13. Isabella
13
ISABELLA
L iana just got here with Lux’s and my gowns for the charity gala the mayor’s holding tonight. Events like this are always something my family attends to show face to the big players in the city. You never know when you’ll need a favor. Plus, it’s for charity, and if my family is going to make its fortune illegally, the least we can do is donate some of it to a good cause.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it to your birthday dinner, Izzy,” Liana says as she hangs the two garment bags in my walk-in closet. “Getting this bridal line ready has been a lot more work than I anticipated.” With arms extended, she walks over to me, taking me into a hug. “The only reason I’m surviving is because you’ve been helping me with the store.”
Liana owns her own boutique on Fifth Avenue. When she broke into the bridal industry, I offered to help out at the boutique because I could see how overwhelmed she was taking on everything on her own. She’s an extremely hard-working, driven person, and it shows in the success of her brand.
Pulling away, I place my hands on her shoulders and look down at her. “You’re totally fine, Liana. I know you’re busy with getting your samples manufactured, which by the way, I cannot wait to see.”
“Well, don’t you worry. I’ll be getting you and Lux tickets to New York’s Bridal Fashion Week this spring.” Her smile widens. “I can’t believe it’ll be my debut in the bridal industry. It’s scary but also thrilling. Seeing my brand grow at such a rapid speed is what dreams are truly made of.”
“You’re going to kill it.”
“Knock, knock,” Lux calls out from my room. “You guys in here?”
“We’re in my closet,” I call out. Liana and I walk over to the hanging dresses and unzip the black garment bags.
“Hey, Liana,” Lux says from behind us, causing Liana to spin on her heel and give her the same hug she gave me moments ago.
“Hi, Lux! I was just telling Izzy that I’m getting you both tickets to fashion week in the spring if you want to come see my debut on the bridal runway.”
“Is that even a question? Of course I want to go. Your designs were gorgeous on paper, so I cannot wait to see them in real life. My wedding dress was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, so I know the rest will be amazing.”
When Liana took Lux’s and my measurements for these gowns a few months ago, we also tricked Lux into picking out her favorite wedding dress from Liana’s sketch book. Teo surprised Lux with a vow renewal ceremony since their original marriage was… well, not exactly what a girl’s dreams are made of. It was an arranged marriage, so neither of them even liked each other when they got married.
When my brother finally decided to pull his head out of his ass, they fell for each other hard and fast, so Teo decided to surprise Lux with an intimate vow renewal ceremony down in Brooklyn Bridge Park where she got to wear a Liana DiMaggio original. The first bridal gown she’s ever made.
“You ladies are amazing. The support means everything to me,” Liana gushes before pulling a long royal-blue dress with a plunging deep V-neckline out of the first garment bag. A gasp escapes from Lux’s parted lips.
“You better strip, Lux. I need to see that beauty on you now ,” I say before she starts pulling her sweatshirt over her head.
I turn around and bring my attention back to the second bag that contains the dress Liana made for me. As I finish opening it, my eyes widen while I take in the rose gold satin evening gown.
“ Holy crap , Liana,” I say when I feel her slide up next to me. “You’ve really outdone yourself.” I remember going through Liana’s sketches and picking this design out a few months ago, but seeing the dress come to life is nothing like it is on paper.
“It’s going to look killer on you, Izzy,” she says before turning back to Lux and saying, “Alright, you ready for me?”
I trail my fingers over the delicate lace appliqué that covers the corset bodice and the off-the-shoulder sleeves, making my way down to the silky satin skirt. The shimmery fabric is so soft against my fingers as I run them along the seam of the high slit.
It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“Okay, what do you think?” Lux calls out from behind me, pulling my attention away from Liana’s masterpiece.
I gasp as I take in Lux in the double-slit dress. The color next to her fair skin and dark hair makes her look absolutely regal.
“Gorgeous, Lux. It fits perfectly, and the color is amazing.”
Lux’s eyes light up. “Do you think Teo will like it?”
