“Yes!” Mattia fisted the air. “Let me tell you how he lost his virginity.”
I took off my glasses, laughing under my breath. “Oh my God. Okay.”
“He was fifteen, and—”
“Girls, I told you not to enter my room!” Fabio’s voice interrupted her and vibrated in my bones as he burst in.
“Gabi.” His voice faded into a whisper.
“Si. Gabi.” Mattia mocked, mimicking his whisper of my name, exaggerating a swoon. “You’re welcome.”
His eyes captured mine and swore to never let go. Silence wrapped the room as Fabio and I froze in place. Fast, little footsteps came running into the room, and that was only when he took his eyes off me.
“Tiara! Yay!”
Heart thudding, I blinked at the most adorable little girl skipping her way to Tiara that returned to squirm in my arms.
“Hello, I’m Carmen. Are you Papà’s lady friend?”
I hiccupped a laugh as I crouched to her level, my heart frantic in my chest. “I am. My name is Gabi.”
“Can I play with Tiara now?”
“Sure.” Finally, I let go of the dog I was holding on to like a shield, feeling exposed and more vulnerable than ever.
“Do you want to come and play with us?”
“I’d love to. I got you something, too, if it’s okay with Papà.”
“Of course,” he said, the sound of his breathing high. “Say thank you, Gabi.”
I grabbed the bag where I’d placed her toy. It was one of those dolls I didn’t bother to know its name but knew girls her age go crazy over. She thanked me as I gave it to her, and when she found out what it was, she bounced and flung her arms around me in a big hug.
My eyes snapped shut to hide the uncontrollable tears flooding them. A sweet chill broke my skin into goosebumps as I hugged her back.
“Caramella, why don’t you go play with Tiara and your new doll, let Gabi rest a little bit and we’ll both come play with you later?” he told her.
“Si, Papà.”
He glared at his sisters. “You, too.”
“We too what? Go play with our new dolls?” Emilia teased.
He told her to stop being a dick in Italian, making a fist. Then he shooed them both outside the room and locked the door.
His gaze penetrated mine in silence. His feet glued to the floor where he stood, his back against the door and wouldn’t move a step closer.
“I…I came to apologize,” I stammered. “I should have believed you.”
He kept staring at me, his chest the only thing moving in him.
“It was Zoey who did it. Fletcher was paying her to be his spyandscrewing her. I wondered why she hadn’t told him about everything between you and me, why she was helping us. Then I figured it out. She wanted Fletcher to herself. She was my Daniel Larvin.
“When I confronted her, she cried and said she only gave Fletcher intel on book deals because she thought Brighton would fold sooner or later and she didn’t want to lose her job. She thought the merger was the best thing for all of us, and she swore she did what she did because she loved me. She swore when she gave him that recording, she thought he’d only take Brighton in exchange. She didn’t think he’d still be interested in having me after she’d been sleeping with him that long or after you and I… Anyway, I kicked her out.”
He still wouldn’t move or speak.
“So like I said, I came here to apologize, but you know how much I suck at it. Please say something.”
