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“Yes, but like this I can actually get casted in recitals, perform in front of an audience bigger than a hundred people.”
“It’s been your dream to dance at the Paris Opera since you were seven. I’m glad to hear that didn’t change.”
Ballet wasn’t just a sport for me, it was the only thing that gave me complete piece of mind. The Grazia people saw on stage wasn’t the Caputo mafia princess or Salvatore’s girl; she was just a girl. A dancer. A dreamer. I didn’t dance for others, I loved dancing just for me.
“Maybe one day.” I said, not believing my words. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my talent, but I didn’t trust my heart to be strong enough to leave Italy behind. “I was thinking about Milano first. Miss Rosa thinks that Scala would be a good match and is very confident that I could take the auditions.”
“Oh, Grazia, but that’s amazing.”
“Don’t you dare say a word to Giovani yet. I don’t want a whole lecture about traveling to Milano on my own. I will talk to him when I make a decision.”
“For what it’s worth, you have all my support. I think it would be great to put some distance between you and all the things that have happened here in the past few years.” She winked. “Also, if you move to Milano, I have an excuse to go there for shopping more often.”
“God, your personal shoppers must love you.”
“They make quite a commission, yes.”
We both laughed and the echo rose to the starry sky. At least we were ending dinner on a good note after digging through all my feelings for Salvatore.
Any other day, someone bringing him up wouldn’t have set me off like that. Ariana did it quite often, randomly mentioning his name, but now I was still fighting with my desire to pick up the phone and call him. I was a drug addict in withdrawal and Rebecca’s comments rubbed me the wrong way.
Filled with delicious food and feeling tired after such a full day, I walked Rebecca to her bedroom before retiring to the one that her parents assigned me. I had to remember to thank them for the hospitality. The place was ritzy, with green walls and butter-colored furniture, and the fluffy pillows on the bed were calling my head. The moment I put my head down on them, I was fast asleep.
Chapter 9
Someone was playing a trumpet. Or so I thought until I realized the noises were coming from the neatly sculpted Lois XIV nightstand, where my phone was going off like crazy. I know I didn’t set an alarm, so I tried my best to ignore it, but the calls seemed to go on forever until finally, I pealed my eyelids open.
My screen was filled with notifications, but I didn’t get the chance to read any of them because Pina started calling me. Was she the one who blew my phone up all morning?
“Hello?” My voice sounded groggy and confused.
“What the hell, Grazia?” she hissed, sounding aggressive.
“Huh? What? I was asleep.”
“Well,Iwasn’t. I woke up at dawn to go and walk Panini.” Panini was the Bernoulli’s family dog, a high maintenance Frenchie with a wonky walk that required lots of attention and at least an hour at the park every morning. But how was that my fault? “You are just so lucky that I’m on dog duty today and not Ari.”
“You make no sense. Why are you calling me so early?”
“Ah, let’s see. Maybe I’m calling you because I was in the middle of my morning walk when I’d been assaultedin our own streetsby no other than the Salvatore Fiori and that gorilla of a right hand he has. What’s his name? Ian?”
“Yannis.” I answered mindlessly because my heart dropped to my feet and a swirl of fear took my stomach by storm. Pina always liked to go to the park near our house because, in her words, it wasn’t infested with joggers. That was too close to my house. “S-Salvatore… why was he there?”
“That’s what I wondered. I kid you not, I thought I was having visions when they cornered me.”
“Cornered?” It wasn’t like him to get violent with a woman, and what could Salvatore have against Pina?
“That’s how I felt, so I politely asked what are they looking for so far in your father’s territory. You want to know what the answer was?”
“Pina!” I had no time for her sarcasm or mockery.
“Fiori was looking for you. He said you didn’t answer your phone in days and he’s tired of playing hide and seek with you – whatever that means.”
“Dio mio.[11]” I whispered out in one breath. Suddenly, I was fully awake, all my senses on high alert and the hairs standing on the back of my head. He was insane. Salvatore must have slowly, but surely, lost his mind.
“I think it’s funny that he expects you to answer your phone when you haven’t spoken to him in what? Four years?” She was expecting some kind of explanation, but I stayed silent. “I cannot believe you! Grazia Paulina, have you lost all the common sense that the great God put in your stupid brain? This is… it’s… there are no words. No words!”
“Pina, stop.”