Nodding, I say, “He’ll love it.”
She smiles and walks over to the mirror wall in my closet to admire the dress on her.
“Alright, you’re up,” Liana says as she pulls my dress out of its garment bag. I quickly shed my clothes while Liana unzips the back of it. Kneeling before me, she holds the dress out so I’m able to step into it.
She shimmies it up my body, then I drop my arms to my sides. The corset bodice tightens around me as Liana zips it up. She pulls the skirt of the dress out so the train relaxes around me in a beautiful flowing manner. Walking around me, Liana runs her hands along the skirt, smoothing out the fabric. She slowly raises her gaze up my body, the twinkle in her eye and the smile on her face showcasing her approval.
“Well, shit. Now it’s my turn to gasp,” Lux says, which I respond to with a giggle and make my way over to the mirror.
“Damn,” I whisper.
Lux turns and stares at my reflection in the mirror, and Liana saddles up on my other side with a proud smile on her face.
“I think my job here is done,” Liana says, stepping in front of Lux and me one more time to inspect her work. “The dresses fit you both perfectly. I’ve even impressed myself.” She laughs. After doing one final look over, she says, “Okay, now let me help you both out of these, and we can get them put away so they’re nice and protected until tomorrow night.”
Liana helps Lux first, untying the criss-cross ties that ride up her back.
“Are you sure you can’t come tomorrow?” I ask Liana. “I’m going to be stuck with Enzo all night, which means I’ll be stuck all by myself because he’ll end up ditching me to go find some chick to bang.”
“Hey, you’ll have me,” Lux says, slightly offended that I wouldn’t consider her as support while attending this gala.
I raise a brow and say, “Once my brother sees you in that dress, there’s no way he’s going to keep his hands off you. Trust me when I say you’ll be entertained the entire night.”
Lux rolls her eyes and waves me off with a laugh. “He can wait. I won’t ditch you. Promise.”
Lux and I have gotten extremely close since she came into my brother’s life. It’s been great having another woman around the house. It needed some estrogen to even out the testosterone.
“I know, I’m sorry. You know I would if I could, but I just have so much to do for my bridal line,” Liana says.
“I know, I know. I had to try and guilt trip you into coming one more time,” I say while Liana carefully hangs Lux’s dress on a hook before turning toward me to help me out of mine.
Once the dresses are hung and Lux and I have our clothes back on, we head out to my room and take a seat by the two large French doors that lead out onto the patio. Lux and I sit on the couch while Liana takes up the loveseat to our left.
“Thank you so much, Liana,” Lux says.
“Seriously, I can’t believe you pulled off making these with everything else you have on your plate,” I add.
Liana waves us off. “Please, now you’re both walking advertisements for me. Just make sure to tell anyone who asks who the designer is,” she says with a wink.
“Oh, you already know we will,” I say.
“So, fill me in on everything. What’s been going on?”
I glance over and make eye contact with Lux before turning my attention back to Liana. With a furrow in her brow, she says, “I feel like there’s something I missed.”
You’ve got that right.
I let out an audible breath. “Well, we had a little incident at my birthday dinner.”
“A little incident? What did Vincenzo do? Try to flirt his way into your waitress’s pants, so she dropped a drink on his head?”
Liana’s been calling Enzo by his full name since forever just to annoy him. He thinks when people use his first name it sounds pretentious, but I don’t know. I like it. Maybe I’ll start doing the same thing, and if it annoys him, all the better.
Laughing, I shake my head. “No, but that’s something I would pay money to see even though it’s highly unlikely to ever happen. You know how that one is. He could charm the pants off anybody. I don’t get it.”
I turn to Lux since she’s the only one in the room who’s not blood related to him. “What is it about him? He doesn’t even have to do anything and the ladies swoon all over him.”
Lux is quiet for a minute and bites the inside of her cheek. She looks between Liana and me before finally saying, “I mean, he’s very funny and handsome, so there really isn’t much not to like about Enzo.”
