“I’m fine.” I shrug.
Gabi and Valentina exchange glances.
“It’s not too late to change your mind.” Val lowers her voice. “We can find a way to get you out of here.”
I smile at her optimism, hoping more than anything she can hang on to it when it’s her turn to marry.
“Right now, I couldn’t walk out of here if I wanted to.” I lift my nearly empty wine glass and swallow the rest.
Sensing my mood, Chantel nods and changes the subject. “Where are the rest of the girls?”
“Gone to bed already.” Gabi yawns. “There was a little too much excitement today.”
“Such as?” Chantel asks.
“Abella has been filling us in on her stalker.” Gabi glares at me, clearly still upset about the confession I made earlier. In my defense, we were on our third bottle of wine for the evening, and it just sort of slipped out.
“You have a stalker?” Concern settles over Chantel’s face. “How long has this been going on?”
“A while, apparently,” Gabi huffs. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t want you to worry about me.”
“What if this is connected to…you know?” Gabi asks.
Grant Ellison.
“It’s not.” I shake my head.
“How can you be sure? You could be in danger, and we’d have no idea?—”
“It isn’t like that,” I tell them.
“So, what is it like?” Chantel asks.
“It’s…” The words get caught in my throat as I try to figure out how to explain this. “I don’t know...intense.”
Three wide sets of eyes stare back at me. “Did something happen, Abella?” Chantel leans closer, clearly invested.
A flush spreads down my neck as Val chimes in.
“Oh, something happened, alright.”
“Please do explain.” Chantel raises her brows. “I’m dying to hear this.”
I pour another glass of wine, the bottle glugging out the last of its contents. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but don’t judge me.”
“I would never,” she swears.
I give her the condensed version, explaining how the masked man showed up at my building in tactical gear, cut the power, and caught me in the rooftop garden.
“This sounds like a plot from one of my favorite movies,” Gabi quips.
Val side-eyes her, and I continue.
“His goons asked me a bunch of random questions about Matteo, and I said I wanted to deal with the masked guy because he was in charge. So he came over, pulled my head back, said something dirty, and then…”
I close my eyes, heat rushing up my spine as I recall what happened next.
