Page 146 of Matteo

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Matteo says, his tone at odds with his words.

“You must be Valentina.” I smile at the glamorous woman in front of me.

“Elizabeth. I have been looking forward to meeting you.” She acknowledges Matteo with a gracious smile.

We go to shake hands, but it doesn’t seem appropriate. It doesn’t seem enough. So we hug one another, even though I know nothing about her, and I expect she knows nothing about me.

“So good of you to come, and right on time.” Vlad glances at his watch. He gesticulates around. “There is food and drink, so, please, enjoy. This is very low-key, just close friends and acquaintances.”

“Not too late a night, darling. We need to be ready for tomorrow.” Valentina rests her hand on Vlad’s chest. It’s impossible to miss the canary yellow diamond glinting on her finger; it’s the size of a small ice cube.

“Wow.” I take her hand and gawk at it. “It’s … so big.” I look up at her in awe, and she nods, in agreement, holding out her hand and admiring it.

“It is big,” Matteo remarks. I can instantly tell he doesn’t like it.

“Takumi was asking about you earlier,” Vlad offers, causing my insides to drop. I’ve been thinking about this, and I’ve concluded that Vlad has told Valentina about his past, which goes some way to explaining why his guard is down and why he doesn’t watch what he says. My life and my future depend on me keeping my past in the shadows.

But what if I told Matteo the truth?

Would it really be so bad? Because my past doesn’t mean that I’m a bad person. It’s his father who doesn’t need to know. Matteo trusts me and he would understand,

“We ran into him earlier,” Matteo confesses, pulling me from my thoughts.

“You met him?” Vlad asks, while I try to give him a look, try to tell him to change the subject.

“I had the pleasure of it. He remembers Chicago fondly,” Matteo replies.

“Chicago?” Vlad looks at us.

“He’s into crypto now,” I say, interrupting.

“Crypto and maybe a few projects with me,” Vlad says. I blink. That’s a revelation. I had no idea what Takumi was up to, and it seems now that he’s working with Vlad.

Dread crawls up along my spine. Every conversation tonight feels like a landmine, and I'm scared of bringing up a shared memory, of saying the wrong thing, treading where I shouldn't be, and having it all blow up in my face.

I can practically feel Matteo's curiosity growing with every new piece of information, every half-answer and every connection he doesn't understand.

“Darling, I need to check in on my sister.” Valentina tells Vlad, then, “I hope we can talk later,” she says to me, before blowing me and Matteo a kiss and disappearing. Vlad’s gaze stays on her, with something close to adoration.

The man is deeply in love and this is something I’ve not seen before. For as long as I've known him, Vlad has kept his private life locked down tighter than any server he'd ever built. He checked in on me regularly and always made sure I was okay, but whenever the conversation drifted toward his own life, he'd change the subject. He’s never talked about girlfriends before, and I’ve never known him to let anyone get close to him.

That’s why news of his wedding came as such a shock. He’s always been so composed and measured, but now, with Valentina, he seems stripped down, bare and vulnerable.

“The ring is monstrous,” he says, shaking his head. “And too big, but she loves it.”

“How did you meet?” Matteo asks. My attention snaps to him, because he’s asking a lot of questions. Personal questions of people he doesn’t know well enough to ask such questions of.

Vlad smiles. “At a children's rehabilitation center.”

I blink. “What?”

“Valentina was volunteering there while finishing her physiotherapy training, and I was helping to fund some new equipment.”

I just stare at him because nothing about that answer fits the Vlad I remember.

He catches my expression. “People change, mala.”

“You’re head over heels in love.” I poke him playfully in his chest.