Alessandro adjusts the cuffs of his coat like he didn’t just punch one of the most powerful men in New York.
“Lunch tomorrow,” he says curtly to my father.
Then he starts toward me on the way to the door. My pulse jumps stupidly as he approaches.
I should hate that.
I do hate it.
He stops beside me, close enough for his scent to curl around me again. Dark spice. Danger. Then he leans down slightly. His mouth brushes near my ear.
“You should be smiling when I see you tomorrow.”
My fingers twitch with the urge to slap him. Or spit on him. Or both. But I stay frozen there, still trying to process the fact that Alessandro Gallo punched my father because of me.
Because my father slapped me.
It’s not the first time Massimo has done it.
But somehow…
Something tells me it’ll be the last.
Alessandro straightens and walks away without another glance.
Valerio follows behind him.
A second later, the heavy front door closes with a click. Silence rushes back in. My father looks at me. Hatred burns in his eyes so fiercely it almost steals the breath from my lungs.
Like this is my fault. Like I orchestrated the entire thing just to humiliate him.
Then he bends slowly, picks up his cane, and turns toward the staircase.
None of us move. We wait in complete silence until he disappears upstairs. Only then do we breathe again.
Camilla rushes toward me first.
“Oh my God,” she whispers shakily, grabbing my face carefully. “Sienna?—”
“I’m okay,” I mumble automatically, even though my cheek throbs.
Daniela looks horrified, but I don’t give her a chance to speak.
“So…” I force a smile for their benefit. “Apparently, I’m getting married.”
Daniela lets out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
“Oh my God,” she mutters. “You sound insane.”
“I feel insane.”
Camilla still looks shell-shocked. I hate that look on her face more than I hate the pain in my cheek. She suddenly grabs my wrist and drags me toward the nearest couch.
“Sienna,” she says urgently once we sit. “Tell me the truth. How do you know Alessandro?”
Daniela immediately sits beside us, eyes huge with curiosity and panic.
I lean back against the sofa cushions and stare at the chandelier overhead for a long moment.
