“Seraphina, right?” he asked, even though I was sure he knew my name, even if he didn’t know Phoenix was my sister.
He passed my books and my papers to me. “Yeah,” I said, as I stood. “Thanks.”
“Pretty name.” A flush crept up my neck, and my cheeks heated. “I’m Sergio.”
Pushing past my flustered state, I gave him a small, shaky smile. “I know who you are.”
A wide grin spread across his face like he knew he had rattled me. I’d never seen someone as beautiful as him other than his brother of course because they looked so much alike. Sergio also seemed a lot older than he was.
And dangerous.
“If you know me, why haven’t I ever seen you before we ran into each other at Lucky’s Diner?” he asked, following beside me as I continued to the library.
I shrugged. “Don’t know. But thank you for what you did with Jake. He doesn’t like to take no for an answer.”
Disgust rose inside me. There had been too many times Jake had cornered me, touched me. I was lucky Sergio had been there the last time.
“I did what anyone would do. Has he given you anymore trouble?”
He smirked, but I didn’t understand the smug look.
“No, he hasn’t. I haven’t even seen him, which is a relief. His friends won’t even look at me either.”
“Good. Just let me know if that changes.”
While relieved I didn’t have anyone’s attention, I thought it was weird how Jake’s friends wouldn’t look at me and he just disappeared. They fed off each other. They weren’t as aggressive as Jake, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer either.
We stopped when we reached the library doors. “This is where you eat lunch?”
He frowned, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the cute look on his face.
“Hey man!” Kai Rossi shouted before I could respond.
He and Finley Esposito made their way to us. They never noticed me either, even though we were in the same fourth period Chemistry class. Kai and Finley also had the same dangerous aura as Sergio. They didn’t seem as scary, but if they were Sergio’s friends, I needed to stay far away from them too.
As soon as Sergio’s attention moved from me to them, I slipped inside the library. But I didn’t miss Kai’s narrowed gaze as the heavy wooden door closed behind me.
I made my way toward my usual table. Even though their voices sounded muffled, I could feel Sergio’s eyes burning into the backof my head after he noticed I had eased away while he wasn’t looking.
I put my books and backpack on the table, then slid into my seat. As I removed my lunch from inside my backpack, I looked back at the door where I’d left Sergio standing. I expected him and his friends to be long gone. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. While his friends were talking, his attention wasn’t on them. It remained on me. Despite the flutters erupting inside my stomach, catching his attention wasn’t a good thing. I hoped he’d forget all about me.
Chapter Three
Sergio
Ten Years Later…
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
I snatched the tie from around my neck. I hated ties. They made me feel like someone was fucking choking me. My father always insisted we wore them when he was alive. It was a habit I was trying to break. According to him, a tie made people respect you more. I didn’t believe that shit. Only power and fear made people respect you.
After undoing the button at the collar, I exhaled, then secured my platinum cufflinks. I slid on my Patek Philippe watch,stepped away from the mirror, then blew out another deep breath.
“Why the fuck are you so nervous?” I asked myself, even though I had a pretty good idea.
I wasn’t looking forward to this family dinner at Gianni’s home in Greece. He’d been planning it for a while, and I had said no up until the last minute with some persuasion from my girl.
I understood what he was trying to do as the older sibling of our broken family. As an ex-priest, Gianni still had that religious conviction shit going on, but I didn’t believe our issues could ever be solved. Not from this little sit-down with the entire family and not through my brother’s prayers. Nothing could fix it.
