Chapter 46 Serafina #2
I move, compelled to reach my friend. The one who ghosted me, who’s been mysterious.
Whose presence should answer things but only worsens them.
Zeno’s arm juts across my body, halting my advance.
He shakes his head, fixated on the scene unfolding as my missing friend pushes away the soldier and crosses to Alessio’s side, her heels clicking against the hardwood.
She lifts her chin, cool gaze sweeping over me and then everyone else, acting no different than a stranger.
“What the fuck?”
That earns the slightest tick of her jaw, but her eyes fall low, body tilted in Alessio’s direction as his hand snaps to her face, pinching her cheeks. She subtly flinches but otherwise doesn’t react.
“Serafina, I believe you’ve met my cousin. You should be thrilled, as soon, you’ll be family.”
“No.” Betrayal rockets through me. There’s no explanation needed; the pieces fit together.
Why we became instant friends. Why Alessio was never conveniently around to meet her.
Why she was insistent on getting me to that party.
Her disappearance beforehand, and then why my messages never went through.
“I installed Amara into your life to get close to you. First, during your final year to become your friend, and then to ensure you were in the right place at the right time during the campus tour.” He casts a nasty glare at us both before dropping his hand from her face.
“She played her part so perfectly. Attended university when needed, disappeared to revaluate the plan. She even got you to that party and away from your lapdog, allowing me to step in.”
My vision blurs, centring on the person I once believed to be my friend—my confidant. Someone I trusted. All those conversations—a lie. Why she never spoke about her family was the same reason I never admitted mine. Two mob women hiding from one another, except mine wasn’t in deception.
The fist in my stomach unknots and takes me from betrayal to rage. I don’t realize I’ve jolted forward until one of Alessio’s men is yanking Amara out of the way, and Zeno’s arm latches around my stomach, lifting me kicking off the ground.
“Brutta stronza!” You bitch.
Alessio, meanwhile, hasn’t moved, and when he does, he simply gestures to his men. “You can remove her. Once again, she’s fulfilled her role.” To me, he says, “Unlike your family, the Vitales instill proper values in our women. Amara was following a command, nothing more. Blame me, not her.”
Oh, I’m blaming both of them.
I’m seething, my nails digging into Zeno’s arm as I glare at Amara being dragged away, all still without a peek towards me. As she’s shoved outside, she finally lifts her head. The cool eyes of a stranger meet mine before she dips her head once and disappears.
In no way am I calm, especially after whatever the hell that was, but I tap Zeno’s arm. “You could put me down now.”
After waiting a couple beats to ensure I’m serious, Zeno lowers me back to my feet but remains close.
“Since that’s over with…” Alessio claps his hands together, like he didn’t just ruin the past year and a half. “I’d like to have that conversation alone.”
Behind me, Lev hovers nearer, but it’s Zeno who nudges me away. “Absolutely not. She’s not yours until the ceremony. An engagement doesn’t mean shit. Fuck off, Vitale.”
“Five minutes,” he gambles. “My fiancée and I have a few matters to discuss. Such as, how I expect her to behave as my wife and what all the freedoms of being raised outside of the mob may have accidentally created.” His eyes flick so quickly towards Lev, the message in them clear enough to make me reach for my brother’s elbow.
“I’ll talk to him if it’ll make him leave.”
“Not alone, you’re not.”
“Mancini, you will not be staying.”
“I’ll stay.” Vanessa approaches, resting a hand on Zeno’s shoulder.
They share a silent conversation before Zeno accepts her offer and gestures for Anastasia and Lev to follow him out of the restaurant.
Anastasia passes him, barely keeping even an inch between them when she bares her teeth and utters, “I offered to gut you. Feel lucky they denied me.”
Without taking his attention off me, Alessio drawls, “I’m sure you would have done it wonderfully, Signorina Petrov. Great show, by the way.”
She leaves alongside Alessio’s men, until only Lev hesitates. He casts a glare towards Alessio, before it softens on me. There’s a message there, gone faster than I can read it.
