“I know,” Hailey groans.
She turns to me. “Excited about your wedding?”
“She’s not,” Bianca cuts in before I can, stopping her treadmill. “We are plotting to kill him.”
Savannah winces. “Not a bad idea, from what I’ve heard.”
“What did you hear?” I ask.
She gives me a questioning look and tilts her head. “Thelo spettrostuff?”
“In English?” Hailey puts down her flashcards.
“It means the ghost… I think,” Savannah says.
“It does,” I say. “But this is the first I’ve heard of it. Is that a nickname?”
Savannah leans forward in her seat, keeping her voice low despite the four of us being the only ones in this hotel gym. “Apparently, like fifteen or twenty years ago? A series of killings occurred—all the bodies drained of blood and left on the street in the middle of the night.”
My palms sweat. Is Alessandro a serial killer? Please tell me Savannah is only messing with me.
“Eventually,” she continues, “the authorities found out that all of these killings were mob-related, but the name persisted for about a year and no one put a face to the murderer. Until someone finally managed to snap a photograph of Alessandrodragging one of the bodies out onto the street in the middle of the night.”
“Stop.” Bianca covers her mouth.
“I’m sure you know at least this part, but Alessandro was adopted, and no one knows his origins. No one could find a last name, a birth certificate, or anything proving that he was alive. So… he was named ‘lo spettro’ by the media.”
“Fuck my life,” I mutter under my breath. “Please tell me you’re joking?” My heart pounds in my chest. My family wouldn’t marry me off to someone like this. Would they?
“How do you know all of this?” Bianca asks.
“Nick.” Savannah shrugs, referring to my cousin. She’s been dating him on and off for ages.
This comforts me. He could have made all of that up or at least exaggerated, knowing what he’s like—always trying to pull someone’s leg.
“He wasn’t full of it, though.” Savannah reads my mind. “If he were messing around with me, he would have laughed part of the way through that story. But he also isn’t terribly concerned and thinks that the whole stunt was some type of initiation.”
That’s better, but I’m still angry with the men in my family for setting this whole ordeal up and not telling me about this.
I’m pretty distant as the conversation flows from topic to topic, nervously biting the inside of my cheek instead of laughing along with the other girls. I clear my throat and gesture towards the door. “I’m going to head back to my room.”
Bianca stands up. “I can come with you. I desperately need a shower.”
We walk through the hallway, and Bianca hits the button for the elevator, turning to me. “It’s still bothering you, isn’t it?”
“Yep. I’m going to our parents’ room.”
“I’m coming with.”
Anger boils in my chest as we reach the top floor and hear the ding of the doors opening. My fist clenches as we approach their hotel room, then I pound on the door.
My dad opens it with a lazy smile until he sees my facial expression.
“Lo Spettro!?”
“Fuck.” He opens the door wider. “Come in.”
Bianca and I take a few steps into their room. Mom looks up from her tablet. I’m not sure if she’s heard about Alessandro’s lore or not. I’m assuming not; otherwise, she would have put her foot down about this wedding before I even heard of it.
