Chapter 6
Besiana
Abright gleam slips between the heavy curtains and splashes across the empty bed.
He’s gone, leaving only cold sheets. I spent the night fearing my husband would touch me and wanting it at the same time.
He made a mess of my body without even trying.
I relieve my sexual tension, working my fingers between my thighs, then I take a long, hot shower. Anything to scrub him from my mind.
I slip back into my own room, avoiding my reflection in the vast and gilded mirrors.
Domenico probably wants me to dress like a mafia princess, all sequined miniskirts and fur jackets, but until he commands me to, it’s not strictly required of me.
So I change into a dress by Zuhair Murad, one of my favorite designers, a striking black number with geometric cutouts down the sleeves.
I feel like myself, like Besiana Dushku instead of the Rosetti wife I'm pretending to be.
I tiptoe out, trying not to let my footfalls echo through this lifeless mansion.
The silence is broken when I hear voices downstairs, and I freeze, my instincts screaming to avoid conflict.
But I take a breath and make myself head toward the sound, where I meet two of the Rosetti siblings again.
I focus on remembering their names, because this family is a test, and failing isn't an option.
Carmela, the youngest and the only sister.
And Emilio, one of the twins, the quiet one.
“Hey, hon!” Carmela sees me and bounces over with a huge smile. Her wild curls dance with every step. “Look who decided to join us!”
She grabs me by the arm and pulls me to the room’s center, too strong for such a little thing. I wonder if they’re all going to be this fake-friendly. It’s scary in a different way.
I quickly scan the room. It’s just Carmela and Emilio, no other Rosettis are hiding in the corners.
I’m not looking for Domenico, obviously.
I couldn’t care less where he is. I’m glad he’s not here.
He can go off and terrorize somebody else.
Carmela is wearing a sweet pink sundress, slouching onto a couch, and I thank God Dom’s not lounging with her.
Maybe he’s in the kitchen… I take a few steps and peer around the corner.
A Rosetti brother rounds the corner, almost smacking into me. He’s 6’2” and long-limbed, with a dimpled smile and auburn hair that looks like he’s just run a hand through it.
“Are you looking for Dom?” he asks. “Or did you just come to hang out with me?”
It’s Matteo, the other twin, though they look nothing alike. Matt has a wicked grin, the same one he wore to the wedding, and I can already tell he’s a charmer, a smooth talker. The playboy of the family. Makes a nice change from all the brooding.
“I’m not looking for Dom,” I say, too fast.
Matteo laughs. “That’s lucky because he’s out. Went with Leonardo and Eleanor. On business.” He says the last word slowly like it’s supposed to scare me. “Won’t be back till late.”
“So he’ll be gone all day?” I ask, biting my lip.
“Yep.” Matteo jumps onto the couch next to his sister, flicking her with his fingers. “Thought you’d be glad to get rid of him.”
“I am,” I say.
Definitely. Absolutely. I couldn’t be happier that my new husband left me alone in a house full of my enemies.
Carmela tilts her head, her curls bouncing at the movement. “You don’t look glad.”
“You slept in so long we thought you were dead,” Emilio calls from across the room, leaning back in an armchair.
With his blank expression and understated jeans and hoodie, Emilio almost disappears among all this luxury. Like the rest of them, he’s annoyingly handsome, though unlike his brothers, he seems uninterested in dominating the room.
He’s lounging with the ease of someone who knows everything, and I wonder if he does. If he’s already figured out my secrets. Maybe he’s the one I should be most wary of.
No wonder they call him “the Ghost.”
“Good to know you survived the night, Besiana,” Emilio adds, with a lewd wink.
“I might not survive the day,” I mutter, scanning the room.
The other brothers are too much testosterone and muscle in one place. I’m nervous around Emilio, and Rafe makes me downright queasy. He rounds the corner, striding like he’s on a mission, and when he sees me, he smiles. It’s terrifying.
“Good morning, Besiana,” Rafe says, his voice a low rumble that chills me. He might be polite, but he’s still enormous and intimidating. All that muscle is for breaking things.
“Hi,” I manage to squeak out.
“We thought you were gonna sleep all day,” Carmela teases, running a hand through her curls. “Dom kept you up late?”
