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“Yeah, well, she’s working day and night, slaving away on a big opera at the Met. They’re allowing only a few seniors to intern, and you know how Carmen is her favorite opera.”
It was La Traviata, actually. But since Carmen was the big hit on the winter program, Alex had no choice but to go with that one. “Oh, yeah, yeah, sure it is. That’s gotta be a big deal for her. Huh, I figured she’d be all over that shit, posting everywhere.” Cristo’s reply was more proof he didn’t know his fiancée, making me seethe inside.
“They’re not allowed to take pics, what withAngela Gheorghiu singing. You know what a diva she is.”
“Gheorghiu, you say? She’s the most famous Romanian opera singer in existence.”
“Yes, exactly, and no one loves her more than Tasa. So despite her addiction to social media, she refrains from posting out of deference to her idol.”
I buried my face into his chest to hide, stifling a giggle that bubbled up. Sheesh, he was laying it on a bit thick.
“I’ll have to tell my father,” Cristo went on to say.
“You do that,” Alex replied tersely, his patience clearly at its end. Alex didn’t do lies, but covering for Tasa’s betrayal was a necessity.
“What are you doing here, Cristo?” I cut in to move the conversation off the subject of my best friend.
He gestured with the hand holding a glass. Alcohol sloshed out and splattered across his button-up shirt. “With friends. Over there.”
I leaned over and caught sight of his group. My body stiffened, outrage exploding inside. I recognized Cristo’s current girlfriend from the photos Tasa had shown me as she laughed at the absurdity of her situation. That alone should’ve tipped me off that my bestie had no intention of marrying him. Tasa had a jealous streak a mile wide. Raised as a princess, she’d never share her man, of all things.
Like me, she was a romantic at heart. Tasa had had every chance of losing her virginity with her one lover, but she walked away with her hymen intact. She didn’t need to tell me why. I knew. Like me, she wanted to lose her virginity to a man she felt something for. In that, we were in total agreement.
Alex noticed my reaction, and his gaze followed to where I was staring. He must’ve spotted Cristo’s girl because his eyes narrowed dangerously and his face froze in place like a death mask. Generally the disciplined type, there was no missing the fiery temper beneath that thinly veiled facade of calm. Nicu wasn’t handling it any better. Fuming with rage, he looked like he was seconds away from tearing Cristo apart, limb by limb. Nothing triggered him more than a perceived insult to his baby sister.
Cristo was a true idiot to dare frequent Alex’s place with his woman in tow. He probably assumed Alex didn’t know or figured he could get away with it by hiding her in a large group of people. If he’d had his wits about him, he would’ve realized what a bad idea it had been.
Then again, Alex was also at fault. Seeing stupid Cristo, drunk and with his woman, fueled a new flare of courage. Maybe it was fueled by the fact that I had just lost my virginity to a man of my choosing when Tasa would’ve been forced to give hers up to this moron. Whatever it was, it had triggered a rare burst of temper inside me.
“Great seeing you again, Cristo. I’ll make sure to let Tasa know you checked in on her. Have a wonderful evening,” I said overly brightly as I leaned over Alex and shoved at Cristo’s large body to move on. God, I couldn’t wait to get rid of him.
Either he got my message or he finally noticed the death glares he was getting because he quickly replied, “Oh, okay. Yeah, good to see you. Alex. Nicu,” and hightailed it out of there.
“Fucking asshole,” Nicu snarled. “I’m going to dismember that motherfucker. There won’t be a body for Tasa to find on her wedding day.”
“There won’t be a wedding day,” I rushed out in relief. There’d been no sign of Tasa whatsoever in the past week, from my end at least.
Casting a glance at Alex, I inquired worryingly, “Have you found anything?”
He shook his head brusquely. “Nothing. She withdrew from school and had the tuition reimbursed. Emptied her bank account and vanished into thin air. Nothing to tip me off as to where she’s gone.”
Turning to face him fully, I took a big breath and said, “Alex, I’m begging you. Please, you can’t let her marry him. He’s an idiot. Besides the fact he has a girlfriend that he’s clearly smitten with—”
“You know this?” His eyebrows jutted downward in two severe lines. “Tasa knows this?”
“Of course, she knows. You live in a small world. Did you think she’d blindly walk into something like her marriage without finding out what kind of person he was? That’s so not Tasa.”
“Apparently,” he drawled.
“Come on,” I huffed out, frustration and anger bubbling over. “Of course, she knew she had to marry an appropriate husband, but that doesn’t mean she liked it. That doesn’t mean it was fair to force her to marry that.” I flung out my hand in Cristo’s direction. Pressing my lips together, I barely held my tongue from running on.
“Nina,” he said sharply, “in our world, we have responsibilities. We may not like them, but we have to fulfill a certain set of expectations.”
“Alex, you had responsibilities thrust upon you when your father was killed. Having lived with such a heavy burden, why would you put that on your baby sister? You should’ve protected her. You could’ve left her to follow her own path, instead. Especially, knowing how independent and stubborn she is. She’s not one of these silly, airheaded mafie princesses,” I grumbled.
The corners of his mouth tightened when I used the Romanian word for the mafia. I rolled my eyes. “I’ve practically lived in your home. Did you think I picked up nothing over the past eighteen years?”
“Damn,” murmured Nicu.
