Chapter 7 Liana
LIANA
Ibarge into the office, slamming the door shut behind me. Leaning against it, I close my eyes and let out a long breath.
“Uhh, is everything okay?” Izzy asks from behind her desk.
“Oh, yeah, just perfect.” I stomp over to my desk, my heels clicking against the floor, and drop my iPad on top of it.
“Did it not go well with the customer?” she asks.
“Screw the customer.”
“Ooookay.” She gets up from her desk and takes a seat across from mine. Her eyes are wide, looking at me as if I’ve lost my mind. “What happened out there?”
“Nothing.” I turn on my iPad, hoping she’ll take the hint and let it go.
“Don’t do that,” she says, but I ignore her, scrolling mindlessly through my email until she puts her hand over the screen.
I slowly raise my gaze to her. “Do not ignore me. Something happened with whatever surprise guest you just had, so out with it. Who was it?”
“Did you make contact with the manufacturers in Sicily?”
Izzy sits back and interlaces her fingers, placing them on top of her belly. “Of course I did. I’m just waiting for a response back. Now, instead of trying to change the subject, why don’t you tell me what happened out there.”
“I’d really rather not.”
“And I’d really rather not have to go out of my way to pull the security footage to see who has you all rattled.” She raises a brow at me, and a small smirk tugs at her lips.
I roll my eyes. “Fine. It was …”
She raises her brows.
“It was Massimo Bonetti.”
Izzy’s eyes light up in what I expected to be confusion, but instead looks to be … excitement? “Massimo Bonetti, huh?” she says, sitting up in her seat. “Do tell me more.”
Definitely excitement.
I crinkle my brows. “Why are you so excited about Massimo Bonetti being here?”
“I’m not excited. Well, unless you’re excited, then I’m definitely excited.”
“And why would I be excited?”
“Ummm …”
I tilt my head at her. “What aren’t you telling me, Izzy?”
“Nothing. It’s just … I don’t know. Massimo Bonetti is a very successful and very attractive man, and you’re—”
I hold my hands up to her. “Let me stop you right there. If you think anything could ever happen between me and Massimo, I’m going to have to kick you out of the friend group.”
She’s about to speak, but a knock sounds at my door. My heart drops, knowing the last interruption we had.
“C-come in,” I call out.
The door opens and Lux, my cousin Teo’s wife, peeks her head in. “You guys ready for lunch?”
Shit. I completely lost track of time.
“Yes,” I say far too eagerly, desperate to get out of the hot seat with Izzy. “Is Amalia here too?”
Lux pushes the door all the way open, revealing my other cousin Enzo’s wife. “We’re starving,” she says.
“Baby DiMaggio could use all the carbs right now,” Lux says, running her hand over her stomach. She and Izzy are both due with baby girls, only five days apart. It’s so exciting I’m about to become a two-time auntie in such a short amount of time.
“Perfect timing,” I say, jumping out of my seat and grabbing my purse. Izzy eyes me suspiciously. “Come on, I’m hungry.”
I can feel her sharp on my heels. “This isn’t over yet, Liana,” she sings from behind me.
Lux raises a brow. “What’s not over?”
“Ignore her,” I say, which has her and Amalia exchanging a confused look.
We walk down the block to a bakery that serves the best sandwiches in the city. I’m thankful Izzy didn’t bring up Massimo on the way here. I’m not sure how to explain being propositioned by one of New York’s most lethal men, especially when no one knows the little history we have.
When we take a seat at one of the window tables, everyone’s quiet. Too quiet. It honestly doesn’t even feel natur—
“Okay, what’s going on?” Lux says.
“Yeah, you two haven’t said a word ever since we left the boutique,” Amalia says.
I snap my head up from the menu I wasn’t even reading. It’s not like I ever venture outside of my usual.
“Nothing’s going on,” I say in an octave much higher than my regular voice.
Amalia raises a perfectly arched brow, and Lux looks over at Izzy, who’s trying to hide behind her menu.
“Okay, neither of you are fooling us, so out with it,” Lux says.
I sigh, setting down my menu and side-eye Izzy. “This is your fault, you know that, right?”
“Oh, good,” she says, setting her menu down. “We’re talking about it now? I honestly don’t know how long I was going to be able to bite my tongue for.”
Amalia and Lux exchange another confused look.
“Okay, look, what I’m about to tell you guys has to stay between us. Got it?”
They each nod, and Izzy’s eyes are shining bright again with excitement as she leans in over the table.
“You guys know Massimo Bonetti?” I say, addressing Lux and Amalia.
“Yes?” Lux says at the same time Amalia says, “Not really.”
“He’s just the heir to the Bonetti family. He left right before you guys showed up,” I say.
“And?” Izzy urges.
I let out another sigh, knowing this conversation won’t make any sense without a little bit of context, so I rewind it back to the beginning.
“Massimo and I met at CU. This club was throwing its end-of-year masquerade party right before finals. We were dancing for a while, then he brought me down one of the halls, and we ended up …”
I glance up at the girls who all seem to be on the edge of their seats, wide-eyed and waiting for me to continue.
“We ended up … kissing.”
“I knew there was something between the two of you!” Izzy exclaims. “Also, I’m pretty offended you never told me about this.”
