Page 52 of Her Dark Obsession

“Everyone in my family is great at their chosen career. It’s almost like I’m failing as a Valentino if I don’t figure out what I’m good at.”

“You’re good at plenty of things, Aurora. You just need to figure out what you want to do.”

“I’m good at the things I’m not supposed to do,” she says.

“Like stabbing innocent guys with pens?”

“You were putting your slimy fingers up my skirt, and you got off light. I could have just cut your whole hand off.”

“Every mob family needs a good enforcer. Just tell 'em you’re their latest recruit.” I laugh.

“I wish.”

“I was joking. Find something else, babe. I don’t want you touching other dudes all day.”

“Even if it is draining them of their blood?”

“Ever thought about opening a café? A bookshop? You could go into modeling,” I suggest. “Scratch that. I don’t want people staring at you more than they already do.”

“Maybe I’ll just figure it out later. Today, I want to be an ordinary girl on a date with an extremely hot guy she sorta likes,” Aurora says, sitting up on her elbows.

“You think I’m hot?” I run a hand down the front of my body.

Aurora rolls her eyes. “Don’t fish for compliments. It’s not very charming,Charming.”

Chapter Nineteen

Ever since we skipped school and went to the park two weeks ago, Connor has been different. It’s almost as if he’s distancing himself from me—although we spend just as much time sneaking around. I’m questioning whether it’s in my head. I’ve never been in any kind of relationship, and I’m not always known for being rational. And when it comes to Connor, I’m definitely not being rational.

He is filling my every thought to the point that I think I might be obsessed. If I’m not with him, or at least looking at him from across the hallway in school, I’m thinking about when I can see him next.

Everyone believes I’m taking senior year seriously with all the time I’m spending in the library. They don’t know that the only thing I’m studying in there is Connor’s body. In detail.

I know that this thing between us is going to end. I’m not an idiot. I get that there is no future for us. Our families will never allow us to be together, and I don’t think I’d ever go against my family. Not for something so selfish.

For now, though, I’m going to enjoy him for as long as I can. He woke me up, and I’m not ready to go back to sleep yet. I’ve tried. I’ve looked at other people, waiting to see if my body would respond the way it does to Connor. It doesn’t work.

He tells me that we will figure out a way to get through it together. And I tell him he’s delusional and shouldn’t live with his head in the clouds. But I so want to join him there.

Every girl wants the fairy tale, right? Their very own Prince Charming? Well, I found mine. He just comes with the wrong last name. It’s easy to forget when I’m with him. It’s usually when we part ways that I remember why we need to be a secret.

“Earth to Aurora, hello?” My cousin Tilly snaps her fingers in front of my face.

“What?” I ask, shaking thoughts of Connor out of my head.

“Who is he?” She narrows her glare at me.

“Who is who?” I look around the shop’s interior.

“The boy on your mind.” She points to my face. “I know that look. I see it in the mirror when I’m thinking about Antonio.”

“Not all of us are stupidly in love, Tilly.” I scowl and walk towards the back of the store. I can’t tell her. She’s the good girl in the family, the one who never breaks the rules. Well, that was until she met her fiancé, who also happens to be a Don.

When she called me to go shopping, I jumped at the chance for a distraction. Connor went back to Boston this weekend. He wanted me to go with him but I couldn’t get away. Not with the extra security we all have on us at the moment.

Someone is attacking the family, and I’d be an idiot to put myself in a situation where I was vulnerable, and that’s what I’d be if I went to Boston with him. There’s also the fact I promised my mom I wouldn’t disappear or do anything dangerous while the oldies deal with the threat.

They don’t know who is targeting us, or at least they’re not telling me. The adults tend to keep family business to themselves. Which means, unless it’s something we have to know, we don’t know shit.

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