Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Despite all of Katie’s positivity, as soon as we end the call, my doubts return. What if the men begin to have second thoughts once the extended afterglow wears off?
And we didn’t even touch on my own family. I’m not sure about my dad and Izzy, but I know my mom won’t be happy if I come back to Italy to be with the brothers. As for me, a visit is one thing, but spending my whole life away from everyone and everything I know … it’s a big adjustment.
Anyway, I’m getting way ahead of myself, and living in a fantasy world again. No one has said anything about us staying together. They all want sex, and now they’ve had it.
They seem happy with how things went last night, and this morning, but for all I know, they still see this as an entertaining fling. There’s no indication that their emotions are involved the way mine are.
I have to be ready for anything – including the possibility that, in the end, Matteo and Fiero will come back here to Italy a few months from now and leave me behind, alone and heartbroken.
Scandal
I’m in no rush to go back to the house, so I amble along, trying to memorize my surroundings, to imprint them on my mind so strongly that I’ll be able to recall every leaf, every branch, every stone on the ground after I’m home. I’ve just come in sight of Fiero’s studio, and the main house beyond it, when my phone pings with another text.
It’s Steve Hopkins, from my home town. He explains that my mom gave him my number and says he hopes we can catch up when I come back after graduation. I send him a noncommittal response and walk on, chewing my lip in thought.
The safe thing to do – the reasonable thing – would be to explore the possibility of a relationship with Steve. But could I be happy making a life with him in the town where I grew up? Could I be happy with any man who’s not the Bestias?
I reach the house to find everyone waiting for me, ready to leave for the restaurant. I apologize and rush upstairs to change, secretly thankful that there’s no time left for awkward questions. As soon as I return, we set off, packed into two cars.
“Good, you’re here,” Giovanni greets us. “Gianluca is still out on parental leave, and I told Nico to stay home another day and be sure he’s over his illness.”
I’m secretly pleased that we’ll be helping out again. There’s a sense of foreboding in the back of my mind that I can’t quite escape, and staying busy will make it easier for me to ignore it.
Some of the regulars recognize me, which is flattering, and my ability to carry on basic conversations delights them as well as me. When the dining room slows down for a few minutes, we take a quick dinner break, feasting on seafood stew with thick slices of rustic bread. We have just enough time to finish, eating at American speed, before the next wave of guests arrives.
“It looks like you need to expand the restaurant,” I say to Giovanni when our paths cross. He’s been making a circuit of the dining room, checking on everyone, and I’m on my way to replenish the menus.
“Yes,” he agrees, looking rightfully proud. “It’s, how do you say, in the work?”
“In the works, yes. That’s great, Gio.”
He sends me a meaningful look that I can’t interpret, and then we’re off on our appointed tasks. The rest of the evening zips by, and it’s late when we all finally leave after helping Giovanni close up.
As soon as we’re back at the house, my reprieve ends. “Daniela,” Nonna Sofia says. “Would you help me with something, please?”
It feels like I have rocks in my stomach. I want to look at the men, but I don’t dare, so I follow her to her room at the back of the ground floor. When she tells me to shut the door, I know my suspicions are right.
She doesn’t keep me in suspense. “You have bewitched my grandsons,” she says calmly. Her tone is not unkind, but it’s also not encouraging. “My daughter will say nothing; she has always let them do what they like. So it falls to me.”
“Nonna Sofia–”
“Please, let me finish. I know things are different where you come from, but here, such behavior cannot be tolerated. It will cause a scandal in the village, and could ruin our livelihood. You do not want that.”
I shake my head, my eyes brimming with tears that I silently order not to fall. “I love them,” I whisper, and it’s both an explanation and an entreaty.
She folds her hands, a tiny woman with the air of an empress. “I know you do not mean harm. You are not a malicious woman, like some I have met. But if you truly love them, you must let them go.”