Chapter 7
Sofia
“What is wrong with him?” Bianca hisses in my ear as we take a seat at one of the tables in the courtyard.
“Who knows,” I mutter.
Alessandro hasn’t left my side during the entire reception.
I thought he was giving me attention and trying to be; I don’t know, nice?
Which does not make any sense. And it became annoying when we went out to the dance floor.
All I wanted to do during the reception was hang out with my family since I wouldn’t be able to see them often anymore, and he just stood there like a scarecrow and watched.
I told my family about the odd encounter I had with him in the hallway.
The way he grabbed me looked like he had something sinister planned, and my mind immediately went to the story Savannah told me.
Alessandro lacks basic social skills, but you can’t chalk up grabbing my bicep and furiously glaring down at me after his watch buzzes as social ineptness.
Our family is on high alert now. We assumed all was well since we had survived this long.
What if we’re not safe? But it doesn’t make any sense for them to kill us today—when all of their vulnerable family members are present as well.
I glance up to see Alessandro looming over us, a few feet away.
His green eyes barely even blink as he stares at me.
There’s an intensity in the way he’s looking: anger, disgust, and even some nervousness.
He behaved normally at the ceremony, completely at ease while we were the center of attention.
He even acted charming—called me beautiful even though I know he was full of it.
I was warming up to him. Slightly. And now this?
I turn away from him and try to focus on talking with Bianca to get this idea that we’re all in danger out of my head.
But that’s difficult to do—there’s so much tension in the room.
Everyone can tell that something is up. Even the little kids are sitting next to their parents at tables, looking wide-eyed rather than running around like children typically do at weddings.
Max, Hailey, Nick, and Savannah are on the dance floor. The two men look almost comical as they gaze around the room like sentinels while also trying to look like they’re focused on dancing with their partners.
My parents sit at the table next to ours, looking equally tense as they sit there in silence.
And my grandfather has literally hidden himself in the corner of some alcove in this courtyard, feigning that he was getting too much sun when I know that’s a strategic decision on his part.
No one can snipe him there. I wish we would all just walk out of the castle right now and not look back.
But can we? If plans are in place to kill some or all of us, then that would just speed up the inevitable.
And what if there isn’t a conspiracy? That would only squash this new alliance.
It’s truly a horrible situation.
I hear the sound of a throat clearing behind me. Bianca gives me a look before I turn around, and I don’t even need to look to know that it’s Alessandro.
“What?” I snap.
He extends his hand out. “I wanted to ask if you’d like to share a dance with me.”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.” I turn back towards my sister, hoping he’ll go away. But I can still feel his presence behind me.
And because Alessandro strives to be even more annoying, he pulls out the chair next to me and takes a seat. Clearly not catching the hint that I don’t want to be near him for a number of reasons.
The three of us sit in silence. I glare straight ahead, not bothering to act polite. Whatever. If I survive this, and if Alessandro and I even remotely get along later on in life, this will be something we can laugh at.
He taps his fingers on the table in a way that slowly gets under my skin. Bianca rests her chin on her hand, pretending that staring at the food on the buffet table is the most interesting thing in the world.
“Fine,” I snap. “I’ll dance with you. Once. If you agree to stop acting so weird today.”
He shrugs, standing up and extending his hand out to me.
I take it reluctantly as he leads me to the dance floor where my brother and cousin stop for a beat to look at him as threateningly as possible.
My heart flutters in my chest. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this. I’m certainly not safer being physically closer to him.
But my heart flutters for a different reason—I have to admit that he looks handsome today. His right hand grabs my waist as he takes the lead in the slow song that the band plays. I look up at him and notice that his eyes are scanning the room.
“You look distracted. I figured you’d give me your full attention seeing that you were desperate for this dance.”
His watch buzzes again, and he grips my waist harder as he looks at it.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry.” His eyes meet mine and he softens his grip. He mutters to himself, “Damn thing, where the fuck is Gio?”
“What’s with you?” I ask.
“What?”
“The watch? Anytime it buzzes, you look like you’re going to drop dead of a heart attack. Maybe if you hate technology that much, consider not wearing a smartwatch.” I look at the chunky thing against the rest of his sleek ensemble. “It looks tacky, too.”
