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“Would you relax? Graham and I are friends,” I inform him.
His eyebrows rise. “And how exactly did you come about this friendship?”
I shrug. “Naturally?”
He groans, running a hand through his hair. “Enough with the blasé attitude. This is important, Isabella. The Steeles aren’t a family to be trifled with. And that’s without taking into account their link to the Mincettis. Graham’s in line to inherit the entire company.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
“It is if the two of you are dating,” he retorts.
My smile falls faster than I can blink. My heart stutters a little at that insinuation.
“We’re not dating,” I say slowly.
Enzo doesn’t look convinced. “Isabella. I know you’ve met up with him a few times. I just didn’t ask until today because I was trying to respect your privacy.”
“How kind of you,” I mutter.
“But this is serious. I need to know if anything’s going on.”
“We’re just friends,” I say insistently. “This is the twenty-first century, Enzo. Men and women are allowed to be friends.”
He studies me for a couple of seconds. “Are you sure? Nothing’s going on between you?”
Flashbacks of our bodies writhing against each other play in my mind for a second. I swallow softly, banishing the memories as I nod.
“Nothing’s going on.”
And it’s such a tremendous lie, I can’t even look at Enzo as I say it. The only reason there’s nothing going on between us is because Graham and I are doing our best to repress the tension between us. But with every meeting, I feel the rope we’ve placed between ourselves growing even tauter. It’s only a matter of time before it snaps.
“We’re just friends, Enzo,” I say again to alleviate any worries he might have.
Because at the end of the day, the reason Graham and I are fighting hard against whatever we may be feeling is because we’re very aware of the complications that can arise if we simply let ourselves feel. His family would go ballistic, and Enzo would probably lose his shit as well. But not as much as the Steeles.
I’ve never met the Steele patriarch, but I’ve heard enough about him to know he would never approve of any form of relationship between us.
If I was smarter or braver, I’d stay away from Graham altogether. But I am so weak. Because I keep wanting to see him and I’m terrified that’s never going to go away.
Katerina Mincetti is everything I wanted to be when I was a little girl. Before my dreams were crushed and I realized that little girls like me didn’t get to have big dreams or wishes. Before I understood that all I was destined to become was a mother and a wife, and my usefulness extended to that and only that.
I don’t believe in that anymore. Those ideologies were destroyed the day my father died and I’ll do my best to fight against them till the day I die. But staring at her, I can’t help but wonder how my life would have turned out if things had been different. If my father had adopted the same beliefs that Katerina’s father had. If he had ever believed I could have been his heir.
Who would I be if I had grown up like Katerina?
That’s a question I’ll never get the answer to. We’re walking through a luxury department store, checking out some clothes. Katerina invited me out a few days ago and I was a little touched when I got the call. She’s pretty great, down-to-earth and kinder than I’d have expected considering her position.
“What do you think of this?” she asks, reaching for some black flared jeans and placing them in front of her.
I stare for a couple of seconds before smiling.
“I’m sorry, this is so bizarre to me. I can’t believe you’re doing something as normal as shopping, considering who you are.”
Even now, there are two men surreptitiously following us through the store. She’s not a normal woman, she’s a badass Don. And while her aura and the fierce look in her blue eyes make that pretty clear, she certainly isn’t acting like that right now.
“Who am I right now, Isabella?” she questions.
“Katerina Mincetti,” I reply easily, wondering at the question.
