I pressed my chin on the violin and started an international favorite.Beauty and the Beast.
To my beast with the sexy beard that was giving me the best. Tino Il Lupo. The wolf that wouldn’t lose his vice but remained my good luck charm.
People started to dance, and I was no longer nervous. I was happy. The happiest I’d been in a very long time. Nothing clouded the joy swirling inside me. What Tino had done this morning long forgotten. The anxiety of meeting Leo buried deep. Even the fear thathemight show up tonight nonexistent. I wantedhimto come. To see. To fuck up.
I wantedhimover.
I wanted my freedom so I could live my life. The one Tino was showing me I deserved.
It was only when he asked Nicky to dance with him that a pang set in my chest. I’d have loved to dance with him, except I was here, playing the music they danced to.
I knew he didn’t think of her as a woman. Even if he did, he’d never be with either of us. But if this was a different world, and we weren’t the Baldi sisters, the charity cases, if Tino was to choose one of us, it’d be Nicky. The smart, beautiful, strong woman who wasn’t afraid of taking what she deserved or fitting in a world like his, who wasn’t a psycho stalker magnet that let sickos take advantage of her. The woman he wouldn’t have to protect and take care of all the freaking time.
He twirled her, and she flowed with him as if they’d danced together a million times before. They held their eye contact during the whole dance. Only when the song was ending had he bend her back and lifted his gaze. His smirk hit me as he winked at me.
I looked away as I wrapped up the song. A quick smile landed on my lips as I received a round of applause. A server brought me the requests, and I sifted through them. Almost all of them were hardcore classics. Were they testing me?
I chose the hardest of them all. Caprice No. 24 by Paganini. It was fast and crazy, and Paganini himself couldn’t master it at first.
Challenge accepted.
Starting the melody, I took my time looking at my audience one by one, meeting their scrutinizing stares with equal examination. I never needed to prove myself to the society elite, but the fire of jealousy in my chest forced me to show them all, to show Tino I belonged here like anybody else.
My eyes wandered among the busy tables and the swirling dance floor. People weren’t listening while they ate now. They stopped their scrumptious meals to listen with full attention to the music.
To me.
Tino and Nicky were back to their table, listening too, as if they could no longer keep up with my rhythm, yet admiration and pride etched all over their faces.
I tore my gaze away from them. Right now, I didn’t need their support. I demanded their attention along with everyone else’s in the place, and I was getting it.
With the angry notes, I closed my eyes and let it all out. Then I found myself in the melody, gaining back my balance. When I opened my eyes, Leo’s face was there.
He just stood there, watching me with the yearning of a lover that had just found their soulmate.
I should have averted my gaze, but I smiled at him, pretending to be playing for him. Didn’t Tino call me a brat? Well, I’d live up to it. Let’s see if he’d keep his promise.
You’ll dance with my sister. I’ll dance with your son. My way.
Chapter28
Tino
You can’t give what’s not yours, Angel. Not even your smile. It belongs to me.
Not him. Never him.
I tilted my head at Leo, nodding for him to sit. He sauntered to our table, his eyes glued to my Angel, a fucking grin on his face. “She’s amazing, isn’t she?”
“Wipe that smile off your face or I’ll punch it off for you,” I gritted.
“What? Why?”
Because she’s mine.I nodded at Nicole instead. She was fuming, staring daggers at Leo.
He shifted his smile toward her, taking a hint. “Buonasera, Nicky. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Her fists clenched, and I held the one on the table, patting it, reminding her of what we were here for. She breathed out. “It’s Nicole to you.” Her stare, and his, returned to the stage.
