“So?” A tiny brunette asks. “She was still Gabriel’s and he was hers… until he got married.”
“What is this?” I ask Ginevra. “Why did you bring me here?”
“These are my friends. Julia.” This is the blonde. “Bea.” The black-haired one. “And Gemma.” The brunette.
They all stare back at me like I’m the devil incarnate.
“You didn’t tell me there would be other people,” I say. “I thought it would just be us.” Meaning I thought it would be easier to sneak away from Ginevra and see my dad.
“Does it matter? My friends are my life. Let’s go. We have shopping to do.”
Julia sneers. “She’s coming with?” I can’t help but flinch at her tone.
“Yes. Aurora is one of us now. A mafia wife.”
I suck in a breath. “You’re all married to mafia men?”
“Yes,” Bea says it like I’m supposed to know.
“I wasn’t told,” I say, trying to defend myself. “Gabriel hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with information.”
Ginevra’s eyes light up at the news of Gabriel. “What has he been forthcoming about? Me?”
I can’t help but huff. “Gabriel never speaks of you.” It’s the wrong thing to say, I know it. But I will not let a mean girl break me down. Not when I had to put up with a mean girl at my café job who ostracized me from my co-workers.
“You don’t need to be rude,” Gemma snaps. “Ginevra was just asking a question.”
“It was rude. She’s trying to pry into my marriage. That’s not happening.”
Julia with her long legs and bright blonde hair stands tall. “You know, we could all be on the same side. Our husbands are powerful. You need us. I wouldn’t suggest insulting our friend.”
“Who are your husbands? I thought Gabriel was the boss.”
Bea huffs. “Just because our husbands are not mafia bosses like yours doesn’t mean you don’t need us. We can make your life a living hell or a paradise.”
“I would like to be friends but with people who aren’t being rude to me. You implied I stole Gabriel from Ginevra when she’s already married.”
“My husband is dead,” she snaps. “So I’m no longer married.”
I tense. Does Ginevra know what really happened that night? Gabriel informed me that he made George’s death look like an accident. It’s scary to think how easy it was for Gabriel to do that.
“But you were married when you tried to sleep with him,” I snap in return. “And he’s married. He’s not yours. And I never stole Gabriel from you. I was just trying to save my father from him and he forced me into a marriage.”
Ginevra’s eyes light up once more. “He forced you into a marriage. You mean, you didn’t want to marry him? So you don’t even want to be with him then. So why are you fighting for him now? Give him back to me. We can come to an arrangement.”
“Gabriel is rightfully Ginevra’s,” Bea says. “She had him first.”
I can feel all of their eyes on me. Their intense, judgmental eyes. “Does that matter though when I’m his wife now? He didn’t marry Ginevra.”
“Only because she was married,” Julia snaps. “It was an arranged marriage to George. Ginevra didn’t have a choice.”
“I didn’t have a choice either but I still don’t appreciate any of you acting like my feelings are not valid. My husband is my husband now. I’m not just going to give him away.”
Ginevra huffs, rolling her eyes. “You just can’t stop being a little bitch, can you? I invited you out here today to put the past behind us. To be friends and you just have to act like this.”
“You’re trying to take my husband from me.”
“The husband you don’t even want,” Gemma mutters, sharing a secretive smile with the other women.
