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But this was her life now.
Emma’s earlier words, albeit a joke, were painfully true. It wouldn’t be enough for Ana to just play around with dresses now. The Family would expect so much more.
Whispers suddenly became audible from somewhere down the hall. Two women, by the sound of it.
Ana grimaced, searching for an exit.
“You know why he said all that, right?”
“Why?”
Finding no escape, Ana had no choice but to flatten herself into the corridor and pray that they passed. The women’s voices sounded familiar; maybe they were also from Pittsburgh. They certainly reminded her of the gossipy housewives who frequented Auntie’s dinner parties. Groaning softly, she waited as they walked ever so leisurely.
“There was a rumor that Gio was involved in the whole thing.”
A gasp. “Sophia told me about it too, but I can’t believe that!”
“I can’t either. But why else would Gio make such a fuss about his parents nearly a year after they died? It’s probably to stomp out any gossip. I mean…the rumors were convincing. Who else benefited the most when the old Boss and his wife were killed? Who rose to the top overnight and became Don?”
A chill ran down her spine. The answer to their question came straight to her mind.
“But the speech about traitors–”
“All a tactic to stop the rumors, I’m telling you. Their bodyguard was already killed in the explosion. Who else will Gio even investigate now? No one else gained anything from his parents’ deaths, except him.”
They continued chattering, their voices fading as they crossed the hallway, oblivious to her presence. Static rang in her ears, dulling everything around her.
For what felt like hours, Ana stood there clutching her dress, fear and disbelief paralyzing her. Once she’d collected herself, she glided out of her hiding spot to the gardens, where several guests called out to her. They summoned her to take just one more photo. But she dazedly waved them along, her thoughts straying miles away.
The rumors were nothing new. Her aunt had been the first to share them, right after Gio's parents had been killed. But they had seemed innocuous and silly back when she was cooped up in her quarters in Pittsburgh. Here, on her wedding day, it was her reality.
The careful distance she and Gio had maintained for two years would soon be coming to an end. In a matter of hours, they would be alone.
Until then, she was in an intolerable purgatory–
Of fear.
Admiration.
Fear.
And desire.
All propelled by one man…
Visions of the man she’d met two years ago clashed with the one commanding the room today. What little familiarity and comfort level she had built with him then seemed grossly inadequate now. Gio had changed so much in those two years. Unsurprising, given all that had passed: his parents’ brutal deaths, his ascent to Don.
She had changed a lot, too.
The faint scent of blood hit her.
As it did, Ana jerked. Dazed. She turned around in a half-circle, completely confounded to find herself standing in the hotel room. How the hell had she arrived here?
She had been so lost in her head, in the memories. The last thing she could remember was leaving the wedding luncheon hall. But everything after that was a complete mystery. She had simply kept walking and walking, possessed by an inexorable urge to escape. And somehow ended up here.
In the honeymoon suite.
Everything in her ached. Her feet felt awfully sore now that awareness of her escape was starting to hit her.