Rolling my eyes, I let out a groan. “Oh, gosh, he’s gotten to her too, Liana.”
We all laugh, but once it dies down, Liana says, “So, back to the little incident .”
Dragging my gaze to hers, I prepare to speak about the one guy I was hoping I’d never have to speak about again. The one guy who effortlessly evokes a specific emotional response out of me.
Anger.
“Well, Giuseppe Silvestri decided to crash my dinner and threaten Teo into giving him back access to the ports.” I quickly avert my gaze to Lux who’s watching me intently, waiting for me to drop the real bomb on Liana. Because while Giuseppe Silvestri’s threat shouldn’t be taken lightly, I know Teo and Enzo will get that taken care of. I, however, cannot focus on anything but my concern for Nicco Silvestri.
Bringing my attention back to my cousin, I continue. “And he brought a certain someone.”
Liana’s eyes narrow and her brows crinkle as she tries to figure out who I’m talking about. “Who would Giuseppe Silvestri bring that…” Her eyes widen as realization dawns on her. “Oh, shit.”
“Oh, yes,” I respond.
“So Niccolò Silvestri decided to crash your birthday dinner?” Liana shakes her head. “What a cocksucker. Did he say anything to you?”
I let out an amused scoff. “He told me to enjoy the rest of my birthday.” I shake my head, irritated that after all these years he can still get a reaction out of me.
“Wow… so he’s really back?”
“Yep,” I say, popping the p.
“Which means he’s probably going to be at the gala tomorrow,” Liana says. “Giuseppe Silvestri wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to mingle with the big players in the city. See which ones he can add to his payroll.”
Shit.
I didn’t even think about running into Nicco again so soon. I figured it’s a big city, so it could easily be another few months before I see him again.
Shaking off that dreadful feeling in my gut, I say, “It’s fine. If he’s there, I’ll just continue doing what he told me to do the last time we talked: never speak to him again.”
* * *
THREE YEARS AGO
“Is Nicco coming over tonight?” Liana asks as I head for the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water.
“He’s supposed to, but he texted me earlier telling me he had to meet with his dad to go over some business stuff, so we’ll see. You want one?” I say, holding up a water bottle to her.
“Yes, please,” she says from the kitchen island with her laptop open and fabric swatches strewn all over the counter.
Reaching back into the fridge, I grab a cold bottle of water before walking around the counter to hand it to her. I peer over the counter at what she’s working on. “What are all of these swatches for?”
“I’m working on a dress design for one of my classes, and I’m trying to narrow down the fabric I want to use.”
Nodding, I run my fingers through the swatches and am immediately drawn to one. “I like this one,” I say, picking up the satin rose-gold swatch that seems to shimmer as it catches the overhead lighting.
“Of course you do.” Liana laughs, taking the swatch from me. “You and rose gold go hand in hand.”
“You know it’s my favorite,” I say, giving her a wink before my attention gets drawn to my cell phone vibrating on the counter.
Picking it up, I see it’s Nicco calling, and a smile forms on my face as I excuse myself and head to my room.
“Hey,” I answer excitedly, closing my bedroom door before flopping down on my bed.
“Hey,” Nicco responds, but there’s a slight fault in his tone, almost as if something’s wrong, which has me sitting up straight.
“Is everything okay?” I know Nicco and his dad don’t get along very well, so his tone makes me wonder if something happened during their meeting.
He clears his throat. “Yeah, I just, uh…” He sighs.
“What’s going on? Did something happen during your meeting with your dad?”
“No,” he quips. “This has nothing to do with my dad.”
The short response takes me aback. “Okay, then what’s going on? Talk to me.”
“I just…” He lets out another sigh. “Look, Isabella, there’s something I’ve been meaning to speak to you about and I don’t know how to say it without just coming out and saying it.”
“Okay,” I say, confusion lacing my voice. “Then just say it.” His tone is making me uneasy. I just spoke to him this morning, and everything seemed fine. What happened today?
