Four
I found myself being dragged out onto the dance floor. “Cesare---I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t really know how to do this.”
Cesare flashed me a smile. “It’s okay. It’s all about following the lead. I happen to be an excellent leader.” He placed a hand on my hip, then held my other one tightly. He smelled of cologne and cigarettes which shouldn’t have attracted me but it did. “I did some research on you.”
I looked up at him. “Oh? Did you find anything salacious?”
“You went to Italy your freshman year,” he said, “you stayed for nine months, and you did the online program while you were there. Why were you in the Old Country?”
“I have family there,” I said, “my Nonna was sick. She’d never met me before. The family wanted me to spend some time with her.”
“Why haven’t you spent time with her before?”
“It’s my father’s family,” I explained, “he died when in I was in high school. He wasn’t really around because of his job.”
Cesare turned me around, and pulled me into his chest. The two of us swayed together. I could feel his cock pressing into my backside. My cheeks flushed. “What did your father do?”
“I don’t know,” I replied.
“You don’t know?” Cesare said.
“He showed up on Christmas and my birthday. That’s it. He wasn’t very involved.”
Cesare turned me around again and stroked my cheek. “Your father was a dangerous man?”
I nodded. “He never said what he did. But in the Old Country…there were whispers when I was there. His mother sent him to Boston to live with her family when he was a teenager. She didn’t want him to be like his father. He still ended up that way.”
“Are you part of the underworld?” he asked.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He tilted his head to the side as we swayed together. “No. I suppose you don’t. Just know that if something happens to my sister…”
“You’ll hold me personally responsible,” I said, “I know. Nothing’s going to happen. I’m not important enough. My dad never married my mom, and you know how the underworld is about bastards.”
He growled. “Don’t talk about yourself that way.”
“It’s the truth.”
“If you run into any trouble, you tell them that you’re under the protection of the Luna family. I know Laura’s going to get attached to you. She doesn’t have a whole lot of friends. I would like for her to have at least one good friend. You do that for her….no one in this city will touch you.”
“I don’t need protection.”
“Take the offer,” he told me.
“You don’t need to bribe me to be friends with Laura. I like her.”
His eyes darkened. “I’m not bribing you. I’m offering you something the Luna family doesn’t do often. If you are a daughter of the underworld, you know how this world works. Someone will come after you if they think you are interfering with the wrong element. Take my protection.”
I shook my head. “I told you before. I don’t need it.”
He growled again and it vibrated through his chest. “I’ll only make this offer two more times. After that, you’ll be left to your own devices.”
I smirked. “Good.”
“You’re being stubborn.”
“I don’t need protection. No one cares about me. I’m nothing.”
“I don’t like the way you talk about yourself.”
“The music ended,” I told him.
He pulled away but he held onto my hand as he led me back to the table. Laura was already eating her food and she smiled at me. “So?” she said. “What’s the verdict, Cesare?”
“She’s feisty,” he replied.
Laura grinned. “That’s Cesare speak for ‘he likes you’.”
He pulled out my seat for me and I sat down in between Laura and him. While Laura kept the conversation the whole night, Cesare barely said a thing. He just stared at me like he was trying to figure out who I really was the whole time. Don’t remember, I begged the universe silently, don’t remember, don’t remember…
Five Someone was watching me. I knew it wasn’t Billy or Giovani because they were both with Laura at her art history class. I was sitting in the library when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I looked across the way, and I saw Cesare talking to the librarian. He had leaned up against her desk like owned it, said something that made her laugh, and then she pointed in my direction. Damn it. I had spent all of freshman year worrying that he would find me again. Now, I was a junior, and he would be graduating in the spring. Of course, he would find me in his last year… My eighteen-year-old self would have given anything for him to notice me. But my twenty-year-old self knew better. Cesare Luna wasn’t the kind of guy that you wanted attention from. He was the kind of guy you thought you wanted attention from and then when you got it, you regretted it immediately. Cesare strode towards me like he was the
Six Not all of the family was back in the Old Country. I had an aunt named Thalia who came to visit at least once a month. She lived in New York, with her three sons, and her husband. I hadn’t met any of them. I wasn’t exactly invited to family events. But, because the family knew my secret, my uncle liked to send people to check in on me. I was unsurprised when I got a call from my Mama on Saturday morning. “Are you working today?” she asked. I sat up in bed. “No. Why?” “Your aunt is coming. She wants to have lunch with you.” I froze. “What? Why?” “I’m not sure,” said Mama, “but dress nicely, and get here before noon.” I groaned. “Okay.” I got up and showered. As I was in the middle of getting dressed, the door to my room opened. A low whistle made me jump. I turned around and was surprised to see Cesare standing there. He smirked. “You look gorgeous. Who are you seeing?”
