“OK, I will,” I say.“You can count on me.”
He nods and smiles sadly again in that way that never fails to make me think he regrets that I’m not a son.Usually it makes me bitter, today I almost suggest he find me a man he can trust to marry.So he could have someone loyal by his side.Someone to keep him safe in the battles he must fight.Someone to keep him safe.
But Matteo could do all that.
And I’m pretty sure he’s the only man I’ll every truly want to marry.
And there I go, building my castles in the sky, like always.But what else can anyone expect from a girl who spends her days locked in a tower?
I stand up, the skin on the back of my thighs peeling off the leather painfully.
“I’ll leave you to it,” I say.“And I’ll do better from now on.”
He seems lost in all the bad stuff this conversation stirred up in his mind.At least I successfully deflected talking about the original reason he wanted to speak to me.
But his voice is sharp as he calls my name right before I open the office door to leave.
“I don’t need talk of my oldest daughter carrying on with a bodyguard,” he says sharply.“Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes, Dad,” I say, my voice somehow making it past the lump in my throat.“I understand.”
There’s talk?
From who?
What am I supposed to do now?
Staying away from Matteo, denying our connection feels impossible.But continuing on could mean his death.And then I’d truly lose him forever.
* * *
As I get backto my apartment, I’m still reeling from all the emotions running through me following that conversation—my own and my dad’s which I felt just as keenly.
“So?What happened?What did he want?”Chiara asks breathlessly, while Lidia looks at me over the top of her book, eyes wide and questioning.
I sigh and plop down on one of the plush white armchairs, enjoying the softness against my things and wishing everything could be simple again.That I could just enjoy sitting in a nice chair, looking out the window at the nice view and that it would be enough.It’s time to come clean to my sisters.
“What?How bad was it?Is he trying to marry you off again?”Chiara asks, her voice getting more and more agitated with every word.
I shake my head and still the words don’t come.
“What then?”Chiara asks.
I focus on the busy view out the window and take a deep breath.
“He wants me to stop hanging out with Matteo.”
The silence that follows is something I should’ve expected, since on its own, I didn’t tell them anything yet.
“But you don’t want to do this?”Lidia asks, speaking slowly as though she isn’t sure she’s getting it right.
“No, I don’t,” I say, take another deep breath and add, “Because I really like him.”
They both gasp at the same time, and practically in the same way, the sound amplified unnaturally because of it.
“Why?”Lidia asks.“He’s so grumpy and dark all the time.Even when he was saving you from the ocean he looked like he hated doing it.”
“I don’t think he did,” I say.“I think he’s just scared by the connection we have.And what it could mean.”
