Alina
“Wait, Gio, no!” I run after him, but I’ll never be able to outrun a damn motorcycle. Without even looking at me, Gio pushes himself off the ground and rides away with a puff of dust.
Goddamnit.
I curl my hands into fists, gasping for breath as if my chest is suddenly too small to contain all my feelings. Hurt, fear, despair, confusion
-god, I don’t even know where to start! My hands are shaking, my eyes are still blurry with angry tears, and my mind is such a mess that I feel like it’ll take me three days to get through it.
“Can someone explain to me what’s going on?” I sharply turn around, not caring about politeness and respect. My fiance just left after threatening to kill my brother-in-law. I think I have the right to be a little pissed.
I see some of them exchange quick glances; Paolo is already by Jacinta’s side, grumbling something under his breath and patting her
shoulder, while Maxim is practically hanging off Riccardo’s middle with his eyes tightly shut in distress. Elena is holding Max’s shoulders, murmuring something calming, while Irina is already on the phone with someone who I guess is Olga, and both of them only glance at me.
What? I’m sure they know more than I do!
“It’s a long story.” Liss turns out to be the one to finally speak to me. She gives me a sympathetic look that, really, does nothing to make me feel better. “But, to put it short, your fiance is one of the Escarras, and his ultimate goal is to kill Riccardo.”
“That much I gathered,” I mutter under my breath with a frown. “Wait, the Escarras are…?”
“The Mexican gang.” Irina finally joins the conversation. She glances at Elena and Riccardo before shaking her head. “God, I can’t believe I didn’t catch it from the very beginning. Gio. It’s obvious!”
“Not as obvious as you think,” Louis objects with a low voice, looking more serious than I’ve ever seen him, and Irina looks at him with raised eyebrows.
“Yes, by the way, what was that about? Do you know Giovanni?”
“Kind of.” Louis grimaces, showing just how much he doesn’t want to admit it, and looks at Riccardo. “We used to know him and his sister
Bella-”
“Isabella,” I correct him without a second thought and catch a few glances from the Messinas.
Louis clears his throat. “Whatever. They were the children of Cassio’s cook, and we’d play with them sometimes.”
“I’d expect Cassio to think too highly of himself to let his sons play with the cook’s children,” Sasha comments all of a sudden, quirking an
eyebrow, and I feel lost for a moment. This Cassio they’re talking about…it must be Riccardo’s father, right?
“Beatrice had been working for us since before I was born,”
Riccardo says, bringing a voice of calm and thoughtfulness into the conversation. Everyone immediately turns to him, but he has a distant look in his eyes as he glances between us. “She was close with my parents, so her kids were allowed to run around the house-and that’s how we met.
When we were teens, though, Beatrice took Gio and Bella away, and I haven’t seen them since then. Well, until today.”
“What happened to her?” I ask with a frown. Gio couldn’t have organized this whole thing for nothing. “Why did he blame you for her death?”
Riccardo looks at me and shakes his head. “That’s exactly what I want to find out. Matteo?”
“I’ll check everything I can find on her.” Matteo nods, and I look between them in frustration. I don’t care about who’s right or wrong right now. All I want is some peace in this family, but it looks like they completely forgot that Gio is still my fiance.
“But what about Gio? Are you gonna talk to him?” I ask insistently, holding back a sudden wave of nausea. I do feel sick from their bullshit, but not so literally, okay?
“If he shows up again and doesn’t point a gun in my face, then sure.” Riccardo shrugs. “But I doubt he’ll be willing to do it.”
“He will.” I tighten my fists and move toward my car. “I’ll find him.
I’ll talk to him.”
But before I can do as much as turn around, I hear Elena call me all of a sudden while Irina moves to catch me. “Wait, Alina!”
Oh god, do they wanna keep talking? I’m losing time!
“What?” I turn around, perhaps a little too sharply, and catch Elena’s gaze. She looks at me with an uncertain, sympathetic frown, and I don’t like it.
“Look, I don’t want to say it, but…don’t you see?”
What? She glances at the others, and I see the same sympathetic look shared between the women. What’s wrong?
Elena sighs and looks me in the eyes. “Giovanni just used you to get closer to Riccardo. Everything he’s ever told you was a lie.”
I frown. No, no, she doesn’t know him like I do, it’s all bullshit.
But Irina joins her with the same sad look. “Giovanni met you in the airport because he knew you’d be there. The Mexicans have been spying on you, and I’m-I’m sorry I didn’t keep you safe.”
Do they wanna call the best relationship in my life a mistake? A threat?
I purse my lips, glaring at them with anger burning in my chest.
“I’m fine, thanks. Now, I have to hurry up and find my fiance who loves me no matter what you think.”
And I turn around and storm toward my car. I hate being so rough with my sisters, but I can’t believe they’ve turned against Gio like that! I
know he acted like a total asshole, and I know Elena’s husband was in grave danger a few minutes ago, but…I get into my car and breathe out, placing my hands on the wheel. They have a reason to be angry with him-but they have no right to call him a liar.
I remember his smile when I first met him at the airport. I remember his whispers and kisses during our first night together. I remember his
excitement when I told him about the baby. I purse my lips and turn on the engine. No, it’s impossible to be that good of a liar.
Where should I look for him, though?
I look around as I drive out of Riccardo’s neighborhood and toward busier streets. Maybe Gio is somewhere close? Maybe he’s waiting for me?
But, of course, I don’t see a single hint of his motorcycle. He has ridden away-but where? That’s the question.
The first place that comes to mind is his apartment, of course, so I drive straight there. But I don’t see his motorcycle in its usual place, and when I try to go to his apartment, the door is locked. It looks like neither Isabella nor Gio is there, and I lean on the wall by the door, trying to think of the next place to check. Maybe that coffee shop we went to after he
saved me from the robbers? That nightclub? That…
The idea pops up in my head like a light bulb, and I run to the stairs in a hurry. God, I hope he’s still there.