A video of me throwing punches?
A video of me kissing the golden boy?
I have options. None of them are good.
She drops her bag on the table, takes off her coat slowly.
"Rava," she says, finally. "Seriously?"
I look away.
Okay. We’re fucked. Properly, royally fucked.
Not even twenty-four hours and the Big Brains already found out. Game over.
They’re gonna ship him back to Canada with a bow on his head and toss me to Spain like a problem they can export.
It pisses me off how she’s looking at me. Like she’s cracked some deep moral code about me and him.
You don’t know shit, woman. You just saw a thirty-second video.
I didn’t just walk up and kiss him because I ran out of mouths in the area. It wasn’t "ah, same old Gio, can’t keep it in his pants."
"It was for his ex," I say.
My mother leans back in the chair. "You kissed him for her?"
I nod once. "Yep."
Her brow furrows. "That makes zero sense."
"Not my problem."
She stares at me. "Are you telling me that whole scene was just for drama?"
"You raised me," I say. "Are you surprised?"
"You know this isn’t a game," she says.
I take a sip of water. "You think I don’t know that?"
"You act like you don’t, Gio," she snaps. "For God’s sake. I told you not to touchoneperson. Just one! How much longer are you going to go against me?"
I bite back ten replies and rub my face instead. "Can you calm down for three seconds?" I mutter. "You’re acting like I ruined a treaty."
She now stares at me like I’m the dumbest thing she’s ever created.
"You kissedhim," she hisses. "Do you realize what you’ve done?"
"Yes," I say.
"I kissed him." I make it sound as flat as possible.
Her eyes narrow. "He’s the son of our biggest partner. The company cares. His parents care. Everyone cares, Gio."
"Yeah, well, tell them to relax," I say. "It wasn’t him. It was me."
She scoffs. "You’re both in that video."
