Twenty Luca Capaldi A whole month. Audrina missed a school for a whole month. I checked her social media accounts, and I saw her posting pictures. She was everywhere but Boston. Even though I knew she was supposed to be staying in the city, even though I knew she had community service that she was supposed to be doing. I knew it had something to do with Antonov, but I didn’t know what. “What are you doing?” Daniela asked. The two of us were studying in my room. Well, Daniela was studying.I had my cell phone out and I was looking at Audrina on social. “Nothing.” I quickly pocketed my phone away. Daniela smiled at me. “It’s not nothing. You only ever look that guilty when there’s a girl involved, or you’ve been masturbating.” I glared at her. “You have never once caught me masturbating.” She snorted. “Yes, I have. And I’ve caught Niccolo doing it too.” I laughed at her. “Really?” She nodded. “He wouldn’t look me in the eyes for a week.” I smirked. “Well, you know that you’re
Twenty-one Audrina Bianchi The first few years of my life weren’t that bad. I had a happy family, even. Mama---that’s what I called Marie before I found out the truth----took care of me during the day. I remembered coloring at the kitchen table while she baked in the kitchen, humming to herself along to the old radio we had. At night, Dad would come home, always with dinner and a smile for the two of us. Dad would kiss Mama and spin her around, until she’d hit his chest making her burst into laughter. It was a happy time. Things changed on my thirteenth birthday. Grandfather Lorenzo always made the biggest deal out of birthdays and holidays. Everyone would gather around for a celebration. I had a frilly pink dress Mama had gotten for me. There was a giant, pink Unicorn cake. I’d already been modeling for a few years at that point and there were a few other girls that I’d made friends with who were models also that came. Grandfather themed the back patio of his upstate, New York ma
Twenty-two: Luca CapaldiThe plane ride was the longest one of my life. I had no idea what I would find when I got to New York. If Audrina would even want to talk to me. She had every reason not to. And I was still seething from everything that she had told me. When my own mother had died, Augusta had been the closest thing I had to one. She had been a maid but she had felt more like family. Still, Audrina was my life. The woman I had been in love with since I was a teenager. I wasn’t going to let her slip through my fingers all because of one fight. There was also the long drive to The Barretta Mansion. They lived in upstate New York. The family did have a place in Manhattan, on the Upper East Side, but Audrina’s Grandfather, the head of the Barretta crime family, was rarely in the city anymore. He was old enough and powerful enough that he made people come to him instead of the other way around. When I got to the Barretta mansion, there were two men standing there. The last time
Twenty-three Audrina Bianchi I hadn’t planned on going back to Andre after the fight. Except that I’d been pacing in the back yard of Luca’s mansion, worrying what he was going to do with me now, when something hard pressed into the back of my skull. A strong hand gripped my shoulder so roughly that I was certain that I was going to have bruises on there. “If you don’t come with me, your daughter is going to die.” It was his voice. The voice that had had so much control over my life. Andre. Slowly, I turned around to face him. “How did you find me?” He laughed. “I’ve been here before, remember? When I tried to get you back after that little shit stole you from me. Your Grandfather wanted us married. We were supposed to unite our families. And you screwed everything up.” I spat in his face. “Your brother tried to kill me!” Andre’s eyes darkened, and he wiped the spit from his cheek. “Funny thing about that, Audrina. You know that they found my brothers body recently?” The hair
Twenty-four Luca Capaldi This wasn’t what I had planned on happening when I took Audrina to Foley’s. I wanted to take her some place where she could tell me about her life without worrying about the wrong person hearing about it. The Foley’s ran a whole different part of Boston that my father couldn’t touch, not unless he wanted to start shit. And since they were technically family, because Niccolo and me were related by marriage, he wouldn’t go there. I had no idea that the Foley’s were involved with The Fixer either though. But Audrina’s face when she saw the man spoke volumes. She ran to him. “Daddy, what are you doing here?” He was a tall man, with brown hair, and brown eyes. He also reeked of beer. “Can’t call me that anymore, ‘Drina. Not your dad.” Audrina stiffened, but the man stumbled, and she caught him before he fell off of the chair that he was sitting on. “You raised me. You’re still my dad, even if you don’t think you are. Blood doesn’t mean anything. It’s who shows
Twenty-five: Audrina Bianchi I still called The Fixer Dad in my head. I had never known Alessandro Ramono, and he had never made it a point to know me. The Fixer was the only father I had ever known. He might have been the scariest man in all of the crime families. I took him into his apartment. He’d given me a key in case I had any emergencies. Even though I wasn’t his daughter, he still tried to look out for me. I dragged him up the front steps of his stoop, into his apartment, and I placed him on the couch. I then went to go and get him some water. “Dad. Daddy!” I called out. I sat down on the edge of his couch. He snorted awake. “Shit!” He winced, and pressed his fingers to the temples of his forehead. Dad looked around. When he spotted me, he groaned. “Audrina, you shouldn’t be here.” I glared. “What was I supposed to do, Daddy? Was I supposed to leave you at the bar drunk, so that you could choke on your own vomit?” He sighed. “You’re not supposed to call me Daddy anymore
Twenty-six: Luca Capaldi The minute I got back to Boston, there was someone pointing a gun at my head. “You must be a fucking idiot,” a familiar voice said, as the gun dug into my skull. I laughed. “You come quickly when you’re threatened.” The Fixer glared at him. “I shouldn’t have even bothered with such a bold, fucking request but I heard a rumor that Andre Antonov was back stateside so I thought that maybe there was something wrong. I didn’t want the bastard anywhere near Drina.” “Yeah, he’s back,” I said, “and he kidnapped Audrina. At least that’s my working theory. We got into a fight because she told me the truth about how she ratted Augusta out in order to save her own skin.” The Fixer raised an eyebrow. “Where the fuck did you get that idea?” “Because that’s what she said before she disappeared. She implied that she was the one for telling the Ramono’s where Augusta was hiding.” The Fixer removed the gun from my head, then turned me around. “You’re a fucking idiot.”
Twenty-seven: Audrina Bianchi Andre had a large, blown up picture of my Vogue cover in the entry way. He stood behind me, pressing himself up against my backside. I could feel him. He was hard, and it made my mouth fill with vile. It hadn’t been so long ago that I had been in bed with Luca. That my husband had been making me feel all sorts of wonderful things. Now though, it wasn’t Luca. It was the man that had been my abuser for years. He made me sick. He brushed back my hair, his fingers grazing my neck, making it flinch. “Do you like the picture? I had it specially made. You were so excited about that cover. I even threw you a party that night. You invited your little friends. And of course, you fucking betrayed me.” He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me around roughly so that I was now facing him. “It drove my wife mad, having that there. But I always made sure that she knew that you were the only woman for me.” I didn’t know what to do. His poor wife. Andre was a monster, and