And with that, we left toward home.
Oscar wanted to drive me to ourcastello, but I told him I wanted to walk instead. It was only fifteen minutes—at best—on foot, and I needed the outlet. He didn’t want to do it at first, but after I told him we could drive back, he agreed.
I wasn’t sure why I was feeling so hot, literally, but I was. It felt like a swarm of wasps surrounded me, stinging me all over the place. I’d never felt this…angry before. I wanted to go back and punch Rosaria this time. Right in her fucking mouth! The only reason I hadn’t before, I reasoned with myself, was because I knew hitting her was going to hurt me. I wanted all the hurt to be on her.
She called my mom a whore!
And the more I thought about how she came at me like that, the more I pictured Régine and her wicked daughters stealing my things.
How scared I was. How helpless.
You’re not helpless now!
“Ah, ah, ah,” Oscar said, raising his hands, stepping in front of me when I turned to go back to Scarlett and Brando’s villa. “Let us walk to yourcastello, ah? We will get the eggs for supper!”
It was almost impossible to not laugh when he got impassioned like that, so it said a lot that I crossed my arms over my chest, and I could feel how tight my face was. I huffed around him, and, hauling my leg back, kicked a big-ass rock as hard as I could. Before we’d left for Scarlett and Brando’s earlier, I’d hurriedly dressed in a floral dress that fell right above my knees, socks that were thick, and combat boots. I’d seen a picture of Scarlett in the ’90s, and I’d wanted to emulate her style backthen. I was just glad I’d decided on the boots. My toe was still stinging with them on. Without, I would have probably broken the toe and been more pissed off at Rosaria—like kicking it was somehow her fault.
It was!
I’d had a smile stuck to my face until she came along and ruined it.
“SignoraFausti?—”
I held a hand up. “Call me Stella.”
His face fell, and I felt horrible. It wasn’t his fault Rosaria was such a raging bitch—whore!
“I’m sorry, Oscar,” I said. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just…really, really,reallymad right now.”
He lifted his hands, turning them a little. “It is okay. I understand.”
“Why do they allow her around?” I made a frustrated noise. “Why?!”
He took a step back, his hands still in the surrender position. “I believe it is because she is the wife of our next leader. We all live behind golden gates in thisfamiglia, and behind those golden gates are smaller golden gates.”
“You mean secrets protected by secrets?”
He pulled a real Oscar-worthy face, then wiped sweat from his brow. “Sì.We live by certain rules. There are hierarchies. What is happening inside of ourfamigliais our secret. If the rest of thefamigliafinds out we are warring amongst ourselves…” He shrugged.
Oh, so if anyone got wind that Rosaria was banned from the kingdom, other branches of the family might start to smell weakness and try to swoop in for the kill. Ava had told me that before. She was like my Fausti Professor.
Shit!
I wondered what was going to happen after Rosaria ran back and ratted on me? A slice on her throat wouldn’t go unnoticed.
I started to walk faster toward thecastello, and Oscar easily caught up, walking backward so he could face me.
“We should talk about something different,” he said.
This stopped me.
He stopped.
“If you continue thinking about her, you will only get more upset,” he said.
“Okay.” I took a deep, deep, deep breath and released it slowly. “What should we talk about?”
“Ah.” He looked to the left and to the right before his eyes met mine. “Noemi.”
