Page 70 of Isabella

I laugh and gesture for her to sit on the couch. “You’re totally fine. I know my brother likes to keep you to himself as much as possible.”

Walking over, she says, “Yeah, well, he’s not getting me tonight. Tonight, I’m all yours. How was Liana’s? Was the boutique busy?”

Lux knows I enjoy helping Liana out at the boutique, but I haven’t seen her since I decided to meet with Nicco, so she has no idea what’s progressed between the two of us. I didn’t even get a chance to tell her he showed up at the cemetery the other day.

“I have a lot to catch you up on,” I say, taking the two crystal wineglasses from her while she opens the bottle of my favorite rosé. Lux pours, capping the glass at just under halfway up.

I glance at her before looking back at the glass and say, “I’m going to need more than that.”

Lux arches a brow at me before pouring again, but this time I wait until she’s nearly filled it to the brim before giving her the sign to stop.

She stares at me before bursting out in a laugh that has me doing the same. With half the bottle of wine already sitting in my glass, Lux pours the rest in hers. Cheersing, we each take a sip before she says, “So, I clearly missed something.”

I take another long sip before filling Lux in on what’s happened this past week between Nicco coming to the cemetery to meeting up with him at Liana’s today. I decide to keep the plan about him undermining his dad to myself, no matter how overwhelming the anxiety I feel from it is.

Nicco would be a great don—I’ve always known this—but I also know his dad will not step down without a fight. I can’t stop the worry that fills me as I consider the danger he’s putting himself in with this plan.

“Wow,” Lux says, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I definitely missed a lot.”

I laugh.

“So how do you feel?” she says. “It sounds like you’ve made a huge decision when it comes to Nicco.”

“I know,” I say, letting out a sigh. “I’ve been so angry, and I let it consume me, but really, Lux, I’ve missed him. I’ve missed him so damn much, and while I still don’t agree with how he went about things, I can finally put my anger aside and understand his reasoning behind it. We talked about it, and I told him that in order for me to forgive him and move on, he had to promise to be honest with me moving forward, and he agreed. We promised each other that we would always remember to communicate with one another.”

“Wow,” Lux says again. “It really sounds like you two had a huge breakthrough.”

“We did,” I say with a smile, but it’s not a full smile. Lux notices and calls me out on it.

“What’s going on, Izzy? I can tell you’re happy about Nicco, but I also sense that something’s wrong.”

Tucking a strand of damp hair behind my ear, I say, “You know the history between Nicco’s family and mine. I want to just live in the moment and go along with this like we did when we were together before, but I don’t know. I’m at a point in my life where I know what the consequences of my actions are going to be. Teo will never allow us to be together. Not when he’s a constant reminder of what happened to our parents.”

“Is that what you’re reminded of when you see Nicco?”

I think about that, and honestly, no. I shake my head. “No, I don’t. I know Nicco had nothing to do with what happened. It wouldn’t be fair of me to associate the two together.”

“Then why do you think your brother will?”

I nearly snort in laughter. “You know Teo, Lux. He already told me to cut ties with Nicco. There’s no way he’ll be okay with us ever being together.”

“I don’t know, Izzy. I think your brother can be tough at times.”

I scoff.

“Stubborn, really,” she says.

“You think?” I laugh out.

“But I do think he cares about your happiness.”

“Yeah… I don’t know, Lux. He might care about my happiness, but I don’t think he’ll ever accept a Silvestri in our family.” Even as I say those words I know in my head are true, my heart doesn’t seem to care. And for once, after having everything taken away from me, I’m ready to ignore my head and move forward with what my heart wants. Even if there is an expiration date on it.

44

ISABELLA

Nicco and I haven’t been able to meet up again since Liana’s, but we’ve talked nearly all day every single day. With everything out in the open between the two of us, we’ve fallen back into a routine like the past never happened, and it puts the biggest smile on my face.

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