Page 15 of Capo Dei Capi's Daughter

When I reach my room, I slam the door and flop onto the bed. Pulling my phone from my pocket I text Jessica.

VENECIA

No party. All plans are off

JESSICA

What the fuck did you do?

WTF! Aren’t you too old to get grounded.

Right?

Papa is sending me away for the week.

Something about needing me out of town.

Anywhere good?

Italy?

Maldives?

Can I come? LOL.

Before I can respond to her again, Dante is in my room and ripping the phone from my hand. He immediately begins thumbing through my text messages.

“Hey,” my hands flail at him trying to grab back my phone, “That’s mine.”

“Apparently you don’t understand how this works,” he starts typing on my phone, “if you tell everyone that you are going away and where you are going it isn’t safe anymore.”

“Your friend thinks you are going to London, but you leave soon and need to pack,” he finishes typing, turns off my phone and shoves it into his pocket, “I will give this back to you when it’s safe for you to have it.”

“You don’t need to treat me like a fucking child,” I snap back at him.

DANTE

“You don’t need to treat me like a fucking child,” she snaps at me as I shove her phone into my pocket.

“You are acting like a child, and quite frankly like a fucking brat,” I force the words out of my mouth, while trying to sound as though I am frustrated and annoyed with her.

“Start packing,” my words still harsh as I turn to leave the room, “Sneakers, not stilettos. And we are leaving at three. You’ll go with what you have if you aren’t ready.”

I need her to fucking hate me. To despise everything about me.

It’s the only way I am going to make it.

The only way to be alone with her and not act on every depraved thought I’ve had for weeks.

Yet, I cannot seem to bring myself to actually do it.

Crossing the hall and entering my room, I pull one of my suitcases from the closet. After throwing Venecia’s phone into my dresser, I begin packing enough clothes to be gone for a week.

As I turn towards the bathroom to grab my toiletries, I see Venecia across the hall throwing various clothes onto her bed. When she notices I am watching her, her jaw clenches, eyes narrow, and her nose wrinkles. The scowl on her face holding firm, she enthusiastically flips me off before returning to her packing.

Good. Maybe that was enough…

If I’m lucky, we’ll go this whole week without her wanting to speak a word to me. She’ll stay in her room. I’ll make sure I keep my distance. Everything will be fine.

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