“Yes, yes, yes!” she chanted.
7
LUCIA
When the day started, I did not expect it to end with rearranging the hotel suite’s living room furniture and being inside a blanket fort. But here we were. Gia was knocked out in a bundle of blankets and pillows. A princess movie was on the TV, which we had built the fort around, because obviously. Alex had ordered pizza delivery right to the room, and boxes were strewn on the floor. Matteo had brought the wine. Nicola and Anna stopped by for a bit before going out together. Anna received some bad news today about her family. I didn’t know much of the details but she needed a friend, and I was there. From what I gathered, she had been expected to take over or be a part of the family business, but she carved her own way into the world through motorsports, much to her family’s dismay.
With everyone together, we had giggled and laughed, the boys recounting our summer on the vineyards to the group. How we would sneak out wine bottles from the fancy vintages and bring them to the lake, jumping into the freezing water under the moon. I missed home, I really did. But this was new and exciting and I was trying to be brave and do hard things. But going outside your comfort zone and in a new country with your toddler was fucking hard. Gianna running out of sight today had shaken me. It was so unlike her, she just slipped away so fast, then weaved her way to Alexander, and I felt like my heart had left my body. On top of that, something was going on with Anna. She was off tonight, and when I pulled her aside to ask her, she only told me it was a family complication. I sent a text out to Nicola telling her what happened with Gia and how Anna seemed disheveled. Nicola promised to do some recon and check in with Anna tonight, making my heart relax a little. Them stopping by before going out was a welcome surprise. I was new here but I already felt so attached to this little group we had made together. Anna and Nicola were like little guardian angels for Gianna, and if something was wrong, I wanted to help fix it.
“All right, I’m gonna go crash,” Matteo announced. “Gotta beat this idiot tomorrow.” He poked at Alexander, who smirked in reply.
“Good luck with that, mate, you’re the one who ate the pizza and got wine drunk before a race.”
“You brought the pizza, how was I not supposed to eat it!” Matteo whined. “I take full responsibility for the wine. Great idea.” I laughed at them.
“The pizza and wine were great, thank you for tonight,” I said, pulling the blankets around Gianna.
“My steak dinner was also great.” Alexander smirked.
“Pizza was better.” Matteo shrugged and pulled himself up. “Want me to put her to bed?” he said, nodding at my sleeping daughter.
“It’s okay, I’ll clean up first. Go to sleep though, you both need to rest before tomorrow, and your managers would kill me if they knew you were up late and ate banned food.”
“I’ve done nothing wrong.” Alexander threw his hands up. “My bedtime is eleven.”
“Leo threatened me with my life last time I stayed out past ten,” Matteo grumbled, mentioning his own race engineer, and waved goodbye before leaving.
“I’ll help clean up,” Alexander said quietly, getting up slowly to not wake up Gianna.
“Thank you.” I smiled. Alexander was always this person, extremely thoughtful with his actions. It was crazy to think of him before I knew him—the playboy, the serial dater. I mean, that’s what the tabloids said, but the Alexander I knew was reading a book on the porch of my family’s home in Italy. Sketching on any scrap of paper he could find and helping my mom do the dishes even though Matteo and Dad would be drinking and playing darts in the backyard.
We cleaned in silence. The stars were out tonight, the moon was full. We had turned off all the lights, letting only the television light our fort. Gia was still fast asleep as we cleaned. Once that girl went to sleep for the night, she was out. It was kind of amazing. I wish I had that superpower. I knew I would lie awake for at least an hour before I finally fell asleep. I had been that way since I had Gia—a restless mind at night, thinking about what I needed to do the next day, what to prepare, what activities we might do, and whether I needed to go into the city for new shoes for Gia who was growing like a weed.
“I think tomorrow it might be best if I stay on my own,” Alexander said, breaking the silence.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to keep the shock off my face. Did he not want us around the Belen garage?
“I just—” He ran a palm over his neck. “The paparazzi have this fascination with trying to get me caught in drama.” His eyes were sad, he looked overwhelmed if I had to pin it. It made my own heart crack and shoulders deflate. “I don’t want to bring you into it, especially not Gia. I know you don’t want her face in the media and you want to protect her. And I get it, I want the same. But I’m not a good person to be around.”
I shook my head. “Alexander, no,” I whispered. He was not putting all the burden of today on his own shoulders. “You are family. You have the two of us cheering you on all race long, and if you aren’t around it will break that girl’s heart. She loves you so much,” I said, reaching out my hand and resting it on his arm. “Don’t do that.” I shook my head. “Don’t blame yourself for today. You can’t control other people, only yourself, and you are the one who told them to stop and removed Gia from the environment. I don’t think I even took a moment to thank you for”—I took a breath—“so thank you. For protecting her like she’s family.” An expression passed his face I couldn’t place, but it was quickly replaced with his smile.
“Anytime.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal. He busied himself with grabbing all the trash, and soon the room was clean from our night. I began pulling the blankets down, before reaching down and getting Gia. She snuggled closer to me, making my heart burst. I loved this kid.
“Night,” Alexander whispered to us. I walked him out, holding onto Gia.
“See you tomorrow?” I whispered back, hopeful.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Plus, Anna threatened them within an inch of their life, she promised we would be good inside the circuit.”
“My team is on it too,” he said and I paused.
“Like who?” I asked hesitantly.
“Dante.” I paused again,oh.He wasseriousserious. Dante scared the crap out of me. I still didn’t know how he had connections to everything—I mean, I had an idea, but I was not about to ask questions. Scary-looking Italian man who could make anything happen and on Alexander’s payroll? I don’t need to know.
“Sleep tight.” A tired smile formed as he looked down at Gianna, then looked up to me. “Night.”
