“What’s going on, Peps? No bullshit.”
“Someone came into my office at Vice. Threatened me.”
Neil and Milo became very still. They knew for a stranger to get inside, besides a kid like I’d been, the stranger had to have an in.
“You think I’m a threat?” Neil whispered.
“Right now, the entire world feels like a threat to me.”
“Even Ed?” Neil asked.
I hesitated but was truthful. “Even Ed.”
The three of us stood in tense silence until Neil breathed out a sigh. “You were right to cut me off.”
Milo agreed. “Shows our Peps has some sense of self preservation.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Milo. She’s here and didn’t even tell anyone.”
The only person I trusted to tell was Molly, but I didn’t want to bog her down with details. I’d just told her I was off to Italy to find Lucila and Lilo. If I got lost along the way? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe I’d get found in the end.
Hopefully not under a bunch of dirt, but still.
“How do you know I didn’t tell anyone?” I asked.
“You have a fear of failure, Peps. If this didn’t work out—” he gestured to where we were, meaning the Fausti family “—you would have skulked off to some cave to die in the darkness alone. But that’s beside the point right now. How much trouble are we looking at?”
“It made it inside of Vice.” I shrugged. “So, I’m estimating more than I’ve ever been in before.”
The two men before me became quiet. Neil opened his mouth, probably to tell me I could trust him, but he knew it would do no good. I had trust issues to begin with. And he would have taken the same route as me to keep the people he loved safe too.
“Fuck,” he snapped. Not at me, but at the situation in general. He reached out and took my hand, squeezing.
I squeezed back and took a deep breath.
The volume of the place had lowered, like when someone is listening out for something or someone. A second later, a whispered buzz went through the crowd, and I turned to face them. The press was edging closer to the line separating them from the event, preparing for what we all felt.
The grand entrance of the guest of honor: Luca Leone Fausti.
Brando Fausti and his wife, Scarlett, made it through the crowd first. It reminded me of guests at a wedding, waiting with bated breath while the bride made her way up the aisle. Their entrance had that kind of effect.
Brando was one of the finest gentlemen I’d ever seen, keeping his wife close as her arm was tucked around his protectively. He was smooth, but it was easy to tell he’d rather be anywhere else.
Scarlett, on the other hand, was a world-famous ballerina whose parents were well known before she was. She held her chin up high, but she was warm and cordial to anyone she made eye contact with.
She was so confident in her steps, in her position next to her husband, that it was inspiring.
Together, Brando and Scarlett Fausti made a gorgeous couple. It was hard to look away from them.
As the couple passed our area, Brando kept his face forward, but Scarlett turned and met my eyes.
Whoa.Her eyes. They were pure green, like gems, and they sparkled in reflection to all the candlelight. And those knowing eyes…they made me feel exposed…like my skin was thin and she could see straight through me.
Neil squeezed my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “Breathe, Peps.”
Had I forgotten to? I was still standing, so I didn’t think I had.
Rocco and his wife, the infamous Rosaria, were not far behind Brando and Scarlett. Rocco was just as gorgeous and just as much of a gentleman as his older brother. But where Brando was all mysterious darkness, Rocco’s sea-green eyes made me think of the water in Sicily, and the beautiful monster waiting underneath to drag me under if I waded in.
