After Vinnie left, I was given the most unexpected news. We have a dinner with the Ferrante family. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, the universe piles this on top of me. I didn't want to hear more about that family, much less see them. I'm getting ready with tears of anger brimming in my eyes. I wish I could tell them that I don't wish to go anywhere, but that'll lead to some kind of fight with mom and that's even worse than dining with the Ferrantes. The despair I feel is palpable. I don’t know how I’m going to get rid of these people. I want to go back to my old life where I didn’t even know them. As I apply blush to my cheeks, I try not to cry. There’s nothing worse than to feel like your life is out of your control. I have no say in what I do. It’s like my life doesn’t belong to me. I have to sit through dinner and endure the man that has been stalking me for weeks, and nobody understands why I don’t want to. Not even my closest friends. Again, they’re not to b
Once the Ferrante family leave, things start to get heated. Mom is going on and on about my drinking habits. I ignore her as I finish my dessert. She thinks I embarrassed the family with my actions but if I have to be honest, I think her despair is more embarrassing than my drunkenness will ever be. Nobody says anything to contradict her. Not dad or Mary, or even me. It’s not that I don’t say anything because I’m afraid of starting an argument. It’s that I’m exhausted, mentally and physically. So while she screams about my lack of cooperation, I finish my chocolate malva cake. It’s delicious. “Answer me!” she exclaims. “You want your sister to be associated with your bad behavior? You want the Ferrantes to think that we’re all just like you!?”I can’t help myself. I scoff. “I couldn’t care less about what they think. I don’t have to act like someone I’m not just to please them. I’m sick of them. And I’m sick of this!”Mom glances at dad angrily. He sighs and says to me, “Laura, you
Luca picks the man up like he's picking up a child and begins dragging him out. People make way for them to pass and give them suspicious looks. Nobody says a word. On impulse, I follow him. I don't want to stay here alone. Technically, following him isn't the best choice because he didn't even talk to me, but it's better than being harassed again. Once we get outside, he doesn't stop there. He keeps walking down the sidewalk and then makes a sharp left. I don't even know how he's managing to drag this man behind him and look like he isn't putting any effort whatsoever. I hesitate before following him into the dark alleyway. There, he drops the man like a sack of potatoes. He groans and rubs the back of his head. As he does this, he attempts to sit up but Luca kicks him down. He groans and stays on the ground. I'm standing at the mouth of the alleyway and am watching them from what can be considered a safe distance. Luca reaches inside his pocket and retrieves his phone. He says i
LucaI watch Laura walk away feeling more confused than ever. What does she mean by that? What am I supposed to know?I have no idea. The way she looked at me just now convinced me that she doesn't hate me as much as she initially did, not anymore. After I saved her tonight, I suspect that the dynamic of our relationship will change. It's not that I did this on purpose. I couldn't even if I tried. My presence at the Rose Prick tonight was purely coincidental. I was there to seal a deal when I saw her struggling against that man. Afterward, everything went black. I didn't think I'd feel the way I did. I’m curious about her, and she’s certainly the only woman that has ever made me this curious, but I think it’s safe to say that what happened tonight has surpassed curiosity. I’m still furious even though I just left her at her house and know she won’t be getting into any more trouble. It’s a feeling that I can’t control no matter how much I try to convince myself that everything is fi
MAN FOUND DEAD AT ROSE PRICK. I close the newspaper as soon as I see this headline. I close it so quickly that everyone around the table glances at me. I make a point of not looking at them as I fold the newspaper and place it beside dad. I pick up my cup of coffee and drink, but my hands are shaking. I can't seem to get that headline out of my head. I didn't even read the story. I don't believe that I have to. Luca killed that man. He had him killed. And I don't know what to feel about this. No, I do. I feel awful and nauseated. I feel like I'll pass out at any second. A man was killed because of me. This isn't anything that's easy to acknowledge even in my world. I only finish my cup of coffee. I don't have much appetite for anything else. I rarely read the morning paper, so I don't know what came into me to try to read it today. I would be better off not knowing, but at the same time, that's not quite true. I excuse myself from the table and go upstairs. Lately, all that I do
Brett searches my face for the twentieth time. I hate it when he does this because he always ends up figuring out what the hell is wrong with me. He knows me too well. I'm trying to hide my emotions because hiding is easier than explaining, and I haven't told them the ugly truth about this. I gave them a flimsy excuse about last night and lied about even going to the Rose Prick. I want to forget everything associated with that place. I don't think that I'll be going back there anytime soon. My plan after leaving Luca's hotel was to go straight home, but Victoria called and I couldn't brush her off or she'd want to pay me a visit at home and I don't want that. Home hasn't been the same in a while, and I think it's best if I keep them far away from the place. Hell, even I don't want to be there most of the time. It's scary how a place that used to be my safe haven has become a place of nightmares. At least I had Mary to keep me company on most days. Now, I don't even have that. Thin
