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A bony hand waved her off. “All in the past. It was unpleasant, but it had to be done. At least the Family grapevine has moved on now. But now you’ve seen how they are once they get a whiff of scandal?”
Like sharks with a fresh piece of meat.
“This is why I always urge you to take care of your image. It was easy to make everyone doubt the gossip because of your perfect decorum. If they’d detected the slightest flaw in you, they wouldn’t have dismissed the rumors so quickly–no matter how hard I tried.”
Weariness set in Ana’s bones.
She didn’t want to be perfect all the time. She was trying to break away from that mindset.
And yet, her aunt had a point. The Family rumor mill had moved past this scandal surprisingly quickly. If Ana hadn’t invested the time and effort to perfect her image, would they have let her off the hook so easily?
“That’s also why I asked you to be careful of what you share with Gio. See how this baseless rumor troubled him? Imagine how he would react if he knew what really happened.”
She winced. The judgment in Auntie’s voice made her want to curl into herself.
Of course, murder was so much worse than the rumored affair. But it was all in self-defense. Still, her aunt had always feared that the Family would ignore Ana’s motives and judge her for the deed alone. There were different standards for women in the Family. They were supposed to be pure and virginal, while the men were cutthroat and ruthless.
But Gio knew about her past now, and he did not care. Well, he cared enough to get upset at what she’d been through, but he wasn’t upset at her. He didn’t view her any differently. If anything, it had brought them closer together.
It was tempting to give her aunt an ‘I told you so,’ but Ana held her tongue. The matriarch was on a high from Gio’s praises. She would collapse into a fit of shame if she knew that Gio had discovered the ‘sordid’ incident.
“Hopefully you take this as a learning lesson, Ana.”
“Mm.”
Satisfied that her niece had heeded her words, Auntie returned to her office.
Deciding to procrastinate her work a bit longer, Ana sat down on a bench at the far west end of the backyard, tilting her face up to the sun. On the other end, Gio was inaudibly carrying on with his calls, while he paced back and forth on the grass.
His crisp shirtsleeves were rolled up to his forearms, which tensed and flexed every few minutes. A flush crept up her neck, and she glanced away.
With the rumors taken care of and everyone else around her appearing more relaxed, Ana felt her spirits lift. It had taken some time to process, but relief came at long last.
Yes, there was considerable work piling up from this diversion–Gio had already returned to his–but Ana was enjoying being idle for once. She hadn’t taken a day off work in years, always juggling administrative oversight and design work.
Thankfully, Emma was on top of it. They’d briefly spoken after lunch, and Ana had confessed everything, including the truth of her supposed illness. Emma had been more than understanding and volunteered to cover meetings for a few more days, brushing aside her apologies. She’d been furious on Ana’s behalf, spitting out some choice words for Celia and incestuous mob gossip–whatever that meant.
“Couldn’t stay away?”
Ana shaded her eyes from the sun and saw Gio striding over to her, one brow raised. A smile bubbled up to her lips.
“Maybe I’m becoming one of those clingy wives,” she teased.
“One can hope.” His lips quirked before he bent low to kiss her.
A sigh escaped her.
Pure bliss. She wished these moments could last forever, without any worries or duties.
Her hazy contentment eventually faded to concern, when he stood back up and cracked his neck, rotating his shoulders to loosen the muscles.
“Why don’t you use one of the home offices?” He had been on his feet for hours without any breaks.
“Just wanted to get out for some time.” Gio shrugged tiredly. “I know Marta means well, but her attentiveness can get a bit…heavy-handed.”
Ana stifled a snort.
Welcome to my life.
