“Of course she does.” She laughs.
“Can you help her get everything she needs, please?” I add as we watch Katarina, who is now scanning an array of dresses. Gio steadies her as she moves through the store, mindful of her injured foot and shoulder, while Julian grabs the items she points to.
“Lucian said you kidnapped her,” Nina says. My head snaps toward her as she raises an eyebrow and chuckles.
“Your brother is stupid. Of course not. I need to take care of her for now.” I explain.
“And why is that?” She asks, her full lips, painted dark red, twisting to one side.
“Because she’s important to me,”
“My, my… And here I thought you’d never take anybody seriously. What happened to ‘dying single is the most heroic thing you’ll do’?” She teases.
Those are the lines I gave her three years ago when we broke up after 3 months of being engaged. It wasn’t serious between us because we both know our lives have been decided for us. She’s a mafia-born like me. We were close growing up, also thesame age, so everyone expected us to marry each other. We were young and naive, and I guess, it just made sense.
After my mother’s ambush, everything went to shit. I knew I needed to end our engagement because there was no way I was going to start a family of my own after watching my mother die. We remained friends nonetheless.
“Sometimes, God sends you a test to see what you’ll do with it. And this one, well, she’s fucking torture.” I say, almost absentmindedly.
“Jesus Christ, you got it hard.” She laughs out loud.
“Whatever that means.” I shrug. “Can you help her, please?” I give her a pleading look.
“I am glad you’re back.” She shakes her head, smiling at me.
“Me too. I missed you.” I say, smiling at my friend.
“You better have!” She snaps before heading inside.
I take a seat on the couch in the middle of the dressing rooms as Nina approaches Katarina. I watch silently, hoping she’ll accept the help because I’m ready to pounce on Julian, who has been chuckling and making jokes that seem to make her laugh. Even Gio is chiming in.
If only I weren’t addicted to that smile, they’ll both be taking the beating now. I watch as Nina introduces herself, and Katarina shakes her hand. She smiles, that same polished smile she uses for the media, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.She really is the jealous type.
When Nina starts pulling out some clothes, I relax a little. I check my emails to kill the boredom. When Katarina passes me, towards one of the dressing rooms, she ignores me.
After a few minutes, she emerges wearing an emerald velvet dress that perfectly accentuates her curves, the sweetheart neckline showing too much cleavage. Nina comes out next, holding more clothes in her hands and winking at me before handing the items to one of her assistants.
“The heels would have matched perfectly, but you shouldn’t walk around in heels yet; that would worsen your injuries,” Nina says as she helps Katarina tie her hair up in a ponytail.
We’re all facing the mirrors, and for a moment, I catch Katarina’s eyes, but she rolls them and looks away. I try hard not to laugh. Fuck, she’s adorable when she’s mad.
“Thank you. I love all of them.” She says to Nina. “Uhmm... do you have internet here? I’ll have to pay online. I don’t have my cards with me.” She adds.
“I got it, no worries,” I say.
“No,” she says, her tone sharp.
Nina chuckles at the tension. “Rubbish. Damiano is family—no need to pay. In fact, I sent Sofia, my best hairdresser, to your villa. She’ll take care of you there.”
“You’re too nice.” Katarina beams at her, and Nina squeezes her arms before pulling her into a hug. As we walk back to the car, Katarina still won’t look at me.
It’s going to be a long ride home.
Chapter 18
Katarina
I am in the backseat of the SUV, surrounded by Nina’s chic paper bags, their expensive logos glaring up at me, almost taunting, as if to remind me how little I belong in all this, and how chaotic my life feels in comparison. Outside, the Sicilian street blurs with vibrant colors, but all I can see is that damn boutique.
