AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What does surprise me, though, is when a young woman bounces into my suite, her long dark hair falling in an artful sprawl down her back and her chocolate-brown eyes wide with curiosity as she stops and stares at me from partway across the room.
“Bianca? Oh my God, it’s so lovely to finally meet you in person!”
She bounds across the rest of the space and comes to an abrupt stop in front of me. I can’t get up as my feet are currently soaking in a warm oil bath and my fingernails are drying in a little machine on the table by the side of my chair.
Otherwise, I may have jumped to my feet and given her a spontaneous hug. She gives off that sort of positive energy.
“Hello.” I smile and study her curiously, noting a certain familiarity, but I’ve never met her before. Then it dawns on me who she looks like, and I gape up at her in genuine wonder. “Are you Rio’s…sister?”
The same eyes as his blink back at me; the same strong yet refined features. But in this young woman, the rigid implacability that makes up Rio’s core is missing. Instead, there’s a soft joy in her face, and her wide lips lift in a grin, both cheeky and unaffected.
She squats down by my chair to match my seated height. “Yes. I’m Angelica, though everyone just calls me Angel, and I want you to call me that, too. I’ve been in Switzerland, but I’ve finished school at last. Thankfuck! Oops. I’m not supposed to swear here. And now I’m back here to live. I’m sure we’ll be good friends, Bianca. Nicky has told me so much about you!”
Nicky? The brother I met at the wedding. Not Rio? My mind is still processing that, but she’s waiting for my response.
“I… Ah, I’m very pleased to meet you, Angel. Rio has…”
Told me nothing about you, except the fact that he’s planning to arrange a marriage for you. You should run, little Angel. Back to Switzerland. Have some fun while you still can.
I tamp down the inappropriate thoughts. “He’s mentioned a lot about you,” I lie. “And I’m sure we’ll be friends, too.”
That last part is not a lie. Angel gives off such an energetic vibe, and I instinctively feel happy that she’s here.
“I’d get up and give you a hug, Angel, but…ouch!”
The hairstylist has tugged at my hair, as if afraid I may actually try to get up. But she did it harder than she needed to, and Angel frowns at the stylist, obviously having noted the act.
“Don’t do that again. You’ll hurt her,” she scolds.
Then she folds her body into the lotus position on the floor in front of me. I’m only twenty-six, but I don’t think I have the easy flexibility that Angel displays. How can I suddenly be feeling old at my age?
“When you’re done here, will you take me to meet Emilia? I want to be introduced to my gorgeous niece. Oh, I’m so glad you’re here, Bianca. I was worried I’d be completely bored to fucking death when I came back. Surrounded by a bunch of strict old businessmen and forced to sit around and wait to be married off to one of them.”
A shocked chuckle rises up my throat at her description. It fits with the truth, and it’s sad that she seems to accept that as her lot. Before I can respond, though, Angel continues.
“But Rio said he only had so many eyes and Danelli might be great, but he’s not superhuman, and he needed me back here in Boston so his men can keep an eye on me. And keep me safe. Which, apparently, they can’t do if I swan around Europe like I planned. I mean, he didn’t even want me to go stay with our cousins in Italy. He’s a spoilsport. But, you know,dangerand all.”
She does the “air quotes” thing with her hands, obviously expecting me to laugh. But I can’t. She’s just nailed the underlying theme of this whole family’s existence.
Do they know how horrific it is to live their lives always on the edge of danger? An existence in which one wrong step can result in death or harm for the people we love? Or are they all so used to it that it’s simply second nature to prepare for the worst?
For the first time, true sympathy for Rio rises in my heart, and I remember with a pang the first time we made love when he brought me back here once again.
The blackness that lurked on the edges of his expression that night, keeping his muscles tense and his hands clenched. And keeping me hovering on the edge of terror even when he was pounding into me with utter desperation.
Does that darkness stem from circumstance? He never had any choice about being born into this world, and as the eldest, he was always going to have the leadership of the family and its organization thrust upon his broad shoulders.
Whenmyparents were killed—even though I was too young to remember it and didn’t even know about the situation until recently—I was lucky enough to have someone take me away from this life and give me an opportunity to grow and thrive somewhere normal.
Rio never had the opportunity for normal. Or at least, not as I define it.
When his parents died, did he even have a chance to grieve? Or did he have to put emotion aside so he could step up and take over, accepting responsibility for the sake of this young woman in front of me? And for his younger brothers, Nicky and Luca. And indeed, for everyone in their extended family and on the payroll.
People like Francine. Danelli. Everyone who relies on him.
What if Rio had been born the younger brother? Would he have had a little more of the playful nature that Nicky displayed at our wedding and during the reception? Would he have any of the softness and joy for life that I see in Angel’s face right now?
I may not like what Rio is, nor agree with the decisions he makes with regard to his business, but Icanempathize with the fact that he may be that way because it is the only path in life he was offered.
