"Of course, Don Salvatore. I understand completely."
"Excellent." He finally released my hand and I resisted the urge to wipe it on my dress. "Kai will be in charge while I'm gone. He'll ensure you follow these rules. If you have any problems, any concerns, you bring them to him. He answers to me, and you answer to him. Clear?"
"Crystal clear."
"Then you're dismissed. I have preparations to make before I leave."
I stood, managed to walk to the door without running, and made it exactly three steps into the hallway before my legs started shaking.
A virgin. He expected a virgin.
I wasn't a virgin. I was so spectacularly not a virgin that if there was an opposite of virgin—like, aggressively deflowered—that would be me.
And in three months, on our wedding night, he was going to know. He was going to know I'd lied. That I'd been with someone else. And then what? Wouldhe kill me?
The panic attack hit fast and hard. My vision tunneled. My chest tightened. I couldn't breathe.
A hand landed on my shoulder and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
"Whoa. Easy. It's just me."
Lia. Thank god, it was just Lia.
She steered me away from her father's study, down the hallway, into her bedroom. Closed and locked the door behind us.
"Breathe, Aria. Come on, in through your nose, out through your mouth. That's it. You're okay."
I wasn't okay. I was so far from okay that okay was a distant memory from a better life.
But I followed her instructions anyway. Breathed. Counted. Focused on not completely losing my mind in front of the one friend I had in this house.
"What did he say to you?" Lia's voice was tight with controlled anger. "What did my father say that made you look like you're about to pass out?"
"Nothing. It was nothing. Just... rules. About while he's gone."
"Rules." She didn't believe me. "My father doesn't give rules that make people have panic attacks unless they're particularly horrible rules. What did he threaten you with?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Aria—"
"He's gone in two hours. That's what matters. Two hours and we don't have to see him for a month." I forced a smile. "That's good news, right? A whole month without his cold eyes and creepy voice and those threats disguised as expectations."
Lia's expression softened. "You're right. A whole month of freedom. Or at least, as much freedom as we can get in this prison." She moved to her closet, rummaging around until she emerged with a bottle of wine. "Which means we should absolutely celebrate his departure the second his car leaves the property."
"It's two in the afternoon."
"And your point is?" She grinned. "Come on. My father is leaving. That's cause for day drinking if I've ever heard one."
She wasn't wrong.
We waited until we heard the cars leave. Watched from Lia's window as the convoy of black SUVs disappeared down the long driveway. The second they were out of sight, Lia popped the wine cork.
"To temporary freedom and absent fathers!"
I took the glass she offered. "To survival."
"That too."
