just a shame Scott couldn’t make it tonight,” she went on. “I’m sure he would have liked to be here to reassure you that everything will be fine.”
Just then Mr. Fascini’s cell phone started ringing. He dug it out of his pocket and frowned. “I need to take this, excuse me.” He disappeared out of the room.
“It’s a lovely evening. Perhaps a nightcap on the terrace?” Mom asked Suzanna.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea.” The two of them left, leaving me and my father alone.
“Figlia mia —”
“Don’t,” I hissed.
“Arianne, please understand...”
“I will never understand. You lied to me, Father. You betrayed me.”
“There are things... things you don’t know. Things you can’t yet know. But I’m begging you, please trust me.”
Staring him dead in the eye, I didn’t flinch as I said, “My trust in you died the day you sold me off to the Fascini.”
“Arianne, please. I only want to keep you safe.”
“Safe?” I seethed through gritted teeth. “Scott raped me... he drugged me and he raped me.” My body trembled with anger. “So tell me, Father, how on earth is giving me to him, keeping me safe?”
The blood drained from his face as he let out a pained sigh. “You have to trust me. I know I don’t deserve it... I know I have failed you, but I need for you to—”
“Business, it never sleeps.” Mr. Fascini came back into the room. He stopped, glancing between the two of us. “Is everything okay?”
“Perfectly fine.” My father’s lips thinned.
“Arianne?” Mr. Fascini raised a brow.
“Arianne is in agreement with all the plans, Mike.”
“I’m glad we’re all on the same page.” His cold, hard gaze landed on my father again. Something was passing between them once more.
A silent warning.
An unspoken threat.
“Let’s join the women out on the terrace,” my father suggested. He stood up, smoothing a hand over his jaw. He didn’t look at me.
Maybe he couldn’t.
But I saw him.
I saw his mask of guilt.
And I was almost certain I saw a single tear roll down his cheek.
I was eating my lunch the next day, when my phone rang with an unknown number. “Ari?” Someone said down the line softly.
“Matteo?” My eyes widened as I recognized his voice.
“Tonight, six-thirty, be ready.”
“What are you—”
“Just be ready.” He ended the call. I quickly texted Alessia.
Do you know anything about tonight?
It pinged straight back.
I just got a text from Matteo. They must have figured something out. See you later?
Can’t wait.
“What has you smiling?” Nora sat beside me.
“I think we’re hanging with Alessia tonight.”
“They managed to figure something out?”
“I guess so.” I shrugged. When I’d texted Alessia to say I would love to hang out, she told me to sit tight and let the guys figure it out. It wasn’t like Niccolò Marchetti’s sister could just turn up at the apartment building and ask to see me. We had to be discreet. We had to make sure my father and the Fascini didn’t find out about it.
“Do you think Enzo will be there?”
“Do you want Enzo to be there?” I threw back at her.
Nora chuckled, her lips curving into a smirk. “Well he hasn’t been around much, and he is quite pretty to look at.”
“He isn’t pretty, Nor. He’s terrifying.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.”
“Nicco said—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know what Nicco said. It’s not like I want to marry the guy. I just think he’d be a good time between the sheets... or up against the wall... or over the—”
I clapped a hand over her mouth, drowning out the words. Words I did not need or want to hear. “Are you done?”
“I’m done,” she murmured against my palm, and I pulled it away.
“Anyway, I thought you and Dan were a thing?”
“We’re casual. I don’t have time for anything serious.”
“Are those your words, or his?”
“We don’t all fall madly in love with the first guy we meet.” She laughed but I didn’t join her. “Shit, Ari, I’m joking. It’s a joke. I’m just saying most of us will never have what you and Nicco share.”
“Do you think I’m fooling myself?”
“What? No! Nicco loves you, babe. He’d go to war for you. Do you have any idea how lucky you are?”
“Sometimes I don’t feel so lucky... I feel doomed.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled it onto her lap. “You say you’re doomed, but the way I see it, what you and Nicco could have, it gives you something to fight for. Imagine if you’d never met him, imagine if he hadn’t saved you that night... you would be