Once the door is firmly shut, Alessio sighs like this whole thing is exhausting him. “They’re all so tense. No one realizes this marriage changes little. After all, we were together for months, Serafina. We’re familiar to one another.”
“I was dating a lie.”
“Maybe. Suppose time will tell.”
I won’t be giving you more time than a few hours.
“What did you bribe Amara with?”
He laughs harshly. “Oh, mio cara, that you believe my cousin required anything to do right by her family… No bribery needed.” Cold eyes, reminiscent of when we were dating and he’d get angry, drop to my left hand, which I quickly hide behind my back. “The ring truly suits you.”
The moment this is over, it’s being removed and not worn until the wedding.
His shoes tap over the tiled floor, only to be stopped by Vanessa, who positions herself between us, palms to his chest. “Talking doesn’t mean you need to be near her.”
He shrugs, undisturbed by her protectiveness, and turns for the nearest table instead, pulling a chair out with an irritating scrape and lowering himself into it.
“Makes no difference. I have only a few things to say. Continue your semester in Russia, but make no mistake: once we are wed, you will be moving in with me. Your studies will not continue because no Vitale wife needs an education. You will be given your own room; I won’t be able to stand you in my bed every night. Be grateful.”
“Performance issues, huh?” Vanessa mocks. “Must be a bitch to deal with.”
He doesn’t blink at the derision. “After the ceremony, we’ll spend our wedding night in a hotel, where you will be made mine in every manner possible before you come up with the idiotic plan of running away with your lover.
Speaking of,” he pauses, “you’ve already given him your virginity and denied me my right, so unfortunately, there’s nothing more to be done there.
He’s stolen what was mine, and by contract, his life could be mine as well, if I choose to. ”
“Only if you want the Bratva to rain terror on your asses,” Vanessa mutters, crossing her arms. “But please, I beg you to go after him. Give me that reason.”
He throws a sugary smile her way. “My, you’re going to be a doll for a sister-in-law…
half-sister-in-law?” His lips purse, considering the term.
“Talk about a fucked-up family tree, you two. Either way, since the past can’t be changed, what you two do between now and the wedding isn’t my business.
But make no mistake, Serafina: once you walk down the aisle, every single part of you is mine.
That means if he even looks your fucking way, I’ll have him slaughtered in front of you.
After the wedding, you will never see him again.
You will be Signora Vitale, with all expectations of that title, including producing my heir.
” He stops talking—thankfully, because my stomach can’t handle any more of this man’s speech—but when his gaze scans me, he pauses on my stomach.
“You better not be carrying a bastard. You won’t like me too much then. ”
I don’t like you now.
“I’m not.” My period came the other day.
“Time will tell, won’t it?” He pushes to his feet and crosses the room, passing Vanessa on his way to the door. “Until then, Signorina Mancini. Do not disappoint me.”
He pushes out of the door and disappears.
For the first time since he walked in earlier, I breathe, a full, deep breath that staggers into a sob, my legs crumpling beneath me.
Vanessa catches me in a large hug, her grip tight around my waist. In this moment, I something shifts. In this moment, we’re truly sisters.
Bonded.
“It’ll be okay,” she whispers in my hair. “It’ll be over soon. You did good.”
When my arms slide around her back, one is dragged down by the weight of this agreement—of the rock on my finger.
I release her to rip the damned thing off and chuck it across the room, wishing diamonds weren’t as strong as they are.
The door opens at the exact second it pings off the nearby wall, Anastasia yelping in surprise before going for it.
Lev walks in behind her, his expression masked, but he remains by the door while Zeno crosses to our side.
“Like he’s trying to make a statement.” Anastasia carries the ring back to me, but I push it away.
“Please, keep it far away. Hide it until the ceremony.”
She slips the ring inside its holder, musing, “Maybe we can lose it altogether. Think he’ll notice?”
Zeno sighs, wrapping his arm around Vanessa’s waist. “Fuck, I need a drink. Let’s go home.”