Faked A Dark Mafia Romance - Vanessa Waltz Page 0,1
need to give this up.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Come on, Li. You’re not that dumb.”
“Easy.” Michael shot him a glare. “She’s a kid.”
“Not anymore,” Daniel snapped, oblivious to the agony building in my chest. “I should’ve said something a long time ago, but I held off because you’re so young. Watching you pine after him embarrasses me.”
His caustic tone bit my cheeks. They’d both seen through me, and it stripped me emotionally naked.
“Who says I am?”
“It’s obvious, hon. I thought you’d grow out of it.” Michael’s mouth twitched with a bleak smile. “I know you’re crazy about him, but it’ll never happen.”
It was like he’d fisted my heart. “You don’t think Vinny likes me?”
“Not the way you want him to, sweetheart.”
My eyes burned before he finished the sentence. “Maybe—”
“It won’t happen. Ever.”
A violent flush claimed my face as my insides rebelled.
Michael took my shoulder. “You’re such a nice girl. There is a guy out there for you, but he won’t be Vinn.”
“Why not?”
Daniel groaned, kneading his forehead. “Fuck’s sake, Liana.”
“He’s too damaged,” Mike cut in. “He’ll hurt you. And, more importantly, he is not interested.”
Michael’s determination to stamp out my attraction to Vinn was nothing new. He always had a not-so-subtle jab ready whenever he caught me hanging around his cousin-turned-best-friend, but I’d never heard it so bluntly. Every word sawed into me.
“Did he say that?”
“He doesn’t have to.” Michael released a long sigh, his tone pitying. “Don’t take it personally. Vinn’s twenty-eight years old. You’re nineteen. That’s a big gap.”
“You’re both assholes.”
Daniel patted my head. He left, abandoning me with this hateful bastard.
Michael and I had never gotten along.
He’d mellowed out once he had a baby, but I’d never forget the angry teenager who hated me for existing.
“Why couldn’t you leave me be?”
“Trust me. This conversation is just as painful for me.” Michael massaged his temples. “I’d rather jump into a wood chipper than discuss my sister’s crush on my best friend.”
“I wish you would. I can’t stand you.”
“Nice. That’s real nice, Li.”
“I don’t care. I’m not one of your kids,” I hissed. “You don’t get to swoop in and be overprotective after a lifetime of being an ass.”
“I’m trying to give you a fast track to happiness.” Michael gestured at his wife, Serena. “Life’s too short to waste it on someone who doesn’t notice you.”
Ganging up on me about Vinn was a bridge too far. All I’d wanted to do was talk. What gave Michael the right to police my business? Compared to him, I was halfway to sainthood.
I looked at Michael. “What does your loveless marriage have to do with me?”
Michael bristled. His grip whitened on his glass before he slammed it onto the bar.
“Fine. Don’t come crying to me when he blows you off again.”
Ouch.
A rush of heat claimed my cheeks, but he’d said worse.
Was I wasting my time? Vinn had a life. I’d spent mine wishing I could change the impossible.
If only I weren’t Michael’s kid sister.
If only Vinn felt a fraction of my longing.
If only he weren’t trapped in the arms of a gorgeous redhead.
A girl of staggering beauty had materialized on Vinn’s lap. She used Vinn’s massive thigh like a bench. Her manicured fingers caressed his glossy black shirt and tie with an intimacy that clenched my guts. She plastered kisses over his jaw as I struggled to breathe, the pain at watching him with another woman so raw.
I wanted to disappear.
Vinn responded to her antics with lukewarm interest, sliding his hand under her thighs, riding up her dress, but his gaze wandered as though he searched for a replacement. His eyes found mine. He stared, probably wondering why I glared at him while a woman dry-humped his groin. Without breaking away, he uttered a dismissal.
“Get out of here.”
She giggled. “Merry Christmas, baby.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“See you.” She seized his lapels and kissed his mouth. “I’ve got a gift waiting for you in my apartment. You should stop by.”
“Maybe,” he said, but rolled his eyes at her back. He beckoned at me. “Li, come here.”
As I approached, violent words begged to purge from my lips. I could barely hold my tears from the vicious gut-punch.
“Who is she?”
Vinn shot me a peculiar look. “Some chick.”
“Your girlfriend?”
“For the week, sure.” Vinn’s low, gravelly tone stirred my stomach, awakening the butterflies. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing much.”
“Were you ever going to say hello?”
I crossed my arms. “’Course.”
Looking at him pained me. His shirt and slacks were wrinkled where she had rubbed on him, and she’d