Vinny walked into the house, almost tripping over the shoes that were left by the door. He glanced down at the problem, his teeth clenching. God, what a spoiled ass if she thought she could leave her shit lying around and he wouldn’t be upset. He bent down and moved the shoes and walked further in, finding a jacket on the floor. His eyes finally glanced up and he saw the trail of clothing leading down the hallway. He quickly picked everything up and tossed it in her room but frowned when he didn’t see her. “Val?” He waited for a response but heard none and headed back down the hallway and to the library, seeing her in a pair of shorts and a tank top, sitting on the couch, a tumbler of amber liquid in her hand. She kept her gaze outside the window that overlooked the backyard. “Val,” he repeated. He knew she had heard him, knew that she knew he was there, yet she did nothing but lift the glass to her lips and took a small sip. “Yes, Giovanni?”

“Are you okay?” Val looked up from her menu at one of her long-standing friends, a daughter of another family that worked under her dad. “Yes…no…I don’t know Luciana.” “Is it the prick again?” Val looked at her friend and shook her head. Throughout all the history with her fiancé here, Luciana knew it all. And the night that Val got the news; she had to call her best friend. To say that Luciana was livid was understating it. Every mafia child knew their place in the world; very few got to marry for love. Your one hope was that the man was kind enough to you. And well, they had both never thought that Val would be married off to her enemy. And here came the fun part, trying to change her friend’s mind. Some were way more open but some, like Luciana, believed Vinny to be the devil and as such could never be good to Val. Of course, some of their moments were still tense, but overall, they had seemed to be working on it.