Luca As soon as the Walsh family walk into the venue, I feel disappointment spreading through me. Laura isn't with them. I greet them kindly, of course. I do enjoy their company, unlike my parents and Eliza. They would have moved on to another family by now if I hadn't expressed my interest in Laura. A more influential family. The Walshes were never at the top of their list, and I'll confess that they weren't at the top of mine either, but things changed on that fateful morning. I looked at Laura and realized that I wanted her. And I've never been one to give up easily. "You look absolutely dashing, Luca," Angela tells me. I thank her for the compliment, then gulp my champagne down. I think of asking her where Laura is, but that will be too obvious. I don't want to make it obvious that I'm interested in her, especially because she hasn't expressed any interest in me. I saw something flash in her eyes today, something that ignited hope deep inside of me. I thought that if she cam
I crawl out of bed somewhere around eleven. Although I feel low and have nothing much to do at this time of the night, I can’t stand being alone with my thoughts. I already have a migraine and it feels like my head is going to explode. I need a momentary distraction. Food, perhaps. Anything that might help me fill this void inside of me. My family isn’t back yet, which is a relief because I don’t want to see Mary even though I’m thinking about apologizing to her for the things that I said. I was unnecessarily harsh to her, and I shouldn’t have done that. I should have gotten a better grip on my emotions and not made a reckless decision to spew out everything that I’ve been desperately trying to hold in. If anything, my outburst has made things worse. Once I’m in the kitchen, I stop in my tracks by the entrance. Constance turns around to face me. She’s in her pajamas, yet she’s still here. “Couldn’t sleep?” I ask her. A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips. “I was actually
LucaI'm the last to see Laura, mostly because I want us to be alone for a long time. There's a lot I have to say to her, and I suspect that there's a lot she wants to say to me. She recovered well, and the doctors expect that she'll recuperate fairly quickly. She's tough. She broke a few ribs during her fall and fractured her skull, but she'll be just fine. It could have been a lot worse. She could have died. She could have been paralyzed from the neck down. But she survived. When I saw the crime scene, I realized that a miracle must have happened, because there was no way she had made it out alive when Miguel and Mary had over twenty guns in the apartment with them. The bloody scene was also an indication that something terrible had happened. We didn't have the details, but the police connected the dots fairly quickly. Miguel and Mary were lovers. Judging by the evidence they found, he was involved in the shooting. I was disappointed. Beyond that. I had no words for what I felt. I
I crack my eyes open. The light ahead is too bright, so I close my eyes for a while longer before opening them again. My head spins. I'm awake yet tired. My closed eyes make me fall back asleep. When I awake, I'm in the same place, but my mind is so hazy that I'm having a hard time figuring out where I am. I look to my left. My head practically snaps in that direction. There is someone beside me. Someone in white clothes. I look at her face, and her eyes widen a little and she leaves the bedroom. I groan. I wanted to ask her where I was and who she was, but I couldn't open my lips. My tongue is too heavy in my mouth. When she returns, she isn't alone. There's a man in a white coat beside her. He says, "Laura. Laura. Can you hear me?"How does he know my name?I fall asleep to the sound of his voice. I sleep easily. I dream of nothing. I have no concrete thoughts. I wonder where I am and wonder when my head will stop being so fuzzy. When I reopen my eyes, I see something interesting
“Stop!” Mary shouts. We both turn to look at her. She takes a few steps and reaches Miguel’s side. She stretches her arm out. “Give it to me.”“Why?”“I should be the one to do it,” she says. “Just as you’re the one who’s going to kill Luca. That was the plan. That’s what we agreed on.”“We never agreed on anything like that,” he says with a frown. “It was my idea to lure her here and so I have to be the one to do it.”“Miguel,” she says through gritted teeth. “Give me the knife!”I can’t believe they’re fighting over who’s going to kill me. It’s truly unbelievable. I look back and forth between them helplessly. If I stand, he might stab me in the back to stop me from reaching the door and that’ll ruin all of my chances of escaping. I don’t want to die here. I can’t die here. I’m suddenly so desperate to leave here and live. I want to see Luca again. I want to see my father again. Constance. My friends. I can’t die here at the hands of these deranged people. I can’t be another victim
