LETTERS OF A VIRGIN

20. Sin City and Nightmares

VARYNUS GALYNER POV

I arrived back home later that night to find Claudia having dinner with my family, nobody was actively eating the food though, just starring seemlessly into space, lost in thought, except for Claudia Ameriano of course. She was swallowing the pork ribs just fine.

It's not surprising though, she wasn't in any way affected by Nicolas' death. If anything, she's benefiting quite a lot. The only person who stood against my marriage with her was Nick, other than myself. Any business deals that Claudia tried to make with our family ,most of them Nick cut off. He never trusted her to do the best for the Gaylner and Ameriano projects. It's no lie, she's a good business woman, but she's too dedicated to her family name alone, her loyalty isn't with the collaboration, it is with her father. She only cares about their interests not ours. I tell this to dad all the time, he disagrees. He's so up her ass it's aggravating.

"Varynus darling," Nick's wife calls out, "Where have you been? You left immediately after the burial. Please don't tell me it's business related." Her eyes are sadder than I'd ever seen them.

I could not respond.

Jonathan looked up at me from the high end, "Why don't you tell her what you've been up to?"

"Nathan don't start right now." I warned.

"So you were working, on the wake of your brother's death? Is that it?" She gave a disapproving eye.

"I needed to find out who's responsible for his death, I had to. The family is in shambles not just emotionally but in matters of economy, we're facing enormous issues with our associates in Russia and Arabia, I can't go into details but it's huge. Though for this moment, finding who killed my brother is the most important thing."

"And have you found the culprit?" Claudia Ameriano asked.

"Soon enough I will." I said, "Which reminds me, We need to talk. But not tonight, First thing in the morning."

"What for? Not work related I hope. We're all still grieving." She says.

"I'm not exactly sure why you of all the people here would be grieving. You and Nick never got along. I wouldn't be surprised if you had something to do with all this." I voiced.

My father quickly jumped into the conversation, "Don't you dare disrespectful Claudia like that. She's been so supportive this entire period, organized everything in the grounds of Nick's funeral as you drove around this City thirsting for blood. She was here with us. Not you."

Every single time I turn my back around for just one second, Claudia Ameriano digs her claws deeper into this family. Of course she'd use Nick's death as an opportunity to gain favor with the members of this family.

So now that she sees the family is grieving and in loss, and for once in her entire life she offers to do something with sentiment here. Suddenly she's not so busy anymore, she can run an entire funeral service by herself.

To keep the interaction short and less tense for everyone else, I excuse myself and head to my bedroom. It's been a long hard day and all I need to get away from all this noise.

I got to my room, didn't bother to turn the lights on, nor check my bed to see whether Jonathan did what I told him by bringing Paris here instead , I took myself straight to the shower to rid this body of all it's filth of the entire day. I let the cold water run my back, to relieve the tension in my muscles.

The aching in my chest that I'd been carrying all day was radiating through me.

It's easy to keep the tears away anywhere else but not in the shower.