“I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“This.”
I wait a few beats, expecting him to elaborate on what this is because I’m still not understanding what he’s trying to say, but he doesn’t offer me anything else. All I can hear are his shallow breaths on the other end of the line.
“You’re going to have to give me a little more than that, Nicco. I’m not sure what you’re saying.”
“This,” he repeats but louder as if he thinks I couldn’t hear him the first time and that’s why I’m not understanding. “You and I. Me and you. I can’t do this relationship anymore.”
His words come out frantic and frustrated, and it’s like a punch to my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. “What’re you talking about, Nicco? What happened with your dad that’s making you act like this?”
He lets out an annoyed sigh, and it’s almost like I can hear him combing his hand through his hair in frustration… with me ?
“You’re not this dense, Isabella. Nothing happened with my dad. The meeting we had was about some things I’m going to do to help prepare me to be the best don I can be when I take over for him. This is about you and I. I’ve been meaning to bring it up to you for a bit now, but I didn’t know how to.” He pauses before letting out a breath. “We’ve been dating for over a year now, and it feels like we’re just holding each other back. It’s time we both move onto better things.”
“Excuse me?” His tone has changed to being much more stern. Forceful. As if he knows exactly what he’s saying.
“We’ve had fun. The sex has been fucking great, but let’s face it, we’re both young and I think it’s best if we end things now.”
“Nicco, what are you?—”
“Haven’t you noticed? I’ve been busy lately. Making time for this relationship is getting more and more difficult. Balancing you and balancing what my sole purpose in life is, isn’t working.”
Nicco has been pretty busy with his dad, but we’ve been making it work. Seeing each other whenever we’re able to. I didn’t realize it had been affecting him this much.
“Look,” he says, letting out an irritated breath. “I’m going to Italy for a bit. My dad has someone he wants me to meet.”
“Someone?” I repeat.
He lets out another sigh. “A prospective bride.”
“So this has everything to do with your dad,” I grind out.
“No, it doesn’t,” he says. “My dad talked to me a few months ago about finding a wife, and I told him I’d be open to it. He found a girl in Italy whose family has connections all over there and in the US. It’d be a great alliance.”
I open my mouth to speak again, but Nicco pushes right through, continuing to bulldoze his way through this conversation.
“You know how important alliances are in our family. Besides, we’ve been chatting, and she’s actually visit?—”
“Stop,” I blurt out, my tone just as frustrated as I feel. My mind is spiraling with the words coming out of his mouth. How can he be this cold, telling his dad that he’s open to an arranged marriage? That’s supposed to be him and me. None of this makes sense.
Something must’ve happened.
Something or someone is causing him to lie to me.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask. “I don’t believe anything you’re saying, Nicco. What happened with your dad?”
“I already told you?—”
“ Stop lying to me. This is not the man I know.”
“Then maybe you don’t know me,” he spits back.
I scoff. “You and I both know that’s not true, so please just tell me what’s going on. Tell me so I can help. I can talk it through with you.”
“There’s nothing to talk through, Isabella,” Nicco responds, exasperated, as if I’m being the difficult one and he’s determined I’m not worth his time. “What part of this aren’t you understanding? I’m leaving for Italy to meet my future fiancée’s family. There’s no reason for us to waste each other’s time anymore. You and I are done.” He recites it to me as if they’re bullet points.
But I still don’t understand with how out of left field this is. “Nicco, I?—”
The muffled sound of a woman’s voice comes over the line, cutting me off.
“Are you almost done, babe?”
My heart sinks to the lowest depths of my stomach. To a blackened hole with no way of finding its way out.
“Yeah, one sec,” he mumbles back.
“Who is that, Nicco?” I demand.
Releasing a sigh, he says, “I’ve been trying to tell you. I’m moving on, Isabella, and it’s time you do the same.”
I open my mouth to speak, but the click on the other end of the line lets me know he’s hung up on me, leaving me to choke on the sobs that have finally released themselves from my body.
* * *