Chapter 31 – Penelope
I groaned as Serena set yet another outfit on the cushioned bench in the center of the changing area.
She cocked her head and looked at me. “You really don’t like this shopping business, do you?”
“Not one bit.” I laughed. “We bought clothes that lasted until they wore out. New pieces were kept nice for special occasions.”
“Huh, another thing I was wrong about when it comes to you.” Serena scooped her waist-length, bronze hair off the back of her neck and fanned the area.
“I’m not some gold digger,” I insisted.
The other woman snorted. “You could have thrown a party to show off his fortune to all your cheap friends. At least there would have been some excitement.”
“I’m not exciting enough for you?” I drawled.
“Eh, a little.” She shrugged.
I plucked at the ridiculously short dress and considered everything she’d said. The conclusion was right there, staring me in the face.
Serena was lonely.
She didn’t leave the mansion unless it was to shop or have a spa day—which she did alone. She didn’t even have a pet to keep her company.
“You do have good taste in shoes,” I said, snatching the strappy pair and dangling them in the air.
She gave me a withering look. “You don’t have to force the girlfriend stuff. I’m perfectly happy shopping without the commentary.”
“But I’m serious, S,” I protested. “I don’t know how to pair things like this. Hell, the stores we go to back home don’t have these things.”
“Sorry,” Serena muttered. “I’m not trying to be so prickly.”
“S’okay,” I drawled.
“Not really. If you didn’t already figure it out, I don’t have friends, Penny. I don’t know how to not be a raging bitch. Having thick skin is the only way to keep from getting hurt in our world.”
No sisters, no mom…no friends. “Not one?” I pressed gently.
“Not one.” Serena tossed me the dress. “Even in preparatory school, my actions were very limited. I was the rich recluse who didn’t speak to anyone.”
“Well, I’m here.” I lifted my hands.
Serena rolled her eyes. “You were forced into prison. If you could, you have a life to return to. There’s nothing for me here.”
I snatched the dress, mentally wondering how she could exist in such an aimless vortex. “Quit the pity party, S. You have the world at your fingertips, and all I’ve heard from you is whining about how awful it is to be born rich and pretty.”
Her flashing brown eyes widened.
“I don’t mean that your life hasn’t been hell—heavens, I can’t imagine being so sheltered!” I gave her a sympathetic look. “But don’t you want to do something with your life?”
Flicking a glance around us, Serena leaned in. “We’re mafia women, Penny. That is our life.”
I shook my head. “I refuse to let that define me.”
“You’re delusional.”
“Probably, but I’m going to treat it as a tool and mold it to my will.” I dangled the dress. “A bold statement. I’ll use it when the opportunity strikes.”
Serena held up her hand. “Eww, gross. That’s my brother you’re talking about.”
Laughing with her, I went into a room to try on the dress. But it felt hollow. Alessandro hadn’t touched me since the shower. He hadn’t really been around either. We’d had one glorious round of unprotected sex, and now nothing. I remedied the situation with birth control, hoping my deeply religious mother never found out. But it seemed that move was all for nothing.
“Does this thing come in a size meant for girls with boobs and thighs?” I gasped as the material threatened to suffocate me.
“I’ll see what I can find,” Serena called out. Her heels clipped away as she retreated from the space.
The don’s cold, aloof behavior wasn’t going to keep me down. I had plans and ideas littering the pages of my bullet journal. This experience was going to open doors for me. I would settle for nothing less.
The woman who stared back in the mirror’s reflection was a stranger. While she looked like me, the short dress reminded me too much of the creature I created as another tool once upon a time.
Are you really any better than the old you?
I was scheming to use a man’s interest in me to accomplish a goal.
“A maid by day, an entertainer by night,” I said through clenched teeth.
The thing about having a past, it was either going to hold me back or propel me forward. And I knew which one I chose every morning, again and again.
Still, my past had its uses. I shimmied in the dress, dropping into a provocative squat. The material stretched and the seams groaned. Yeah, I couldn’t work the pole in this. And there was no strategic way to remove it.
“If I use this time to grow, to make something of myself, I’ll never dance for the drunk local boys again.” I smiled to myself.
I knew better than anyone how to fight for the future I wanted. Serena thought thick skin meant being cold and heartless? I needed to show her that thick skin was a defense, but that the true self didn’t need to fear the world.
I tugged on the zipper, wincing when it stuck.
You’ve got to be kidding me .
“Serena? You back yet?” I called out.
The curtain slid back, and she slipped into the room.
Only…it wasn’t my sister-in-law.
“You!” I snapped, rounding on the man who’d been stalking me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The man flipped open a leather wallet. An I.D. was on top and a shiny badge on the bottom.
