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I pick up my skirts before anyone else can accost me and hot foot out of the ballroom. Towards the front door is a whole gallery of paparazzi. If I go up to my room, someone’s just going to come looking.
“I have to get out of here.” I think as I make my way to the kitchens. There’s always a back way out. I run as fast as I can in my heels, digging out my phone to call my aunt as I do it.
If anyone can get me out of here, she can.
CHAPTERFOUR
Arriving home, a half hour later, I find several cars parked in the driveway. Mark’s Suzuki jeep is instantly recognizable, as is Benedetto’s Chevy Impala in addition to many others. “Hmm, are we having a party too?”
Alighting my vehicle, I walk slowly towards the front door. The Monti House, as we affectionately call it, is a 10-bedroom, 12-bathroom mansion in New Jersey. It sits on five acres of land and has two guest houses on the property. We also own the mansion next door, from where operations are handled.
The Monti House is located at the end of a cul-de-sac. The entire street is populated with members of the family. It’s the safest place in the world for a Monti to be, but I sometimes find it very suffocating.
I step in the door and pause, listening for any disturbance. My mother is a shouter. If there’s a problem, she’s likely shouting about it. Since the house is almost funereal in its silence, I have to conclude that whatever is in the TMZ article isn’t worth her energy.
How bad can it be then?
I make my way downstairs to the basement, where no doubt, Mark and Benedetto are waiting for me in the Man Cave. It runs through half the length of the house with a gym, a shooting range, a soundproof movie minitheater, a gaming room where we gamble on the roulette table or at cards, a lounge where we are wont to chill when we have downtime and of course a bathroom complete with shower, jacuzzi and Japanese toilet.
When we were younger, we could literally spend entire weekends in the Man Cave, not emerging until duty called.
Today I find Mark and Benedetto in the lounge, sitting quietly, scrolling through their phones. I pause at the door, looking from one to the other. “Okay then, where’s the fire?” I ask.
Benedetto is first to look up. He quickly gets to his feet and walks towards me, grabbing my arm to lead me gently to the couch. “Sit down.”
I do as he says though I’m frowning, beginning to get very tired of their stalling. Ben picks up the iPad and drops it in my lap. “See for yourself.”
I pick it up, swipe to open it, the site immediately visible. The page is filled with pictures of my girlfriend Rose, lip locking with some guy in 3D. I stare, and for a moment my mind refuses to compute what my eyes are seeing.
“What…?”
Then it hits me. My girlfriend of two months, Rose Antonelli, is cheating on me with some long-haired scumbag. I wait for the betrayal to hit me but all I feel is anger that she’s disrespected me in this manner. It is one thing for her to cheat – it is not like we are a love match. But to do it where someone could take pictures is just reckless and stupid, not to mention plain rude. I grind my teeth, my jaw clenching. “Where’s Rose now?” I ask.
Mark huffs with frustration. “I tried to find her but couldn’t. As for Tiziano, he should be at that party tonight.”
I looked sharply in his direction. “Tiziano?”
He points at the picture. “That’s Tiziano Cardinali.”
“Fuck, you say?”NowI am mad. It was one thing to carelessly kiss some guy. But to kiss a guy who is a member of a rival family, in public? No, that was deliberate, that was malice.
Both of them will pay.
“Find her. I don’t care what you have to do.”
“What about him?” Benedetto asked, pointing at the pic.
“Oh, don’t you worry. I’ll take care ofhisass. I know where to find him tonight!”
“You can’t do anything to Rose, y’know? Not without your father’s permission. He sanctioned this marriage.” Mark reminds me, as if I need it.
I snort. “You think I don’t know that?”
“He might still want the union to go ahead.”
“I don’t think he’s big on disrespect either.”
Benedetto puts a quelling hand on my shoulder as I seek to stand up and get my guns. “Hey how about we think about this a bit longer? We can’t just barge into a Cardinali party guns blazing. That would be a declaration of war.Unsanctioned.”
