Chapter 2
Savina~
When your life felt out of control, you ended up obsessing over the things that you could control, and it didn't take years of therapy to understand why. Because of that, anyone looking at my office would think that I had my shit together, but I didn't.
I really didn't.
At thirty-four, I was a successful real estate agent, and if you were on the outside looking in, you'd think that I had it made. I had a lucrative career, amazing home, devoted boyfriend, glamorous online presence, and I was even in good health, considering. My smile was plastered all over the place, so why would anyone think differently?
However, in truth, the life that I lived now was a far cry from the life that I'd led less than five years ago. I'd gone from one world to a completely different one, and I'd been na?ve in believing that the grass was going to be greener on the other side.
Living in Port Townsend, I'd been raised around organized crime from as far back as I could remember. The city used to be divided by five families, though it was run by only three now. As an Italian, I'd been raised around the Calvettis, Milanos, and the Sartoris, knowing to keep my hands and feet out of the O'Brien, Shultz, and Kotov territories. Despite the Italians having always had higher numbers, no one had wanted to be the cause of a war because they'd been too stupid to know better.
At any rate, my mother and father had done their best to make sure that I'd always known where my place was. My father, Paolo Valentine, was a Sartori Capo, and my mother, Carla Valentine, was your quintessential Mafia wife. I wasn't sure why I'd been an only child when it was well known that most Italians usually had a gaggle of children, but my parents had never had any more kids, which made what they'd done a year ago make more sense.
All my life, I'd been raised to respect what it really meant to be in the Mafia, but that still hadn't stopped me from wanting something different. While I had nothing against tradition, change didn't always have to be a bad thing. Nothing felt more hopeless than not feeling comfortable in your own skin, and I hadn't wanted to become another mindless Mafia wife, my opinions and ambitions snuffed out before they could even be ignited. Though being a mother and wife were important roles, I hadn't wanted to be only a wife and mother. I'd wanted to contribute in a lot of different ways, and it really was crazy how one decision could continue to impact all your other future decisions until you couldn't even trust yourself to make any right decisions at all.
Nonetheless, against my parents' wishes, I had started online classes to get my realtor's license, and it'd felt exciting and worthwhile. I'd been immediately fascinated with the statistics and the economics of it all. I'd learned about the housing market, inflation, the stock market, and had even learned a bit about construction and what square footage really meant along with knowing how to capitalize on that knowledge. I had even learned about housing laws pertaining to Maryland and had even delved into the horrible nightmares that were HOAs. I had researched everything in my quest for a different life.
Though it'd taken me a lot longer than most because I'd had to sneak around, in less than a year, I'd finally gotten my real estate license, and it'd been the first thing that had felt like mine. Up until then, my parents had paid all my bills, and having a financial collar tied tightly around your neck hadn't been fun. Of course, the plan had been to hand me over to my future husband soon enough, but that had all come to an end when I'd left home, never to return.
Well, almost never.
Flying under the radar, I had moved up north, dipping my toes into O'Brien territory, but I'd kept to myself enough that no one had noticed or had taken an interest in me. I had taken all the money that I'd saved, had rented an apartment, then had applied to every real estate office in the area. Within a couple of months, I had landed my first job ever, and the satisfaction of finally accomplishing something had felt like a reward long overdue.
With no one overly worried about my last name, I'd started making a name for myself in the real estate world a little over a year later, and that's when I had ended up meeting Ashton Oliver, son of Congressman Oliver. They'd been looking for a property for Stewart Oliver's newest campaign run, and I'd been the lucky realtor tasked with finding them the perfect office space. The entire thing had felt intimidating at first, but after spending more and more time with the Olivers, it'd been easy to see why Stewart Oliver was so popular with his constituents. The man had a charismatic way about him, and it'd also been easy to see that his sons had inherited that special gift.
As I stared at the framed photo on my desk, there was no denying that Ashton Oliver was everything that a woman could want in a man. He was six-foot with dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes, giving him that safe All-American look that people responded to. He also saw the gym every day, so though he wasn't muscular or ripped, he was fit and had an athletic grace about him. He was also intelligent enough to be his father's right-hand man with his younger brother, Brandon, also deep in the political scene.
Mrs. Belinda Oliver was another perfect piece of their family picture, and though she spent most of her time smiling for the cameras, Belinda Oliver was as smart as she was ambitious, and a lot of her husband's bright ideas came from her. The plan was to make it all the way to the White House one day, and I had no doubt that Mrs. Oliver had just what it took to get her husband and children there.
Anyway, after having secured the perfect political headquarters for the Olivers, Ashton had asked me out, and I'd been blinded by the lights of something different enough to say yes. I'd been desperately running from my past, trying to carve out a new life for myself, so when Ashton had asked me to dinner, it'd felt like a sign; it'd felt like I had made the right decision to break away from my parents and their expectations of me and the rest of my life.
Two years later, I lived in a beautiful brownstone, rubbed elbows with political giants, had a healthy bank account, and had a respectable name in the real estate world. I was a long way from the life that my parents had planned out for me, and I'd done it alone. Sure, the brownstone belonged to Ashton, but my career and money were a result of all my hard work and dedication, and mine alone.
The only problem with running away from your past was that you couldn't really escape it completely. For as much as I'd wanted my own life, my parents hadn't been horrible parents. They had raised me the best that they could, and I found myself missing them often. Even now, even after everything, I had a lot of fond memories of them, and there were times when those memories snuck up on me, reminding me of how much I'd given up to pursue the life that I had now.
Nevertheless, I lived in a different world now, and my past and present would never compliment one another. Though it was Stewart that was the congressman, everything that his family did was a reflection of him, so I couldn't be caught being anything other than the perfect possible future wife to his eldest son. While Brandon had a steady girlfriend, he'd made it clear that he had no interest in marrying her, and he was only waiting for his father's next appointment before dumping her for someone more adaptable to their political agenda.
I let out a tired breath, not surprised that I felt like I was already sixty-years-old. As I thought about my life and everything that I'd gotten and wanted out of it, sooner or later, I knew that Ashton was going to finally make some demands of his own, and that was the irony of it all. I had escaped one life to be able to call my own shots, but that wasn't realistic if you planned on living your life with someone else. All relationships required compromise, and I hadn't realized that until it'd been too late.
When my primary phone chimed with an incoming text, I automatically reached for it out of habit. I had a work phone and a personal one, and I never not answered my personal one.
Ashton: Cooper Donaldson is dropping by around five
Cooper Donaldson was a huge global financier, and while I understood why he'd be visiting Stewart, I had no idea why he'd be stopping by our house. Granted, after-hours meetings happened all the time, but Cooper Donaldson was too big to be dealing with Ashton.
Me: Is it a meeting or dinner
Ashton: I'll let u know when I find out more
I pulled up my work phone, noting that I had a four o'clock showing on Cedar, and I knew that the traffic at that time could be challenging. Still, since I had no idea why the man was stopping by our house, I really didn't know what was expected of me.
Me: Great…thanks
I set my phone down, then got back to all the things that I could control.