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"You just had three. Move. I'm busy enjoying my party."
I scoff. "Please. I've seen youreallyenjoy yourself, and this doesn't hold a candle. Time for a chat. Come on."
She looks ready to ignore me, but before she can, we're interrupted when two more people walk into the party. One looks like your typical muscle on legs, here primarily for intimidation, but while I've never seen the other face to face, I know immediately that it must be Dante Parisi.
He looks like the picture of the polished businessman, nearly my height, hair slicked back, and dressed in a two-thousand dollar suit carefully tailored to show off his big arms. He's older than me and clearly thinks himself above everyone at this party as he glances over it with a fake smile on his face.
And when he looks at Giulia, he looks her over too fucking long and gives her a pleased nod. Like he's giving her appearance his fucking stamp of approval.
If the Five Families weren't in a ceasefire, I'd break this mafioso's beefy arm for ogling her.
Mandi hurries over and whispers, "Giules, if you didn't notice, Dante Parisi just got here—"
"I noticed. I'll greet him," she mutters, but before she can take a step away from me, I grab her hand and pull her away from the chatting partiers to a quiet corner. She scowls and yanks her hand back. "Manhandle me again, and I'll knee your package in front of everyone here."
"I doubt it. You love me manhandling you too much, and you really love my package. Now tell me what the hell is going on that's made you push me away again. Everything was going so well with us."
She rolls her eyes. "Let it go. You shouldn't even be at this party with other Russos here."
Considering how excited I'd been for her to see me, that hurt a little. "I was your surprise. But why the cold shoulder? Did I do something, or did this result from lunch with your mother?"
"Fuck off."
"I'd rather fuck you."
Giulia takes one step away from me, emerald eyes flashing despite her attempt to conceal it. "That's enough. Get out of here. I'm serious, Giovanni."
"Roberto," I correct with a growl. I can't help glancing with annoyance back over at Dante Parisi, recalling what she said about a date with him and being interested. It grates on me and makes me ask, "Does this one-eighty have something to do with Parisi being here, or what?"
Giulia looks over, too, at where he's chatting with her cousin. She blinks as if she'd forgotten he was here and then clears her throat and says, "Actually, yes. It does."
"Really?" I ask dryly, not believing her.
Typically, she's far better at acting. Something's thrown her off today, and I want to know what it is.
"Yes, really." Then she looks directly at me and lifts her chin. "I've decided to drop the charade. I was only pretending to get attached to you to smooth things for theVitalenarrangement, but it's gone too far, and I want to break this off. It's time I admit that I have feelings for Dante. In fact, I might even love him."
Ireallyfucking hate hearing her say that sentence, but I also don’t buy it for a second. Not even with her careful delivery.
"Bullshit. Not a word of that was true, and we both know it. Whatever's really going on, tell me, and we can get through it together. Did someone find out about us? Threaten you? Give me names, and I'll end them."
Giulia puts on her best-bored expression and gazes back over at Dante Parisi. He's now chatting it up with one of Giulia's flirtatious college friends, who is blatantly brushing against him like a cat might. Giulia looks unbothered by this.
"As if I'd need your help dealing with threats."
"Then what is it?"
"I just told you. Clean out your ears and get over us. And while you're at it, you should also have the Giovannis appoint another representative to work with me on the assignment since you're clearly not planning on taking this reality check well."
God, it hurts when she turns that sharp tongue on me—especially when I know it's all a front, and she's keeping something to herself. She's the expert at poker faces, yet there's extra moisture gathered in her pretty eyes right now. I reach for her hand again, but she pulls it away and tosses her hair over one shoulder, trying to look annoyed.
"I don’t believe you,Bellassima,"I murmur. "And you don’t believe you either, so just cut the shit and tell me. I know you're not really into thatstronzo."
Giulia looks at me evenly. "Thatasshole, as you call him, is taking me to dinner later because I'm dating him. Not you. That's the fucking end of it, and I don’t want to hear from you again unless it's to tell me who's replacing you as representative. Got it?"
Her last two words shake ever so slightly. I clench my fists when I see her blink her eyes to try drying them.
"Giulia—"