Seven“Emmilia!”Outside of Laura, I had one friend, Gemma Blake. She was a pretty brunette with blue eyes. She sat up front in my International Business Class, and gestured to the empty seat next to her. “Hi, Gemma!” I smiled. Gemma smiled back at me. “Did you get the e-mail?” “What e-mail?” I asked. “We’re having a guest speaker today. The professor is apparently old friends with Octavious Luna. He’s going to give a presentation on his internship program and his life in business.” The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “Octavious Luna?” Gemma nodded. “Do you think I can convince him to get an internship?” I forced a smile at her. “You’re Gemma Blake. I’m sure that you could do anything you want.” She laughed. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. Why don’t you seem happy about this? I thought you wanted do something with international hotels or whatever. I would think this would be right up your alley.”
Eight “I don’t think you should go.” Laura’s response to being invited to a party surprised me. Normally, Laura was always the one that was trying to get me to do something rash. The two of us sat on the couch, eating the remains of the brownies we’d baked the night before. I glared at her. “Come on. You’re the one that is always telling me that I need to get out more.” Laura sighed. “I know. But that was before.” “Before what?” she’d been acting weird since her fathers visit yesterday. After the lecture he’d given my class, apparently, he’d showed up at the apartment and told her some family news. Since then, Laura had been strangely quiet. When I got home from class, she’d begrudgingly joined me to bake. I tried getting her to talk but mostly she just hummed along to the music I played in the background. Laura made a face. “I just…I mean…” she shoved the rest of her brownie into her mouth. I squinted. “You are h
Nine My phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. That was unusual for me. I only had a few friends and my first thought was that maybe Gemma had been worried about where I was. I got up from where I had fallen asleep on my couch, my head in Laura’s lap. She had fallen asleep using the sofa armrest as a pillow.“What the hell?” I stared at my phone.The first few messages were from my cousin, Nero. The second was Gemma. And the third was my uncle, Titus. I also had a bunch of pictures from Instagram that I couldn’t understand. I barely posted on there.The first message from Nero said FUCKING CALL ME.If my older cousin, who was twenty-one, and lived in New York was calling me, I was in deep shit. He was an extension of my uncle. He handled the family business in the U.S. When I got into trouble freshman year, he was the one who helped me hide everything. He convinced my uncle to let me come to Italy and take care of the situation I had found myself in.I called him. “Nero, what’s wrong?”“Are
TenA lot of the people I tutored were usually athletes. At the moment, I was sitting at a café, with one of the quarterbacks. A shadow fell over me. “Another conquest, Emmi?” I looked up and standing there was Nero.He was tall with jet black hair and had a scar over his eye. I sighed and glanced up at Carter, the blond football player I’d been helping. “Hey, how about I call you later and we can try this again?” I said.Carter raised an eyebrow. “Boyfriend?”I made a face. “Gross. Cousin.”“Ah. Family business.” Carter stood up and packed his things. “No worries, teach. I’ll see you later. Let me know when you’re free.”He left and Nero slid into the seat that Carter had been sitting in.“Tell me that’s not someone else you’re fucking,” Nero said.I shook my head. “No. I’m not fucking anyone. I’m not even fucking Cesare. I told you; I’ve been good.”“Then why is Cesare Luna suddenly posting pictures about you?” Nero asked.I sighed. “He’s obsessed and delusional. I’ve never done any
ElevenAfter I talked with Nero, I didn’t go to the apartment. Instead, I took a bus home and texted Laura that I would be staying with my mom. When I got there, I told mom everything. She hugged me, pulled me inside, and then made me some Ribollita. I sat with her on my old bed and cried into her arms.“You know, your father wouldn’t have wanted this,” said Mama, “you going after that boy…”“I know,” I said, “I shouldn’t have done it…I shouldn’t have been with him. But I was so angry after he died…nothing made sense anymore. That accident took away the last part of my senior year. It should have gone so differently. When I saw Cesare at that welcome back party, all I could think about was revenge.”“So, you let him take your virginity as what? A consolation prize?” Mama said.I glared at her. “I didn’t plan on getting pregnant. I’ve been on the pill since I was a teenager because of my acne. Tori just…happened.”Mama sighed. “I know. I love my granddaughter too, don’t for one second
TwelveI stayed at my mothers for a few days. When she went to work, I studied, and did work online. I cleaned up a little. I cooked and made her dinner when she came home. It had been almost a week and I hadn’t answered any calls or messages from anyone. Finally, one afternoon, there was a knock on the brownstone’s door.I flinched at the sound of it. “Shit.” I went to the door and I peaked through the hole. I opened the door and realized that it was actually Nero. “What are you doing here?”“You wouldn’t answer,” he said, “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days.”I gripped the door tightly. “I’m sorry. I wanted to stay away from the drama. I thought that it was better that I not be around the two of them right now.”“Call Laura,” he told me.I blinked. “Um…okay. Why?”“Because she’s worried about you, and just because her brother is an asshole, that doesn’t mean that you should be pushing her away. She’s good people.”I glared accusatorily had him. “Did you do something