Emilio shoots her a look, a quick don’t-start-something-you-can’t-finish. It reminds me of school, but warmer. Like they might actually like each other. That makes it even harder to sit there with them, smiling and pretending I'm one of them.
“No, I…” Forget it. I don’t need to explain myself to my rivals. I’m here for a reason, and I won’t achieve it by lounging around. “I’m just going to explore for a bit, if that’s ok.”
“Sure,” Rafe says.
“I’ll show you around,” Carmela offers, but I turn her down.
Emilio just watches me with those gray eyes.
“Let me know if you want company.” Matteo winks at me as I leave the room. “I’m much more fun than my brothers.”
I wander the halls, cold and sterile, art like my father's on the walls. My instincts scream at me to find out about Iride, to give my father an update. If I fail, I know exactly what I'll pay, so I pretend to explore the house, the entire time looking for information.
Room after room, I come up empty. My heart pounds faster with every useless search, the familiar fear trickling through me as the walls echo my footsteps.
As I reach another impossibly long hallway, I finally see the first sign of life.
A note left on a side table. It’s nothing but a reminder about a meeting with a chemist, but I clutch it like a lifeline. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
I decide to ask Dom about it later if I can make it sound natural. Hey, husband, where do you keep that genius chemist everyone’s trying to find?
I give up on my mission and head back toward where I left the Rosettis relaxing.
Even the thought of letting down my father when he hears about it makes panic swell in my chest, and I try to push it down, push everything down. I need to breathe, even if it’s just for a minute.
When I make it to the living room, it’s only Carmela lounging on the couch. Thank God. I sink into the cushions across from her, finally able to exhale.
“You’re back!” Carmela chirps. “Did you find your way around?”
I’m about to reply when we hear two of the missing brothers before we see them. They storm into the room, arguing so loud I’m surprised the glass doesn’t shatter.
“It’s your mess, Matt!” Rafe says. He’s got a murderous look in his eyes.
Matteo grins, angering Rafe even more. “If you don’t like how I’m handling it, do it yourself.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Rafe’s voice booms through the room.
He throws his brother a furious look, his icy eyes narrowing to slits.
“You never put this fucking family first.” With that, he storms past us, his heavy footsteps reverberating as he makes a beeline for the door, his muscles tense and ready for a fight.
I flinch instinctively, cowering into the cushions as I brace myself for an inevitable explosion of Rosetti tempers.
An argument about loyalty is bound to end in bloodshed, and I want no part of it.
I scan the room frantically, checking the distance to the nearest exits, calculating whether it’d be quicker to leave via the front foyer or dash toward the kitchen.
But the room is uncomfortably quiet. I glance up, and to my surprise, everyone is staring at me. The argument has petered out, like they’ve forgotten about it entirely.
“What’s wrong, hon?” Carmela whispers, her eyes soft and curious.
“It’s nothing.” I sit up straighter to prove it.
“You’re shaking like a leaf.” She rests a hand on my arm, and I flinch away but try to cover it with a cough.
I shake my head, but the words pour out. “My father always said, ‘Broken bones are easier to mend than broken loyalty.’ I guess I just figured this was going to be one of those times.”
“One of what times?” Matteo asks.
I shrug. “Oh, you know, an opportunity to learn with fists, as Baba would say.”
Carmela's eyebrows rise, and she steals a glance at Eleanor. "That's not how it works here."
My hands won’t stop trembling, so I stuff them under my thighs. "This is the mafia, isn’t it?"
Carmela and Matteo look at each other like I’ve told a joke in the wrong language.
Even Rafe looks confused. He snorts. "We fight. It's family."
"Sometimes we get physical," Matteo adds with a wicked grin.
"But love comes first." Carmela tugs a stray curl. "That's what counts."
She says it like it's that simple. Like love is enough to keep bones and loyalties intact. I wonder if that can be true. I doubt it.
I shake my head to clear it and remove my hands from beneath my legs, placing them carefully on the leather beside me.
It doesn’t matter what mind games these Rosettis are playing with me, I know how my own family works, and I must keep Baba happy, or else.
So I push aside my thoughts of the Rosettis and turn my mind to Iride. That is something I can understand.