Page 46 of The Devil's Fire

I probably had.

My laughter died down when I heard faint voices outside the office.

“… I told you not to do it.” Arianna sighed as she opened the door with Raffaele behind her. He was rubbing his jaw with a scrunched-up face.

Damiano turned his attention towards them, and I quickly jumped down from the desk to create some space between us.

“I wanted to see how pissed I could get him. Yo, Damiano! Did you have to go for the face?!” Raffaele erupted.

I took a moment to really look at Arianna, and that was when I could see the resemblance between them. They had the same golden-brown eyes and the same nose. She even has some of Lorenzo’s features; a literal mixture of them both, but I had been too caught up in my jealousy to see it.

Oh, fuck me already.

sixteen

Althaia

Arianna rolled her eyes in Raffaele’s direction before casting a disapproving glance at Damiano.

“Damiano, did you really have to punch him in front of all those people?”

“He’s lucky he’s even alive.” Damiano calmly replied.

“Is this how you welcome your cousin into your home?” Raffaele huffed out, and my eyes slowly widened.

“So… you’re all… related...?” I pointed at each one of them.

“We sure are, gorgeous.” Raffaele winked, which earned him a punch in the stomach from Damiano.

“Raffaele, shut up! And Damiano, stop hitting him.” Arianna sighed in annoyance.

“Don’t worry, I can take it.” Raffaele wheezed out with his hands on his knees as he tried to compose himself.

“You’re not together…?” I looked back and forth between the two of them, and the more I kept looking at them, the more I could see they were related.

“That would be incest, love.” Raffaele straightened up. Arianna was quick and hit Raffaele in the head, sending his head flying forward before Damiano could get to him.

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you come with us. Be quiet before I rip your tongue out.” She threatened. Was this a thing with this family, ripping out someone’s tongue?

“God, just let me die now.” I groaned in pure embarrassment, hiding my face in my hands.

Arianna came up to me, her face lit up with a smile, and placed a friendly hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry. This was not how it was supposed to go. Damiano is just very private and doesn’t share much. When he was on the phone, we heard a woman’s voice, but he wouldn’t tell us anything. Asshole over there, Raffaele, thought it would be a good idea to flirt with every woman present to see if he could get a reaction out of my brother.”

“Totally worth it.” Raffaele grinned.

“You’re lucky he didn’t kill you.” Arianna shot back.

“Honestly, for a second there, I actually thought he would.” He laughed, completely unbothered. Arianna shook her head and faced me again.

“I’m sorry for all this fuss. I’m Arianna, Damiano’s and Lorenzo’s younger sister.”

“I can see that now… I’m Althaia.” I gave her a small smile. My body was so hot from embarrassment.

“We’ll have a chat later, I really want to get back to the party. Let’s go, you idiot.” She quickly walked over to Raffaele and dragged him by the arm out of the office while he complained about being abused today.

I glanced around the office, avoiding eye contact with Damiano. How could I ever face him after the way I had acted? I wish I could disappear into thin air.

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