“Thanks for the fashion advice.” He grinds his teeth, but his eyes aren’t on me, and he looks around the room again.
I try to follow what he’s looking at but can’t figure out what he’s focused on. People sitting at tables, others grabbing food at the buffet table, Bianca now sitting with my parents.
Max draws my attention next. He’s on the dance floor with Hailey. His attention is fixed on Alessandro as he absentmindedly rubs his thumb on Hailey’s arm. He’s barely even dancing anymore, and it’s rare that he’s ever this uneasy.
Nick notices Max staring and then freezes with his hands on Savannah, looking even more conspicuous than my brother.
A couple of men from Alessandro’s side meander towards my grandfather. Grandpa has a couple of guards stationed near him who stand up.
Max takes Hailey and puts her behind him protectively, then rubs his hand through his hair. He’s not bothering to hide his nervousness anymore.
Finally, he looks at me and mouths, get away.
My mouth goes dry as I feel Alessandro’s grip tighten. Not enough to hurt me but enough to help me piece together that something horrible is about to happen.
“I need to use the ladies’ room.”
“Not now,” Alessandro snaps.
“Please, I really need to go, and it takes ages to get out of this thing. I need my mom or my sister to help me.”
He’s completely ignoring me, his body rigid, as he focuses on the scene unfolding around us.
I watch as Hailey and Savannah run away from the dance floor and out of the courtyard, their faces pale. Others file out as well, including Bianca, Mom, and most of the other women in my family. It seems like a lot of Alessandro’s side are leaving too—the vulnerable guests.
Alessandro’s wrist vibrates.
I feel my throat constrict as several gunshots go off. Then Nick throws his body at Max, sending them both to the ground.
So many people scream, followed by the sound of stampeding feet.
After the crowd of people sprint past, I can tell that Max and Nick are unharmed; the bullets barely missed them. I glance at their shooter and see that he’s lying on the ground with a pool of blood around his head. One of our soldiers stopped him.
My heart feels like it’s pounding in my throat at the sight, and then my knees buckle.
Alessandro reacts quickly enough before I can drop to the ground, pulling my face to his chest.
More gunshots continue to go off, and I jolt in surprise with each one.
I feel like I can’t breathe.
I’m trembling in terror at the thought of my family members dying.
Alessandro flips me around so my back is flush with his chest, then I feel what I assume to be the barrel of a gun on my side.
I panic. Trying to thrash away, but it’s impossible in my tight corset, long skirt, and heels.
“Calmati,” he instructs me to calm down as if that will help.
“Max!?” I call out because there’s nothing else I can do. He’s distracted as he aims his gun at someone and fires from the ground. Then my gaze flips to my cousin, who is using a dead body as a shield as he fires at Alessandro’s family.
The sight of that makes my body go limp until Alessandro hisses in my ear to stand up.
I look towards where my grandfather was sitting and notice that he’s gone. This calms me a bit… knowing that he isn’t certainly dead.
It’s chaos as people flee around us as Alessandro drags me out of the courtyard.
I try to find my parents, aunts and uncles, anyone that can help me, but everyone is sprinting away or firing guns at Marco’s men.
I know that this may be my best chance of escape—while there’s still a state of pandemonium in the air.
But his grip is so strong that I can’t get out of it.
All those years playing sports in high school and college, all those hours in the weight room, and there’s no hope.
It’s not fair.
Despite that, I don’t give up as we leave the courtyard and go down the hallway. I land a couple of good kicks to his shin and continue to flail around. Eventually, we get to a more secluded area, and I feel even more desperate.
I stab my heel into his foot.
He hisses in pain. I feel the gun leave my side, wondering if I made any progress with my horrible situation.
Next thing I know, he turns me around and I’m over his shoulder.
“Let me go!” I continue flailing, but just as it was before, he has too tight of a grip on me except this time I can’t even land a kick anywhere.
He jogs to hurry us along to wherever it is he’s taking me. Their torture room? Their dungeon?
He growls after stopping at the end of a hallway. “I have to get my keys out of my pocket. Will you behave?”
“No.”