11. Arianna
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ARIANNA
“ Y ou’ll need to attend online courses,” Mom started, twisting her fingers—a nervous tic of hers that started when Gian… well, it started about five years ago. “You can come home or stay at St. Jean D’Arc. Your choice.”
“All taken care of,” Dad stated. “All your stuff has been packed too. I was just waiting to inform my men whether to take it to D’Arc or home.”
“Wow, you really don’t waste any time. Want to change my English literature degree to online courses too?” Hannah grumbled. “Never mind that Arianna is a legal adult and she has the right to decide what she wants to do and where she wants to do it.”
Our parents shot her their most stern glare.
I waved my hand. “It’s okay. I agree, it’s for the best. It’s not a major change from what I’m used to, anyway.”
“I’m surprised you’re taking this so well,” Hannah remarked, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Unless she’s hiding her true feelings,” Dominico deadpanned. “Are you?”
I shook my head and plastered on my brightest smile as I faced my brothers’ and my dad’s towering frames, studying me with identical expressions. The twins were the perfect clones of our father, while Gianna was the spitting image of our mother. Hannah and I… We were mutts with our biological father’s coloring, but our personalities were a blend of our mom and adoptive father.
“Would you prefer I throw a fit?” I asked.
“No, of course not,” Mom chimed in. “I’m just worried about you.”
“Besides, throwing fits is my job,” Hannah reminded them. We had just finished our breakfast with the Vitales when they excused themselves. I had to resist rolling my eyes at the blatant look of You might want to clear the room while we break it to her that my parents gave the Vitales.
“I knew this was coming, so let’s just end this conversation, get my Jeep, and then get to D’Arc so I can focus on my studies.”
The boys turned to our father. “Don’t worry, Dad. We’ll keep them safe.”
Unfortunately, they meant it too. They were four years younger than Hannah and me and two years older than Gianna, but they had always acted like they had authority over all of us. They could be overbearing—especially since Gianna’s kidnapping—but they meant well.
That was partly the reason I worked so hard to get away from D’Arc and insisted on transferring to Yale to finish the last year of my master’s degree. Way to fail less than a month in, Arianna .
“I’m happy I’ll have you closer,” Gianna murmured, taking my hand under the table and squeezing it gently. “I didn’t like beginning college without you. And yes, I know. I’m a big girl, especially starting college a whole year later than most of the kids.”
Guilt pierced my chest. She believed I was her hero when in reality I was anything but.
“Thanks, Gianna.”
I couldn’t help but notice that our parents struggled to let her go. What happened to her had left a mark on all of us, but with our guidance, she was eventually able to break down their protective walls.
“It’s the parents’ job to protect their children,” Dad reasoned, putting his big hand over Mom’s in an effort to ease his own worries. “And that will never stop, regardless of how old you are.”
“That’s right. And Cassius and I are here to help,” my brother declared, puffing out his chest. When Hannah rolled her eyes, he added, “Yale sucks anyway.” As heirs to Dad’s mafia empire, he and our other brother rarely stepped out of line. Either that or they never got caught, unlike Hannah and me. “You can study stars anywhere, and trust me, they’re the same at Jean D’Arc.”
I pushed my chair back and stood up. “Well, let’s not waste any time, then. I’ll have to find a room at D’Arc and start unpacking.”
Dad’s hawk-like gaze slid over my face, scrutinizing my expression—or lack thereof.
He got to his feet too and ruffled my hair, a warm smile grazing his lips. “You make us so proud, Arianna.”
I snorted. “You won’t be saying that for long. You know how Hannah and I can be when we’re together. We’ll probably end up in jail.”
Dad laughed. “And I’ll be there to bail you both out.”
The door shut behind my parents and I exhaled, slumping back against the bunk beds of our little corner in this large dorm suite. I shared a glance with Francesca. Since the two of us had the brilliant idea to relocate to Yale, we’d lost our old rooms, but thankfully not our places in this suite.
There was a huge shared living space, a kitchen, and bathrooms to afford each of us space and privacy when we needed it. And needed it was—that many girls in one space was chaos on cocaine.
“I thought your parents would never leave,” Francesca muttered.
“It’s going to be crowded,” I remarked, looking around the suite. When Francesca and I left for Yale, our space was assigned to Gianna and Anya Santos. With the two of us back, and only one bedroom to spare, D’Arc had to improvise. Since Francesca and I shared a bedroom at Yale, we said we could make do with one room and the bunk beds.
“At least we get along with the girls.” It was in the same compound we shared last year with my sister Hannah, my cousin Penelope DiMauro, Skye Leone, Amara Brennan, and Anya Santos. Our families went to great lengths to keep us together with the girls we’d grown close to over the years.
“Yeah, but let’s enjoy this quiet because it will be the last of it for a while.” The girls were either in their respective classes or, if they gave the summer semester a miss, they were probably at some social event or another and would be back in a few hours. “Let’s unpack our shit.”
An hour later, our new—or rather old—roommates began trickling in like a pack of kittens.
The first to appear were my cousin Penelope DiMauro and Skye.
