Two
Laura plopped down on my bed like she owned it. We had been at school almost two months. “You’re avoiding me,” Laura said.
I was in the middle of studying. I coughed. “No, I’m not. It’s junior year. I’ve got a lot of things that I have to do. I’m sure you do too, and you told me that you switched majors.”
She shook her head. “No. I know when someone is avoiding me. I get it, I’m sure I’m putting a major cramp in your style with the security guards. I also know not everybody is best friends with their roommate. But my brother’s kind of rule this campus, and it’s hard for me to make friends. So…what do you say?”
I turned around from my desk and looked at her. “I swear I’m not avoiding you. I actually think you’re pretty great. As for the security guards, Giovani and Billy don’t bother me.”
“They don’t?” said Laura.
I nodded. “They don’t.”
“So, why do you keep on ignoring me when I say we should hang out? Usually, people are begging me to get into my family’s restaurants or clubs or something. You haven’t asked me anything.”
Because, I currently have a big secret and if your brother finds out the truth, he’ll kill me.
I was so close to being done with school. To being able to get what I’d worked so hard for, and get what I wanted most back in my life. I just had to keep my nose clean. As long as I did that, everything would work out. If I screwed up again, however…. I didn’t want to think about what the consequences from my family would be.
“I mean, I don’t want to seem like I’m using you,” I told her. It was only partly true. “I also have pretty simple tastes. I don’t really party.”
I kept my nose clean, because I had family obligations. My uncle had paid for half of my schooling. The rest was scholarship. But taking anything from my uncle meant that I had to do a favor for him when I graduated. If there was one hint of trouble, he’d make sure I didn’t finish school. If I couldn’t find a job to pay him back after I graduated, I’d have to get married to someone he chose for me. I didn’t want to think of what would happen if he thought I was fooling around with people I shouldn’t. The Luna brothers were those kinds of people.
It was why I’d majored in business. A business degree was good for a lot of things. I didn’t have the luxury to date, or party, and I had to keep my distance from Laura and her family. If my uncle thought I’d fooled around with Cesare….my freedom would be done for.
Our family wasn’t exactly without its own sins either. They were also of the mind that women like me needed to be protected from them. In their mind, the only way to do that was with a rich and powerful husband. Someone like Cesare would fit that bill.
But it absolutely could not be him.
“Okay,” said Laura, “that’s fine. But can I ask why?”
How much could I tell her without her finding out the truth?
“Um, I made some mistakes my freshman year. Pretty big ones. I’m on scholarship for the most part but my future is dictated by my uncle. He lives in Italy but he still has people that are all over the place. I’ve got to be careful, or else he’ll marry me off.”
“Oh,” said Laura, “I get that. But you know, that’s what’s kind of perfect about going to one of my family’s businesses. No one there is going to snitch on you. Look, why don’t we start with something simple, like dinner?”
“Are you asking me out?” I said.
Laura laughed. “No. I like men too much. But I’m a fashion major…or I was before everything got messed up. We’re not exactly known for being subtle or sitting still. I need to do something.”
I sighed. “Okay, okay. What were you thinking?”
“My brother works at The Crescent. He’s a sous chef. One call, and I can get us in.”
“Um, I don’t really have that kind of money….”
Laura shook her head. “It’s on me. Just, let’s have some fun, okay?”
“Okay, okay.”
Laura squealed. “Yay!” she clapped her hands together. “Alright, we’ll paint the town red! Let’s go.”
Three The nicest dress I had was a black, strappy dress. The same one that I’d worn to the welcome back party that I had gone to freshman year. The one that Cesare had noticed me in, and had so much fun tearing it off. The reason for my biggest mistake ever. I’d had to sew it back together when I got home. I had high-heeled shoes that I’d worn to my dads funeral years ago. I put on some makeup, and then grabbed my purse and cell phone. I met Laura in the living room of the apartment. She was wearing a red dress, with gold earrings, and Manolo Blahnik shoes. Her purse was a Saint Laurent, black, with a gold strap on her shoulder. Her blond hair was slightly curled and she had a red bow holding back some of her hair. She looked too pretty for words. I was aware of how simple I looked. Laura, to her credit, only smiled at me and looped her arm through mine. “Come on. Let’s go. I already told the boys. They’ve got the car ready for us.”
