Alessandra
Ijumped at the sound of the door slamming against the wall. I spun around as quickly as I could, knowing that anything could happen at a wedding filled with criminals. I felt my heart skip a beat when I saw him burst through the door. He was the last person I wanted to talk to. It was like I was in high school, and my crush was avoiding me. It was stupid. I truly didn’t have the time to deal with it.
Still, there he was, looking as handsome as ever in a black suit. His thick, dark hair was pushed back, and the lighting caused shadows to form beneath his high cheekbones. Why did he have to be attractive? It only made things more difficult, and that was the last thing I needed. I had to be beside Lucia. It was her wedding day, and she was elated that we could all be together. It wouldn’t be the same if I was too busy trying to deal with Savio Cavetti.
“What the hell are you doing in here?”
He stopped and closed the door behind him. It was bad enough he was in a women’s bathroom. The fact that he was in a women’s bathroom in a church was even worse. If anyone saw him in there with me, they’d have a fit.
His eyes gleamed like he had something heavy on his mind. As he stared at me, there were too many emotions on his face for me to understand what he was feeling.
“I just wanted to come check up on you,” he said, his jaw clenching. “I know that it’s bad timing.”
I started to laugh. “Bad timing? Bad timing? Really?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. Oh, he wasn’t getting it? What was there not to get?
“You’ve been avoiding and ignoring me. I’ve seen you around the house,” I told him, shaking my head. “It’s not like I didn’t see you going around corners just to get away from me. I’m not stupid.”
“Well, it’s just that—”
“Don’t bother,” I interrupted and crossed my arms. “You’re too late.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, trying to keep his voice low. “You have no idea what’s been going through my mind. I wasn’t always trying to avoid you. It’s not like you came to speak to me either.”
“I didn’t? Where the fuck was I supposed to go?”
His face reddened with frustration, the more I pushed him. I didn’t care. I wanted to see that kind of fire in him. I wanted to push him even further. It was an expression I hadn’t seen from him before. It was new, and it was exciting.
“You were walking around the house like it was yours. Don’t even try to place the blame all on me. It’s not just me who is in the wrong here.”
“Oh?” I asked, tapping my foot on the ground. “And was I ever able to leave the house? Wait. No. Sorry. That was you. And it was also you who avoided me like I was the fucking plague after taking my virginity. So, thanks for that.”
His jaw clenched, and there was a vein exposed in his forehead. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think I do, actually.”
“No, you don’t—”
“I don’t what?” I asked, interrupting him again. I couldn’t help it. I was frustrated too. Angry, even. He’d treated me as though I was garbage. Disposable. I wanted to see him get as angry as he could so that I could have the validation that I was right. “You can’t even tell me.”
“You don’t fucking understand!”
I placed my hands up and stepped away from him. “Is there something I’m just supposed to magically understand about what you did?”
“Yes! There is.”
I waited, only to suffer the tension that was building between us. It was so heavy that it felt as though it weighed down on my shoulders. His hands were clenched into fists, and I wasn’t sure if he would use them on me. Let him try.
“And what would that be?”
He motioned toward me, his eyes gleaming with frustration. “Because I’m in love with you!”
Those words reverberated in my mind like an echo. I had no idea what to say. Any thoughts were trapped at the back of my throat, as though he’d managed to halt everything inside me. He was in love with me? There was no way. I couldn’t believe it. He was a Cavetti, and for months, I’d been nothing but his prisoner. How could you fall in love with a prisoner?
Still, his eyes were staring deeply into mine. He wouldn’t move them. He kept his angered expression, but there was an authenticity there that I couldn’t deny. It seemed preemptive. He was stunned by the admission—just as I was.
“That’s why,” he finally said, breaking the silence. “It’s because I’m in love with you.”
