Page 121 of Where Wild Hearts Dance
“And now?”
I glance sideways at her, unable to contain a grin. “I don’t anymore.”
She turns around and leans back against the vanity, folding her arms. “I don’t ever want to be interested in men,” she huffs, pouting. “The whole thing lookswoefully confusing.”
“Well, yeah…” I snap my purse closed. “It can be. But it’s worth it.”
I rinse my hands under the faucet.
“Hopefully Sera will stay single so I don’t have to die alone.”
A laugh bursts out of me as I dry off with a towel. “That’s morbid. Besides, give it a couple years and I guarantee you’ll feel differently.”
She pushes off the vanity to follow me out. “I highly doubt that.”
When we re-enter the function room, the dancing is in full-swing. Trilby seems to be in the middle of it all, twirling circles in her beautiful gown, her train fastened into a bustle at her waist. Sera is dancing beside her and her enormous smile makes me smile. All four girls under one roof, celebrating our older sister—I didn’t think it would make me feel as happy as it does. Though, of course, a certain bronze-eyed consigliere might also be to thank for my deliriously happy state.
“Who’s Papa talking to?”
I look across the room to see who Bambi’s referring to. “Um, that’s Nicolò’s mother,” I reply, recognizing the tall, lithe figure and black, softly curled hair. She’s a beautiful woman.
“They were talking earlier too,” Bambi says, and there’s a cool edge to her tone.
I put a hand on her arm to reassure her. “I think they get along. It’s nice that he can talk to someone other than Aunt Allegra.”
Bambi turns to me with a frown. “He has other friends.”
I take a breath and shrug. “I know it’s painful, Bambi. But Mama has been gone five years. I don’t think we should stand in the way of Papa finding happiness again. Besides, their friendship might be completely innocent—we don’t know.”
My gaze is drawn to Benito as though magnets have been sewn into my eyes. He’s standing at the far end of the room, watching me with something indecipherable in his darkened expression. It sends a bolt of fire traveling down my core only to rest, sizzling, between my legs.
I’m about to leave my little sister pouting beside a large planter when shadows move swiftly in my peripheral vision and a voice cries out from the corner of the room.
“DOWN!”
Screams ring out everywhere.
Thepop, pop, popof gunfire slams into my ears.
Something large and heavy knocks me to the floor and covers me completely.
More cries of, “Get down! Down!”chorus through the air, cut only by the whistle of bullets overhead.
Through the bedlam I think I can hear Sera, and my only thought is,she’s alive. If I can hear her scream, she’s alive.
“Augie!” A male voice yells. “Augie, that way…”
Another one calls out. “Cristiano!”
The form on top of me shifts and a loud pop sounds close to my head, almost deafening me.
Oh God. I’m going to die.
“Don’t fucking move…” Benito’s voice carries above my head and my heart crawls to a stop at the sound of his voice. He’s alive.
Through the ringing in my ears I hear more shouts, more commands, the helpless cries of terrified women.
Trilby…
