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“Please, Frankie,” she pleaded again. My gaze flashed from my overstuffed bag to Gabby. I wanted to scream at her that she was being used, but there was a passed out Beast in my room and somehow going along with their plan was less dangerous for me. Nikolai knew that. I quickly shoved the bag in the closet and ran over to the door. I pulled it open, ushering in a wave of laughter and music. I stuck my head out.
“Coast’s clear. We’re not really doing this though—” But they both immediately rushed through, ignoring me. They carried him down the hallway decorated with lush, fake snow. Silver twinkling snowflakes hung from clear string above us so they looked like they were suspended in midair.
We got to the room and they threw him on the bed, shutting the door behind them.
“No, no,” I whisper-yelled. “I’m leaving. I’m getting out of here tonight. There’s no reason for me to stay.” As I said the words, there was some niggling inside of me, a dangerous, slippery thought that all at once gave me comfort: there was no harm in staying another day.
Gabby turned to me, heaving heavy breaths. When she’d somewhat gotten control of her diaphragm, she wiped a stray bead of sweat from her forehead and said, “You’re the Pavoni Princess.”
I laughed, hard. Neither of them joined me.
“You’re serious?” I turned to Gabby. “We’ve talked about this. Twice.” I folded my arms. When Nikolai first put the flyer in my room, she’d been excited. I got that. I’d had to again pop the balloon when she’d told me about Levi and that sucked, but this?
This was risking my life.
I had to get the fuck out of here fast. I didn’t have time to play pretend. “I’m not the Pavoni Princess. Don’t you think I want to be heir to the very crime family of the asshole keeping me prisoner?” Beast groaned and all
of our eyes shot to where he lay face first on the bed. He twitched slightly then moaned, his breaths returning to normal.
“Keep your voice down,” Gabby whisper-yelled. “You don’t understand. We have proof. I’ve been trying to see you for days.” Gabby wiped sweat from her forehead. “Do you know they’re already trying to auction me off to the highest bidder? If I have to marry some old crime boss, I will kill myself, or him—or both.”
“That’s…” My anger chilled while I searched for the right words. I came up with none. “Awful, I’m sorry.” As I looked at their eager faces, though, I knew that no matter what awful shit the Pavoni mafia did, it wouldn’t make me a princess.
“It’s whatever.” Gabby waved a hand, but she looked away and I could swear I saw a tear in her eye. “I knew it would happen.”
“But maybe Levi—” I started, trying to find some way to comfort her.
“The Pavoni Princess is real,” Gabby interrupted, turning back to me. “Did you hear me? We have proof.”
“There is no record of you or your mother’s birth,” Nikolai said, and my eyes flashed to his, narrowing. I was still quite pissed off at him for concealing the fact that my papa was out of reach of Beast’s clutches. Now this? He was clearly manipulating Gabby. Why was he trying to make me a princess?
Unperturbed by my cold glare, he continued, “We expanded the search to every hospital in New York, then to every hospital in the USA. There is no record of Francesca Notte or your mother being born.” My forehead contracted, the muscles clenching in disbelief and indignation. I’d always had such trouble applying for things like bank accounts and my driver’s license, and I couldn’t continue college because I could never get a loan. Papa said my birth certificate was lost and when I asked him to help me get a new one, he squirreled. I still didn’t know my social security number, but Papa was the kind of man who sat in a broken chair as long as it didn’t fall completely apart, so I didn’t think too much about it. Anger coursed through me, but not at Papa.
“What are you saying?”
“Your mother wasn’t your mother. She was sent by the Pavonis to watch over you.”
I scowled. “That isn’t proof. How can you say that?”
Nikolai pulled out two old Polaroids. I couldn’t see the second one, but the first one, I saw too clearly.
“This is your mother, yes?” he asked. It was a little grainy, but I could see my mother. She didn’t look much like me. Where I had brown hair, blue eyes, and not even a sun spot, she had red hair, bright green eyes, and freckles all over her face. Of course, the colors were gone in the black and white photo, but she was still beautiful and unmistakable. There was another man in the photo with her that I didn’t know. Reluctantly, I nodded. Gabby grabbed the photo from Nikolai then pointed to the other man in the photo.
“That’s Don Lucio, you know, the Boss of the Pavonis.”
I frowned harder. “That doesn’t mean anything. She could have owed money.” Even as I said it, I didn’t believe it. Gabby sighed and turned to Nikolai.
“Let me talk to her.” Then she turned to me. “You need to get naked and in bed anyway.” I grimaced. She’d said it with a cold calculation that belied her sunny demeanor and gave way to the dark world she’d been living in. Nikolai left the room and she motioned for me to sit on the bed. With my hands in my lap, I sat on the edge.
“Why don’t you want this to be real?” she asked. Her tone was curious and kind, as if asking why I didn’t want ice cream for dessert. I wondered if Gabby had any real idea what she was getting herself into. Nikolai was playing with strings and Gabby was so caught up she couldn’t see she was just one of the many.
“It’s a fairytale,” I responded. “Fairytales aren’t real.”
Gabby shrugged. “This one is.” I had no response. Her dangerous naivety was now affecting me. While sitting on the edge of Beast’s bed as Gabby undid my buttons, I seethed. I did have a family. Some of that stuff was weird, I’d admit. It was weird that I didn’t know my social, but if you knew Papa, it wasn’t so odd. Papa was disorganized and messy, he probably even didn’t know his social. It was weird that my mom had met with the head of the Pavonis, and it was weird that she didn’t look like me, but she was still my mother. Plenty of children didn’t look like their parents.
I rounded on Gabby. “Why are you doing this?” I asked. “Why are you trying to rip apart the only good thing I had for some fucking fairytale?” She silently undid my dress and my skin slowly became exposed to the darkness. Next to me a passed out Beast slept.
“My mom died too soon,” I continued. “My dad became a deadbeat, we moved to a shitty house, and I became Harry Potter—but she existed.”