“It only happened once, and it was before I knew who he was,” I rush out. “Had I known it was Massimo underneath that mask, I would’ve run in the opposite direction. I never said anything because I had zero intention of it ever happening again.”
“Uhh, hold on … I’m confused,” Amalia says, a furrow in her brow. “Did something happen between you and Massimo that makes you not like him?”
“Liana’s never had much of an interest in dating any of the guys in our world,” Izzy says.
“But it sounds like you were into him before you found out who he was,” Lux says.
“I was … I guess. The chemistry between us was off the charts, but that doesn’t negate the fact that he’s the heir to the Bonetti family, and an asshole.”
“Umm … sorry, still confused over here,” Amalia says, holding up her pointer finger.
“Yeah, I have to admit, I’m a little lost here too,” Lux says. “What happened between you and Massimo that makes you hate him so much?”
Izzy is the only one who knows why I swore off dating made men. It’s not something I talk about often, but I know none of this is going to make sense to Lux and Amalia without telling them.
Dropping my hands in my lap, I say, “I know this is the world I’ve grown up in, but seeing the destruction it’s brought—especially when it comes to family—I told myself I’d find a nice, normal guy outside of this world.
” I drop my gaze to my hands. “Not to mention, I refuse to be controlled by any man, especially Massimo Bonetti.”
“That’s completely valid, but what’s with the sudden disdain for him? He really doesn’t seem like that bad of a guy,” Izzy says.
I scoff. “That’s because you don’t know him.”
“I don’t know. He was a gentleman when I went on that date with him a while back.
Which, by the way, that’s when I knew there was something between you two.
I could sense it from your reaction when he asked me on the date, and then he confirmed those suspicions while we were on the date.
I’m quite certain he only asked me to go on it to get under your skin. ”
“Trust me, Izzy, that man is a walking bag of dicks, and he just solidified my opinion of him today when he came into my boutique and propositioned me.”
“What do you mean he propositioned you?” Amalia asks.
I let out a long sigh. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you both this, but you guys know Alessia, our intern?”
Amalia and Lux nod.
“Well, she confided in Izzy and me about her boyfriend’s dad owing her dad a lot of money.
I tried to talk to him about it in hopes that I could help Alessia and her boyfriend, but he refused to take my money.
Then Massimo showed up today saying if I want to help Alessia and her boyfriend get out of debt with her dad, then I have to … ”
“You’re really killing me with these cliffhangers, Liana,” Izzy says.
“Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever been so captivated by a story before,” Amalia says, brushing a dark strand behind her ear.
“Have to …?” Lux asks, leaning over the table with wide eyes, eager to hear more.
“He said I’d have to have sex with him.”
My words knock Lux back into her seat, Amalia’s jaw drops, and Izzy stares at me like she must’ve misheard me.
Silence takes over the table, nothing but the murmurs of patrons in the background.
“He said you have to …” Lux mumbles.
“Yes, have sex with him. Oh, and marry him.”
“Okay, this is insane,” Izzy says, shaking her hands in the air.
“What the hell?” Amalia says.
“Yeah, so I’m sure you can all understand my disdain for this man now.” I turn my attention back to the menu.
Even saying those words out loud to my best friends was difficult. It’s demoralizing and degrading that Massimo propositioned me in such a way. I can’t believe he’d think I’d ever do such a thing.
“Okay, can I just say something,” Izzy says, breaking the silence. “The whole having sex to help you thing is definitely rude, but what’s with the marriage part? I mean, he wants to be tied down to you, which makes me think this is about a little bit more than just sex.”
I slowly drag my gaze to my cousin and peer at her from over my menu. “I’m sorry, but are you sticking up for him?”
“She has a point,” Lux says. “It actually kind of reminds me of Teo and I.”
I gasp. “You too?”
I snap my gaze to Amalia, whose wide eyes already tell me which side she’s taken.
“Oh my gosh, you’re all on his side?”
“Okay, now hold on just a minute. I never said I was on his side,” Izzy says. “I will always and forever be on your side. All I’m saying is that if he just wanted sex from you—which I’m obviously not okay with—then why would he want to marry you?”
“I don’t know, Izzy, but it doesn’t matter because I’m not going to acknowledge some asshole who thinks he can force me into a marriage.”
I wince at my words, sliding my apologetic gaze back to Lux, who gives me a loose shrug and says, “Ehh, that’s totally valid. I also thought I hated Teo when he made me marry him.”
“That was completely different, Lux. You and Teo … you’re perfect for each other.
Me and Massimo?” I shiver at the idea of the two of us together.
“He might be sinfully good-looking, but that’s about all he has going for him.
I will not allow him to use me in whatever stupid game he thinks he’s playing at, and that’s that. ”
My voice gets softer, realizing the abrasive tone Massimo brings out in me. I cannot talk about this anymore. I refuse to. “Look, let’s just move on as if Massimo doesn’t exist and enjoy our girls lunch, okay?”
The three of them exchange a look that tells me this isn’t going to be the end of this conversation, but Izzy still says, “If you insist.”
I give each of them a relieved smile and say, “I do,” but I can tell by the tight smiles and consoling eyes they’re giving me, Massimo Bonetti will be a man no one can pretend doesn’t exist.