Page 21 of Waiting Game

Antoni laughed and Rome gave me the finger.

“You guys give me hope that I’ll be able to find this kind of love again,” I toasted Antoni, but looked at Valerie. She shot me a menacing glare, and finished her drink before getting up from the table and storming to the back of the room.

No one else would have noticed that it was out of the ordinary, but I knew that I had pissed her off. My first instinct was to follow her, but Antoni grabbed me by the arm, shaking his head slightly.

He pulled me in for a hug, and Rome did next.

But all I could think about was wherever Valerie went.

6

Chapter 6

Valerie

Iheaded straight for the bar, and considered leaving altogether as I pulled out a stool and ordered a harder drink than champagne. Floods of memories I had worked so hard to repress started to flood my mind, and I needed to dampen them with alcohol.

Ever since the wedding had begun, I had been met with side glances and whispers from those who knew me as the girl who betrayed The Family.

The traitor.

The ungrateful child.

They all thought I should have kept my mouth shut and married an old Italian man for my father’s benefit instead of choosing to live my own life.

That’s what a dutiful daughter would do.

It didn’t help that my mother was the centre of the gossip, always mentioning when I was in earshot about how she didn’t know if she could ever forgive me, and how glad she was to have at least onegooddaughter.

I lifted my hand to take another drink, but a hand wrapped around my wrist, stopping me.

“Haven’t you caused enough drama in this family?” Mum asked, close to my face.

I rolled my eyes, pulling my hand away.

“What did we ever do to you that causes you to behave like this?”

I scoffed, “you’re really asking that question?”

“Must everything be about you?” she snapped.

“How can everything be about me, when it must always be about you? You wore white to a fucking wedding, Mum.”

I gestured up and down at her ridiculous outfit, though I should have guessed that Vera would pull a stunt like this.

“Antoni is my son and I will wear what I want. Plus, it’scream, not white.”

“Okay,” I mumbled into my drink.

I was starting to feel tipsy, but definitely not drunk enough to be dealing with her shit.

“You should have never come,” she said quietly, and my jaw hardened.

Vera walked away, and I felt the burning tears prick at my eyes, but I blinked them away and ordered another drink.

She was right, I shouldn’t have come.

I should have stayed in Perth where I belonged. I knew that it was a mistake all along, coming back to this hell-hole of a city.

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