It took everything within me to come here. I park outside the apartment building. I stare at the third floor. The windows are all closed. It's hard to imagine her in there, in my apartment. Polluting my sacred space with her negative energy and bad intentions. I climb out of the car. I don't allow myself to think. She wants this to end, we can end it now. I've hidden behind people for far too long now, and look what has happened. I can't let anyone else die because she's targeting me. That's cruel. I'm just as bad as her if I let such a thing happen. I didn't tell Luca. I didn't tell anyone I was coming here. I'm unarmed. I didn't call for help. There is no plan. There is just me. Me and her. As it's supposed to be. I close the door and take a deep breath before entering the building. The sun is starting to set and the sky looks beautiful; too beautiful for such a thing to be happening. The oranges and the purples are magnificent. I'll never forget the way the sky looked when I con
Yesterday feels like a terrible nightmare. Twenty-four hours has passed since those men stormed into the hotel and shot seven people. Seven people lost their lives, Luca's father and my mother were amongst the dead. I can't believe it. I repeat the facts to myself over and over again and still can't believe that such a tragedy has happened. It can't be possible that my mother is dead. That Luca's father is dead. And all because of some silly revenge that doesn't matter. All because I fell in love with Luca.I'm devastated. I don't think I'll recover from this anytime soon. I'm crippled by pain. And the worst part of all of this is Luca's pain and how raw it is. Marc didn't deserve to die at the hands of those traitorous shooters. I call them traitorous because they were invited to the party under some head of some family I don't even remember. It doesn't matter. What's done is done. We've lost two members of our family. My father is inconsolable. Sarah is inconsolable. Luca is abso
The wedding ceremony was absolutely beautiful. It was only Luca's family, mine, and Brett and Victoria. We didn't need a lot of people there. I've learned during all of this that Luca doesn't necessarily have a lot of friends. He has people he is very well acquainted with, but no close friends. He doesn't let anyone get close enough to him, because there's a side to him that he only shows the people he loves and he needs to keep it protected. It's too tender to be exposed to the world. I consider myself to privileged to be loved by him. He takes care of the people he loves. He knows how to love. I said yes with tears in my eyes. I didn't think I'd cry, but I did. Everything feel so official now. We're finally married. I'm his wife, not his fiancée. It's strange to think that I became his wife without having been his girlfriend first. It's just one of the many thoughts I had when he slipped the wedding band on my finger. We kissed and he held me for the longest time. I was hesitant
Luca Our wedding is tomorrow, and I'm not sure what to feel about that. It’s not that I’ve suddenly become indecisive. I know I want to marry her. I’m sure of my love for her. I’m not happy that we’re marrying this quickly but I also understand why it has to be done. My father was right; anything could happen to me at any point. If that’s the case, Laura is entitled to everything I have. It’s safer this way. But despite this, should we have given it more time? Would it have been best if we waited for things to blow over? That way, we could I have done things more calmly and wouldn’t have to rush like this. I don’t know anymore. I turn to look at Laura. Her back is facing me and she looks like she’s been asleep for some time now. I notice that she doesn’t really sleep at night. She spends a lot of nights awake; like me. So whenever she sleep, I feel easy enough to sleep as well. But tonight is different. I don’t want to sleep. If I do, I’ll wake up and it’ll be tomorrow. The weddi
"How's my favorite preggie doing?" Brett asks as soon as I answer the phone. I can't help but smile as I pop a grape in my mouth. "I don't feel pregnant yet, you know? It's just normal. I won't even lie."He chuckles and says, "You're just a cold-hearted bitch. My mother said that she could feel me from the second she found out that she was pregnant.""You haven't considered the fact that maybe she lied?" Victoria asks. I can tell from the sound of her voice that she's looking for a fight with Brett. "My mother said she didn't feel me either.""Well, that's you," he says with a sigh. "I'm different, then. Maybe those babies are the most magnificent and remarkable ones."I frown. "You're saying my baby won't be remarkable?""How can you say that?""I'm not saying the baby won't be remarkable!" he exclaims. "I'm saying that I was! Jesus! Give it a rest, you two! Stop being so annoying! Just stop!"I giggle and Victoria does the same. She then says, "I can't believe that we didn't get t
When Luca asked me whether I wanted to marry him anytime soon, I said yes. I would have waited longer if it were up to me. I really would have. I had no problem living the way we did. Alone. Free. Not caring about what anyone thinks. Not following traditions too much. It was the liberty I felt when I left my parents' house. But now that I was pregnant, that all changes. My father would want a date. And I'd have to give it to him. So I did. Things were happening quickly again. I was feeling quite overwhelmed with everything. My father was very happy when I told him I was pregnant. He was even happier when I told him I'd marry Luca in two weeks' time. He was strict about that even though he wasn't raised in our world. My mother was ecstatic as well. I never in a million years would have guessed that she would have reacted that way to the news. She even cried as she held me. I didn't know how to react so I simply watched her. The same happened with Constance, although with her my re