“Welcome back.” Penelope ran over to me and hugged me. “We missed you.”
I grinned. “We’ve been gone barely a month.”
“ A month too long ,” Skye signed. She was deaf but was proficient at reading lips for the most part and had been part of the gang from the day we all met. Every one of the girls in the dorm had been learning to sign in hopes of communicating on her terms. It had always been important to the rest of us that she felt included. “ Welcome back, Francesca and Arianna .”
“Did you two meet any hot boys while at Yale?”
Francesca sighed. “Not a single one.”
Amara Brennan and Anya Santos, two of our other roomies, appeared next.
“Single one what?” Anya, Gabriel Santos’s much younger niece, asked. The two were raised as siblings, and much like other families in the mafia, had an over-complicated family tree.
“Not a single hot boy,” I elaborated.
“You two made quite a fuss,” Amara remarked, eyeing the bedroom Francesca and I took.
“Are you talking about the shooting or the mess?” I wondered.
“The mess. We’ll talk about the shooter when there aren’t so many shoes around,” she answered as we stood surrounded by a much bigger mess than we started with.
“I’ll never fit all my shit in here,” Francesca complained, throwing her hands up in frustration.
“You might want to get rid of some of that makeup,” Penelope suggested. “Or shoes.”
An arm wrapped around my shoulder and I came to a halt as Amara chimed in with, “And that telescope.”
“That’s Arianna’s,” Francesca explained.
Penelope shot me a puzzled look. “What are you going to do with it here?”
“She’s using it to spy on people, of course,” Amara answered in my stead, giving me a big hug.
“And planets,” I corrected her.
Amara grinned. “But spying on people is so much more fun. Welcome back.”
“Yes, welcome back,” Anya chimed, smiling. “We missed you both. ”
I smiled. “We missed you too. Right, Francesca?”
“Totally. We still have online Yale classes, but the crowd on this campus, especially in this dorm, is so much better.”
We were quickly adjusting for sure.
“Don’t ever leave again,” Anya stated as she whirled me around in a circle, peppering kisses on my cheek. Then she glanced around and lowered her voice before continuing. “Your twin is incorrigible when you’re not around. I swear we’re always getting in trouble.”
“As opposed to just getting you in trouble, Arianna,” Penelope stated. “But I must agree with the girls. Without you around, Hannah just goes off the rails.”
I glanced behind her. “Where is she, anyhow?”
She shrugged. “Looking for Matteo would be my guess.”
Francesca threw her head back and laughed. “She’ll be looking for a long time. He, Nikola, and Gabriel went to New York City. Some hush-hush business.”
“And Gianna?” I asked. “Where is she?”
“ She’s keeping Hannah in check ,” Skye signed.
“Gee. How did the youngest get stuck with that job?” Francesca grumbled.
Penelope waved her hand, her pink dress hugging her curves. “It was her turn today. Besides, believe it or not, Gianna keeps her in check better than anyone.”
Amara took Francesca’s and my hands and inspected every inch of our bodies. She was the most fearless person I knew, next to my crazy sister. But then she kind of had to be considering her family who watched over her like she was the apple of their eye.
“Gosh, I missed you all,” Francesca admitted, smiling sheepishly, hooking arms with Skye and Penelope. “Can you girls help me pick a major? Now that I’m back, I don’t want to spend all my time studying.”
Everyone groaned in unison. The youngest member of the Vitale family had changed her major as frequently as the seasons.
“It would make more sense to finish out with your current major,” I stated. “It’s your last year; you can do it.”
She let out a loud pfft sound. “Physics was a good excuse for Yale, but I don’t want to study that hard. I mean, what’s the point? I’m going to marry some mafia dude, not make a career out of it. Besides, physics was… boring.”
The girls scoffed, but nobody argued.
Arranged marriages were common in our circles. Penelope was arranged to marry some Italian dude. Amara swore up and down she would never get married, but I caught glances between her and Gabriel Santos once or twice at the end of the last school year. And then there was something between Skye and Nikola too…
But none of that applied to my sisters and me.
Our father promised we wouldn’t be forced to marry as part of some silly arrangement.
Like I said, he was a good one.
The conversation veered to a discussion about various majors and what would be the easiest to stomach for Francesca, but I tuned it out. She might be asking for our opinions, but I’d bet she already made up her mind.
My gaze kept flitting to the exit, eager to leave all the commotion behind, when Skye’s hand flagged me for attention.
“ There’s a party to crash, and then we have a surprise for you. ”
I stared back at a smiling Skye and grinned. “What is it?”
As if the rest of the girls remembered, they all exclaimed at the same time.
“You’re going to love it,” Amara assured, smiling devilishly.
Anya frowned. “We shouldn’t steal her family’s thunder.”
I beamed, intrigued. “Don’t keep me in suspense. Tell me.”
“Nope.” They all shook their heads. “Party first.”
“Get your priorities in order.” Francesca bumped her shoulder against mine, grinning like she meant to set the world on fire. “It’s time to show them who’s the life of the party.”
“Some welcome this is,” I muttered under my breath, but I let the girls drag me away anyhow.