34. Arianna
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
ARIANNA
D ad and Mr. Vitale were at our sides in the blink of an eye while the guests pretended to mingle and sip on their drinks, failing big-time.
From my periphery, I could see Mom ushering my siblings to the opposite side of the room. My brothers protested the loudest, shouting threats across the room. My uncles, Luca and Cassio, had to step in, dragging the boys out while Mom pushed Gianna and Hannah toward the gardens.
What happened? Hannah mouthed, but I turned around and focused on Dad and Mr. Vitale surrounding us, blocking the view to the guests.
“Well, this is my cue,” Nikola cut in, ready to bolt.
“Don’t you fucking move,” Mr. Vitale ordered.
“What happened?” Dad asked, his gray eyes on me. I gave my head a subtle shake, refusing to speak, and it seemed the boys had the same idea.
“Why is it that every time my son ends up with a broken nose, your daughter’s around, Nico?”
Dad studied me pensively, then narrowed his eyes on Mr. Vitale before answering coldly, “Better question is why is he always running into things?”
“He didn’t run into her fist,” Mr. Vitale growled. “She punched him.”
“It was actually an accident,” Matteo chimed in, but nobody was buying it. They’d have to be blind and dumb to believe that shit. “I took her hand and she got upset.”
“You might want to advise your son never to touch Arianna again or I might?—”
“Nico, stop,” Mom ordered. She was the only one who could control Dad when he went into overprotective mode. “Matteo would never touch Arianna inappropriately.” She was so damn wrong.
“Yes, I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding and the kids will work it out,” Mrs. Vitale stated, then studied her son and me. “You two go into Luciano’s office, take a moment alone to work it out, and?—”
“No,” I cut in and everyone’s eyes turned to me. “Leave me alone with him and I’ll kill him.”
Nikola whistled. I whirled around and stormed out of the room, running straight into a broad, hard chest.
I lifted my eyes, up and up, and met the familiar pale blue eyes. The Nikolaevs were here.
“Hey, dollface,” Sasha Nikolaev greeted me. He was the cheerful one while his two brothers looked too brooding and serious. “What did we miss?”
I glanced at his wife, Branka, then Nikola’s parents—Vasili and Isabella Nikolaev—before looking at Alexei and his wife.
“You okay?” Alexei asked, and despite his arctic tone and cold eyes, I always found safety in them. “Or do I have to kill someone? Just say the word and Uncle Alexei will get it done.”
“I’m fine,” I lied. I’d called him uncle when we were small, but now it felt wrong to be so familiar with him.
“And you didn’t miss much. Engagement announcement and a broken nose,” I answered, glancing over my shoulder. “Oh, and Matteo hit Nikola.”
Was it petty? Yes, but it would buy me some time, because I could already see Matteo heading for me, his parents trying—and failing—to hold him back. “Don’t let Matteo catch up to me or he’ll have a lot more than a broken nose.”
I sidestepped the family and ran out of the house. Breeze in my hair, pushing the silk of my Valentino dress against my heated skin, I could hear my parents’ frantic voices as they tried to catch up to me.
But I was already in my Jeep, my tires screeching against the pavement.
I took a sharp turn toward the heart of the city when a grunt from the back had me looking in the rearview mirror. My brothers’ dark heads peered from the cargo area and I felt like banging my head against the wheel.
“What are you two doing here?” I hissed.
They climbed over the headrest and slid into the back seat with grace.
“Knew you’d be taking off,” Cassius declared as he settled into the seat, tugging on his sleeves like he was a sophisticated gentleman, not someone who’d just hidden in the back footwell of my Jeep.
“And we knew you’d need company,” Dominico added.
I groaned.
“You’re wrong. I don’t want company and I’m not taking off. Just—” I searched for a good excuse and settled for a lie. “Just going shopping.”
My brothers shared a glance, then Cassius said, “Coincidently, we need to do some shopping too.”
“This family has no respect for boundaries,” I muttered, pressing my foot on the pedal and watching the Vitale residence shrink with every passing second. “Ever heard of the concept of personal space?”
“Overrated,” Dominico stated, sliding into the front passenger seat.
“Until you desperately need it,” I mumbled.
Cassius leaned over the center console and pecked my cheek. “Nah, that’s not what you need. Not today at least.”
“I know a place that overlooks the river we can hit afterward,” Dominico stated. “It’s romantic.”
I shot him a look. “And you think I’d want to go there with you?”
He shrugged. “There’s a good ice cream truck nearby. They have a Nutella flavor.”
“Okay, whatever.”
Two hours later, the three of us sat on the hood of my military-green Jeep, wearing jeans and white T-shirts that when we sat together said Bang… Bang… Mudafuka . Yes, I was the one with the last word and we even commemorated the moment, taking a selfie, ensuring to capture our ice cream and the writing on the shirts.
The music from my speakers was the only thing to interrupt the constant cityscape.
Every so often, when we’d lapse into silence like this, I was reminded of the pain from earlier, and the emotions would crash into me. It was so unfair that I was even in this position. Matteo didn’t deserve my tears. He didn’t deserve me .
“I posted our photo on my Instagram,” Cassius said, breaking through my pity party. “The caption matches the writing on our shirts, and I tagged Matteo. Do you think he’ll know we plan on killing him?”
“He’ll certainly get the message now,” Dominico noted coolly.
I rolled my eyes. “Nobody’s doing any killing.”
“Listen, sis, I didn’t buy this God-awful shirt from that park vendor for nothing,” Cassius grumbled. “I thought you were going shopping.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be a fucking snob. We shopped, didn’t we?”
Cassius shook his head. “Well, yes. The Converse store was okay, but park vendors… I have my reputation to uphold.”
I flipped him off, although it fell flat. I felt like shit.
“What happened, Arianna?” Cassius asked, and my eyes widened. Just when I’d thought I was in the clear. “Don’t tell me you were surprised to hear about Hannah’s engagement?”
Yes, it fucking surprised me that she got engaged to the man I’d been sleeping with for the past week. But I couldn’t—wouldn’t—admit that to my brothers. Matteo would probably end up with a lot more than a bloody nose.
“Are you worried you’ll have to share him?” Dominico asked. “It often happens that Cassius and I fall for the same girl, but we share?—”
“TMI. TMI. TMI. Dammit, Dominico, there are some things I really don’t need to know.”
They chuckled, clearly unfazed. “Mom always taught us that sharing is caring.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re sick.”
I loved my sister, but I couldn’t bear the thought of sharing a man I loved with her. Yet, the thought of breaking her heart seemed even worse.
So as I slid off the hood of my Jeep, I knew there was only one solution to this mess.
“Let’s go back to the Vitale manor.”
I’d accept this engagement and move on.