The Sister Between Them

Chapter 40

After a very long and restless night, Rocco woke up to a voicemail from Alyssa. He stared at his phone for a long time. Hearing her voice was the last thing he wanted to do. He was still fuming over Dante's theory from the night before.

It was one thing to come to the realization that the marriage was over. That she wasn't who he thought she was. He could even handle that she was self-serving and maybe had ulterior motives for choosing him. But to accept that his entire marriage was one long con? That was something else entirely.

With a heavy sigh, he finally listened to the voicemail.

"I get that you're mad at me. I understood your veiled threats from when you left for the trip that you were leaving me. But you promised we'd talk about it. Not that you'd send Lexi here to announce that you're divorcing me with Gavin right there in the other room! You'll find your stuff out on the lawn. Come get it before the city fines us."

"Damn it!" Rocco yells in frustration. He could just imagine Gavin's worry when he woke up to find Alyssa tossing his stuff out the window.

He hurriedly tossed on some jeans and a tee shirt. Lexi was just getting in as he crossed into the kitchen to leave.

"Exactly the person I wanted to see," Rocco growled through gritted teeth.

"What did I do?" Lexi huffed looking tired and annoyed.

"You announced to Alyssa I was divorcing her. With my son right there?" He accused, his eyes boring into hers.

"It just came out!" Lexi exclaimed, her eyes widening. "I thought you guys had already talked about that or— I didn't know Rocco."

"Just get out of my way." He pushed past her angrily.

"I really am sorry." He could hear her voice break and felt a stab of guilt for being so harsh.

"Let's just hope he didn't hear it," Rocco said in a somewhat softer tone.

"I don't think he heard. I really don't."

"You have to be more careful." Rocco sighed.

"I will, I swear."

"I got to go." He slipped quickly out the door, thinking he'd have to get his place very soon.

**

True to her word, Rocco found his stuff tossed all over the estate when he got there.

"Alyssa, for the love of god." He furiously got out of the car and headed towards the door.

It was locked. He didn't want to scare Gavin by pounding on it, so he started calling her instead. Of course, she didn't answer.

"Alyssa, this is ridiculous. You're acting like a teenager." He started leaving her a voicemail when she finally emerged from the house.

"It's about time!" she yelled, slamming the door behind her.

"What do you think you're doing? This is absurd. Where's Gavin?"

"Becks took him out to breakfast. You didn't bother to leave me a dime to support our son before you took off." She sniffled her victim tone on full display.

"Oh please," he rolled his eyes. "You have a dozen credit cards."

"How do I know you didn't shut them all down? Everyone but me knows you're leaving me."

"I fully intended to sit down with you today. I didn't want to have an emotional thing that late at night." Rocco tried his best to calm himself, remembering despite his intense emotions. Dante's words about him being the reasonable one were true.