My grip tightens around hers. I don’t glance his way, even when her wide eyes dart around, lips parting with panic. I pull her in tighter, my head both racing and slowing. My thoughts are chaotic and struggling, a buzz that isn’t slowing or dying. There are no tapping or numbers that’ll get me through this.
It’s an emotion that will be the end of his life if he breathes one more fucking time.
“Lev,” Serafina whispers. Just the single syllable—my name—breaks my trance, enough to look at her,reallylook at her, and spot the fear clouding her sky-shaded eyes. Fear for me, Vitale beside us and the crowd beyond, some of whom watch curiously as I, a guest, refuse to hand the bride back to her groom.
He’ll never behers.
“Lev,” my sister’s smooth voice cuts through the tenseness right before her arm dislodges me from Serafina. “It’s time for that dance you owe me.”
I’m stiff as she drags me away from the duo, Serafina staring for a beat before plastering on a fake smile for Vitale. She takes his arm and leads him towards their table to continue mollifying the situation.
Anastasia adopts the proper dance position and starts leading me, her natural abilities making her body fluid. “Can you be more obvious? I saved your ass there. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“She loves me. She told me.”
Anastasia’s eyes roll back in her head. “Obviously. Anyone with half a brain cell could tell you that. And you, dear brother, hate-every-emotion-out-there-because-you-don’t-understand-them, love her too. You’ll deny it, of course, which I expect, but nonetheless, it’s a feeling you have, and one I can’twaitfor you to admit to yourself.”
“Da. I love her too.”
She jolts in my arms. “Damn, just like that…” She casts a look at Vitale and Serafina at their table. He’s saying something to her while she feigns contentment and sips from a champagne glass. “Does she know?”
“He interrupted us.”
Anastasia makes a sucking noise with her teeth that she knows annoys the hell out of me and circles us back to our table. She drops into her seat and mutters, “It’s nine. They’ll be leaving soon.”
Sure enough, people go up to the couple to wish them well. Some return to the party while others leave—lucky fuckers. It’s as though a switch has been flicked on in the room, and now, people are settling in for a night of celebrating on someone else’s euro.
At the exact strike of ten, Vitale stands and holds out his hand for Serafina, who takes it, pulling that massive dress behind her. People cheer, shouting lewd comments that make me want to gut every single one of them. My hands fist beneath the table, trying to rein in my control the tiniest degree before I completely snap.
Vanessa notices, frowning, and Anastasia reaches over to cover my hands with her own for a quick, reassuring squeeze. Beneath her hold, I tap my finger against my knee.
I count to ten.
And tap.
And count.
None of it’s working.
My head vibrates.
My body knows its medicine is being unwillingly dragged away.
And there’s nothing I can do about it. Even tracking her will be useless, since she’s right here, in this hotel.
By the door, Vitale pauses and, much to the gleeful shouts of everyone else, Serafina’s dignity gets stolen when he hauls her in for a messy kiss that makes everything inside me curl. He pulls away, cheering along with the drunken idiots, but winks at me from across the room.
Rage unfurls, paving the way from me to them. One punch to the throat is all it’ll take.
Serafina meets my eyes, her own wide and frightened and nothing that should exist within the stormy blues I’ve fallen so fucking hard for. Her arm is yanked, and the door shuts behind them.
I move to stand.
Anastasia presses down harder on my knee. “Sit the fuck down,” she grits between clenched teeth. “We have to stay for a bit. It’ll look obvious otherwise.”
Across the table, Zeno catches my eye. “I’m going to speak with the other Capos again, make it look a bit less obvious than if we follow them out right now.” He breathes through his teeth, scanning us all with a low curse in Italian. “She’ll be alright. She has to be. She’ll come back to us.”
He speaks that final statement directly at me before disappearing into the crowd.
