as bad as my husband, as the Made Men that I have always despised. I know that my aunt is dead, that she’s taken care of and I don’t care.
I’m not even an ounce remorseful that it was because of me she died. Especially not when I look up and see a smiling from ear-to-ear Rosana heading my way.
“Let’s celebrate tonight,” she practically shouts.
I laugh, reaching for my drink as she sinks down into her seat. “How did you want to celebrate?”
She lifts her face up to the sky, pretending to think about what she wants to do. Without a doubt, she knows exactly what she wants to do.
Dinner will be involved, beyond that, I’m not sure. Rosana isn’t a movies girl, she’s not someone who likes to hang out at cafés and listen to music. No, Rosana has an idea, I’m just not sure if I’m going to like it.
“Dinner and dancing. There are sixteen and over clubs, I want to go to one.”
“Sana,” I say, warningly.
She shakes her head. “I want to have fun. I’ll get back to school Monday, but I want to celebrate being free, Pip.”
Pressing my lips together, I nod. “How about I invite some people? Do you have any friends you want to invite?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “You’re my best friend, Pippa. You’re all I need there.”
“Shit,” I curse before I giggle.
It didn’t take much convincing. Lenora, Chloe, Nicola, and Luciana were more than excited to join us, along with their guards.
Rosana makes a face as soon as she sees the men in suits following behind us, watching us from each corner of the club, but it doesn’t bother me, not in the slightest… in fact, I’ve never felt better.
Dinner consumed and we all throw our hands up before we head out on the dance floor.
“Thank you so much for inviting us, I can’t remember the last time that I went anywhere past nine at night,” Lenora calls out as she shifts her hips from side to side.
Laughing, I wiggle my own hips before I lean in. “You’re welcome, anytime at all.”
She snorts. “Arlo doesn’t let me out much without him at night, this is probably a one-time thing, but I’m okay with that,” she says.
I nod, thinking that I would be okay with staying home with Massimo too. Shaking off thoughts of him, I smile brightly toward Lenora and we dance.
That’s how we spend the evening, we just dance. No men bother us, mainly because the guards end up forming a protective barrier around us, but it couldn’t be more perfect.
Breaking away from the group, I head to the bathroom before we leave for the evening. Lifting my arms, I shake a little with each step that I take to the beat of the music.
That is, until I feel a hand wrap around my forearm. My entire body is jerked down the hallway before my back slams against the wall.
My breath whooshes out of me in a gasp. Looking up, I’m met with the face of a stranger. My heart thumps against my chest matching the bass of the music. The man smirks as he looks into my eyes.
“You have no fucking idea who I am, do you?”
I don’t answer him. I don’t want to answer him. All I want to do is stall him from whatever it is he’s going to do to me. Massimo was right, I’m definitely not naïve, if this were Rosana standing in front of this stranger, his fingers wrapped around her arm, I don’t think that she would ever mentally recover.
“I don’t,” I admit when he doesn’t say anything.
He tilts his head to the side. “Tell Massimo when you see him tomorrow that he can stop looking for me. He’ll never find me and I’m fucking proud I got him locked up. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, sweetheart. Best ass I’ve seen in a while.” He laughs. Then he lowers his head and his lips graze my ear. “Gonna enjoy watching you squirm.”
He pushes me away, then without a word he walks down the dark hallway and disappears in the shadows. My entire body trembles uncontrollably, and that is how Chloe finds me.
“What happened?” she demands.
Lifting my wide eyes to hers, it spews out of me. I can’t hold back anything, not a single word.
“I’ll get Luca on it,” she growls.
Lifting my hands, I curl my fingers in her shirt. “No,” I snap. “Nobody can know. Massimo will just worry. He won’t do