Four I found myself being dragged out onto the dance floor. “Cesare---I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t really know how to do this.” Cesare flashed me a smile. “It’s okay. It’s all about following the lead. I happen to be an excellent leader.” He placed a hand on my hip, then held my other one tightly. He smelled of cologne and cigarettes which shouldn’t have attracted me but it did. “I did some research on you.” I looked up at him. “Oh? Did you find anything salacious?” “You went to Italy your freshman year,” he said, “you stayed for nine months, and you did the online program while you were there. Why were you in the Old Country?” “I have family there,” I said, “my Nonna was sick. She’d never met me before. The family wanted me to spend some time with her.” “Why haven’t you spent time with her before?” “It’s my father’s family,” I explained, “he died when in I was in high school. He wasn’t r
Five Someone was watching me. I knew it wasn’t Billy or Giovani because they were both with Laura at her art history class. I was sitting in the library when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I looked across the way, and I saw Cesare talking to the librarian. He had leaned up against her desk like owned it, said something that made her laugh, and then she pointed in my direction. Damn it. I had spent all of freshman year worrying that he would find me again. Now, I was a junior, and he would be graduating in the spring. Of course, he would find me in his last year… My eighteen-year-old self would have given anything for him to notice me. But my twenty-year-old self knew better. Cesare Luna wasn’t the kind of guy that you wanted attention from. He was the kind of guy you thought you wanted attention from and then when you got it, you regretted it immediately. Cesare strode towards me like he was the
Six Not all of the family was back in the Old Country. I had an aunt named Thalia who came to visit at least once a month. She lived in New York, with her three sons, and her husband. I hadn’t met any of them. I wasn’t exactly invited to family events. But, because the family knew my secret, my uncle liked to send people to check in on me. I was unsurprised when I got a call from my Mama on Saturday morning. “Are you working today?” she asked. I sat up in bed. “No. Why?” “Your aunt is coming. She wants to have lunch with you.” I froze. “What? Why?” “I’m not sure,” said Mama, “but dress nicely, and get here before noon.” I groaned. “Okay.” I got up and showered. As I was in the middle of getting dressed, the door to my room opened. A low whistle made me jump. I turned around and was surprised to see Cesare standing there. He smirked. “You look gorgeous. Who are you seeing?”
Seven“Emmilia!”Outside of Laura, I had one friend, Gemma Blake. She was a pretty brunette with blue eyes. She sat up front in my International Business Class, and gestured to the empty seat next to her. “Hi, Gemma!” I smiled. Gemma smiled back at me. “Did you get the e-mail?” “What e-mail?” I asked. “We’re having a guest speaker today. The professor is apparently old friends with Octavious Luna. He’s going to give a presentation on his internship program and his life in business.” The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “Octavious Luna?” Gemma nodded. “Do you think I can convince him to get an internship?” I forced a smile at her. “You’re Gemma Blake. I’m sure that you could do anything you want.” She laughed. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. Why don’t you seem happy about this? I thought you wanted do something with international hotels or whatever. I would think this would be right up your alley.”
Eight “I don’t think you should go.” Laura’s response to being invited to a party surprised me. Normally, Laura was always the one that was trying to get me to do something rash. The two of us sat on the couch, eating the remains of the brownies we’d baked the night before. I glared at her. “Come on. You’re the one that is always telling me that I need to get out more.” Laura sighed. “I know. But that was before.” “Before what?” she’d been acting weird since her fathers visit yesterday. After the lecture he’d given my class, apparently, he’d showed up at the apartment and told her some family news. Since then, Laura had been strangely quiet. When I got home from class, she’d begrudgingly joined me to bake. I tried getting her to talk but mostly she just hummed along to the music I played in the background. Laura made a face. “I just…I mean…” she shoved the rest of her brownie into her mouth. I squinted. “You are h
Nine My phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. That was unusual for me. I only had a few friends and my first thought was that maybe Gemma had been worried about where I was. I got up from where I had fallen asleep on my couch, my head in Laura’s lap. She had fallen asleep using the sofa armrest as a pillow.“What the hell?” I stared at my phone.The first few messages were from my cousin, Nero. The second was Gemma. And the third was my uncle, Titus. I also had a bunch of pictures from Instagram that I couldn’t understand. I barely posted on there.The first message from Nero said FUCKING CALL ME.If my older cousin, who was twenty-one, and lived in New York was calling me, I was in deep shit. He was an extension of my uncle. He handled the family business in the U.S. When I got into trouble freshman year, he was the one who helped me hide everything. He convinced my uncle to let me come to Italy and take care of the situation I had found myself in.I called him. “Nero, what’s wrong?”“Are
TenA lot of the people I tutored were usually athletes. At the moment, I was sitting at a café, with one of the quarterbacks. A shadow fell over me. “Another conquest, Emmi?” I looked up and standing there was Nero.He was tall with jet black hair and had a scar over his eye. I sighed and glanced up at Carter, the blond football player I’d been helping. “Hey, how about I call you later and we can try this again?” I said.Carter raised an eyebrow. “Boyfriend?”I made a face. “Gross. Cousin.”“Ah. Family business.” Carter stood up and packed his things. “No worries, teach. I’ll see you later. Let me know when you’re free.”He left and Nero slid into the seat that Carter had been sitting in.“Tell me that’s not someone else you’re fucking,” Nero said.I shook my head. “No. I’m not fucking anyone. I’m not even fucking Cesare. I told you; I’ve been good.”“Then why is Cesare Luna suddenly posting pictures about you?” Nero asked.I sighed. “He’s obsessed and delusional. I’ve never done any