Page 126 of Broken Mafia Prince
A blush steals up my cheeks. “Long story.”
“We have time,” she points out. “I don’t have anything else to do but drink wine and watch reruns ofReal Housewives.”
“Reality TV rots the brain,” I chide. “What happened to all the movie recommendations I sent to you?”
She makes a dismissive sound. “That’s not the issue right now. Your father called me. He said he’s been trying to reach you.”
I go very still. Marty must realize that something is wrong, because he quits his position at the row of windows and hurries to me, burrowing into my side. I drop my hand down on his fur, sliding my hand up and down his smooth body.
“I blocked his number for the time being,” I explain.
“I thought as much,” Isa says. “I told him your phone fell in the bath and it’s drying out in a bowl of rice. Anyway, that’s that. Where the hell are you? And why are you screening your father’s calls?”
I gnaw on my lower lip. “I don’t want you to freak out when I tell you.”
“When have I ever freaked out? Tell me.”
I drop my voice. “I’m with Raffaele. I’m at his house. And we, uh, talked. And now we’re kinda together.”
There’s a pause over the line, and I have to pull my phone away to confirm that the call hasn’t been disconnected. “Hello? Isa, are you there? Say something. You said you wouldn’t freak.”
“I’m not freaking!” she finally whisper-yells. “I’m going fucking ballistic. What the hell are you thinking? Giulia Montanari, you’re getting married in the fall!”
“No, I’m not.” I’m happy enough to make that announcement. Even if things don’t work out with Raffaele, at least I’m no longer tying myself to a man I’m not even the least bit attracted to. I’d have been miserable.
“What do you mean by you’re not? Don’t be crazy.”
I sigh, dragging my hand over my face. “Alessandro has never been right for me, and you know it. We both knew it, and I went ahead with it to keep the peace, but I realized that I deserve better.”
“Let me guess,” she mocks. “You made that decision after your late-night rendezvous with Raffaele, huh? Can’t you see how crazy this is? He’s manipulating you. How can’t you see that?”
“What the hell, Isa!” I explode. “My decision to leave Alessandro has nothing to do with Raffaele.” Maybe it did, but not in the way she means it.
I rise and begin to pace, Marty trailing after me. “How would it have been fair to Alessandro to be married to a woman who’d never feel anything for him?”
“You can’t know if you’d have eventually felt something. You didn’t even give this a fair chance because that man has always been at the back of your mind,” she tells me. “I’m not trying to say that you’re making the wrong decision.”
I scoff. “That’s exactly what you’re saying.”
“Well, maybe, but I’m only saying it because I care about you, and I know this entire thing with Raffaele is going to end really, really badly.”
My heart constricts in my chest. “You don’t know that.”
“Aside from that,” she says, “how is Alessandro supposed to face this? What did you tell him? Or did you just run off to be with your new beau and forget about everything else?”
“Of course not,” I snap. “I went to see him even before I came to see Raffaele.”
“I’m curious about how that conversation went down.”
A smile curves up my mouth. “It didn’t.”
“W-what?” she stutters. “But you said?—”
“I know exactly what I said.” I head to the kitchen, opening the fridge to search for snacks. I make a face at the selection of fruits I find there. There’s not even a single bar of chocolate in sight. Why am I surprised anyway? Those abs are definitely not earned from munching on Snickers.
“Alessandro was gone when I got to his apartment. Likegone, gone. The place was entirely empty, except for some flowers on the kitchen island with a note. Oh, and get this—my ex-fiancé spent our entire relationship sending me graveyard flowers, but suddenly knows the correct use of chrysanthemums when it’s time to say goodbye. Ironic, right?”
“So far, I’ve just heard a bunch of facts about flowers. What do you mean, he wasgone? You seriously believe he just packed up and left on his own?”
