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I lift my chin to project courage that I don’t feel. “You seemed like a close-knit group. Did it make the others angry when you won?”
Salvatore’s blue-green eyes flicker and the muscles of his jaw tighten. Like what I just saidhurts.
Can monsters feel pain?
I can guess what happened. Dad wants their help to win the next election, but he also doesn’t like four against one, and so he figured out a way to separate one of these powerful men from the others.
With me.
I suppose he used a delicate combination of enticements and veiled threats on Salvatore.Marry my daughter, and I’ll give you everything the others could never hope to give you. Remember what happened here tonight. I can make things go away—but only for my friends.
“I hope I’m worth losing all of them,” I say with a shrug. The cluster of girls at the gate has drawn the attention of the faculty. Over Salvatore’s shoulder, I see the headmistress marching toward us, her focus on Salvatore, equal parts alarm and determination on her face. “The headmistress is coming. You should go.”
“Oh, no. Not the headmistress.”
Salvatore slides his hands around my waist and dips his head toward mine. It’s like someone’s thrown a heavy cloak over us as suddenly it’s just him and me, his large, scorching hands holding me against him.
Salvatore’s mouth descends on mine in a demanding, searing kiss. He captures my lower lip, testing how it yields to his teeth, and then kisses me again. He presses his lips against mine so many times that I feel drunk.
His voice is as dark as midnight when he speaks. “I assure you, you’re worth it, Chiara.”
The darkness around us lifts, and I’m back at the school gates, breathing hard while Salvatore smirks down at me, my lips tingling.
“Bye, baby,” he murmurs, giving my waist a final squeeze and getting into his sportscar. He guns the engine, still looking at me, and then roars away in a shower of gravel and dust.
Ms. Brambilla reaches me just as Salvatore turns a corner, her expression outraged. “What is that criminal doing at our school?”
I stare at my feet, my face burning with shame.
“Chiara, I’ll speak to your father to let him know that man has been harassing you. It’s inconceivable that Salvatore Fiore thinks he can come to this school and molest the mayor’s daughter.”
I would have preferred that she accuse me of fraternizing with him on school grounds. Hearing her defend me makes me feel even worse.
“Please don’t, Ms. Brambilla. He’s my—we’re, um…” I whisper hoarsely.Fiancé. Say fiancé. She’s going to find out anyway. Everyone at school will, and the last place that was safe from my terrible future will be tainted.
She rounds on me. “Pardon, Chiara?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry, goodbye.”
As I walk home, I feel wetness sliding between my thighs with every step. One kiss and he can do this to me.One kiss.
I push the front door open and trudge miserably upstairs. I can still feel Salvatore’s body against mine. He’s all over me, and so I rip off my clothes and head for the shower. As I catch sight of my damp underwear, I reason that at least I have an answer to Lorenzo’s cruel taunt. It was Salvatore who got me in this state on my birthday.
Salvatore, and no one else.
* * *
As I walkthrough the school gates the next morning, no one pays me any attention. My heart lifts. Maybe no one noticed what happened outside the school gates, or they don’t care.
I’m riding high on denial when I walk up to Nicole at our lockers and say, “Hey, how did you do on that English essay? I had to rewrite my conclusion four times.”
The second her eyes meet mine, I know I’ve been fooling myself. Surprise flickers over Nicole’s face.
Surprise, and fear.
She backs away from me, hands raised, as if I’ve suddenly pulled a knife on her. As if I’m the dangerous one, not Salvatore.
“Nicole?”
