you. I’m sorry it had to come down to this. It’s completely my fault.” Deflecting any blame on Milo and with the complete knowledge that Emmett was a lawyer and the son of a powerful man, I went on. “I’m appealing to our friendship, and that because of it you’ll respect my decision and consider Milo’s actions as… Well, he’s just very protective of me.”

For a few seconds he didn’t say anything. Then finally, he brushed his hands on his suit. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Ava. You can do better. So much better.”

Milo’s growl behind me was getting louder, followed with a, “Fuck off, blondie.”

Emmett reached for my free hand, Milo gripped my waist, but he was letting me take over the situation, for as long as he could allow it, which judging from his snarling growl behind me, wasn’t lasting any longer. Emmett needed to get out of there.

Emmett took a long look at my face and finally in an exasperated voice said, “I’ve always liked you more than you’ve ever liked me. I owe my happy childhood memories to you. I wish you’d told me sooner.” Scratching a hand under his jaw, he continued, “I’d never force you to like me or to even marry me. I just thought it was what you wanted too. I wish you happiness, Ava.” Stepping back, he solemnly added, “If things don’t work out between you and him, call me.”

Milo muttered a bunch of words in a language I didn’t understand, which was probably for the best.

As soon as Emmett disappeared, Milo held my hand and whispered in my ear, “What did you say earlier?”

“I won’t marry Emmett.”

His hands on my waist loosened, and I rotated my body to face him. He shook his head. “The other thing you said.”

“Oh.” I swallowed the rising doubt inside my throat. Now that the drama was winding down, I started to realize that this really wasn’t the best time to tell him I loved him. Not out of pressure from my father or the situation that unfolded earlier.

“
Yeah
.” His green eyes winking in unabashed glee, his face changing, straightening out the creases of tension and anger, making him look younger, happier. This was the look he had when the cameras spanned on his face after a gold medal-winning swim; euphoric, free. “Did you mean it?”

“Did you want me to mean it?” Shyness was taking over me. I’ve loved him since forever, kept him inside my heart for so long, but never said the words aloud, never expected to ever say the words to him.

“Say it again.”

Drawing courage from the elated shine reflecting from his eyes, I said, “I love you.”

“Again.”

“I love you, Milo.”

He pulled me in closer to his chest, his suit jacket covering me from the nippy evening air. Pressing my hands over his chest, he kissed the top of my head, “
Sei mia, Ava.
”

I grinned at his words. “Is that a thank you?”

“No.” He dipped his hard mouth over my lips. I’d have to wipe his mouth with a napkin because the deep beige shade would not look too good on him. He swirled his tongue inside me and all I could feel was how much he wanted me, devouring me with a hunger that was never satisfied, stroking my need, my want, feeding oxygen to a burning untamed wildfire.

Before he put a brake on our kisses, he said determinedly against my mouth, “It means you’re mine, Ava.”

I nodded, he might not love me the way I loved him, but it’s okay. I have enough love for both of us.

He lifted my chin up and since I was wearing sky-high heels, there was only a slight difference between our heights. With an uncharacteristic show of vulnerability in his face, his face bearing tenderness that I’ve never glimpsed at before, he roughly stated, “It also means I’m yours. Completely.”

My eyes started to water from the warmth of his words.

My childish heart loved him, adored him like a hero.

Now, as a grown woman, my heart loved him for the man that he was.

I’d carried him in my heart for so long. He’s not perfect. He’s done many things wrong. But he’s also made a lot of things better for the people he cared about. When he says he’s mine, completely, I understood him, what he was trying to say, it was his
I love you.

I didn’t think I could accept him if he was half the man that he was now. He was telling me that he was handing me all of him – the good, the ugly, the broken, the patched up parts of him. Given the choice, between a picture perfect future with Emmett, I’d gladly give it up for the highs and lows of a life with Milo.