Anger made my heart thump hard. “This isn’t the place to talk to me, cop.”
“I’m not a cop, and I’ll talk to you wherever I damn well please.” His gaze was full of disgust.
I pulled my inner armor over myself. His intent to intimidate was a stench stronger than the bad cologne filling the space.
“Get out,” I menaced.
“I need you to come into the station and give a statement about your husband,” he sneered, stressing the last word.
“Am I under arrest?” I countered.
His eyes narrowed to slits. “No.”
“Then I don’t have to go anywhere.” I planted my hands on my hips. “And I’m not telling you shit.”
The man stepped forward. If his body stank, his breath was worse. “You’re going to give me the information I need to make a case against your husband, or my friends are going to pay a visit to your brother.”
I faltered.
It was the smallest slip. A moment of panic.
But the bastard latched onto it like a bass on a hook. “Yeah, his friend’s meth lab is going to lock him up for good.”
Theodor wasn’t friends with that trailer rat anymore, but it was no secret they’d rolled together as teens. A properly motivated bastard like the one in front of me could make the case that Theodor was still in cahoots with the trash.
Taking a step forward, I refused to back down. “I plead the fifth.”
“That’s only for criminal trials,” he scoffed.
“Yeah, and you can’t make me testify against my spouse. So fuck off and get the hell out of my changing room.”
“Penny? Who are you talking to?” Serena called out.
Shit! I glared at the man, arching a brow in question.
“Better go out there and distract her, so I can leave,” he hissed. “Don’t think your husband will like knowing you were in here with another man.”
An idea dawned on me at those words. I didn’t know how to tell if that badge was real. But it was entirely possible this whole thing was one big test.
After all, snitches got stitches—or so the movies would have me believe.
I hurried from the changing room, deciding to keep the whole interaction quiet.
“Help me with this,” I breathed. “I was cursing every holy saint in there, and I’m going to have to go to penance. Don’t tell anyone, but I rant when I’m frustrated.”
None of those statements were lies.
“Hot damn, you look good, slut,” Serena whistled.
I gave her a dry look. “No, just no.”
“Yeah, I said I’m not good at the girlfriend chit-chat.” She chuckled.
I angled my body so that Serena’s back was to the changing room. “Just get me out of this, will you?”
The cop who’d been watching slunk out of the room and scuttled from the area. I didn’t draw a proper breath until he disappeared.
Holy crap on a cracker…. If that wasn’t a test, this situation was bad. But it would have been far worse if he was a test and I failed.
Serena sniffed. “What reeks?”
My stomach dropped. “Bad perfume?”
“Yeah, that.” Serena peered around the changing area. “Whoever the hell that is, she should know that’s more a man’s scent, if the man was cheap.”
There was no reason for her to suspect anything. And if she was in on the test, she was a damn good actress.
“Yeah, it does stink,” I agreed.
“I saw this buried in the back. I can’t believe the saleswoman didn’t pull it. I’ll be speaking to her manager,” Serena huffed.
Shaking my head, and trying to focus on the normalcy of shopping, I glanced at the gown. The vibrant purple creation was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“That’s…elegant,” I breathed.
“Yeah, you can wear it to the gala next weekend.” Serena pointed at the skimpy gown. “Sorry I chose that. I didn’t think you’d actually wear it.”
I gave her a smirk that I didn’t feel. “I told you, your brother would like it.”
She grimaced. “Well, this gown will be just the thing for a public appearance. What you two do in private is not something I ever need to know.”
I took it into the changing room, once the curtain closed it was just me and the stench. I took deep breaths through my mouth. “What are you wearing to the gala?”
“Oh, Alessandro won’t let me go,” Serena said flippantly.
I poked my head out to glare at her. “Did you ask?”
“Yes,” she insisted. “Nicely too, so don’t give me that look. But it’s useless, Penny. I don’t go places.”
Rolling my eyes I zipped the gown up and emerged. “I’ll talk to him.”
Something flickered in her eyes. Hope, it was hope.
“No promises,” I insisted, but already I was scheming exactly how I would make the mob boss bend. And when he did, he was going to tell me if that cop stunt was a test of loyalty. Along with some other things—like who was the woman he muttered about when the nightmares came. Because if he was dreaming about someone else….
No, no it wasn’t that. The maids whispered in Italian because they thought I couldn’t understand. From what I gathered, she was long dead. It was her role in this world that still perplexed me. I was pretty close to finding the truth about the mysterious Elena without having to go full nuclear on my husband.
Proud of how I handled the twists and turns of my situation, I ran my hands over the royal material. Whatever happened, I was in this world now.