Chapter 14
GIANNA
Chiara had to get stitches and spent almost all night in the Emergency Room.
She has been moping all day. Complaining about the pain, complaining about our parents, the way we’re stuck inside, not even able to go out whenever we want, much less going out by ourselves and doing whatever.
She’s been complaining about Lidia a lot too, and to say I’m fed up with the endless negativity is the understatement of the century.
On top of it, Matteo hasn’t been in to work yet.
I keep going over to the front door and checking through the peephole to see who’s out there guarding our door. I’ve been careful not to be seen by Chiara because in the mood she’s in, it won’t be pleasant if she starts questioning me about why I keep looking out the door.
Not that I even know what I’d do if I saw Matteo out there. Maybe apologize. Maybe just let him look at me with that burning gaze of his that warms me better than the sun.
I’ve dressed and applied makeup, the dewy, everyday kind that’s supposed to look like I’m not wearing any, but actually took almost an hour to apply.
Good thing our mother raised us to always be presentable, from the time we get up in the morning to the moment we go to sleep.
Else I’d probably have to fend off a bunch of annoying questions from Chiara about why I’m dressed to go out.
I already had to answer some about my pale peach silk blouse and white pants, and the pearls I paired it with.
Silk isn’t the best for lounging in, Chiara reminded me.
It gets wrinkled and ruined too quickly.
But I told her I’m wearing it because it feels so good against my skin, and she let it go at that.
The sun is setting, the sky a gorgeous mixture of gold and orange. Another day that I watched pass by from my high tower. Another day where all I did was bicker with my sisters and daydream about being free.
When I was younger, I’d compare my life to that of the queen or her ladies-in-waiting back in the Middle Ages.
The way they’d all sit around all day, dressed in their finest, reading, sewing pretty things, doing each other’s hair, talking, and laughing.
Now I’m sure that kind of life must’ve gotten old real fast even for them.
It did for me, especially once I realized I’d never be a queen and would always want to be.
“Let’s go out for a walk or something,” I suggest, really wanting to feel the last rays of the sun on my skin before night falls yet again and all I’ve done all day is precisely nothing.
Lidia looks up from her book, the expression on her face saying it all. Chiara lifts up her bandaged hand, the other occupied with scrolling on her phone. Neither of them says anything, but I already know the answer to my question is a big fat no.
“Fine, I’ll go on my own,” I say and get off the sofa, checking my reflection in the hall mirror.
My makeup is still intact, and my silk blouse is only a little wrinkled.
I’m good to go. I just hope Rafaelle or whoever is on the door won’t be too difficult to persuade to come with me.
They’re not supposed to tell us no when we want to go somewhere, but they have their sneaky little ways of doing it anyway. Well, not tonight…
“Laterz, sisters,” I call out and open the front door wide without checking through the peephole first.
And come face to face with the man I’ve been wanting to see all day. Matteo and his sun fire filled eyes, bright enough to shine in any kind of darkness.
“Hi…” I stammer and actually smile. But it disintegrates just as quickly as it came under the black scowl on his face. In this moment, I have no idea how I ever found him attractive in the first place, while at the same time, my whole body is tingling to get even closer to him.
“What is it?” he asks, or more like barks at me. They’re also supposed to watch how they speak to us. Clearly no one’s given Matteo the memo.
He’s wearing all black again, a suit with a black shirt and tie, like he’s at a funeral. But it somehow makes him glow even brighter, especially his green eyes.
“I want to go for a walk,” I tell him, closing the apartment door behind me firmly to punctuate my point.
“And what do you want me to do about it?”
If his eyes weren’t holding me in a pool of warmth I’d put him in his place. But as it is, I can’t stop thinking that his gaze is exactly like it would be if the sun shone in the dead of night… hot yet shadowy, dark with only a lick of light shining thorough, weird in all the right ways.
“Didn’t you hear me?” he asks, snapping me out of the vortex I was spinning in.
“Someone usually goes with us when we go outside.”
“Are you referring to yourself as us? Like royalty does?” he asks, his gaze turning a few shades darker and even hotter.
“No, of course not. I meant me and my sisters,” I say. “I can go on my own, no problem. But I won’t be responsible for what happens to you when they find out you let me.”
A glint of light passes over his eyes. Bright and amused, but so very sharp I can practically feel it cutting my bare skin. No one’s ever had such an effect on me, and this guy has me hallucinating just by standing too close and looking at me.
Luckily Rafaelle comes striding down the hallway, asking what’s going on.
I tell him I want to go out and I can clearly see he wants to attempt a sneaky way of persuading me it’s not a good idea.
I just give him one of those hard, level looks I learned from my dad, daring him say no to me.
Maybe I am acting too much like the queen I’ll never be.
But we’re losing sunlight outside and I’m not just going back into the apartment to bicker with my sisters.
Rafaelle turns to Matteo. “Go with her. Take her wherever she wants to go but make sure she’s safe.”
The look on Matteo’s face could kill someone all on its own, and for a second or two, I’m sure he’ll say no. But then he nods.
“After you,” he says to me and stands aside so I can walk to the elevators. His tone said something entirely different though, something entirely less pleasant. But I’m going to ignore that.
Because I waited all day just to see him and now I’ll have him by my side for however long I want.
Best not say that or he’ll accuse me of being haughty again or whatever he meant by that royalty comment.
But that’s OK, because I wouldn’t mind being his queen at all, despite the darkness he’s enveloping me in.
Because I’m sure he can bring all the light too.
I’m sure he can actually make the sun shine in the middle of the night.
And I think he’d be doing it just for me.