I need to talk to someone about this.
Not Pietro—he'd start a war. Not Lorenzo—he'd worry himself sick. Not Nico—he'd go into cold calculation mode and probably have Dmitri assassinated by morning.
But Amanda? Amanda is safe. Amanda is normal. Amanda doesn't know the difference between a capo and a consigliere, and that's exactly what I need right now.
Someone outside this world to tell me I'm not completely insane.
"Fine." I hold out my phone. "But you have to promise not to scream."
She grabs it before I can change my mind.
Her eyes scan the screen.
"Holyfuck."
And then she screams.
"AMANDA!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" She's not sorry at all. Her eyes are wide, her mouth hanging open, and she's scrolling up through the conversation like it contains the secrets of the universe. "Oh myGod.Oh my God. 'You know exactly how I taste'? Vittoria, what the actual?—"
"I know."
"'I'll be watching'? That's?—"
"Psychotic. I know."
"I was going to sayhot as fuck, but sure, let's go with psychotic."
I stare at her. "Amanda. He's literally stalking me."
"Yeah, but like..." She gestures vaguely at the screen. "In a sexy way?"
"There's no sexy way to stalk someone!"
"Tell that to every romance novel I've ever read." She scrolls again, then stops. "Wait. Who is this?"
I take a breath. "His name is Dmitri. Dmitri Baganov."
Amanda goes very still.
Then her face splits into the biggest grin I've ever seen.
"The HOT one? The tall-dark-and-Russian one? The one youdisappeared withand then refused to tell me anything about?"
"I didn't disappear with him. I just?—"
"You absolutely disappeared with him. You were gone for like twenty minutes and came back with smeared lipstick and a look on your face like you'd just?—"
"Amanda."
"—had the best kiss of your entire life, which, based on these texts, I'm guessing youdid."
I grab a pillow and press it over my face. "I hate you."
"No, you don't." She yanks the pillow away. "Okay, let me see this guy. Because the way I remember him, he was like... devastatingly attractive. But it was dark, and I'd had a lot of champagne, so maybe I'm misremembering."
"You're not misremembering."
